The President Speaks To The People Of Tucson And The Nation

These are the prepared remarks by President Barack Obama for the Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona. The President often strayed from his remarks but this is what was written in advance.

"To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.

There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.

As Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders - representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation's capital. Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner" - just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday - they too represented what is best in America.

Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.

George and Dorothy Morris - "Dot" to her friends - were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together - about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again." When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.

Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion - but his true passion was people. As Gabby's outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved - talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fianc??©e, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, "We are so blessed. We have the best life." And she'd pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken - and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this - she knows we're here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.

And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.

These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned - as it was on Saturday morning.

Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations - to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness." Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.

So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

After all, that's what most of us do when we lose someone in our family - especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward - but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions - that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed - they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis - she's our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.

And in Christina...in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.

So deserving of our love.

And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America."

Paul Krugman Wrote This

Climate of Hate

By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: January 9, 2011

When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?

Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again. The Department of Homeland Security reached the same conclusion: in April 2009 an internal report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence.

Conservatives denounced that report. But there has, in fact, been a rising tide of threats and vandalism aimed at elected officials, including both Judge John Roll, who was killed Saturday, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. One of these days, someone was bound to take it to the next level. And now someone has.

It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate.

Last spring Politico.com reported on a surge in threats against members of Congress, which were already up by 300 percent. A number of the people making those threats had a history of mental illness — but something about the current state of America has been causing far more disturbed people than before to act out their illness by threatening, or actually engaging in, political violence.

And there’s not much question what has changed. As Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff responsible for dealing with the Arizona shootings, put it, it’s “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.” The vast majority of those who listen to that toxic rhetoric stop short of actual violence, but some, inevitably, cross that line.

It’s important to be clear here about the nature of our sickness. It’s not a general lack of “civility,” the favorite term of pundits who want to wish away fundamental policy disagreements. Politeness may be a virtue, but there’s a big difference between bad manners and calls, explicit or implicit, for violence; insults aren’t the same as incitement.

The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary.

And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.

And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Of course, the likes of Mr. Beck and Mr. O’Reilly are responding to popular demand. Citizens of other democracies may marvel at the American psyche, at the way efforts by mildly liberal presidents to expand health coverage are met with cries of tyranny and talk of armed resistance. Still, that’s what happens whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, and there’s a market for anyone willing to stoke that anger.

But even if hate is what many want to hear, that doesn’t excuse those who pander to that desire. They should be shunned by all decent people.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening: the purveyors of hate have been treated with respect, even deference, by the G.O.P. establishment. As David Frum, the former Bush speechwriter, has put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we’re discovering we work for Fox.”

So will the Arizona massacre make our discourse less toxic? It’s really up to G.O.P. leaders. Will they accept the reality of what’s happening to America, and take a stand against eliminationist rhetoric? Or will they try to dismiss the massacre as the mere act of a deranged individual, and go on as before?

If Arizona promotes some real soul-searching, it could prove a turning point. If it doesn’t, Saturday’s atrocity will be just the beginning.

The Republic Is Stronger Than Guns

We were getting ready for a house full of company this past Saturday, I had been checking in on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day just to keep in touch and distract myself from the cleaning and organizing. It had been an hour or two since I last checked in, I was completely unprepared for what I read this on my friend Hillary’s Facebook page “Gabrielle Gifford, the Democratic congresswoman apparently shot today, is on this list, her district in crosshairs”, and she then linked to an article about Sarah Palin targeting Ms. Gifford in the last election. I had never heard of Gabrielle Gifford so I was a little confused as to what my friend was referring to. I clicked over to a news site and gasped, I switched to another site just to confirm and it was true. A member of the United States House of Representatives, the people’s house, was shot at point blank range in the head by someone while talking to her constituents outside a neighborhood grocery store. Not only was she shot but by final count 19 others were shot and 6 in total were dead including a Federal Judge, a congressional staffer and a 9 year old girl who just happened to be born on 9/11/01.

Once I read a little about Congresswoman Gifford and the Sarah Palin rifle scope targeting of her I thought that my worst fears had come true, the thing that I dared not say out loud had happened. After the birthers, the angry and nearly violent town hall meetings, the gun toting to Presidential visits, the spitting on black Congressmen, the cutting the gas and power lines of a Congressman’s brothers house, the lies, the name calling, the calling for Second Amendment solutions to electoral failure, the calls for spilled blood and the hatred of all things government. I thought it happened, some crazed and exorcised person decided that all those shouts on the radio, all the misrepresentations and half truths spewed by Fox and all the lock and load talk had finally set someone over the edge. But, I still hoped I was wrong and that the shooting would just turn out to be some random act of a crazy person.

My Twitter timeline did not react with the same reserve that I was trying to show. My tweeps went there. Within minutes Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck were wholly responsible for the heinous act of terrorism. Calls were made for Sarah Palin to be arrested as an accomplice to murder. Beck and cohorts were called traitors and there were calls for eye for an eye.

It would have been easy to jump in and I did comment that the Sarah, Glenn and the oft married junky radio top talker have certainly played a part in stoking the fires of the right wing anger but I don’t think that there was enough information yet to lay this at their door step. The glove did not fit so we had to acquit. We had just learned the killer’s name and things were still very much in flux. I was still hoping that this was just a random act of crazy. We have since found out that it was not. This young man is unstable and a danger to society and it was not a random act, he had been stalking the Congresswoman for over 2 years.

Over the weekend the left kept up the drumbeat attacking right wing hate speech and that message was gaining a foothold. Today the right wing radio set tried to strike back but I think they have lost this battle for the last word. Their words have been no less bitter, no less full of violent innuendo and no less full of anger and blame than it was Friday afternoon. They refused to even acknowledge that Sarah Palin’s website post with the rifle sites were rifle sites. Whether this sick young man had a clear political philosophy will be learned throughout the process of bringing him to trial but right now I think we all just need to lay off the politics for awhile and mourn. We need to all pull back from the edge (myself included) and try to find a way back to a more civil discourse and debate.

Let us not delude ourselves the political discourse has never been reserved or all that civil. In fact it has been worse and gun violence has always played its part. We are nation born of revolution and we have had people use guns throughout our history. Two of our founders had a duel that ended with Aaron Burr killing Alexander Hamilton, a southern Congressman broke into the Senate chamber and pistol whipped a Senator. We have had 4 Presidents assassinated; Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. Both Presidents Roosevelt were shot at as were Truman and Ford who was shot at twice during his short term. Presidential candidates Robert Kennedy and George Wallace were victims of gun violence and civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were gunned down as were countless other high profile public leaders. In 1954 Puerto Rican separatists invaded the halls of congress and opened fire. Through all of these years and all through all these leaders’ violent deaths the change the assassin tried bring about never occurred. Shooting our leaders is not the answer to our problems and yet there are those who hide behind the protection of the second amendment and continue to try and will continue to fail.

Sorry Sarah, Sharon and Glenn lock and load does not work voting does.

Reading The Constitution

The Republicans wanted to read the Constitution into the congressional record on the first full day of the new session. It is just more political theatre and another example that style and image will always triumph over substance and hard work. It was also a brilliant move on their part because they knew how the Democrats would react; negative and small.

That is just how the Democrats acted. They rose to object and asked petty and small minded questions they tried to score political points with a small segment of their base by trying to mock this exercise. And, what happened; they played right into the hands of the media and the Republican apologists on talk radio and cable news. The headline was House Democrats Oppose Reading of the Constitution. This event would have gone largely unnoticed but except for the clumsy Democrats.

The Democrats should have just gone along with it. They should have joined in without comment. They should have stood in line to join the reading in a spirit of bi-partisanship. The Republicans were trying to prove they were more patriotic then the Democrats and the Democrats allowed them to do just that.

Everyone knew this was just more grandstanding and a really meaningless act and by trying to object the House Democrats further tarnished the perfectly honorable word of Liberal. Now the right wing in this country can point out that it was the Democrat Party who mocked and tried to diminish the importance of the greatest of all political documents. This is the document that that has held this great republic together since 1789. This is the document that a great civil war was fought over. This is the document that all who serves in the armed forces and hold public office pledge to defend. This is the document the Democratic Party objected to reading and being entered into the congressional record. If the party leaders are not embarrassed by this they should be, because this Democrat surely is.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.pdf

View From The Third Floor Update

For thoughts from a different part of my brain.

Thanks for supporting both sides.

http://blog.lehighvalleylive.com/view_from_the_third_floor/index.html

A Response To The Godfather

This became too long for the comment section so I have devoted an entire new posting to my friend.

Bernie -

1

I watched the tea party marches on cspan and followed media coverage and the crowds were full of angry white people saying really racist and hateful things about the President. The slogan they use "Take our country back" infers that the President is not an American. Who do they want to take their country back from? The fact that they say “Their Country” and not “Our Country” is telling of their lack of respect for him and shows they don’t believe he has the right to be Our President.

The Obama administration is referred to as a REGIME, which infers that they were not democratically elected but came to power by force. They use the expression "Not my President" agree with him or not he is our President. I was critical of those on the left when they used that expression against Bush. You will find no one who opposed President Bush more than I did and yet I always referred to him as the President. Because he was my President, he was the nations President.

They make wild accusations about his background; they compared his wife to a gorilla and let’s not forget a local Catholic Church allowed his likeness to be shot at as a fundraiser.

Never has a Presidents birth come into the debate but it did when a black man was elected President.

Are all tea party people racist? No. I am sure that Jake Towne and Rand Paul are not but I need some proof and convincing that that this "anger" at Washington which did not exist when GWB was ruining the economy and busting the debt ceiling is not race based.

2

I did not say Dent was a right wing extremist. I was wondering which Charlie Dent was going to be representing us. He has been all of those things I described.

3

Dent has no real record of accomplishment; no legislation of note bears his name either in DC or Harrisburg.

4

Dent has to earn my respect back. He ran a vile and negative campaign last year. He never ran one ad that talked about his record and what successes can be attributed him. He won by destroying Callahan's reputation rather than telling us why he had earned our support.

5

Dent's votes during the lame duck session were more like the Dent of old not the Dent of the last two years spent carrying the water for John Boehner.

6

To say I would not hold my own against Dent assumes knowledge of me that you do not possess so I am curious as to where that came from.

7

I am not one of those who made those types of remarks about Condi Rice and was harshly critical of those who did. In fact I think Condi Rice was not given a fair shake because of her association with GWB. I think if she had served a more enlightened President she could have been one of our great foreign policy minds.

Racism, sexism, homophobia is wrong and I will always speak out against it no matter who the moron is uttering it.

All are welcome to follow me no matter what avatar or handle they use. His name is not one that I would choose to use but as my old Irish grandmother used to say. “To each his own”.

I have to admit it was not one of my more positive and affirming blog postings but I stand by it.

I don’t understand your wild and blind affection for Charlie Dent he seems to be the antithesis of who you are.

And, as always Bernie thank you for reading me and thank you for all you did for me in the beginning with promoting by little rant center. You will always be my blog Godfather and I am grateful for your support.

You can reach Bernie's blog by hitting the Lehigh Valley Rambling tag on the right side of the page.

A Few Thoughts and Opinions

I have been a lazy blogger as of late but that does not mean I haven’t been thinking about things. I have just been too lazy to sit down and put pen to paper (so to speak). Here are few things I would have commented on had not been such a slug.

Election 2010

*I am proud of the fact that I never voted for Arlen Specter but now that Pat Toomey is going to represent me in the U.S. Senate, Arlen is looking better. I know PA is a pretty conservative state but didn’t we just toss one reactionary out of the Senate 4 years ago? Pat Toomey is just a smarter less charming version of Little Ricky Santorum.

Charlie Dent is a harmless amiable nothing but Pat Toomey has an agenda and the intelligence to try to achieve it.

*Speaking of Charlie Dent; it turns out I was more bothered by John Callahan’s defeat than I originally thought I was. I went out to lunch on Election Day with my friend Silagh and she expressed concern over my well being if Callahan lost. I just brushed her off by saying that since my first campaign was McGovern in 1972 I was not only used to losing but immune to the negative after effects of it. I was wrong.

I really like Mayor Callahan and think he would have been an excellent Congressman. I agreed with his positions, I think his personal story is admirable and I find the joy he takes in campaigning, politics and governing quite engaging. I still believe his future is limitless and he will go on to great things and higher office if he so chooses. I look forward to assisting him in future campaigns.

*Which Charlie Dent will we see during this next term? The John Boehner lap dog. The arch Conservative suck up. The do no harm nice guy who has no serious legislative accomplishments. The social and fiscal moderate. Let me know what you think and the person closest to the reality will win a super terrific prize.

*I wonder if the tea bagger crowd will be as impatient with the GOP controlled house as they were with the Democrats. I will always believe that much of the impetus for the tea party movement is race based. If this President looked more like me I don’t think the anger would be as fierce.

*Now the GOP leadership must lead instead of just saying no. I look forward to see how the GOP in the Senate deals with the bills coming out of the GOP House of Representatives.

*In Pennsylvania the Republicans own it all. I wonder if the right wing fringe will hold them accountable or will they give them a lot room to maneuver.

The United States Senate

*This formerly august body is the home of 100 of the most egomaniacal, ponderous, lazy, self involved nit wits ever to have graced the planet. These people to a person believe that they are entitled to privileges far greater than they are worthy of or have earned. They accomplish very little, they don’t work hard and they think every word that comes out of their mouths is a pearl of wisdom. They don’t care about the greater good they only care about their very narrow view of the world. Granted the Senate has always had some of these types but now they are the overwhelming majority. Even those with whom I share political views are intellectual light weights.

When the founding fathers created the Senate they planned for its members to be more deliberative and thoughtful and to take a more national view of issues. The founders expected the states to send to Washington their most honorable and distinguished citizens to sit in the Senate. That didn’t really work out to well did it? I find myself humming “Where have all the Statesmen gone?” to the tune of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” You know they have to be an awful bunch if the Chief Justice has taken the unusual step of criticizing them in public.

John McCain

*Speaking of the Senate, the biggest disappointment has been the unforgivable behavior of John McCain. He has become such a bitter and cranky old man I am having a hard time remembering the McCain we were all fond of in 2000 and how he stayed above the race baiting fray during the 2008 campaign. He was the nominee of his party, he will be in the history books and yet he acts like a hack politician. I understand the pain of defeat and not having your dream achieved but his behavior will leave him as little more than a foot note in history.

When Teddy Kennedy lost to Jimmy Carter and he realized that he would never become President he set about to become the best Senator in the business and he died with his reputation restored and as a beloved figure in the country. When Jimmy Carter was defeated he created the Carter Center and has set out to bring peace and democracy around the world. When Richard Nixon was tossed out of office he wrote a series of serious and thoughtful books and at the end of his life was treated as and elder statesmen. When Hubert Humphrey lost in 1968 he returned to the Senate and continued the fight for social justice and was beloved by all of his colleagues. When Al Gore was denied the White House he set out to clean the world and in course won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. But, John McCain has become a snarky and petty critic of this President, he has changed his mind on many key issues of the day and has lurched so far to the extreme right, I doubt even his 2008 campaign manager would recognize him. I would feel sad for what John McCain has become but he has made the choice to take the low road at the end of his career. Charles G. Dawes will be held in better regard by history then John McCain will be.

Wiki leaks

*What did we learn?

The President of France is thin skinned, self absorbed and has a huge ego. Shocking

The Arab leaders want us to do all the dirty work and shut down Iran. Shocking

Col. Gaddafi hangs out with sexy European women. Shocking

Prime Minister Putin is the real power in Russia and is a control freak. Shocking

Chancellor Merkel is efficient, proficient and fairly humorless. Shocking

There were many more shocking revelations but on the whole it all seemed to be much ado about nothing. Many of the things probably should not have been marked top secret in the first place.

Just as the New York Times needed to be protected when they published the Pentagon Papers the Wiki leak people need to be protected now. The First Amendment to the US Constitution trumps all other issues. If US troops were put in danger then I would be concerned but they were not. Perhaps our diplomats should be more diplomatic in their communications.

Elizabeth Edwards

*I was saddened to learn of her death she was an eloquent spokes person for health care reform and she appeared to be a class act. But during the media coverage of her death and as many placed her on a pedestal I went back and read the John Edwards campaign section of Game Change. It was not very flattering, she comes off as manipulative, controlling and the real brains behind the campaign. The book also contends that she knew of the affair before the campaign really took off and chose to hide this damaging information from the campaign staff and volunteers. She was the chief enabler to a very superficial John Edwards. Having said that I think if she had lived she would have become a leader for Liberal causes in her own right and possibly a cabinet member in a future Democratic administration.

DADT

*The Presidents approach was right. Congress wrote the law and for the change to be embraced more fully by the citizens Congress had to change the law. Had it been left up to the courts the reaction would not have been as positive. The courts moved the civil rights movement along faster than congress did but once congress acted with President Johnson’s support the majority of the American people came along. In order for our system of 3 equal branches to work fully laws must come from the people’s representative not from the courts or executive order.

Sarah Palin

*I am not going to waste your time by commenting on this fame whore. Charlie Dent has more substance.