I just sent this to Biden, Obama and Richardson

DancingBear

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Thu Jun-09-05 07:10 PM
Original message

I just sent this to Biden, Obama and Richardson

Edited on Thu Jun-09-05 07:22 PM by DancingBear

(This is the Biden letter- slight modifications to the other two. Also, a HUGE thank-you to DU'er maxrandb for compiling the quotes used within).

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June 9, 2005

Senator Joseph Biden
201 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Biden,

Recently, you made a comment (paraphrasing here) that DNC Chairman Howard Dean “does not represent my views.” If you will allow me, please let me state for your consideration why he represents mine.

I am a 51 year-old white male, married for 30 years, financially secure and looking forward towards an early retirement. I am, to be kind, as average as they come. You would not find me standing out in a crowd, nor singled out for attention. I am, however, willing to lend my voice, my time, and my resources when needed. I (proudly) supported Wes Clark for President in 2004, and when others chose Kerry instead I went to work, culminating in being on the ground in Ohio on Election Day. I saw firsthand what passes for fair elections in this nation, and I was sickened by it. As I watched you and your brethren stare dirty laundry square in the face and pronounce it ready to wear, I knew then that the Democratic Party – MY Democratic Party – needed help.

We needed, pardon the pun, to kick a little elephant. Hard. We needed someone to come in, look at the status quo, and with a resounding cry categorically state that we ain’t doin’ it this way no more. No how. No way. As I watched the contenders vie for the DNC position, I was struck by Mr. Dean, and the words kept creeping into my lexicon. Fight back. First a little tiny voice, then one that got louder with each passing day. Fight back. Yes, I thought, that’s it. THAT’S what we need. I thought back to my time in New Hampshire during primary season, and the message being spread by both Clark and Dean – “if you build it, they will come.” Grassroots. Local strength. Build the new Democratic Party from County Clerk to County Sheriff, and from City Counsel to Senate. Build it with the beliefs that you feel from the very heart of what makes you who you are. Stand up for who you are, and for what you believe in, and when bold words need to be said then say them.

Senator, have you listened to any Republicans lately? I’m guessing, judging by your comments re: Dean, that you haven’t, save for the interactions in the Senate chamber. Well, here’s what they say:

"Making election day a national holiday won't help Dems much because most of their voters don't work anyway". - Rush Limbaugh

“Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problems socializing with the Republicans. Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they've been fixed, then they are happy and sedate." – Grover Norquist

"To angry Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy, terrorists and militia aren't responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers, their commander-in-chief is. And our servicemen and women, in putting torture chambers 'under U.S. management,' are no different than a regime that systematically tortured, raped and killed its own people. The San Francisco/Boston Democrats led by John Kerry have now adopted Blame America First as their official policy."
– Ed Gillespie

“Go f*#k yourself” – Dick Cheney

Nice, isn’t it? What it is, for those wanting to know, is a systematic bludgeoning of the Democratic Party by people who, quite frankly, could give a tinker’s damn what anyone thinks. Attack, attack, attack, then when all else fails attack again. Pardon me for going out on a limb here, but logic dictates that when facing an attack, the options are two-fold 1) retreat or 2) fight back. Unfortunately, you have picked a third option, the dreaded “make nice”, which so far has yielded the following spectacular results: Republican control of the House, Republican control of the Senate (doesn’t what they did to Max Cleland just make you all aglow?), a twice “selected” President (doesn’t the fact that both Ohio and Florida were delivered by Secretaries of State who led the Bush campaign make you want to look into election reform just a little bit?), right-wing judges trampling the Constitution, theocracy front and center as a governing model, and 1600 plus of the next generation lying 6 feet below the rest of the world.

With all this, you have decided that the person to take to the woodshed is Howard Dean? Fascinating – I’d love to know why. Is it perhaps because that he has decided (to the cheers of the millions of us) that your way has not worked, and that a change of tactics should be tried?

With all due respect, Senator, your view is wrong. Governor Dean has learned from the Reagan legacy, he has seen how speaking with one voice has yielded Republican rule. He has watched them make the word “liberal” into a word of scorn, and derision, and he has decided that enough is enough. He has watched the DLC wing of this party make this party a shell of it’s former self, as it attempts to out-right the right. He listened to the hundreds of thousands of us at the grassroots level who pleaded with him to bring this party home to FDR and JFK. Most importantly, he decided that after all these many years that fighting back works, and that a bully is only a bully for as long as you let him.

“He takes one of yours to the hospital, you take one of his to the morgue” – we all know the line so well. It is the Republican playbook, and it is front and center for all to see. While I am sure that civility rules in the Senate, it is clear that frontier justice holds court everywhere else. Perhaps if you come out of the Senate Saloon you will see what so many of us know to be true. It is a gunfight, and we have been unarmed for so long that we have forgotten how to fight. You ask us to fall for the pretty face, and we never see the derringer until it is too late.

You see, while we like beauty as much as the next person, we decided that what we really need is a sheriff. We gave him a gun, and we asked him to clean the place up. Don’t yell at him if it gets a little noisy – it is, after all, How The West Was Won.

Sincerely,

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