Once more, Scott over at Bill In Exile says it better than I ever could hope to. It's a bit long, but well worth the read. These are his words, verbatum. Full credit, and a heapload of Polt-envy, got to him!
I'm So Proud To Be A Democrat
As downright awful as portions of this primary season have been — with a huge degree of that awfulness residing simply in the fact that the fucking thing has been so long — I can't help but feel an enormous upwelling of pride at being a Democrat in America today.
Barack Obama's securing the nomination as my party's presidential candidate is a thunderclap in American history and if you don't recognize the absolute enormity of what the Democratic Party and every American who is in that party have done by making a black man our candidate, well, then you just haven't been paying attention son.
As we all know, or should know,when the first blacks were brought over to this country they were brought in chains as slaves. Literally millions of them perished in the Middle Passage on their way to America from Africa and millions more were tortured, worked to death, and separated from their families by being bought and sold once here and while slavery was legal in this country.
From the end of Reconstruction through the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 blacks were routinely denied constitutional rights, disenfranchised, forced to accept second class citizenship, lynched and harassed through all of the American South and much of the rest of the country as well. And even after those landmark acts were passed, acts that were intended to help right the wrongs of centuries of abuse, black Americans were still subjected to virulent racism and discrimination in this country and in 1968 were forced to watch as one of our nation's most inspiring leaders was shot down in cold blood when Dr. King was murdered by a white man with a gun.
And yet today, in spite of that racism, a racism that still to this day pervades much of our society, one of America's two major political parties has chosen as it's nominee for the presidency of the United States, a black man.
Frankly, I'm not so sure how much this says about the Democratic Party as opposed to what it says about the extraordinary qualities of our nominee. I'd like to think it speaks as well of us as a group as it does of the nominee although the behavior of some of my fellow Democrats would indicate otherwise.
During this primary season a lot of the old race antagonism and outright racism reared it's head, and not just from crazed bloggers or their even crazier blog readers but from people who should know better, like one-time vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and President Bill Clinton himself.
But in spite of all that we've got a nominee and he just happens to be a black man and I'm willing to bet big money right here and right now that come November 4th that same black man is gonna be the President-elect of the United States of America.
And make no mistake, my pride at being a Democrat and what we've accomplished so far this election season isn't confined to the fact that we've nominated a black man to be our candidate for the presidency. Oh no! Because we also came within a hairs breadth of nominating an incredibly qualified woman to be our presidential candidate. A woman named Hillary Clinton who, in spite of how angry I got at her and at her supporters, I honestly believe could have been and could still be one of this nations finest presidents.
And the republicans? What of them this history making election year?
Well, let me just give you a few names to ruminate upon and you can come to your own conclusions.
Mitt Romney. Fred Thompson. Ron Paul. Sam Brownback. Tommy Thompson. Duncan Hunter. Tom Tancredo. Rudy Giuliani. Mike Huckabee. John Sydney McCain.
Think about that for a while. We bring you Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the republicans bring you the ten dwarfs.
The Democrats offer this nation inspiration and hope and the republicans offer a senile version of George W. Bush.
If you're a Democrat today you've got every reason to be justifiably proud of your party and what you helped to accomplish in spite of the contentiousness of our election process.
And if you're a republican I think it's probably time for you to sit in a corner for a while and think about the incredible damage that you and your party have done to this nation of ours. Shame isn't too strong an emotion for what every republican should feel at the disgraceful behavior of YOUR elected officials and YOUR party and the part you played in enabling them by voting for them.
And for those republicans who have blindly or selfishly allowed their leaders to bring our nation to the brink through their arrogance and immoral behavior I'll leave them with this quote from, appropriately enough, Malcom X. It's about patriotism but it could also be about the unthinking support for any idea or group.
"You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it."
As for me, I'm gonna have a cocktail and think about what I need to do, in my own little way, to help guarantee that the people who took a shit on my country and its constitution don't get a chance to take another dump on it for a long time to come.
Scott
Amen, my brother. Well said.
POLT Listening to "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2
Oh, you little bitch-troll from hell! - Patsy Stone, Absolutely Fabulous
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5 comments:
60-40 against Obama in the general election.
1) McCain has more experience
2) McCain is better positioned as a moderate (Can you say Reagan Democrats?)
3) McCain is better positioned to get the BabyBoomer vote.
4) Obama is gaffe prone (Cling to Religion and Guns, 57 States) (He's the Democrat Dan Quayle)
5) McCain is more patriotic
6) McCain is more presidential
Right now, it's closer to 50-50.
1) People want change, they want a different direction, they do not want 4 more years of the failed policies of the last 8.
2) McCain has lukewarm, at best, support from his base. Obama's base is fired up. Obama brought huge amounts of new voters into the ranks in the primaries.
3) Babyboomer females (like my mother, and several older ladies where I work) are all for Hillary. now that she's no longer a candidate, Obama just has to get them to his side. Hillary can help. And these women are Democratic voters to begin with, I don't know that they'd vote Repubican.
4) Um, does McCain know the different between Sunni and Shite Muslims? he had to be corrected by Lieberman. he has said himself he's not good with economics. the bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb Iran song. McCain's gaffe proof as well.
5) Please. this is SUCH a tactic of division. The Rove handbook is out the window this year. We all saw how well it worked in 2006. Th American people are not gonna buy those type of personal attacks. Let's talk issues, please.
6) Well, if by presidential, you mean old, that's true.
I think this election is going to be one like 1960 and 1992: they were both very close, but there were all about a new, young vibrant younger man running for the president. In both years, the AMerican people were tired of the previous president and hungering for change, as they are now.
And frankly, i don't know WHY McCain is clammering for all these debates. You put his speech Tuesdays side by side with Obama's of the same night, and the differences are VAST. Obama's gonna wipe the floor with him any time they're debating.
Perhaps if some people listened less to the far right wingnut media branchs of the Republican party (ie, talk radio and Faux News), they might have a better idea where this election is heading.
or myabe I should say, listened less exclusively to those outlets. I listen to them myself, but only for the laughs, and just to see Oreillys next meltdown.
HUGS...
1) That's the same argument that was made in '04. The people wanted change so bad they re-elected Bush anyway.
2) McCain's base will hold their nose and pull the lever (or punch the chad) for him just like Hillary supporters will hold their nose and do it for Obama. It's the the swing voters that McCain will likely get.
3) Too bad babyboomer females tend not to vote as much as their male counterparts.
4) The only advantage Obama has wit h the gaffes is that the MSM will ignore/downplay his.
5) If by division, you mean separating good candidates from bad ones, then it is. Patriotism is something the people expect from the PotUS. It is plain that his pastor's "hate America" teachings are well imbued in his psyche.
6) Honestly, Obama is too young/raw to be PotUS. He needs more time in the senate. More experience. This may be the big reason he loses the swing votes.
The vast differences between McCain and Obama speeches are that McCain has substance while Obama has fluff. I listened to him yesterday and he all but declared himself as the second coming. He's got too many chinks in his armor, too many ways McCain can get him with cheap shots, let alone the fact Obama has no plan other than bringing about socalism.
Basically, it boils down to this: Obama is in deep trouble in Ohio.
Well we shall have to agree to disagree, because obviously we're not going to change each others' minds. I would urge you to please listen to more than just Faux News Channel and the far right wingnut talk radio. Several of the things you've written are almost verbatum what I heard on those outlets. A different perspective is not something to be afraid of.
But I promise, come the evening of Nov. 4, 2008, I will NOT say I told you so.
HUGS...
Polt, can I give you some advice? As soon as you read a comment like Shane's where the very first thing he says is a complete and utter fabrication you should realize that engaging with that person is going to be a waste of time.
FYI here's the link to Real Clear Politics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html
They run a daily tracking service for every national poll in the field. Right now -- and for much of the last year Obama has been solidly AHEAD of McCain in all of the national polls -- he's up 6 points on the CBS News poll right now and the only times he has not outpolled McCain was briefly in April of 2007, Oct 2007 to Jan 2007and again briefly in March of 2008 but then McCain led only by the various polls margin of error.
Polt, when a guy as intellectually dishonest as Shane spews the crap that he does in your comment section all engaging him with facts (real facts and not his sort of made up facts) does is give him the opportunity to come back and spew more crap.
I know how hard it is to control the urge to try to educate people like Shane but by his comments he's indicated that he is the furthest thing from someone wanting an education -- in spite of the overwhelming evidence that he desperately needs one.
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