Calling him "my hero, my friend, a living symbol of what I think America is all about," former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus introduced former Sen. Max Cleland to a standing ovation Monday night at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Nearly 600 Democrats packed the floor of the arena - about three times the number of people who turned out to see the sitting vice president stump for GOP pariah Bill Sali in Boise two months ago.
Speaker after speaker noted that Idaho hasn't had this strong a slate of Democratic candidates in decades. The ticket's strength is apparent in the fact that Republicans are declining to debate and the National Republican Congressional Committee is dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the ID-01 race in a desperate effort to save it for the GOP.
"November 7 will be a moment in American history you can tell your grandkids about," Sen. Cleland said, for it will be the day when the tide finally turns and Idahoans bring responsible, responsive two-party government back to our state and nation.
Cleland, who had already endorsed Larry Grant, was in Idaho on Monday to help rally Idaho Democrats toward victory on November 7. The event drew a huge crowd of excited Democrats and their families, ranging from little kids to combat veterans eager to see and hear Cleland.
Cleland - who also served as head of the Veterans Administration - was funny, charming, and smart. As the triple amputee rolled his wheelchair to the microphone, he deadpanned, "I want you to know I didn't get wounded in Vietnam. I went hunting with Dick Cheney."
"I think this election is indeed going to be the turning of the tide," Cleland said, because Americans know we are headed in the wrong direction. He blasted the war in Iraq, noting "we never had a strategy to win and we never had an exit strategy." Cleland called for redeployment of troops outside Iraq, a plan to bring National Guard and Reserve troops home, and an all-out effort to get Osama bin Laden, who remains free more than five years after the terror attacks of 9/11, largely because the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq instead of pursuing the al-Qaeda leader. "Bush is the one who cut and run, he and Cheney," Cleland charged.
The Georgia Democrat noted how, earlier Monday, George W. Bush called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and assured him the United States was not getting ready to withdraw troops from the violence-racked country. "He won't change course, so November 7, we're going to change course for him," Cleland said.
Cleland also blasted the Republicans for using Christians in the party's efforts to keep political power. Although GOP leadership puts forth a public facade of morality, he noted, "they're some of the most lyin' and cheatin' people we've had."
"They've tried to make Jesus a precinct captain for the Republicans," he charged. "The Bible didn't say whether Jesus was a Democrat or a Republican, but he was a carpenter and every carpenter I know is a Democrat," he noted. "And Mary sure didn't ride into Bethlehem on an elephant. So don't be fooled by people who think they're holier than thou."
Referring to the negative campaigning launched last week by the National Republican Congressional Committee, Cleland said, "The slime and crime machine will be cranked up to a fever pitch." But as Larry Grant noted, there's a reason the NRCC is dumping close to $400,000 in negative ads into Idaho. "That means they know they're going to lose," he said. And there's a reason why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has named the ID-01 contest to its list of "emerging races."
"That means they know we're going to win," Larry said.
Adapted from my earlier posts at Grassroots for Grant and Red State Rebels.