We made a promise - we swore we'd always remember

Just thinking today about what my father might have said about this election.

He passed away just after Labor Day weekend 1996. He was born in 1928, and grew up during the Depression, the son of a minister "poor as a churchmouse", as my grandmother called their family. He was a Roosevelt Democrat, with a bit of socialist in him. He'd called Reagan "the most vicious president in history -- except for Nixon", and was responsible for helping me mold a lot of my political views.

He was an engineer who loved computers; when he died, three years after retirement, he was learning the C language and writing small programs for himself. He'd be commenting on Kos if he were around today.

Dad was a Korean-era National Guard veteran -- "keeping the Koreans out of Waukegan" he'd said, and that's about all I ever knew about his service record.

He didn't get much music more "modern" than jazz -- but he liked the Beatles, and he liked the Boss -- a conversation with Dad inspired me to label Springsteen "urban folk music", which Dad thought was dead on.

I was really struck by his respect for the Vietnam-era counterculture. He said of the protesters "they're putting it on the line for what they believe in," and taught me that's what's really important. When Kent State happened, he was in a bar watching TV, and a man beside him grumbled about how those hippies got what they deserved. He turned to the guy and said "The police are shooting our kids. Think about that. Our kids."

He would have liked John Kerry. A lot. A lot a lot. He'd have volunteered to work Florida for him.

Today is for you, Dad. No retreat, no surrender.