Conyers: Return from Fighting BobFest

[paineinthearse]

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000235.htm

Blogged by JC on 09.11.05 @ 03:48 PM ET

Return from Fighting BobFest

I just returned from the "Fighting Bobfest" in Barbaroo, WI. I was incredibly gratified by the size and spirt of the crowds, and we had great speakers.

If we can show this much strength in a rural community in the heart of a swing state, and we can keep this up over the next 14 months, we will be able to take back one or both houses of Congress and finally restore some accountability in 06. I am trying to get some audio and other feeds on the event to post. In the meantime, here is an excellent editorial in the Madison Capital Times to peruse on my involvement in the event.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=53656&ntpid=1

Editorial: We gather to dissent

An editorial
September 10, 2005

Robert M. La Follette's greatest Senate oration, delivered during World War I, was an oration on the necessity - not the right, mind you, but the necessity - of dissent during wartime. Speaking in a moment when he and other war critics faced threats and recrimination for addressing issues of administration accountability, war profiteering and unmet needs on the home front, La Follette began by reading a letter from a federal judge who, noting the attacks, observed:

"I have been greatly depressed by the brutal and unjust attacks that great business interests have organized against you. It is a time when all the spirits of evil are turned loose. The Kaisers of high finance, who have been developing hatred of you for a generation because you have fought against them and for the common good, see this opportunity to turn the war patriotism into an engine of attack. They are using it everywhere, and it is a day when lovers of democracy, not only in the world, but here in the United States, need to go apart on the mountain and spend the night in fasting and prayer.

"I still have faith that the forces of good on this Earth will be found to be greater than the forces of evil, but we all need resolution. I hope you will have the grace to keep your center of gravity on the inside of you and to keep a spirit that is unclouded by hatred. It is a time for the words, 'with malice toward none and charity for all.' It is the office of great service to be a shield to the good man's character against malice. Before this fight is over you will have a new revelation that such a shield is yours."

La Follette kept his center of gravity, denouncing the political and media elites of the day for "conducting this campaign to throw the country into a state of terror, to coerce public opinion, to stifle criticism, and suppress discussion of the great issues involved in this war." The senator from Wisconsin would not be coerced. And he urged his fellow Americans to join him in resisting the suppression of dissent. "The right to control their own government according to constitutional forms is not one of the rights that the citizens of this country are called upon to surrender in time of war," La Follette declared. "More than in times of peace it is necessary that the channels for free public discussion of governmental policies shall be open and unclogged. I believe, Mr. President, that I am now touching upon the most important question in this country today - and that is the right of the citizens of this country and their representatives in Congress to discuss in an orderly way frankly and publicly and without fear, from the platform and through the press, every important phase of this war, its causes, the manner in which it should be conducted and the terms upon which peace should be made."

more....

[sybylla]

1. Thanks for posting this

I'm glad to hear he is as heartened by the fest as I have been the last four years. There is an energy there I have felt no where else that is impossible to describe.

And John Conyers - he was inspiring!

[FreedomAngel82]

4. I'm glad to hear some good news

I still have doubts that we will take back the government and right what's wrong and get justice. Hopefully it can happen. Things do feel a little different but still not totally convienced yet. Bush's approval raitings are good news. I just hope people go out and vote. I think all we have to do now is just get people to the polls and convience them, at least just this once, to vote democratic and straight democratic.

[paineinthearse]

2. There is some discussion of Fighting BobFest in the Wi forum

Go there for firsthand observations.

[faithnotgreed]

3. it is amazing what this man is doing

he is everywhere and one of the few really fighting with truth and compassion
in such a gentle way too

[ProudDad]

5. Another link on Conyer's site

How bush blew it...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/

I like this last paragraph -- reminds of the good old days in May, 1945 in Berlin...

"Late last week, Bush was, by some accounts, down and angry. But another Bush aide described the atmosphere inside the White House as "strangely surreal and almost detached." At one meeting described by this insider, officials were oddly self-congratulatory, perhaps in an effort to buck each other up. Life inside a bunker can be strange, especially in defeat."

[paineinthearse]

8. Posted seperately

Often Conyers will talk about 2, 3 or more topics in one blog entry. I've found DU'ers digest it when split into seperate posts.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2082729&mesg_id=2082729

[autorank]

6. He was a great man; Conyers is a great man; who are the great people of

the future...let's make sure we are the people we've been waiting for!

[paineinthearse]

7. self-delete