Perhaps this guy's sentiments don't resonate with everybody. Still, our efforts to promote Tim Kaine seemed to make sense to him. Maybe that's because the Democratic values that motivate us to promote Tim Kaine against Jerry Kilgore make sense to him?
For me, this is not a partisan fight, it is a fight for progress in our country. Right now, the United States has the tools and resources to create a bright future, but our leaders have no direction. Only on the state level do we see the kind of leadership it will take to return America to its old self again.
Here in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine have provided a glimpse into how well we can have it. They have succeeded despite the national failures occuring simultaneously. Meanwhile, Warner and Kaine were busy working to provide a better life for the citizens of Virginia, regardless of their politics. And while so many "politicians" were busy telling us how their ideas would make us successful, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine were putting policies into practice to actually create success! That's because Warner and Kaine actually stood FOR SOMETHING, unlike a certain Republican candidate who only appears interested in criticizing, whining, carping, and taking Virginia backwards after four great years of progress.
Whether or not you support President Bush, Jerry Kilgore is the best choice for Governor of Virginia.
It was great to see so many people concerned about the troops, so many who feel the need to speak out against the Lies, Corruption and Abuses of Mr. Bush's bizarre and demented directioneering.
I think that Katrina has really changed the dialog, and that while it was moving and exciting to be in that crowd, I think there's a much broader discussion to be had, and a much bolder leadership no necessary for the nation.
From NDN blog:
... the conservative strategy of reduce, borrow and spend has left America in one of the worst fiscal positions in our history. We simply do not have enough revenue to pay for everything we must do. In the very near term we will need to either dramatically raise revenue or drastically cut spending, or both. The spiraling costs of Iraq and now Katrina have made our fiscal conditions that much worse than anyone could have imagined.Our weakened financial position leaves us very little room to invest in helping struggling Americans regain their economic standing.
It's a new age in the nation. As those of us who have long been critical knew it would, the American Conservative Movement has failed to provide for the true needs of this American nation.
This was a memorable rally, but ultimately, I feel that it's time for a new direction for activism. What I saw today amounted to a massive mixture of anger, excitement, despair, frivolity, valuable support, unity, and undirected energy.
What this nation needs is a real movement to bring maturity and virtue into the discussion. Progressives need to stand up in local government. Progressives need to organize their time, their neighbors, their money, and their best expression of personal virtue into a cohesive movement to transcend failed American Conservatism and provide mature, forceful, and dare I propose, wise leadership for this country.
I saw a lot of tie-dies today. I saw a lot of excited people today. I would have liked to have seen busses set up to take them all to lick envelopes, make contribution calls, visit Senators... you know... real political action.
We can change the nation, and thereby the world, but it's going to have to happen by combining all of our greatest heart-felt poltiical courage, with steely-eyed political backbone.
Let's dance and chant in the streets every Saturday afternoon.
Every other day, let's fight to win.
That's grassroots organization they can take to the bank. I think protests can be fantastic morale boosters for us front-liners, but we've got to make this stuff count.
The other side fights to win. As defenders of social justice, playing hardball isn't shameful, it's our duty.
I'll never be convinced that protest marches are productive, but if they at least feed directly into, as you describe it, "real political action" then they can be a good use of time.
It you can't tell, I'm pretty darn frustrated of having to deal with the activist left. All noise, no work. They spend way more time WASTING the time of real campaign volunteers with their nonsense and then complaining and kvetching about this or that than they ever do helping anything get done.
I don't think it's right to dance and beat drums with a bunch of Socialists and wackos and then expect anyone in the country to take you or your concerns seriously.
Except abortion, where he takes money from companies that make medical abortion chemicals even while claiming to support a culture of life (though he can't seem to actually support DOING anything about abortion)?
Or education, where he claims to support it, but is running against the very budget that made it possible to fully fund it?
On transportation, where he bizarrely opposes his OWN PLAN to solve the problems: raising taxes?
Jerry Kilgore is a lightweight. Most people in the Republican party secretly rolled their eyes when it became clear that he was all they had. He's an awful nepo-hire from a corrupt political family machine in his home area.
We were separated at birth. :-) I wrote a screed on that for a blog I contribute to: Ripple of Hope.
The sadly necessary disclaimer: I write and think as an individual. No candidate - including my husband - should be assumed to believe exactly as I do. If you want his opinion on this issue, he'd be happy to talk about it.
It's great to know there are great people like you in the world.
We're going to rock the House in November. Literally.
We're going to rock all of VA in November--just believe it!
I completely and totally agree with you. My exhortation is to ensure that we do harness that energy for directed political action.
George Bush isn't listening, no matter how much people yell in the streets outside his door. The only way to effect change is to eliminate his power base in Congress and the Senate and to ensure that nothing like this Bush Blight ever infects the nation again.
That means getting Progressive Democrats elected at all levels of government. A Tim Kaine victory will send a powerful signal to the nation that even a largely red state like Virginia has had enough of Bush clones like Jerry Kilgore.
Are you saying that it's an insult to George W. Bush to say that Jerry W. Kilgore is a Bush clone?
ooo... I'd hate to insult Mr. Bush. Still, I'll stand by it.
Good! Though I hate to say this, but I think it may be actually praise (granted, probably in the faint variety) for Kilgore to call him a Bush clone...