Grayson
by digby
There are two groups in this country right now. I call those groups Us, and Them.
We want more jobs, better schools, better health, better pensions, and we want to keep our homes. We want not just jobs but jobs that mean something, jobs that pay a decent wage. We want to live a good life.
And then there’s them. They simply have one goal and one goal only. And that is to destroy the government. They’re not conservatives. They’re anarchists.
I don’t know why they want anarchy. In fact, they don’t know, either. Even they don’t know what kind of inner darkness causes them to seek wars without end, to burn the planet, to welcome poverty for so many, to leave the old and the sick helpless, to cheer oil in the Gulf. I’ve spoken to enough of them to be able to tell you that they themselves don’t know why.
But that’s what they want. So, now we have to decide who is going to run this country. Is it Us, or is it Them? And what’s at stake is the future. The future in a country that my five children will live in, that your children will live in, that you’ll live in for the rest of your life.
Are we going to have a country with a decent middle class life for everyone– jobs, health care, roads, schools? Or, are we going to have poverty, cheap labor, helplessness and hopelessness? The choice is yours.
Howie writes:
Congressman Grayson’s clip above is positively existential. It’s hard to believe it’s coming from a Member of Congress. Of course, it’s hard to believe there’s a Member of Congress of Alan Grayson’s calibre. And I get the feeling there are an awful lot of people in the Orlando area who know just how lucky they are. On the other hand, Alan has drawn a veritable circus sideshow of opponents, each one fringier and more insane than the other. Tomorrow is primary day in Florida and we’ll be watching with interest as a small number of disheartened and disillusioned Republicans pick over the 4th and 5th tier candidates hoping for the nomination– from Patricia Sullivan who (publicly) claims Sarah Palin as a role model, Dan Fanelli who proudly (and publicly) flies his racist flag for everyone to see, to the kook, Ross Bieling, who’s platform is impeaching President Obama and the hate talk radio guy, Todd Long, who was found passed out drunk one morning in front of a local elementary school to a state legislator, Kurt Kelly, who disgraced himself last month by interpreting Rep. Grayson’s efforts to bring the troops home to safety as wanting them to die and then to the feeble fave of the Establishment, Dan Webster, who’s best known for pushing a radical religious agenda that has included ending the right of divorce and introducing the legislation that started the whole tragic Terri Schiavo debacle. And on top of that the Florida TEA Party has nominated Peg Dunmire, someone even nuttier than that crew– well not nuttier than Fanelli– running as well.
I’m fairly sure that everyone who reads this blog knows how much I respect and admire Congressman Alan Grayson. He is one of the few Democrats who understands the polarized nature of our polity in 2010 and doesn’t shirk his responsibility to fight for our beliefs rather than obscure them.
Part of what makes that possible is the fact that Grayson has an army — us. But anyone who has his own national constituency is a powerful independent force that threatens the existing order. It’s why the Democratic Party gives money to corporate Democrats like Suzanne Kosmos in Grayson’s neighboring district so that she can run ads undermining Grayson’s progressive message in their shared TV market. (They give none to Grayson.)
But that’s also why Grayson can continue to speak the truth and operate independently from the corrupt system that’s killing our political culture — as long as we make up the difference.
Today’s the last day of a moneybomb his campaign launched a few days ago. Blue America has our own goal for Alan’s campaign, an even $50,000. As you can see from the thermometer on the right, we’re more than two-thirds there.
Please, if you only contribute to one campaign this year, it’s Alan Grayson who has earned that honor. he is our most powerful voice in the House of Representatives and if he wins re-election in his formerly Republican district in this year of Democratic paranoia, the message will be loud and clear — people want Democrats with guts.
Please join Howie, John and me in a live blogging session with Congressman Alan Grayson at Crooks and Liars at 10 am pdt, 1 pm edt.