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Remarks Election Night
Tuesday, August 8, 2006 After Listening to Pink's Dear Mr. President
I wanted you to hear this song
because it says so much about why this election in Georgia was
so important.
In the film American Blackout,
you saw that I say that my district needs jobs. And so, in partnership
with faith-based organizations and labor, I put together a program
to train my constituents to acquire the skills for jobs that
won't be outsourced overseas, and that pay more than a living
wage, with health and retirement benefits. Last month, we took
in 500 students. Who at the end of their training will have
transportable skills, internationally-recognized certification,
and a chance to live the American dream, supporting their families
and our community.
The news media didn't tell
you about that because they wanted you to focus on my hair!
Tonight my mother was hurt
by someone in this room, a member of the press. My staff assistant
was hurt by someone in this room, a member of the press.
I first got into trouble when
I was compelled in 1991, while serving in the Georgia Legislature,
to speak against George Herbert Walker Bush's war against Iraq.
And during a point of personal privilege, I declared that I
could not support any of George Bush's reasons for war.
My colleagues got up and walked
out on me, I was vilified in the press, and compared to Julian
Bond, who too had spoken out against an unjust war.
Ladies and gentlemen, there
comes a time when people of conscience are compelled to dissent.
Bobby Kennedy said, "The
sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism
and love of country."
We love our country, and that
is why we dissent: because we care.
We care about the dignity of
all the world's people.
We care about minimum wage
workers; we care about no wage workers;
we care about the homeless-too many of whom are veterans; we
want a healthy future for all our children; we want our seniors
to live in dignity.
Our country is too rich to tolerate such poverty in our midst.
We have more to give to our
people and the world than DynCorp, Halliburton, and the Carlyle
Group.
We care about the air and the
earth and the water. And so we reject George Bush's science
lessons that distort the facts and justify policies that support
drilling for oil in Alaska; exacerbate global warming; and allow
more human consumption of known toxins and pollutants.
We care about the projection
of US power around the world. Either we can be a force for good
in the world; or we can rely on force and upset the world.
Sadly, this Administration
has chosen the latter.
At a time when this country
has failed to train enough certified teachers to educate our
children, George Bush is spending billions, nearly one trillion,
dollars for war. And in a point of personal privilege right
now I echo what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "A time
comes when silence is betrayal; we are called to speak for the
weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those
it calls 'enemy.'"
One year to the day before
Dr. King was murdered, he declared that the greatest purveyor
of violence in the world was his own country.
With Israel's invasion of Lebanon, there might even be a call
for more US or UN troops to be stationed in the Middle East,
we-here tonight-say to our Commander-in-Chief: Sir, No Sir.
And so, before we engage in
yet more war, I declare tonight that we stand with the families
of our hurt soldiers and the hundreds of thousands of innocent
hurt and dead Iraqis.
We stand with the homeless
Vietnam and Gulf War veterans.
We stand with the Agent Orange
victims and the 160,000 sick Gulf War veterans.
We stand with the 37,000 green
card soldiers, not even citizens, but willing to trade their
lives for a chance to live and work in America because our foreign
policy has failed to uplift their hopes and aspirations in their
own countries.
Dr. King told us that in order
to stop the madness we would have to match actions with words.
Mario Savio before that told us that we have to put our very
bodies against the wheels and the gears and the levers of the
machine and we have to say to those who own it, that they must
stop it, or we will stop it.
Tonight I am joined by noted
men and women activists who have put their bodies against the
wheels and the gears and the levers of the machine and they are
trying to stop it. They are not tricked by red herrings that
the corporate media throw to us. They are focused on our objective
to make America a better country.
Something is happening around
the world: countries with little or nothing are standing up,
rising up against the utter and complete domination.
Thank goodness for the people
in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Venezuela, Malaysia,
all standing up and speaking for the weak and the voiceless in
their countries. A change is sweeping the world. And America
must not be left out.
So my new friends are the mothers
who have lost their sons in George Bush's war and we say to them
hold fast to your faith-your suffering will not be a stumbling
block for us. We will make this stand with you-you are not alone.
Denise Thomas, daughter went
to Iraq once and when they tried to send her a second time, Mama
got political. She's now the founder of the Georgia Chapter
of Military Families Speak Out. First told her story at a prayer
vigil organized by Ann Mauney. Prayed at by Reverend Timothy
McDonald.
Then one mother who wasn't
so lucky. She couldn't save her son from the War Machine. The
first Georgia soldier to die in Iraq came from the 4th District.
Patricia Roberts, Jamal Addison's mother, now politically active
and my new friend.
Another mother, lost her son,
Casey, and decided to take her case directly to President Bush.
Cindy Sheehan.
There's something special about
these women. Their names aren't Deborah, or Esther, or Ruth.
But they are women for these times. Women, called to make peaceful
revolution.
President Kennedy warned us
that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will
make violent revolution inevitable."
Electronic voting machines
are a threat to our democracy!
So let the word go out: we
aren't going to tolerate any more stolen elections; we're watching
you. And we want our leaders back-or we will become the leaders.
And not only do we want our
country back, we want our Party back.
There is a growing
force for peace in this country. And the peace movement that
we are building is backed by millions of young people. I want
to thank the hundreds of people who volunteered in our campaign,
especially the young people who were excited about getting involved
in something good.
Thank you all for a lot of
hard work, thank you for the thousands of volunteer hours, thank
you for helping to make a stand in Georgia.
I wish the new representative for the 4th Congressional District
well.
CounterPunch
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