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They will try to Wellstone Ted Kennedy. Don't let them.

by: Rosi Efthim

Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 03:45:14 PM EDT

Not too long ago, there was a conversation between some of us political bloggers; it went on across the country and across state lines. We talked about this: How long do you think it will be before somebody on the right takes Ted Kennedy's memorial service, and what will inevitably be said there, and trashes it like they did Paul Wellstone's?

That struck me. I count two things as the engines behind everything I'm doing in politics right now. Howard Dean's What I want to know ... speech. And the massive arena celebration of the lives of Paul & Sheila Wellstone. Sen. Wellstone was not perfect; he was not angelic. But what he was, was brave. An ordinary, everyday guy with a Minnesota Senate seat.

Ted Kennedy was a very different guy. Tried most of his life to connect with the ordinary. And you bet there's going to be an effort to remind grieving congressional Democrats that health care was the cause of Kennedy's life. They'd better damn well pass it. And there's no way the right will not challenge that.

The answer to that question - How long? - is now. Today, Rush Limbaugh ridiculed Wellstone's memorial, that arena brimming with people who knew early that change was coming, and there was work to be done. Forward-thinkers, progressives, and fearless local organizers. There was more loss, and backlash, before there was winning. But that memorial - those people, those speeches - meant everything to me. And I can't just sit and listen to what was just said on the radio, without saying this:

Paul Wellstone didn't die. Not like they wanted him to.

He's now called Wellstone Action.
He's called Democracy for America.
You can call him the 2008 Senate, House & White House, if progressive.
He's called Barack Obama. Called Michelle Obama. Aim higher, he'd say.
He is called first-time voters, and change.
Canvasser. Phonebanker. Local organizer.
He's called Organizing for America. PDA.
Union.
They call him janitor, and educator, and factory worker. New immigrant.
He is called the Congressional Black Caucus, and Progressive Caucus.
He's the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and those who didn't made it.
He's a first-time candidate, who thinks politics isn't about winning, it's about improving people's lives.
He's not going to let up on Marriage Equality.
He demands the public option.
He's called the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.
And he's called 50-State Strategy.
He is called Loretta Weinberg.
Paul Wellstone is called Senator Al Franken now.

And he's called Blue Jersey.

Take that, Rush Limbaugh. You disrespectful son of a bitch.

Rosi Efthim :: They will try to Wellstone Ted Kennedy. Don't let them.

Tags: public option, health care, DFA, Democracy for America, Howard Dean, PDA, Organizing for America, Union, Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus, hurricane katrina, featured, Loretta Weinberg, 50-state strategy, Rush Limbaugh, Ted Kennedy, (All Tags)

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They will try to Wellstone Ted Kennedy. Don't let them. | 11 comments

Rush Limbaugh... (4.00 / 1)

...is a herpesore of a humanbeing.

Jay_Lass on Twitter.

by: Jay Lassiter @ Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 17:35:00 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Jay (4.00 / 1)

Really, really ugly-assed visual.

But that really made me laugh. And I needed that laugh!

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 17:38:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bravo! (4.00 / 1)

Very well said, Rosi. Very well said.

by: Jim33 @ Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 18:23:07 PM CDT

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Thank you, Jim. n/t (0.00 / 0)

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 18:37:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's The Spirit Rosie! (0.00 / 0)

Wellstone and Kennedy aren't dead...not so long as the heart and soul of progressive ideas and ideals live on....through those of us willing to pay the price of whatever it takes to make the changes they lived and died for.

Folks like Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich may seem to be two very different characters; but when it comes to uniting around our common human decency we all stand as one in opposing the sheer fear filled perversity that is spewed by the legions of hell that follow the lies of the like's of Limbaugh.

The corporate/establishment media is spinning Kennedy's loss as if his deams and missions have died with him and his like will never be seen again; that's bullshit.

We, each one of us, has the possibility of choosing to dedicate our lives to the cause of bringing people together in a practical politics of love.

Each of us has specific skills, talents, possibilities and experiences that we can bring to the kitchen (......if not to the head of the table....) that no one else has.

Let us work together to joyfully achieve our common aims and to manifest our common humanity.

Edward Kennedy: Rest in Peace...

by: Nick Lento @ Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 22:14:14 PM CDT

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He is also called.... (4.00 / 1)

.....she.

Jay_Lass on Twitter.

by: Jay Lassiter @ Sat Aug 29, 2009 at 10:16:33 AM CDT

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Exponentially (0.00 / 0)

I just uprated that. It only goes up to "4."

If I could uprate exponentially, I would. Thank you for that.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Sat Aug 29, 2009 at 13:50:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Watching the Senator's Funeral ... (0.00 / 0)

... on a raiiny Saturday morning, and sitting here amazed at what he obviously planned. A line of "next generation" Kennedy family members, each taking his or her place at the pulpit to read a portion of the "prayer of the faithful", which is a series of intercessory prayers written for the particular Mass. They used excerpts from Ted Kennedy's speeches and writings as the prayers, to which the response from the assembled congregation is "Lord Hear Our Prayer".

So, Ted Kennedy himself included prayers for justice, equality, and health care reform in his own funeral, to which the assembled Democrats and Republicans had to respond, "Lord Hear Our Prayer".

Good job. Makes the Limbaughs of the world look as petty and small as they really are.

by: Cautious Man @ Sat Aug 29, 2009 at 10:52:23 AM CDT

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Lord, hear our prayer. (0.00 / 0)

You're right. That escaped me till you pointed it out. That's a fine bit of bipartisanship he arranged.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Sat Aug 29, 2009 at 14:00:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rush Limbaugh (0.00 / 0)

It truly does not matter what Rush Limbaugh or others say in ridicule of Ted Kennedy.

It is what history says that will matter the most. Ted Kennedy will probably be listed amongst the very few great Senators of our Nation- If not the greatest of them all. In his lifetime he achieved more legislatively than any other person in changing the course of our nation and meeting the needs of the people. He was a voice for the silent, the Champion of the down trodden, The Standard Bearer who carried the burden of a legacy and a vision.

Rush Limbaugh and the other hatemongers are just that- hatemongers- people that exist in a moment of time, and then are gone from the history books. They are very, very small people in comparison to those who move a nation forward and change that nation forever.

Rush Limbaugh and all those like him will have their moment in the sun. But 100 years from now, they will be non-existent in the history books- they will fade away into nothingness- But Sen Edward M. Kennedy will remain and his legacy will live on.

by: liz @ Sun Aug 30, 2009 at 11:56:48 AM CDT

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Sadly, he does matter. (0.00 / 0)

Liz,
You're right that history will judge Ted Kennedy wise and just.

But it's now that matters. The GOP's in struggle to find its voice, and its leader. In the absence of leadership it cleaves to Rush Limbaugh, who is an effective Pied Piper.

They went after Wellstone's memorial for a reason - they wanted to discredit the call to end the war. And, though people are hipper to it now, that's the reason to go after Kennedy, and his mourners - so they can discredit the call for health care reform.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.

by: Rosi Efthim @ Sun Aug 30, 2009 at 12:18:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]