Robert F Kennedy Jr. - "We Must Take America Back"

[understandinglife]

I look at this White House and I ask myself - and this may be unfair - but I ask myself a lot of times, how did they get so many draft dodgers in one place? You know, the president, Dick Cheney five deferments; John Ashcroft, six deferments. Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Tom DeLay, all of their buddies. Dennis Hassert, Rush Limbaugh, well, you know, there are a lot of people who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War and I know a lot of them.

Most of them did it because they had moral qualms about that war. But not these people.

These people love the war; they just wanted somebody else to fight it. And it occurs to me that the reason for that is that these are people who don’t understand the values that makes America worth fighting for. But America is worth fighting for and it’s worth dying for.

Those of us who know that it’s worth fighting for have to take it back now from those who don’t.

From We Must Take America Back by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on September 17, 2005

Link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705Z.shtml

Well. Well. Now that's clear.

And, no problem with 'name recognition.'

Please move to the front of the class, Mr Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Why don't you invite Senator Kerry, Dr Dean, President Clinton and Carter, to join you on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on September 24, 2005 and make exactly that statement.

I am sure our courageous Congressional leaders like Conyers, Waters, Slaughter, Boxer, Woolsey, Lee, and others would be willing to stand with you.

I suspect you might find that 10s of millions of Americans and most anyone else on the planet that's not brain-dead would support you, as well.


Peace.

[Pharaoh]

1. Bravo!!!

kicked and nominated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LETS ROLL!!!!!!!!:dem: :dem: :dem:

[TexanDem]

3. Hooray for RK for speaking up!

(recommended)

Where are these guys? Where are our leaders to speak out and we don't have to scour the web to find speeches. Why can't they get some air time and out front! I really want to hear from them, not hear those like Libermann and Donna Brazille and even Bill Clinton soft stepping. Don't we need some voices of outrage?

[Melodybe]

24. Bravo! I love those Kennedy men! RKJ makes me so proud

makes me wonder what the hell happened to Maria.

I wish she would leave Arnold, he is totally warping her.

Cheers to RKJ for living up to the family name.

[MelissaB]

2. Every time this man opens his mouth

I love and respect him more.

[90-percent]

9. rfk jr.

This speech should resonate with every good American remaining that cares about our country and the people currently in it, and those yet to be born.

Would be nice to leave the unborn with a better world. This guy sure makes it seem possible.

-85%

[MelissaB]

12. I wonder if he could be drafted to run for POTUS. The end of his speech

makes me think so.

[bluethruandthru]

13. I was thinking the same thing

He'd get my vote! Plain spoken and no punches pulled! Reading that speech you realize that he gets it...about everything! I can't imagine any "half-sane" Republican reading that and not totally changing their mind about bushco!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

33. At one point he was considering running for Atty. Gen of NY, and I

think he would win hands down if he did. When he decided not to,I was very disappointed. He has done tremendous work for the Hudson River, my River and I am so thankful for him for doing this.

[dcfirefighter]

4. right on, k&n, eom

[bluethruandthru]

5. Read the entire speech - Wow!

There's some amazing info in there! My favorite line is "80 percent of Republicans are just Democrats who don't know what's going on".

[ThingsGottaChange]

6. Great words

Now, please START DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Pleeease? Someone? Anyone? I don't think Amurka can take much more.

[understandinglife]

10. Welcome to DU. And, be assured, many of us are doing stuff, not ...

.... just posting at DU.


Peace.

[xkenx]

7. Yet Another Example

of A Dem. "Taking it to the Rethugs." If Kerry had had that attitude, he'd be POTUS now. NO MORE REPUBLICAN-LITE OR DINOs.
Who has "IT?"--It's Wes Clark, speaking truth to power.

[understandinglife]

8. "On The Coming Revolution" - DU Homepage. It's a good day. That ..

... Skinner posted TygrBright's essay on the same day that RFK Jr.'s essay appeared at Truthout should indicate to all that the time for status quo, dithering, business-as-usual is actually over:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/09/17_revolution.html

RFK Jr., understands exactly where we find America today:

Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Republican in our history, said during the height of the Civil War "I have the South in front of me and I have the bankers behind me. And for my country I fear the bankers more."

Franklin Roosevelt said during World War II that the domination of government by corporate power is "the essence of Fascism" and Benito Mussolini who had an insider’s view of that process said the same thing. Essentially he said that - he complained that Fascism should not be called Fascism. It should be called corporatism because it was the merger of state of corporate power.

And we what we have to understand as Americans is that the domination of business by government is called Communism. The domination of government by business is called Fascism.

And what our job is is to walk that narrow trail in between which is free market capitalism and democracy. And keep big government at bay with our right hand and corporate power at bay with our left.

In order to do that we need an informed public and an activist public. And we need a vigorous and an independent press that is willing to speak truth to power. And we no longer have that in the United States of America.

Link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705Z.shtml

We The People ... need to tell the corporatistas that their binge is over. And, everyone, they need us way, way, way more than we need them.


Peace.

[SharonRB]

11. Wow - just wow

I read about half of it. I'm thinking of never eating fish again, and I eat a lot of fish.

I knew it was bad, but it's all even worse than I thought. Bush and his cronies should all be thrown in jail.

[Lethe]

14. i love this quote

And where we’ve lost touch with the seasons and the tides and the things that connect us to the 10,000 generations of human beings that were here before there were laptops.

i just feel ashamed that we are letting this environmental tragedy happen. I feel ashamed that we as a nation used to be something great, and now, we are being dragged down by imcompetant leaders, which we are responsible for.

[90-percent]

32. USA used to be something great

When was that, exactly?

maybe late 1700's perhaps?

maybe 1946?

Please tell me more about when America was great?

-85%

[blue neen]

15. This was unbelievably powerful.

"Our greatest spiritual leaders, moral leaders and philosophers were telling the American people "You don’t have to be ashamed because you don’t have the 1,500 years of culture that they have in Europe because you have this relationship with the land and particularly the wilderness. That’s going to be the source of your values and virtues and character."

And now we have to be ashamed. The source of our values and virtues and character is gone.

[ellenfl]

16. you might want to leave clinton out of this one. eom

[understandinglife]

18. If he had the courage to stand with the others, it would add value.

Peace.

[ellenfl]

22. except that he was accused of draft dodging too. eom

[blue neen]

35. Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you read

the entire speech.

"I look at this White House and I ask myself - and this may be unfair - but I ask myself a lot of times, how did they get so many draft dodgers in one place? You know, the president, Dick Cheney five deferments; John Ashcroft, six deferments. Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Tom DeLay, all of their buddies. Dennis Hassert, Rush Limbaugh, well, you know, there are a lot of people who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War and I know a lot of them."

"Most of them did it because they had moral qualms about that war."

"But not these people."

"These people love the war; they just wanted somebody else to fight it. And it occurs to me that the reason for that is that these are people who don’t understand the values that makes America worth fighting for. But America is worth fighting for and it’s worth dying for."

"Those of us who know that it’s worth fighting for have to take it back now from those who don’t."


So, let's try to straighten this out. These people (Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Delay, Limbaugh, Perle) LOVE the war. They are making huge, insane, sinful profits from it. They lied to get us into it. They lie now about ever being able to exit it. They've told so many lies about it that they don't know where the last lie ended and the next one begins. They very probably committed treason in their lies to get us into Iraq.

All lies about an illegal war that has killed possibly over a hundred thousand innocent people. These people in this White House are to blame, but they don't even care about that. Death will come to those who stand in the way of their money.

Please tell me again how Clinton is relevant to the Bush White House Killing Spree.



This is one Democrat who knows it's worth fighting to take this country back.

[understandinglife]

17. "Republican lawmakers are using hurricane relief as an excuse to roll back

... environmental protections."

Capitalizing on Katrina

By Amanda Griscom Little

September 17, 2005

<clip>

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has expressed his intention to fast-track energy legislation this fall, according to Becker. "I heard from a Senate office there will be a new energy bill that Frist will try to move through Congress quickly in the coming weeks by taking it straight to a vote on the Senate floor, without having hearings first." Becker predicts that the bill will "seize on Katrina to expand domestic fossil-fuel production" and possibly attempt to lift the moratorium on oil drilling on Florida's outer continental shelf. If there is a CAFE component, says Becker, "it will act merely as window dressing to gussy up a massive handout to industry."

As for the Arctic Refuge, Frist already has that covered: Last Monday, he reiterated plans to complete a budget reconciliation bill by Oct. 26, which will include a proposal to lift the ban on drilling in the refuge. Only 51 votes will be needed because reconciliation bills are exempt from filibusters.

Still other environment-threatening proposals dropped from the pre-Katrina energy bill are making a comeback, including liability protection for producers of the gasoline additive MTBE and measures that would expedite the construction of new pipelines and terminals for liquefied natural gas. Oil lobbyists are also requesting tax relief and rollbacks on the US EPA's hard-won low-sulfur standards for diesel fuel used by trucks and buses, which are set to go into effect in 2006.

Kevin Curtis, vice president of National Environmental Trust, said the frenzy of new energy-related proposals reveals just how myopic the energy bill really was. "It's just astounding that not a month after the Republican leaders in Congress set into motion their much-ballyhooed 10-year plan to chart the course of America's energy future, the whole thing has been turned on its head," he said. "America can already look back and marvel that its supposedly forward-looking 'energy-security' plan couldn't stand the test of one hurricane."

Link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705A.shtml

Ravage even more of the environment in the face of evidence that that will only ensure more Katrina's, and worse.


Peace.

[Im with Rosey]

19. Take time to read every word

It is truly inspiring.

[understandinglife]

20. I agree. It is an exceptional statement.

I hope he would be one of the first to support an effort to convince Congressman John Conyers to declare his candidacy for President, soon.

FYI: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=23663&mesg_id=23663


Peace.

[Seansky]

21. I've heard several of his speeches (all fantastic) and still

can't understand why he hasn't yet come upfront as a leader. He really seem to have all the qualities...If you haven't yet, I strongly recommend listening to his past speeches and discussions. Very enlightening and invigorating.

[confludemocrat]

23. RFK Jr. has broad appeal, and an ability like his forebears to move us

I remember on his Air America show a right wing trucker called up and wanted to spew the usual stuff about Iraq and accusing those against the war of being unAmerican, when RFK Jr was done with him the guy was eating out of his hand, his rhetoric and the way he touched on his family history, reciting their ideals about serving and the meaning of being of service to the country in a real way.

I don't know what that might mean for 2008, but take heart people among progressives and liberals and just plain Democrats are some great people who can led us out of this most unprecedented of messes. He might be the one.

[chaz4jazz]

25. Anybody know what unit RFK jr served with?

I love the guy, don't get me wrong, but when you begin accusing others of not serving you better have a damn good excuse why your own ass isn't, or wasn't, in uniform.

Chaz - U S Army 61-63

[bushcrab]

27. thanks for your service but

RFK Jr has every right to call out against the hypocrites in this Administration who are sending troops off to fight THEIR war, to profit THEIR gang, regardless of his own service record. He's not the one forcing others, under the guise of American Patriotism, using our government to force others to risk their lives and souls for his own sake.

Haven't you heard, the reasons behind this war were based on their lies?

[bleever]

26. Rove calls him out. "No serious politican would show his face

at an anti-war rally":

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2097700


Maybe Karl shouldn't be challenging people right now.

[Patsy Stone]

29. Poor KKKarl...

He thinks what he has to say still matters to people.

Thanks for playing, Karl. We have some lovely parting gifts for you:



:)

[bleever]

34. LOL.

What, no home version of the game?

:)

[Patsy Stone]

36. I can't imagine what that box top would look like. :) n/t

[faithnotgreed]

28. heres to just that

[faithnotgreed]

30. kicking

[CrispyQ]

31. This is an outstanding piece!!!

I printed it & devoured it last night! I am sending paper copies to everyone I know, dem & repub. So many excellent points!

on edit: I'm going to post a copy in my breakroom as well.