Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thelma and Louise, Not Just a McConnell Story



Dear Senator McConnell:

Several times over the last few days, I’ve heard clips of your Thelma and Louise comments. It’s embarrassing enough to hear your ridiculous, mostly untrue statements the first time. I still suffer a bit of PTSD over the static cling comments about a decade ago. Living with media repeats is torture and, unlike you and your party, your sane constituents don’t like torture. There’s a slight possibility that sharing my own Thelma and Louise story with you might be therapeutic, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

Debra was a Face Book friend first. We met in a support group for people who were suffering the devastation of having to live with your sidekick, Rand Paul. Adding Rand Paul to Mitch McConnell was very much like adding the secondary diagnosis of chronic fatigue to my already existing rheumatoid arthritis. I needed support.

After Rand Paul hired goons to stomp heads and refused to accept responsibility for that disgraceful decision, Debra and I met in person when we drove to Lexington together to attend the head stomper’s trial. In case you haven’t had the experience, it is such a pleasure to finally meet someone you have only communicated with on paper or via the internet, and discover that the real person behind the written word is every bit as intelligent, generous, passionate, and warm as you expected. (Seriously, you should agree to meet Debra and me sometime. Seriously – as in not pretending that you are finally willing to meet with everyone by scheduling a Tea Party event outdoors on the Capital steps where we have to risk our reputations or lives in order to maybe get to ask you a question that you can ignore in person.)

One of the big bonuses with Debra was that in addition to intelligent, generous, passionate, and warm, she is also lots of fun. We jumped into her cute little red car and cruised down the highway, chatting and laughing as though we’d known each other forever. Along the way, we phoned two more allies we were to meet in Lexington. It was almost like a party.

Excitement mounted as we neared our destination. When I neglected my map duties to check the posters in the back seat, Debra made a wrong turn. We laughed as we ended up in a parking lot with a one-way lane to an exit that would lose us even more. She looked at me and said, “Well, Thelma, do we break the law or go off the cliff?”

I said I wanted to be Louise, and I was okay with breaking the one-way parking lot law. She agreed and turned the car around.

Okay. I know my Thelma and Louise story has nothing to do with economics. But it is fun and honest so I beat you on at least two points. Your Thelma and Louise story is a dishonest pretense at a discussion about economics and it is neither fun nor honest. 

Debra and I survived our wrong turn, made it to court, got a television interview, and got back home safely. I don’t think your trip over the cliff will end successfully. You see, Senator McConnell, at this point in the game, going over that cliff won’t hurt most of us at all.

But it will hurt you.

Hoping you put the pedal to the metal so we can be free of you,

Sandy




Wednesday, November 28, 2012

#My2K



Dear Senator McConnell:

I would like to thank you for the great laugh today. Usually, when I hear or read your words, I cuss and want to cry. But, your response to President Obama’s appeal to THE American People to let our representatives know what $2,000 means to us by phone, mail, Face Book message, or Tweet (#My2K) made me laugh. Out loud, for quite some time.

Do you not realize how foolish you look? After all this time that you have incorrectly and inappropriately presumed the right to speak for THE American People, you criticize President Obama for actually listening to us, campaigning for what we wanted, winning the election, and now letting us know he is still willing to listen? Are you crazy? There’s not much else to think when your statements are so absolutely baffling.

Please, stop the games. You lost. You lost big time. THE American People (at least the majority of us) have spoken. We want the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy to expire but those for the middle class to continue. Convince your party to do the left thing for once.

Pleasantly Surprised For Once,

Sandy

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Next Up: Getting Rid of Mitch McConnell





I started this campaign the day after Mitch McConnell barely won his last race. Now that we have the 2012 election behind us, we can focus our attention on this important goal.

I was prepared to beg George Clooney to come home and run against Mitch in 2016. And then, I met someone else who I thought could easily beat Senator McConnell. This man is intelligent, one of the most dynamic speakers I’ve ever heard, and so charismatic that everyone who meets him falls instantly in love with him. But he didn’t think it was the right time for him. Now, there’s talk of Ashley Judd running and that puts a smile on my face.

There is also talk of the Republican Party trying to run McConnell out. His sudden cozying up to people who self-identify as Tea Party adds credibility to that rumor and makes me wonder if they will primary him.

No matter who runs against Mitch McConnell, they will be better for my state, this country, and the world than Mitch McConnell. We sane Kentuckians are going to need all the help we can get because the Republican Party will pump this race full of dirty money, and McConnell’s name recognition goes a long way with lazy voters who don’t bother or are unable to research and see the damage he has done. (Ashley might help in this regard.)

I created a Facebook Group dedicated to keeping people informed about McConnell’s actions (or inactions, as is mostly the case) between now and election 2016, and to motivate people who are interested in campaigning against him. If interested, you can join here.  Just remember, this is a totally biased group with a specific purpose. Anyone who supports Mitch McConnell, harasses those who are working to unseat him, or posts articles or links that are not related to the ugliness of Mitch McConnell will be removed and blocked.

Hope to see you there.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Margaret and Helen Have A Message For You, Too, Senator McConnell

Four More Years, Senator McConnell

Four more years for President Obama, that is. Two more for you.

I'm sure this day must be as sad for you as it is exciting for me. I can't imagine how it must feel to fail at the single thing you tried to accomplish the last four years. Okay. That's not exactly true; I can imagine how horrible that would feel and hope your reality is even worse than what I'm imagining.

Maybe you can come up with a few respectful goals for your final two years in the Senate. Your statement last night after President Obama won his second term left little room for hope that you might have a decent bone in your body but I'm a dreamer. I offer my thoughts on your statement below:

"The American people did two things: They gave President Obama a second chance to fix the problems that even he admits he failed to solve during his first four years in office, and they preserved Republican control of the House of Representatives," McConnell said in a statement. Did you forget again that your words would be heard and read by the entire world, not just the few Republicans who are willing to believe any lies you tell them? Here are the two things I gave President Obama when I voted for him yesterday: I gave President Obama the opportunity to complete the job that you did everything possible to obstruct, and I told him that I appreciate all he managed to accomplish despite your ugliness and want him to continue the same path, only with less patience for your childishness.

"The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together with a Congress that restored balance to Washington after two years of one-party control.Who do you think you are to try and speak for the people who re-elected President Obama? You have no idea what we think or endorse. This voter endorses President Obama's successes and regrets that my state saddled him with someone as lazy and disgusting as you to deal with. The only way we can truly restore balance to Congress is to unseat the unbalanced Republican obstructionists. And I am confident we will do that. 

"Now it's time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a closely divided Senate, step up to the plate on the challenges of the moment, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office. If you had been paying attention, you would know that President Obama proposed workable solutions. The Republican-controlled House has little interest in anything except vaginas and that's absolutely unacceptable. For you to try to imply otherwise is about as dishonest as - well, Mitt Romney's existence. Seriously, Senator McConnell, it is time for you to stop embarrassing sane and decent Kentuckians with inflammatory, childish, cliched rhetoric like "step up to the plate". While you've been sitting on the bench with your thumb in your mouth, President Obama has been at the plate hitting home runs. Wake up and stop lying. 


"To the extent he wants to move to the political center, which is where the work gets done in a divided government, we'll be there to meet him half way." I think President Obama has this under control without your sorry, lazy, pretenses. Get out of the way. Lame ducks hurt when they hit hard.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

What Real Leadership Looks Like

Dear Senator McConnell:

I've listened to this several times now and saved it in my YouTube favorites because I will enjoy hearing it again and again the same as I do my favorite songs. I try to imagine how it must feel to be you, and to know that you have done everything possible to hurt such a good man.

Regardless of what happens on Tuesday, Barack Obama will be remembered in history as the remarkable man who overcame such ridiculous negativity as, "America isn't ready for a black President," to get elected. And, he will be remembered as the brilliant, diplomatic, caring man who managed to save this country from a depression, to put us on the road to recovery from the destruction that you and your party put us in, and  won the trust and hearts of most Americans and the world - despite your chronic obstruction because you hate him more than you love your country.

And you will be remembered as a sorry ass who violated his oath of office, made fools of the ignorant people who listened to his lies, and disgraced Kentucky and America.

I would hate to be you.

 

Friday, November 2, 2012

Paul Krugman Nails You, Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

Have you missed me? I apologize for focusing more on Mitt Romney, who appears to be even more dishonest and less human than you, these last few months. After Tuesday, I'll return my attention to ditching you. From what I hear, it is going to be even more fun than I had hoped.

Meanwhile, Paul Krugman nailed you and your cronies. Thought I'd share in case you missed it.


The Blackmail Caucus

 Sandy


Thursday, November 1, 2012

McConnell Objects to the Truth About His Party But Not to Lies Told By His Party

"Aides to Mr. McConnell presented a bill of particulars to the research service that included objections to the use of the term “Bush tax cuts” and the report’s reference to “tax cuts for the rich,” which Republicans contended was politically freighted." 
In other words, Senator McConnell, you object to the truth when it is told about your party. But you have no problem with your candidate, Mitt Romney, lying daily to THE American People? And no problem with your party's super pacs spending millions of dollars on dishonest lies? And you're fine with your party dishonestly naming bills things like "Right to Work" when it is actually the opposite? 

Would you know the truth it if smacked you in the face? I'd love to see it try.