salvador posted the text of Senator Kerry's speech in a
diary yesterday. This is the report-back from
MA group of the FDL
roots project (hey, if you haven't yet -
sign up already!).
5 of us attended Senator Kerry's speech, "Patriotism and Dissent in America", in Boston on Saturday. Afterward, we were able to speak with Kerry's state director, Jon Jennings about our concerns. Jon was open to hearing from us and, we discovered, has read Firedoglake. Before the end of the our conversation, Jon offered to meet with us on a regular basis (monthly). We will certainly take him up on his offer - which he has already confirmed via email! On our way out, we saw Senator Kerry with a small group of people. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Prof Foland was able to have a short discussion with Senator Kerry about how the security clearance system is abused to suppress dissent.
A very successful day!
details below the fold:
Exciting roots projects news (Saturday, 4/22/06) from Boston, MA!
RevDeb, Prof Foland, Kathryn in MA, nina and selise - as part of the FDL roots project - met in Boston Saturday morning. We came together to attend Senator Kerry's public event in historic Faneuil Hall marking the 35th anniversary of his testimony against the Vietnam war made to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971.
The event had originally been billed as "a discussion of what is happening to our democracy when dissent - the right of patriotic people to speak out - is under assault." Instead of a discussion it was a speech, "Patriotism and Dissent in America", without any opportunity for questions. The lack of discussion was disappointing, but the rest of the day more than made up for it. Kerry's speech was pretty close to the speech I've been wishing for since 2002 - he finally embraced his anti-Vietnam war actions as well as his military service.... He spoke out against the war in Iraq, against "unwarranted secrecy", "illegal spying", "torturing prisoners", "a shadow justice system with no rules and no transparency" and much more. Here are some of my favorite bits, although, really, it's worth it to read or listen (C-SPAN1 today at 5pm) to the whole thing.
"The lesson is that true patriots must defend the right of dissent, and hear the voices of dissenters, especially now, when our leaders have committed us to a pre-emptive "war of choice" that does not involve the defense of our people or our territory against aggressors. The patriotic obligation to speak out becomes even more urgent when politicians refuse to debate their policies or disclose the facts. And even more urgent when they seek, perversely, to use their own military blunders to deflect opposition and answer their own failures with more of the same. Presidents and politicians may worry about losing face, or votes, or legacy; it is time to think about young Americans and innocent civilians who are losing their lives."
"And so there's the crowning irony: the Bush-Cheney Doctrine holds that many of our great traditions cannot be maintained; yet the Bush-Cheney policies, by abandoning those traditions, give Osama bin Laden and his associates exactly what they want and need to reinforce their hate-filled ideology of Islamic solidarity against the western world."
"But I believe now as strongly and proudly as I did thirty-five years ago that the most important way to support the troops is to tell the truth, and to ensure we do not ask young Americans to die in a cause that falls short of the ideals of this country.
When we protested the war in Vietnam some would weigh in against us saying: "My country right or wrong." Our response was simple: "Yes, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right." And that's what we must do again today."
I haven't been a big fan of Senator Kerry for a number of years - his votes for NAFTA, fast-track, the patriot act were a disappointment... And I still feel betrayed by his vote for the Iraq war and his silence while while we gave up the Geneva conventions, accepted torture, undermined habeas corpus and the bill of rights... And I'm still shocked by his speech last year in Worcester where he called for increasing the military by 40,000 troops. But this speech reminded me of the old Kerry, of the `70s and `80s - whom I do admire. More of this please!
After Kerry's speech, in the press of the crowd trying to leave, Kathryn grabbed a nearby aide and politely complained about the lack of discussion. The aide was Kerry's state director, Jon Jennings, who agreed to talk with us off in a quiet corner. Jon introduced himself and told us a bit about his run for congress (IN-8), his anti- Iraq war position and his work in Clinton's DOJ.
We talked with him about our concerns - especially the need to prevent another war (Iran) and a dangerously out of control executive combined with the lack of sustained and strong efforts in support of congressional oversight ( torture, warrantless spying, signing statements, habeas corpus, secrecy and of course lying us into the strategically disastrous and morally bankrupt war with Iraq).
Kathryn spoke about how the Bush/Cheney administration is bent on breaking some of our most important cultural taboos - against torture, wars of aggression, and now even considering a nuclear first strike (thanks digby). RevDeb gave us the powerful image of our out of control executive as a large truck with failing brakes barreling out of control down a mountain road... And the need to provide/find the off-ramp we desperately need to prevent a disaster. Prof Foland told Jon that physicists knew before the war started that the so-called Iraq nuclear threat was nonsense - he'd even given a class lecture on the subject... But many of our experts prefer to remain silent, even on unclassified topics, for fear of losing security clearances. We all asked that Senator Kerry take action to support Mary McCarthy, who was fired by the CIA for her alleged role in leaking information about rendition and secret prisons in europe to Dana Priest at the the Washington Post.
We also talked about our desire to act - to participate in reclaiming our country's basic values and addressing our most serious challenges. Nina spoke about her efforts in Kerry's 2004 campaign and about how we are organizing and educating ourselves online. RevDeb invited Jon to YearlyKos.
The most important news is that before the end of the our conversation, Jon offered to meet with us on a regular basis (monthly). We will certainly take him up on his offer - which he has already confirmed via email! And then, on our way out, we saw Senator Kerry with a small group of people. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Prof Foland was able to have a short discussion with Senator Kerry about how the security clearance system is abused to suppress dissent.
A very successful day! Sunday, Senator Kerry is scheduled to be on This Week with George Stephanopolous and his speech is scheduled to be televised on C-SPAN1 at 10am and 5pm (EDT).
After thoughts:
From Prof Foland - "Something I thought about on the subway home. Kerry gave the speech at Faneuil Hall under the watchful eye of Washington, the John Adamses, Daniel Webster. I realized something: the Cheney Administration just never invokes the Founding Fathers. Ever. It's notable how little they do, once you realize it."
From Nina - "I did a huge amount of volunteer work for Kerry once he was the nominee and I actually grew to respect him over the course of the campaign. Toward those final weeks in Oct-Nov 04 I saw the veneer slip off occasionally and from what I could tell, people loved it; those last speeches always generated very different reactions from the media pin-up boy who was 'aloof, cold and unresponsive'. It was thrilling to see Kerry stand up for what he believes in today, to see no sign of the 'handlers' having ironed out words like 'liberal', 'wrong' and 'failed'. I was glad he mentioned Murtha and I just hope that there will be more Dems (sitting Senators and reps) who shall follow in this."
From Kathryn in MA - "...just as in our Roots Project where we have gone back to our roots - We, the People, - Kerry went back to the roots of this nation, the very building called "America's Cradle of Liberty" - which is being dismantled by this gang of fascists in power today. This is indeed a very high-profile call to action to us and the rest of the country to stand up for our democracy in the face of tyrants."
Respectfully Submitted,
Selise 4/23/06
NOTE - slight edit to Kathryn in MA's quote in "After thoughts".
in Faneuil Hall:
with Jon Jennings:
Prof Foland with Senator Kerry: