I'm Holding My Nose, Too, Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

Sadly, there is no pleasure for me in the knowledge that you have been duped by your own party and by your campaign manager. I honestly felt sad for you when I saw this picture. Jesse Benton has used you the same way you have been using ignorant people for decades, and you are forced to pose for this picture and pretend you are happy about it. Ouch! Your chickens have come home to roost right on your face.

I've thought all along  that it was obvious your campaign wasn't really on your side. Senator McConnell, I am going to put all hard feelings aside for a minute and offer you some good advice. You are NOT cool and you only look silly when you try to look that way. You know, sorta like I would look if I colored my hair neon green, pierced my lip, and tattooed a sleeve on my arm? Some things just don't work for everyone. Seriously, both of you look ridiculous in this picture but he won't have to live with it forever the way you will. He can trot right back over to the tea party when he is finished destroying you and they'll welcome his idiocy. You, on the other hand, have just provided another face for people who would rather focus on your appearance than your terrible record to stick on a turtle. It upsets me that you might be remembered as the clown in this race instead of as the worst Senator in history.

It would be nice if I could just sit back with a smirk and say you deserved it. It is killing me to think instead that I should probably campaign for you to win your primary. As disappointing as it has been to have you for my Senator, I know your tea party challenger would be even worse.


 

 "Two of the worst secrets in politics have now been confirmed. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul cut a deal where if Paul helps McConnell get reelected in 2014, McConnell will help open doors to the mainstream Republican for Paul when he runs for president in 2016. The second secret revealed is that Rand Paul fully intends to run for president in 2016. Everyone in the country who follows politics already knew this, but there it is straight from the lips of a member of Rand’s own family."   Mitch McConnell Gets Trashed By His Own Campaign Manager In Leaked Audiotape

Jesse Benton on Mitch McConnell: "I'm sorta holding my nose for 2 years"

Mitch McConnell’s Campaign Manager: I’m “Holding My Nose”

Sandy

Kentucky Senators to Make Rare Appearance in Public

Dear Senators McConnell and Paul:

Where do I even begin? You guys have outdone yourselves these last few weeks. If I weren’t so disgusted with the attempts to exhaust, disenfranchise, and suppress votes, and the pathological lying (sorry, Senator McConnell, you don’t even hold that record any more) I might have enjoyed watching the Republican Party self-destruct.

I do know where to start. Let’s get this out of the way so I don’t get stuck in personal stories and forget. Tomorrow is the big day on which you and my friends get to disappoint me all on the same day. That might be a first. As much as I have longed for the opportunity to meet the two of you--individually or separately--I will not pretend that you are finally offering your non-supporting constituents that opportunity. I strongly resent the fact that the first time you decide to grace those of us who aren’t pouring money into your campaigns with your presence, it is at a Tea Party Rally.

See, I believe words mean something. Most of us learned about rallies in school, when we met as a whole to “rally” our sports teams. It was a fun time because the opposing team was not present so we could pretend we were #1 even if we knew that wasn’t true. And, in the spirit of rallying the team, we could say terrible and even untrue things about the other team – all in fun. I believe that is the purpose of all rallies and this is why I carefully decide whether what I am organizing or attending is a rally or a protest.

There are a number of reasons why I will not attend this rally in Frankfort tomorrow. I have no desire to be in the company of people who consider themselves Tea Party members (for the record, I see no difference between the Tea Party and the rest of the Republican Party other than the funny hats) because they have repeatedly, across the country, proven themselves to be violent, ignorant, rude, and dishonest. What’s not to avoid, huh? I know both of you will say what you know they want to hear, and that will mostly be lies about President Obama. I would rather not pretend you are welcome to insult my intelligence that way.

More importantly, although I dislike the Tea Party the same as I disliked my school’s rival team, I believe it would be rude to crash their rally and interrupt the lies their coaches want to share (all in fun, because you and they will know that you are purposely lying just to get them fired up for the game). 

It’s sad that you consider politics a game, and sadder still that you believe you are justified in cheating. Saddest of all is that your party preys on the ignorant by pretending you are doing this in the name of Jesus or God or something good, when there is absolutely nothing good about it. It makes me wish I believed in hell because that is where you deserve to be for doing this.

I will not give you the pleasure of forcing me to put aside my principles and standards, or risk having my head stomped for the opportunity to see you in person. That is something that should occur regularly, without fear. And I most certainly won’t be present to make it appear to media that the Tea Party drew a larger crowd. Instead, I will share this letter with the public to make sure everyone knows the ugly position you put your constituents in.

I’ll be back later for the rest since this is about all that will fit in the box on your sites.

Hoping you accidentally tell some truths tomorrow,

Sandy

Rand Paul lets me know that his religious beliefs are more important than the law or our freedom (Abortion)

Black type are Rand Paul, maroon are my responses to his letter. 

July 23, 2012

Dear Ms. Knauer

Thank you for contacting me regarding your thoughts on when life begins.  I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue.  Yep, he appreciates hearing my thoughts as long as I don't expect him to actually care about them.

I believe life begins at conception and it is the duty of our government to protect this right to life for every citizen, born and unborn. But, Senator Paul, your beliefs don't matter. You supposedly went to medical school and should know that the products of conception are not people. When the conscience/soul/life enters the body is anyone's guess. I happen to believe it is when a fully-developed body exists the mother's body and takes its first breath. However, your lack of conscience/soul makes me wonder if for some it might never happen. Unfortunately, the Senate has failed to act on this and many other important issues. Wrong. The Senate acted on this somewhere around 1973. Abortion is legal. Honesty is a something we should be able to expect from elected officials so you might also want to mention that it has "acted on" many times since and, abortion is STILL legal. As a result, I offered an amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act (S. 1940), which would declare that the right to life is vested in each human being at the moment of fertilization and protected by the Constitution. Yes, this ridiculously inappropriate action is what I addressed in the letter to which you are responding.

Unfortunately, the majority in the Senate did not even allow my amendment to come to a vote. Glad to know the majority did not allow your inappropriate abortion amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act. It didn't belong there and I am embarrassed that you tried to put it there. The flood insurance bill, along with a student loan bill, was rolled into the conference report on H.R. 4348 the transportation authorization bill. In violation of Senate rules requiring legislation be available for 48 hours before being voted on, the conference report was made available for less than 24 hours before the vote. Members did not have time to read the bill or make helpful amendments. Please stop insulting my intelligence. You have time to do what you want to do. If people like you didn't stick ridiculous amendments into bills, you might have even more time to get through the whole thing. Ultimately, the Senate proceeded to pass the package of bills on June 29, 2012, by a vote of 74-19. I voted against it. The House of Representatives also passed the legislation and it has been signed into law by the President. What part of my letter led you to believe someone else might have written it in my name? I did mention that I know these things, and that I was writing to tell you how disappointed I was in your actions.

It has been my steadfast position that I will always vote for any and all legislation that would end abortion or lead us to in the direction of ending abortion. Which means you don't care about my position, or the position of the majority of people in this country, and that you think you have some "right" to force your religious beliefs into my life and government. And that makes you a huge hypocrite because you pretend to be all Libertarian and pro getting the government out of our lives. Hypocrite - just want to repeat that. I don't want you in my personal business and I want nothing to do with your religion.  Being pro-life is consistent with my beliefs in constitutional government. I've noticed you have a problem with the constitution as well as with medical facts. I'd like to suggest maybe reality television for your next career move. The federal government declaring that certain classes of human beings are not persons and therefore not entitled to legal protection is ultimate example of tyranny. This is a totally dishonest statement, Senator Paul. You can pretend that you believe a zygote is a "class of human" but you will be a liar and wrong.

Although we may not agree on this issue, I am sure there are many others on which we can find common ground. Doubtful. I will be surprised if we ever agree on a single thing. But I'll keep hoping.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance in the future. I look forward to hearing from you again. I will not hesitate, although it is very difficult to get past Captcha on your site. I'm sure I look forward to it much more than you do.

 p.s. I think it is ridiculous for anyone to ever demand an apology, because honest apologies come without request, so I'm not asking. Just want to remind you that I will never forget that you did not apologize to Lauren or anyone else for the head stomping incident.

Sincerely,

Rand Paul, MD
United States Senator

Once Again, Rand Paul Embarrasses Kentucky

At least he is consistent. Every time Rand Paul opens his mouth, he is wrong and embarrassing. We know, for sure now, that he should not be a doctor, or a politician, or a teacher. Apparently, he is qualified to rewrite history texts for Texas but I don't like that idea. So, I suggest he consider reality television or prison guard as his next profession.

Suggestion For Rand Paul

Dear Senator Paul:

If you can't sit still long enough to do your job, may I suggest that you follow the lead of Rick Perry's son? He quit his job to work his father's campaign. Of course, I will expect your mother to be more honest than Mrs. Perry, and not pretend that this puts you in the same boat as all the people who have lost jobs through no fault of their own.

I appreciate Senator Bennett's comments to you (see video below in case you weren't paying attention) and hope you will take them to heart.

Calling all Occupiers

“They’re on their iPhone made by Apple incorporated, they’re wearing designer jeans their parents bought for them, that’s the kind of stuff I’m annoyed with when they say corporations are evil – corporations are businesses.” Rand Paul

Will everyone who wore designer jeans to an Occupy event, and told Rand Paul our announced publicly  that their parents purchased their jeans please contact me. 

If I don't hear from anyone, I will assume he is talking out his ass, as usual.

Think their parents bought their designer jeans? 

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Charges Against Rand Paul’s Headstomper

Dear Senator Paul:

I have wanted to contact you regarding this incident since it happened but couldn’t contain myself to appropriate words until yesterday, when the microphones were in my face. Microphones scared me before last month when, at a rally for union workers, I realized no one else was going to deliver my exact message. The same thing happened yesterday in Lexington, at Tim Profitt’s hearing, when I wanted to speak to how this incident changed the political scene for all of us and, if justice is not served, will endanger all of us.

First, I am terribly disappointed although not at all surprised that you have said so little about this crime. I know it is difficult to say much when you start with a lie since everything you say after that confirms your dishonesty. However, there are times when swallowing false pride and coming clean makes things better in the end. This could be one of those times for you.

I’m sure it was easy to develop super-star mentality and that you might have felt like Michael Jackson or Barack Obama while in the national spotlight. After reflecting, you probably realize, as many of us do, how ridiculously inappropriate it was for you to entertain the idea that you needed to arrive at political debates with a full entourage, much less your own satire-squelching security team.

To be fair, my background left me totally unprepared for anything like what I witnessed in your campaign. As a child, I spent a great deal of time in Democratic Party clubs. My parents took me to political events and allowed me to work political campaigns with them. I grew up believing political participation was a safe, family activity. The politicians I knew and admired attracted sane people whose ideas of “family values” did not include getting together for target practice or threatening or hurting others. They did include helping others instead of begrudging anyone who had less, practicing instead of preaching. In turn, my children and grandchildren were interested in politics at early ages and I always knew – until you – that it was safe to take them to political events.

My twelve-year-old grandson was present for the first Conway/Paul debate. You might have noticed him – the well-dressed, well-behaved, well-informed, extremely handsome young man in the crowd. (I may be a tiny bit biased.) I was disappointed to see that there were not more young people interested enough to attend but realize now that interest might not have been the problem. Maybe other parents and grandparents knew what I didn’t about your crowd.

The disturbing part is that, had I not been too ill to attend myself, I would have brought my grandson and/or a granddaughter the night that I will continue to remind everyone about until you have made a public statement that eases my fears. I was very disappointed to discover that you knew enough about your dangerous supporters to think it necessary to bring your own security in addition to official police patrol at the event, and that you did not consider alerting the public to this fact. That is the only explanation since Jack Conway could walk his wife and daughter through Democratic events without fear, and since there were no head-stompings, no threats, no assault rifles, and no fear-inducing moments at any Democratic event I attended or any Jack Conway campaign office I visited, even though Rand Paul supporters infiltrated and tried to start trouble at times. Clearly, the violence and vile-intent was on your side.

Since you aligned yourself with the Tea Party/Annie Oakley Brigade faction of the Republican Party, and they openly threatened and intimidated throughout campaign season, I believe you owe Lauren Valle and your constituents an apology for your poor judgment at the time, and an honest statement about your abuse of power. I believe you owe the country and the first amendment an apology as well. Satire is NOT a stompable offense, nor is pointing out a truth or an opinion that a political candidate would rather the public not see or hear.

As a result of what you and yours caused that night, the fight against violence has taken a giant step backwards. Others would speak of this totally in gender specific terms but I prefer not to do so. Violence is not acceptable, ever, regardless of gender. I would be as angry if the victim of your poor decision had been a man. However, I will address the gender-specific disappointments I saw in the aftermath of what you created. Women who supported you, and who previously gave lip service to things like family values and a belief that there is never any excuse for a man to hit a woman, and who knew absolutely nothing about Lauren Valle and had no understanding of Republicorp jumped immediately to the defense of the man who held her down and the man who stomped her neck, and blamed her.

Senator Paul, this speaks very poorly of the critical thinking skills, the intelligence, and the honesty of your supporters. If you truly care about Kentucky and/or the United States, you will surely want to do something to educate these people. I believe a great first step would be to address this in a public apology to Lauren Valle, stating that there was no excuse for anyone to physically harm her and that you were wrong to bring in security on the implication that you feared this young woman. You must, at least, admit that a bad back and protection of you are pathetically unacceptable excuses for stomping a girl after she has been knocked to the ground and was obviously no threat to anyone. And you must explain why you, a physician, offered her no assistance.

I am very pleased that the judge refused to dismiss charges against Tim Profitt. It would be a dangerous precedent to excuse violence in the name of third party protection and fall guy rights in light of the cross hairs, assault rifles, second amendment threats, and intimidation factors employed by your party.

After you’ve addressed these matters, I am also anxious to hear your response to Lawrence O’Donnell.

Sincerely,


Sandy
(Although the media labeled me a MoveOn activist when airing my statements, my association with MoveOn has absolutely no bearing on the opinions stated above nor was I speaking for the organization in my interview.)

Beavis and Butt-head Was Already Taken

Dear Senators McConnell and Paul:

The big day is finally here! Beavis and Butt-head was already taken when I decided I was too filled with shame and dread to create a separate blog for you, Senator Paul, and Delusional Duo was, sadly, the most creative thing I came come up with. I went with bland. Although I prefer clever, bland felt appropriate.

Kentucky’s already embarrassing reputation suffered enough after you, Senator McConnell, spent the last two years waging your personal war on the United States, and taking the citizens of this country hostage through your unprecedented obstructionism, criminal level dishonesty*, shameful admission that you planned to do nothing other than make sure President Obama fails, and nonstop embarrassing television appearances. Adding the whiney, violent, corporate-owned, lobbyist-hiring, disgrace-to-medicine, junior who obviously knew his Hippocratic hypocrisy qualified him for a Republican seat should at least convince the rest of the country to stop laughing at us and start crying for us, since the actions of our Kentucky Senators will affect their lives in terribly depressing ways.

If there is an upside, it will be watching you, Senator McConnell, blink your eyes and suffer the frustration of being forced to swallow a bit of what you have forced on your constituents. (Karma can be fun.) From experience, I can tell you that dealing with a dishonest bully is not good for the spirit. Knowing that you are stuck working with someone who has absolutely no regard for the things that matter to you, and who will trample what you’ve worked for, is terribly uncomfortable. I’m anxious to see if you put up the same fight with Rand Paul that we have had to suffer with you. It’s a fatiguing position to be in.

Senator Paul, you get off easy this first week. I do not plan to point out each individual backtrack, deception, and waffle you have already made before getting to Washington. The media did a fairly decent job of that already. But I promise to do my best to keep up with every one in the future.

Instead, today, I am going to stick with the character defects that are more important, and that you have not addressed sufficiently with the people of Kentucky yet. As a physician, how could you stand a few feet away from the young girl whose head your hired thugs stomped and offer her no assistance? Why did you lie about her being a threat, and why did you lie about not knowing the men who hurt her? The only people who believe that you somehow failed to recognize the thugs you hired to work your campaign until after the media circulated the picture and pointed out that you had hired them are – well, people who will believe anything and who stand for nothing. Now that those thoughtless people believed your lies, fell for the deceptive ads your dirty money ran in their part of the state, and elected you, they are not the only people you represent or have to answer to. The rest of us will be waiting, not so patiently, for answers to these questions. And, until I receive answers, I will not let you, the AMA, or the public forget.

And, Senator Paul, while you are living with Daddy in Washington, maybe the two of you could discuss his thoughts about lying. Here is a link to his recent article, Lying is not Patriotic. In case, like Senator McConnell, you don’t like to read, here’s a video where he speaks about the same topic. I'm sure your father would include you among the people he does not want to lie.




Sincerely not celebrating,

Sandy

*think Stevens, Ney, Foley, Reynolds, Gingrich, Cunningham, Abramoff, Feeney, Delay, etc. And feel free to add Clinton, since you must still be gloating over that ridiculous demonstration of duplicity.

p.s. I’m going to miss Leann Rimes

Steve, Pretty Women, and Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

While watching primary election results last night, I remembered Steve. Immediately, I regretted the fact that I often mention the negative attention my bumper stickers attract but seldom share stories about how they bring people like Steve into my life.

It’s true that my anti-war bumper stickers draw more middle fingers than thumbs up, but I think that reflects more on the types, not numbers, of people who sit on opposite sides of this fence. It is also true that I have too many bumper stickers on my piece-of-junk car, and that I claim that I need them to hold it together, which might mean some of those middle fingers are from people who consider my car an eye-sore. And it is true that I blame right-wing-war-mongers who don't like my bumper stickers for the repeated acts of vandalism my car has suffered, and it's true that I have come to that conclusion based on the fact that while I'm in the car, grown men hang out their truck windows to shout obscenities and insult my President so I can only imagine what they might do when I'm not in it. I know my messages bring out the worst in Republicans who see them, and it is true that sometimes these men scare me but I refuse to let them silence me.

But none of those negative experiences matter as much to me as the warm smiles, silent nods of acceptance, understanding eyes, or new friends I meet because of my bumper stickers – like Steve, the Viet Nam veteran who stopped to tell me how much he appreciates my car. He stopped at my home specifically to tell me that passing my car each day made him smile, and to thank me. For months, he stopped when he saw me on the porch and we talked politics, sometimes for hours.

One day, he came by and took me to lunch to celebrate his brainstorm. He knew exactly how to get rid of our sorry rubber-stamp-for-Bush congresswoman. “Run a young, attractive female against her and she’ll be history,” he insisted. “Obviously, the people who elect her aren’t paying attention to what she’s doing.” He decided that my daughter was the perfect candidate since she was beautiful and informed, and he promised to raise the money she needed to run.

“She’s barely out of diapers,” I reminded him, disregarding the fact that he hadn’t suggested that I was attractive enough for the job. That was a slight exaggeration, but she wasn’t old enough to order a drink. That daughter jumped on the idea but discovered it was not possible to get around the age requirement and the other beautiful, informed daughter was too busy raising her children to run. I know you probably don’t share my opinion that we were fortunate when the community convinced John Yarmuth to run and Bush lost one rubber-stamp, or my relief to know that the Democrats could beat her without relying on superficial Republican votes for a pretty woman.

My dilemma after watching last night’s election results was in trying to decide if I am a victim of wire-tapping, or if Steve wandered over to the dark side. Or could it be a coincidence that the Republican Party is now running thoughtless, unethical, ill-informed pretty faces because they know, just like Steve did, that their party cares nothing about substance or ethics?



Sincerely,

Sandy