Meet the General

ATTENTION:

Fall in troops! Meet the General, a five star pig, who's just arrived on the election battlefield to represent the shape of the post-GIPper Republican Party. He's brandishing a killer new acronym and he's loaded full boar with side splitting campaign slogan ammo!

http://www.cafepress.com/melhi/5786389

Spread the word through the ranks.

At ease.
Dismissed.

It's My Party...

Recent events of nominal to no daily importance, have made me feel a need to make something about myself crystal clear... just for the sake of doing it.

I am a socially liberal to libertine, economically pro-labor progressive Democrat. ...And damned proud of it!!

I vote for Democrats.

I donate time, energy, skills and other resources to fielding and supporting my party's candidates, busting myths perpetuated about my party, raising funds for my party and our candidates and serving my party.

If I don't like one of my party's sitting politicians, I see it as a need for us to field a better candidate for that seat in our next primary, not as a reason to vote against everything I am by voting for a conservative.

I chose the Democratic party because it was and remains the best fit for who I already was and who I am, on my own... I don't bend to fit a party mold and I don't bend the party to fit me.

I won't support or vote for any candidate running on any conservative party's ticket and I won't support or vote for any conservative running on my party's ticket. I am not a conservative.

I will not vote for anyone who is too dishonest, too stupid or too wussy to run on the ticket of a party well-suited to his/her politics.

I will not support or vote for any single-issue, narrow-focus or axe-to-grind candidate.

I WILL support and vote for broad-focus liberal/progressive independents and liberal/progressive candidates running on the tickets of parties that are well suited to their politics when my party has failed to field a broad focus liberal/progressive candidate for that seat.

If there is no candidate suitable to my requirements in a candidate -- I abstain from voting in that race.

...And here's a fun fact for those of you who buy into the nauseating spin that the heartland is a wholesome conservative utopia while the west coast and upper north east are raunchy liberal hellholes -- this secular, liberal, progressive Democrat was born, bred and still resides in a small, rural county in America's heartland.

Gravel Exits Stage Left...and Stage Right...

I've been saying, since Gravel first blipped on my political radar, back in April of '06, when he became the first person of either major party to throw his hat into the 2008 ring, that I thought he might really lean more toward Libertarian than Democrat.

I got a heads-up, earlier today, that Mike Gravel is indeed officially switching parties from Democratic to Libertarian and will be making an announcement to that effect, today. (He may have already made it, by now.)

Not a big surprise. Left socially, Right economically... I think the Libertarian party will be a better fit for him.

So long and thanks for all the sales in my shops, Mike. (Curiously, to date, Gravel merch has far outsold Barack and Hillary merch, put together, in my shops.)

My Next Prez...

From Russ Feingold:

Today we are launching the "My President Will Be…" online campaign. As you will see, we put a different – and some might say slightly humorous – spin on an old Bob Dylan video, aimed at engaging the progressive community in a conversation about the qualities we want our next President to have. So take a look, forward to your friends, and upload your photos at www.ProgressivePatriotsFund.com today. Thanks so much for continuing to help move our country in a better direction.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
Honorary Chair
Progressive Patriots Fund

Here are my wishful thoughts... what are yours?


My next President will be...

on OUR side.

weilding OUR voices.

working around the clock to undo the damage that has been done.

above calling my love of country into question to draw attention away from his misdeeds.

honest and ethical.

the first to admit when (s)he's made a mistake.

actively and agressively putting Americans first.

rebuilding our gulf coast, instead of rebuilding Iraq.

bringing our troops home from Iraq.

making sure we repay the debt we owe our veterans and the loved ones our fallen veterans have left behind.

deeply respectful of the sacrifice our troops have volunteered to make for us.

bringing jobs back to the U.S.

well informed, intelligent and thoughtful.

aware that he is our peer representative and that he represents all of us, not just those who voted or who voted for him or who come from a specific state or make a certain amount of money, etc.

a man (or woman) who counts the phrases "We the People...," "Of, by and for the People..." and "E Pluribus Unum" among his/her most cherished pieces of the foundation of this country -- and who fully comprehends, embraces and incorporates into his/her job, the meaning behind those phrases.

well spoken.

adaptive.

honored to have been granted the rare privelege to represent us.

a Democrat with a spine... and a mouth... like me, like Senator Russ Feingold... like most of us.

Why I Like Dick

Dick Durbin has been impressing the hell out of me these last few years. I'm fortunate to have him representing me in the Senate, I was honored to meet him and have a few moments to speak with him, over the summer and I'm absolutely thrilled that he'll be our new Majority Whip. Every time he talks, I want to thank him for something he said that accurately echoed something I've been thinking or saying. I'd like to thank him for everything he said that was quoted in this article:

http://www.lincolncourier.com/story.asp?SID=3789&SEC=8

I couldn't have said it better, myself. Thank you, Mr. Durbin.