Thank you to everyone here at Kos, in Connecticut, and across the country. Although mine was the public face put on the "Dump Joe" effort, there were plenty of others who deserve at least equal credit.
First mentioned must be Ed Anderson (Deanfan84). He and I have been partners since the days we attempted to organize the striking workers for Dean at Yale in Sept of '03. We two, on our own dime, got almost every one of them to wear a DEAN FOR AMERICA bumper sticker on their strikers' placards and a DEAN pin on their lapels. We got Howard Dean to come talk to the strikers and, with the help of many others, had New Haven wrapped up for Dean before 2004 began.
Ed found the picture for "The Kiss" button, found the people to do the artwork for our bumper stickers, made every sign we held, and basically was the brain behind almost every good idea we used. He kept me from going overboard and I did the same for him. We fought like brothers often do and even had a three-month stint where we didn't even talk. That rift was ended by a chance meeting at Grand Central Station on the day of the protest in NYC at the Republican National Convention. We jumped into a cab together and started the second leg of our journey together. Dumpjoe.com was born in that cab.
We knew then that Joe Lieberman was one of them. We knew then that Karl Rove was Joe Lieberman's friend and we knew then that Joe Lieberman's support was a mile wide but only 1/32" deep and we knew that Joe had to go.
There are many others including my brother Peter, who is the Admin of http://dumpjoe.com/ I need to mention Kelly (a.k.a. BranfordBoy). He should to be thanked for starting http://www.myleftnutmeg.com and allowing it to be used to promote Ned's candidacy by anyone who wanted to and for making sure thoughtful dissent was also tolerated.
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of people who got out of their pajamas, in Connecticut and many other states and countries, and came here to help make this happen.
It was an honor to be the public face of the Dumpjoe Movement. Thank you Armando and all the other Kossacks for your kind words. I was totally embarrassed and overwhelmed by the response both online and in person over the last few days until I realized all those kind words, slaps on the back, hugs and kisses I recieved were really not just for me but for every person in this world that made this possible. I was just the vessel into which their happiness, joy and feelings for what is possible in the future were poured.
2006 is a year of change. The pendulum swung as far right as possible and now it's started its journey back towards the center. Let's help it gain its momentum by getting rid of Joementum.
PS.Thank You again Branfordboy of http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/... for your editing skills which I always turn to in order to make this Truck driver turned activist look smarter than he really is.