My first diary, so be gentle!
A couple of weeks ago when I was a real newbie (and not just a newbie), I posted a comment on Renee in Ohio's diary in reply to a comment someone had made about Sr. Joan Chittister (a Benedictine nun I heard at the Call to Action conference in Detroit seven years ago). I was trying to remember the story she used to open her speech, because it had a really good line in it.
Well, I found the tape of that speech the other day, and listened to the start of it in the car on my way to work today. Now that I've got the line right, I think it's one the Dems should consider using--especially after Darth Cheney's doom-and-gloom, more-of-the-same performance in last night's VP debate. Story and quote below the fold.
Sr. Joan began her speech in Detroit by saying it was dedicated to a couple of moose hunters from Pennsylvania (where she's from, I think). They had a terrific hunt the year before--so much so that they decided to go back to the same place and try their luck again.
They hire a plane to take them into the Canadian Rockies, and arrange for the pilot to pick them up a week later. The pilot comes back at the appointed time and finds the two hunters waiting, with all their gear stacked and ready for loading, plus two huge dressed moose carcasses.
The pilot looks at the hunters, at their gear, and at the moose, and says, "No way. We'd never get off the ground with all of that in here and us, too."
One of the hunters says to the pilot, "Well, we did last year."
The pilot says, "Well, if it worked last year, I guess it'll be all right. Load 'er up."
So the hunters loaded their gear, and the moose, and then themselves into the plane. The pilot starts bouncing down the runway, gunning the engine, and finally gives a mighty tug on the stick. Lo and behold, the little plane wobbles heavily into the air....and promptly crashes into the side of the mountain.
The hunters pick themselves up from the wreckage and dust themselves off. The first one says to the second one, "Do you have any idea where in the world we are?" The second hunter says, "Yeah. About 50 yards from where we crashed last time."
And now for Chittister's punch line that I think the Democratic Party should consider using (giving her proper credit, of course):
Point: If a thing is wrong to begin with, doing it over and over again won't make it RIGHT!