It was the summer of 2001. I was interning in DC for a Senator from New Mexico and like many interns, it was another world, but it was magical. Roaming the underground halls of the Capitol...moving from Hart Building to Russell and back...I became lost in my thoughts and looked at the possibilities of one day doing my part in public service. On one of those days where I was lost in a trance, not paying any attention to the chaos that surrounded me, there in the Russell Senate Building, was a tall burly man, with a very large poodle by his side. It was Senator Kennedy. I was lost amongst the crowd and had just witnessed something great, even for just a brief second.
Last night as I sat at home, relaxing with the Bravo channel on my television, I received a tweet from @cnnbrk and there it was...Ted Kennedy was gone. The thing about this loss is that his death, like those in his family before him, are so close to many of our hearts. Growing up, my parents, who came to the US from Mexico, knew and spoke of the Kennedy's like they were people they knew personally. Like we had been family friends for years. Why? Because despite their fame and fortune and the prestige of America's version of Camelot, they were a family that could have chosen a different life, but instead chose public service -- to serve and push for issues so close to the hearts of our communities.
When John was killed in 1963...and Robert in 1968, the country mourned and American's felt a huge loss. Not just for the country and the obstacles it faced without them, but for the family that was left behind. Ted Kennedy was the youngest of his family but after the deaths of his brothers, he had to take on whatever responsibility he was handed over, unintentionally, by these losses. Ted was not the best early on, but overtime, he became great.
Today as I listened to NPR, it finally hit me...Ted was really quite extraordinary. So many legislative bills that he submitted or signed on to, have become American law and incorporated into our daily lives. The freedoms and opportunities those of us my age (and younger) take advantage of all the time, are the same freedoms and opportunties that did not exist before us but do so because of Senator Kennedy's committment, influence and extremely powerful liberal voice. While yes, we would have preferred that he be much more to the left...he did enough to get the job done for all of those social issues that we hold dear to our hearts.
While television and internet gives us a great look of our Kennedy history, I am so glad that I was able to see it first hand, the greatness that was Ted Kennedy. I hope that all the great things we loved about Senator Kennedy, will be replicated amongst our present Congress and and our future leaders. That politics be put aside and that serious issues be dealt with immediately and head on, with great passion and conviction. It's ironic that Senator Kennedy's death comes in the middle of the biggest policy battle that this country has seen since the Civil Right's era and an issue he has advocated for years. I still believe in this great democracy and I hope that his spirit lives on as we move forward. As in the Senator's own words, "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die..."
About Me
- GeL Livin N LA
- Political junkie. I heart CSPAN and want to be Rachel Maddow when I grow up.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
WTF Ridge?!
2004 Presidential election. Just having moved back from Washington DC, and spending some time in El Paso, Texas, I decided to move back home to New Mexico, specifically Roswell, New Mexico a very VERY, conservative town. It was election year and it was finally time to get the Bush administration out of the White House, and put our country back on track. My interests in politics were slightly on the obsessive side and in my early and mid-twenties were, what some would say, slightly over the top. But like many progressives, I did not trust Bush and his administration. We believed he had stolen the election in 2000, we wondered why the hell he sat for 7 minutes at a children's school in Florida on 9/11, we were totally against the invasion and inevitable war in Iraq, very much against the terror and scare tactics of the administration and its continuous fear mongering and absolutely sick of the "if you don't vote for us, you will die!" politics. (whew!) In 2004, it was time to put an end to all of this.
While John Kerry was not the quintessential ideal candidate, I felt that he was the right person for the job as POTUS and the best person to dethrone George W. Bush from his self appointed and stolen position as President of the United States. But we also knew it would not be easy. Early on in 2004, I was led to the Chavez County Court house to pick up some voter registration forms. It was time to get people registered and ready for a fight in November. In addition I joined the Chavez County Democratic Party and began my volunteer work. It was here, starting in the summer of 2004, that battle began.
It was definitely not easy. I mean seriously, we're talking about a county populated by people who were mostly republican and if registered democrat, were moderates, large percentages of retirees, many...you guessed it, Veterans. No one in their right mind was willing to vote against Bush. Why? Because there was a war on terror that needed to be won and we couldn't win with John Kerry. The reason was plain and simple, while John Kerry did serve his country in Vietnam, people believed he lied! On or around August 12, 2004, just a few days after the Democratic convention and a huge poll jump for John Kerry, the Swift Boat smears began. Here was a group of Vets being used by conservatives, to basically come out and say that they were with John Kerry in 1968, and countered Kerry's claims of heroism and that frankly, John Kerry was a liar. How could I go door to door, to residents of Roswell, New Mexico, with the smear campaign all over the news, keeping John Kerry from winning the election in November!!
John Kerry went to war, Bush did not. In fact, Bush pretty much was AWOL during Vietnam and yet Bush was considered the most qualified to protect our country? Why would we elect a new president when we were facing threats from terrorists? The US was under extreme levels of terror threats!!...Or was it?
One thing us progressives and crazy liberals were accused of back in 2004 was this notion that we were conspiracy theorists. That anything that came out of our mouths, when debating against the policies of Dubya, were pure fiction and rightfully false. We could never win and we were seen as crazies and our opinions were never taken with validity.
It's been almost five years to the T, in which we saw poll numbers for Kerry drop significantly after the Bush administration announced the terror threat would be raised, coincidentally soon after Kerry's convention speech (which had given him a huge bump in the polls) and then again right before the 2004 presidential election. There were those of us progressives that were seriously pissed because for us it was not coincidental. It had to be freakin intentional! We believed that the Bush administration was very much manipulating the war on terror in an effort to stay in office. Our theories were seen as ridiculous and we were asked to STFU. In November's presidential elections, we lost.
Today, 5 years later...we find out that we were in fact duped. In fact we have found out that we were right all along.
According to the Associated Press,
When I read about this this morning, I was not only stunned but heartbroken. Like many of us in 2004, we were seriously committed to our purpose of getting the right person into office. We needed a president that would make the necessary changes to put this country back on track. We needed to end the terrorizing our communities, to end the war in Iraq and to bring back our stature as a reputable democracy in the international world, but instead, we were left with four more years of Bush and a very broken country. What is more disheartening is that Ridge, just a few weeks after the election in 2004, decided to resign. Did this man not have a conscience? Did he not see how wrong this was, to not only be misled by his own boss, but then to lie to the American people? Why come out now? Why do it this way? It's easy...money. He's got a book coming out and this sells.
What is interesting now is that when we finally get our shit together by electing Barack Obama, "WITH A MANDATE"...we have protests from the other side. Just 5 years ago we were ready to get the hell out of dodge. We were dealing with real issues. We were confronted with a lack of leadership and intelligence. However now, when we think we're going to accomplish some goals and fix what was broken, we now face protests for all the wrong reasons. The same people who supported Bush in 2004 and believed that he would protect them from the threats of terror, are the same people protesting today on health care and other domestic issues that can really change the course of our lives for the better. When will they finally realize that they have been misled all this time and they too are being duped by the conservatives? What will it take for them to trust the POTUS, who right now is the person to put this country back on the right track?
Yes, we should move on from the past and not keep bringing up "old shit" (as Smokey says on Friday) but in order to move forward we have to learn from the past. Had Ridge told us early on in 2004 what we had suspected all along...so much of our country's problems might have been prevented. Even those protesting health care today, might they have thought they were seeing the real deal then, perhaps today they would in fact, see a real big mess!
While John Kerry was not the quintessential ideal candidate, I felt that he was the right person for the job as POTUS and the best person to dethrone George W. Bush from his self appointed and stolen position as President of the United States. But we also knew it would not be easy. Early on in 2004, I was led to the Chavez County Court house to pick up some voter registration forms. It was time to get people registered and ready for a fight in November. In addition I joined the Chavez County Democratic Party and began my volunteer work. It was here, starting in the summer of 2004, that battle began.
It was definitely not easy. I mean seriously, we're talking about a county populated by people who were mostly republican and if registered democrat, were moderates, large percentages of retirees, many...you guessed it, Veterans. No one in their right mind was willing to vote against Bush. Why? Because there was a war on terror that needed to be won and we couldn't win with John Kerry. The reason was plain and simple, while John Kerry did serve his country in Vietnam, people believed he lied! On or around August 12, 2004, just a few days after the Democratic convention and a huge poll jump for John Kerry, the Swift Boat smears began. Here was a group of Vets being used by conservatives, to basically come out and say that they were with John Kerry in 1968, and countered Kerry's claims of heroism and that frankly, John Kerry was a liar. How could I go door to door, to residents of Roswell, New Mexico, with the smear campaign all over the news, keeping John Kerry from winning the election in November!!
John Kerry went to war, Bush did not. In fact, Bush pretty much was AWOL during Vietnam and yet Bush was considered the most qualified to protect our country? Why would we elect a new president when we were facing threats from terrorists? The US was under extreme levels of terror threats!!...Or was it?
One thing us progressives and crazy liberals were accused of back in 2004 was this notion that we were conspiracy theorists. That anything that came out of our mouths, when debating against the policies of Dubya, were pure fiction and rightfully false. We could never win and we were seen as crazies and our opinions were never taken with validity.
It's been almost five years to the T, in which we saw poll numbers for Kerry drop significantly after the Bush administration announced the terror threat would be raised, coincidentally soon after Kerry's convention speech (which had given him a huge bump in the polls) and then again right before the 2004 presidential election. There were those of us progressives that were seriously pissed because for us it was not coincidental. It had to be freakin intentional! We believed that the Bush administration was very much manipulating the war on terror in an effort to stay in office. Our theories were seen as ridiculous and we were asked to STFU. In November's presidential elections, we lost.
Today, 5 years later...we find out that we were in fact duped. In fact we have found out that we were right all along.
According to the Associated Press,
"Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book that he was pressured by other members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election."
When I read about this this morning, I was not only stunned but heartbroken. Like many of us in 2004, we were seriously committed to our purpose of getting the right person into office. We needed a president that would make the necessary changes to put this country back on track. We needed to end the terrorizing our communities, to end the war in Iraq and to bring back our stature as a reputable democracy in the international world, but instead, we were left with four more years of Bush and a very broken country. What is more disheartening is that Ridge, just a few weeks after the election in 2004, decided to resign. Did this man not have a conscience? Did he not see how wrong this was, to not only be misled by his own boss, but then to lie to the American people? Why come out now? Why do it this way? It's easy...money. He's got a book coming out and this sells.
What is interesting now is that when we finally get our shit together by electing Barack Obama, "WITH A MANDATE"...we have protests from the other side. Just 5 years ago we were ready to get the hell out of dodge. We were dealing with real issues. We were confronted with a lack of leadership and intelligence. However now, when we think we're going to accomplish some goals and fix what was broken, we now face protests for all the wrong reasons. The same people who supported Bush in 2004 and believed that he would protect them from the threats of terror, are the same people protesting today on health care and other domestic issues that can really change the course of our lives for the better. When will they finally realize that they have been misled all this time and they too are being duped by the conservatives? What will it take for them to trust the POTUS, who right now is the person to put this country back on the right track?
Yes, we should move on from the past and not keep bringing up "old shit" (as Smokey says on Friday) but in order to move forward we have to learn from the past. Had Ridge told us early on in 2004 what we had suspected all along...so much of our country's problems might have been prevented. Even those protesting health care today, might they have thought they were seeing the real deal then, perhaps today they would in fact, see a real big mess!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Summer of Hate Reaction
I'm reading the Daily Beast, and focused on John Avlon's blog titled "Summer of Hate." http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-13/25-signs-of-hate/?cid=hp:mostpopular1 And quite frankly...I'm highly disturbed. It's not the blog itself that bothers me, but the comments from the readers.
Routinely, when reading news or blogs online, I go down to the comments immediately because I want to read what people think before I develop my own opinion. Usually it doesn't really influence my thoughts because most of the comments are pretty redonkulous, but what it does do for me is give me a pulse of what is going on nationwide. However, after reading the comments on "Summer of Hate," and the blog itself, I'm actually pretty frightened for the future of this country.
Example? North49. His/her comment states:
Believe me, I'm one of those people who tries to limit myself to as little corporate-owned news media outlets as possible. I know that these news outlets tend to sensationalize the news more often then not, however the last few weeks have prompted me to be overly concerned over our current health care debate and the antics going on at these town hall meetings. Not even the news network cannot over-hype. It is no longer a debate about health care reform, but a platform for a people to speak freely about their dissatisfaction over a president they were never going to like. Furthermore, the conservative grassroots movement has taken the same stance as the Republicans in the Beltway, who have unanimously taken on a decisive position to watch President Obama fail. Republicans have allowed and openly engaged members of their party in "death panel" politics allowing it to overwhelm the real health care debate.
As Bill Clinton stated at his speech during the Netroots Nation Conference in Pittsburgh this weekend, "America is closer now than ever before" in regards to passing health care reform. Yet what is frustrating is seeing Obama prioritize his political capital over policy making, not at all considering all we have had to put up with as Progressives for the last 8 years and everything we have had to work for to get a majority in Congress. Today we hear that Obama is considering dropping public option from the table, in order to ease tensions, I presume. Bottom line President Obama, you drop public options, you lose a large supporter base. Furthermore, the conservatives don't care what you do because in the end, they will still defy you. Republicans will never support you Mr. President. They have blatantly and publicly stated this outpouring of distaste for your presidency and they will not stand down. While I commend you for all you have tried to do, trying to build a bridge between the two party lines...the fact is that the conservative movement will never back down. You have majority Mr. President. Stop peddling around and get this country moving again. We need to protect and sustain our progressive majority and we need to pass health care reform this year, with public option!
Routinely, when reading news or blogs online, I go down to the comments immediately because I want to read what people think before I develop my own opinion. Usually it doesn't really influence my thoughts because most of the comments are pretty redonkulous, but what it does do for me is give me a pulse of what is going on nationwide. However, after reading the comments on "Summer of Hate," and the blog itself, I'm actually pretty frightened for the future of this country.
Example? North49. His/her comment states:
"MSNBC parrots the Obama party line. FOX NEWS at least to some extent tries to expose the nature of the beast that seeks to expand the state, while the Obots blindly sing the praises of enslaving statism. There are an abundance of "Harvard scholars" following BO like he's the Pied Piper, methinks. Does the over "edjumicated" elite know how idiotic they appear pretending to oppose slavery as one of America's worst sins, while embracing enslaving socialism of the Bolshevik Obama?"
It wasn't this specific comment that worried me per se, but instead the thread of comments that proceeded it. There is a lot of hostility and anger going on right now regarding health care reform and what is even scarier is the threat of violence that we are seeing all over the country. Now, the thread didn't specifically state a type of threat, however the comments, as you can probably tell, does illustrate a highly heated discussion with some surprisingly unintelligent remarks or responses. Let me just put it this way, as a hard-core, progressive, social liberal, these conversations taking place online and offline scare the bejesus' out of me. If the Republicans losing the elections in 2006/2008 elections, and their faltering popularity in the last 8 months gave some indication of their demise...the health care debate is slowly reviving the conservative movement and its agenda, specifically from the grassroots movement of the conservative party.
Yesterday, as I was watched CSPAN, the Americans for Prosperity conference came on. Now, some will say it is a copy-cat of a progressive conference for bloggers that already exists, (Netroots Nation Conference), but for the purpose of sticking to my point, I'll let this one slide. So, Americans for Prosperity. The speaker that was highlighted was Michelle Malkin. I do not know much about her, but what I do know is that she is now one of the new faces of the Republican party (and the new Ann Coulter of the conservative party, in my opinion BUT a bit smarter) From the sounds of her latest book and what she was vocalizing this weekend at this bloggers conference, is that conservatives at the grassroots level, are hating on today's GOP. In addition, it seems that they also despise those within the Republican party who think the party should go through a "re-branding" process. Michelle Malkin, like those in the audience I presume, believe that the Republican party should stick to the ideology that they have always been known for and in regards to the current health care debate, she insinuated that those attending the town hall meetings all over the country, should stick to their guns (literally speaking) Ok, the latter part about the guns...may not have been said, however she did insinuate that those protesting had every right to be there, guns or no guns. In all honesty, her speech was really powerful and had I been a cut throat conservative, card carrying member of the NRA, with a loaded .45 in my car, I would have been truly inspired and ready for war against those socialist and liberal fascists, as the conservative base calls us.
Honestly, if you were not scared before...you should be now. Listening to Michelle Malkin scared the shit out of me! Why? Because if I am someone in the conservative movement, still pissed that Barack Hussien Obama won the presidential election by a mandate in November 2008, and in my ear I have conservative pundits like this Michelle person, in addition to the Rushes of the conservative radio world, telling me to go to the mattresses...(add country accent here) "you're gawd damn right I'm gonna do somethin!" Specific leaders in the GOP, in addition to popular conservative talk-show hosts, have inadvertently and/or have outright supported some of the most vocal (and honestly, very scary) protests going on all over the country these last two weeks and Michelle Malkin is another potential person adding fuel to an already out of control fire.
Yesterday, as I was watched CSPAN, the Americans for Prosperity conference came on. Now, some will say it is a copy-cat of a progressive conference for bloggers that already exists, (Netroots Nation Conference), but for the purpose of sticking to my point, I'll let this one slide. So, Americans for Prosperity. The speaker that was highlighted was Michelle Malkin. I do not know much about her, but what I do know is that she is now one of the new faces of the Republican party (and the new Ann Coulter of the conservative party, in my opinion BUT a bit smarter) From the sounds of her latest book and what she was vocalizing this weekend at this bloggers conference, is that conservatives at the grassroots level, are hating on today's GOP. In addition, it seems that they also despise those within the Republican party who think the party should go through a "re-branding" process. Michelle Malkin, like those in the audience I presume, believe that the Republican party should stick to the ideology that they have always been known for and in regards to the current health care debate, she insinuated that those attending the town hall meetings all over the country, should stick to their guns (literally speaking) Ok, the latter part about the guns...may not have been said, however she did insinuate that those protesting had every right to be there, guns or no guns. In all honesty, her speech was really powerful and had I been a cut throat conservative, card carrying member of the NRA, with a loaded .45 in my car, I would have been truly inspired and ready for war against those socialist and liberal fascists, as the conservative base calls us.
Honestly, if you were not scared before...you should be now. Listening to Michelle Malkin scared the shit out of me! Why? Because if I am someone in the conservative movement, still pissed that Barack Hussien Obama won the presidential election by a mandate in November 2008, and in my ear I have conservative pundits like this Michelle person, in addition to the Rushes of the conservative radio world, telling me to go to the mattresses...(add country accent here) "you're gawd damn right I'm gonna do somethin!" Specific leaders in the GOP, in addition to popular conservative talk-show hosts, have inadvertently and/or have outright supported some of the most vocal (and honestly, very scary) protests going on all over the country these last two weeks and Michelle Malkin is another potential person adding fuel to an already out of control fire.
Believe me, I'm one of those people who tries to limit myself to as little corporate-owned news media outlets as possible. I know that these news outlets tend to sensationalize the news more often then not, however the last few weeks have prompted me to be overly concerned over our current health care debate and the antics going on at these town hall meetings. Not even the news network cannot over-hype. It is no longer a debate about health care reform, but a platform for a people to speak freely about their dissatisfaction over a president they were never going to like. Furthermore, the conservative grassroots movement has taken the same stance as the Republicans in the Beltway, who have unanimously taken on a decisive position to watch President Obama fail. Republicans have allowed and openly engaged members of their party in "death panel" politics allowing it to overwhelm the real health care debate.
As Bill Clinton stated at his speech during the Netroots Nation Conference in Pittsburgh this weekend, "America is closer now than ever before" in regards to passing health care reform. Yet what is frustrating is seeing Obama prioritize his political capital over policy making, not at all considering all we have had to put up with as Progressives for the last 8 years and everything we have had to work for to get a majority in Congress. Today we hear that Obama is considering dropping public option from the table, in order to ease tensions, I presume. Bottom line President Obama, you drop public options, you lose a large supporter base. Furthermore, the conservatives don't care what you do because in the end, they will still defy you. Republicans will never support you Mr. President. They have blatantly and publicly stated this outpouring of distaste for your presidency and they will not stand down. While I commend you for all you have tried to do, trying to build a bridge between the two party lines...the fact is that the conservative movement will never back down. You have majority Mr. President. Stop peddling around and get this country moving again. We need to protect and sustain our progressive majority and we need to pass health care reform this year, with public option!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
