my day with the Dems

[welshTerrier2]

(this was cross-posted in the Massachusetts forum)

this was quite a morning ... my state Senator organized a day for all of the statewide candidates to speak to those elected as delegates to the state convention in my part of the state ... the messages from several speakers were messages not only for Massachusetts but for the national party as well ...

leading off was my absolute favorite elected politician, my Congressman, Jim McGovern ... for those who don't know, Jim was arrested yesterday for protesting the genocide in Darfur in front of the Sudanese embassy ... why wasn't every elected Democrat right there with him? this is the kind of real leadership and deep commitment to principles we should expect from all of our leaders ...

McGovern's first line: "I want to thank my parole officer for allowing me to be here today." ... McGovern said he stood up because standing up against genocide has to be a core principle of our party ... he said that "if there are no principles, there is no Democratic Party." ... "We just can't be against things." ... "I did it because 400,000 have died in Darfur and it will be one million by the end of the year if we don't intervene." ... for those unfamiliar with Jim, i can tell you he's the real deal ... hopefully, he'll be our next Senator or a future governor some day ...

Next up, Chris Gabrieli ... he was our last (unsuccessful) nominee for Lt. Governor ... I hadn't heard him speak before ... Chris is a very, very personable candidate ... he had some genuinely great ideas about creating jobs in the state and helping the Massachusetts economy ... he talked about encouraging some of the state's private pension funds to "invest in Massachusetts" ... focussing on what should be a national theme, Gabrieli said that "people have stopped believing that either party will actually get something done to make their lives better." ... he said that we have to reach out to independent voters (and non-voters) in a less partisan way ... he said the political process has become long on promises but has not convinced people that we can implement common sense solutions to the problems we face ...

after Chris, Deval Patrick spoke ... Patrick is as smooth as they come ... he has overwhelming support of convention delegates to this June's nominating convention ... if his opponents, Reilly and Gabrieli, don't get at least 15% of the delegate vote, they won't be listed on the primary ballot ... they may or may not make it ...

Patrick is a rousing speaker ... like Gabrieli, he's able to very effectively connect with people ... again, focussing on the theme of this thread beyond only Massachusetts Democrats, Patrick said "we seem to leave a lot of democracy to 'insiders'" ... he said that "dissatisfaction with the current party in power is not enough to ensure a Democratic victory NOR SHOULD IT BE." ... Patrick said voters "are all hungry to have leadership that tells us the truth." ... he said that "politics has become a total turn-off for many, many people." ... "we who are politically involved spend all our time talking about HOW TO WIN elections when everybody else is asking WHY WE DESERVE TO WIN." ...

and finally, Martha Coakley spoke ... Martha is running for Attorney General and has no opponent in the primary ... I add her here because of the cute little joke she told about bush ... it's been posted on DU before but it's well worth repeating ...

bush sees a little girl standing just outside the WH and goes out to speak with her ... the little girl is holding a box of newborn kittens ... bush tells her how cute her kittens are and the little girl proudly announces that her kittens are all republicans ... five weeks later, bush sees the same little girl outside the WH and decides to show off for a few dignitaries who were visiting him ... he takes them out to meet the little girl and her kittens ... the little girl says hello and then proudly announces to bush's guests that these are her kittens and that they are all Democrats ... bush is stunned ... he says "i thought you told me before that they were all republicans?" ... the little girl responds "that was before they opened their eyes."

[AtomicKitten]

1. I never heard the kitten story before.

It is priceless!!!