The collective despair after the 2004 election was painful, too, but the tragic reality is that a willfully blind electorate created it.

Introduce the members of the new Congress to America – and have each of them say a few lines from the JFK speech.

Have Presidents Carter and Clinton speak the lines about “Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.”

Have Wesley Clark, Jim Webb, and Tammy Duckworth speak the lines, “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.”

Have Jon Tester, Scott Kleeb and Pederson speak the lines, “I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

And finally have McGaskill, Wulsin, Pelosi and Sherrod Brown conclude, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

The point is NEVER stop message-framing. And give the public something immediate to feel hopeful about after casting their votes for Democrats – like a thank you.

I also was born after JFK was gone but I have felt his spirit throughout my life.

My first book report was on PT-109.

Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon soon after I was born. JFK was the man who inspired America to go to the Moon.

JFK died for what he believed. His brother Robert suffered the same fate. As did Martin Luther King and Malcom X.

Men who inspire Americans to do the right thing also inspire fear in those who would hold power at all costs.

Several years ago there was an older gentleman who lived across the street from me. Nice guy. Tall. Played college basketball for the University of Utah. His wife had passed years earlier and he was suffering from a sort of bone cancer. Terminal. I would watch him pull dandilions from his front lawn and wonder: “you only have months or weeks to live and you’re pulling weeds from your lawn?”
I was increduleous about it. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Habit I suppose.

During one of my visits with him before he died, I noticed a framed print of JFK hanging on his wall. I inquired about the print and he informed me that he bought the print after Kennedy had been elected. He went on to entertain me tales of being a lifelong Democrat, volunteering on many local Dem campaigns, and of the sorrow he and the Nation had when Kennedy was killed. One of his mottos was: “When in doubt, vote Democrat!”

After he passed away his kids came and had a yard sale when they cleared out his house in preparation to sell it. I bought the JFK print for 50 cents, and would have paid much more. It hangs in my office and I always get comments about the cheezy frame with the lime green velvet liner. Vintage. As in when truth, good government, and a clarion call to service in the name of the public good was in fashion.

Vintage.

Let’s bring back JFK’s vision.

I was thinking about this this morning. I have been trying to get my two kids, in their 20s, interested in voting. They say they are ready for the revolution, but voting is a waste of time. Maybe this election will show them we can make a difference by voting more progressives in that can start making a change. I have to remember that they can’t remember any government that has been for the public good over corporate profits.
Thanks to FDL and Daily Kos for giving hope that we can get some real Democrats elected to move the party away from Republican light.

Tell ‘tem if they want to see a revolution, vote in a big Dem majority and wait for the fur to start flying!

This isn’t a vastly different economy from the one Bill Clinton enjoyed. But, there is a big differrence in how the Republicans in charge have run the government — they’ve run it into debt at a staggering rate and gave tax cuts to rich people who should be paying for all these crazy Bush exploits.

On the economy: Republicans have been irresponsible with the good economy they were given. They drove UP the unemployment rate, dropped “pay as you go” financing of government spending, pushed the government further into debt and refused to give working people a minimum wage increase while giving ridiculous tax cuts to people who don’t need them.

Republicans have been irresponsible with the federal wallet.

Democrats will return to “pay as you go”, begin to rebalance the federal government budgets and give a minimum wage increase to our poorest workers.

MarkH @
185

raven @
18

I suppose it will be pretty unpopular to point out that ” Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty” was a rationale for the war in Vietnam.

John Kennedy paid the ultimate price for his participation in politics and his attempt to ensure liberty for more people than had ever experienced it before. It’s been said he had a plan to pull us out of Vietnam, but was killed before he could execute that plan. Apparently he had realized the Vietnamese were not our enemies and he wasn’t going to kill them needlessly. He planned to let them and our soldiers live. He believed in Liberty, not just ‘the right words’.

Our current president knows only killing and destruction. He doesn’t understand the Rule of Law, Compassion or Liberty.

MarkH at 188 — I think the latest Zogby numbers are an outlier, based on every other poll I have seen on that race. But I can’t say for certain. Am trying to track down more particulars and will post if I find something on it.

Was listening to “Open Source” on WGBH last night and the entire program was about Montana politics.

The Republican state senate majority leader was interviewed, and he was saying that Republicans were pushing Burns’ “experience” and “committee memberships” as a means of blunting Tester’s charge, because Montanans have a long history of liking a mix of both Republicans and Dems in the national legislature–their expectation is that that covers the bases–and gives them an advantage in bringing federal dollars back to Montana.

From that, I would gather that the Burns’ people are pushing economics as a way of sidestepping the scandal issues. How that’s playing, I don’t know. None of the program participants would make firm predictions of the outcome.

Horsewoman @ 165

Rayne…not as regular obviously as you are here; certainly not in a position to comment on JHFarr’s overall posting on this site. He struck my “down” mood this morning; probably a bad thing to give into. But Christy’s admittedly wonderful post this a.m. does also serve to highlight the fact that we’ve strayed far from the path…totally agree that optimism and dedication to better is the way to change ~ but sometimes you have to reach and truly acknowledge hitting bottom, before that can be done.

Our country has indeed been dragged into the mud by our leaders, but remember, neither Democrats nor Republicans were angels in Kennedy’s day either. We take inspiration from his speeches because they stood out, not because everyone back then was like that, so don’t be disheartened that they’re not all giants now.

Well, back then [JFK’s assasination], I was a first year medical student. It was a lot like now. Rampant racism [White Citizen’s Council], the beginnings of the worst war to date [Viet Nam], international shame [the Bay of Pigs], the rise of modern Conservativism [Barry Goldwater, Ayn Rand, John Birch Society], the specter of global tyrany [Communism], and the threat of chaos [thermonuclear war].

What was different, was that we believed that Kennedy meant what he was saying, Eisenhower too. I still believe they meant what they were saying. There was plenty of divisiveness, but not the arrogant, contemptuousness of the modern political rhetoric. There were plenty of mistakes, but they were simply mistakes, not blunders following a clandestine and unprincipled agenda. And I’ll bet there was corruption, but not the fat kid in a candy store corruption of the last six years.

It really was better then, though at the time, it felt like disaster was around the corner. The difference was the difference between principles and cynicism, between passion and indifference, between service and narcissism.