I know a lot of folks - including myself - are really upset with what transpired today. I see comments about not supporting this or that Democrat who voted for the torture bill, and comments about not voting at all. Looks like Rove's plan worked just splendidly, huh? Not only do they get their get-out-of-jail-free bill plus (maybe) license to continue doing all the vindictive brutal (and reportedly ineffective) crap they were already doing, they also seem to have succeeded in demoralizing a chunk of the Democratic base. Well, a chunk of the Democratic base that frequents dailykos and some other sites, anyway.
Well, I'm not here to pass judgment on anyone's anger. Mine has pretty much run the spectrum today. But I do want to propose an outlet, an idea of how to shrug off that demoralization once you recover from the hangover of all the booze you're going to down tonight to numb the ache of witnessing the rape of your country's soul.
Details below...
Let me tell you first off, totally upfront, this is a blatantly self-serving diary. I am going to ask you to support
MY candidate for U.S. Congress, who definitely would NOT have voted for torture - to replace a rather
ethically-challenged Republican
incumbent, who DID
vote for torture. But you know what? I bet there's A LOT of good, anti-torture Democratic challengers out there, who if they win, will replace pro-torture Republicans.
Voting out pro-torture Republicans will be easier, at least in some areas, than replacing entrenched Dems who voted for torture. And it will be more productive too, if it gets us to the number we need for a Dem majority. The torture-enabling Dems may have broken your heart today, but we all know deep down, no matter how pissed we might be at this moment, that a Democratic-controlled Congress will do a hell of a lot less damage than a Republican controlled Congress. And they may even do some good things - like investigate corruption in government, not just the occasional private company or corporate whipping boy that apparently got on someone's bad side (~cough~HP~cough~).
So...I offer you MY candidate, retired Vice-Admiral Joe Sestak, running for Congress in PA-7 against loony moonie Curt Weldon. You know Curt, the guy who fantasized that Able Danger proved 9-11 was all Clinton's fault....the guy who attended a coronation ceremony for Sun Myung Moon...the guy who thinks there are still WMD in Iraq, and was planning a trip to personally dig them up...the guy whose opening campaign salvo criticized his opponent's choice of a hospital for removal of his daughter's brain tumor...yep, that tribute to decency himself. And, oh yeah, one who voted for torture today.
We have a real shot at replacing pro-torture, pro-Bush Curt Weldon with a great guy named Joe Sestak. For a quick and easy introduction to Joe, check out this ad. For a little more detail about Joe and the race, you might enjoy this recent Time piece by Joe Klein. We have a real shot: because both Kerry and Gore won this district; various race-tracking pundits (Charlie Cook and others) have moved this district from "republican lock" to "competitive"; and generic position-based polls put Joe in a dead heat with Curt. What Joe still needs is name recognition - he falls behind when the poll is name-based. What's the best way to increase name recognition? TV ads, right? Guess you see where I am going with this... (or, if you prefer, the NetRoots page.)
But, you might be wondering, none of this speaks directly to Joe's position on torture. How, you might ask, do I know that Joe Sestak is anti-torture?
Because I know. I've spoken with Joe a few times, and seen him speak a few more. I've chatted with members of his family. I don't even have to ask. I know.
Joe has been endorsed by John Kerry, Wes Clark, and Max Cleland, to name just a few. When he was considering declaring his candidacy he spent some time with a local progressive who was already in the race, Paul Scoles. Paul spoke extremely enthusiastically about Joe's candidacy when he announced that he was stepping aside to clear the way for Joe. Within days of the announcement, I received a fundraising email for Joe Sestak from John Kerry. Between those two endorsements, I was pretty sure that Joe Sestak was someone I could wholeheartedly support. Subsequent interactions with Joe, his family, and his staff, have thoroughly convinced me of the his character. Joe practically glows with true American values of decency and honor. (Really, he does. I'm not making this up. Read the Time article.)
So if you are still with me on this diary, I hope you will consider taking out your anger against the torture-voting Dems and the really evil Republicans, not by sitting on your hands this election cycle, but instead by supporting those good, value-driven, anti-torture Dems that we have a shot at electing. Like Joe Sestak.
Finally, let me also ask folks who know of other good, anti-torture Dem candidates we can support against pro-torture Republicans, to name those candidates in the comments. I didn't mean to make this diary all about Joe Sestak (really, I didn't); let's look at all the races where we have a shot at making Congress a little bit more progressive, and more supportive of REAL American values.