I wasn't at this event, but I sure wish I had been. This is the kind of rhetoric we need to see coming out of good Democrats like
Keith Fitzgerald. I understand that Vern Buchanan said some pretty outrageous stuff. Guess they'll say anything when they're desperate. Here's the header from Duncan's email, and then the excerpt from Keith's speech after the jump.
Last night, Keith participated in a candidate night hosted by the Sarasota Christian Coalition. He spoke after congressional candidate Vern Buchanan, and was outraged at what he heard. I was proud to hear a candidate stand up for what he believes in, and I wanted to share some of his remarks with you.
Sincerely,
Duncan Warner
Campaign Manager
"I've been here before, I've met you before, I see a lot of friendly faces. And the last time I started with my storied campaign speech, but since you've already heard that I think I'm going to start in a slightly different way, and I'm going to talk to you briefly from the heart because I have to tell you something folks, I heard some things from Mr. Buchanan and some of your responses that really made me ashamed, really made me ashamed.
One of the reasons that I ran for this office is that I think our country is in trouble. I think this country is in trouble because we allow ourselves to be divided, we allow ourselves to be told that we are two different people that are warring with each other and that's false, and there is a high level of manipulation in that. And folks, I heard you tonight being manipulated. Give me a break.
Is he telling me that the biggest problem we have with this page deal up in Washington is that 23 years ago a Democrat did it? Give me a break.
Is he telling me that this is being caused by the news media that brought this to your attention? Give me a break.
What this is about is men who are in power who will do anything to keep that power and will tell any lie and sweep anything under the rug in order to maintain what they have.
Now, it's important for all of us from different backgrounds, different beliefs, different faith traditions, to face up to the fundamental obligation to recognize the power of the truth. What that man did was wrong. What those people he worked with did was wrong. And that is the issue. And by the way, when the fellow who left here, Mr. Buchanan, said that the media held this back, (for a surprise) in October - a lie. A flat out lie. Don't allow yourself to be manipulated. The reporter who broke that story has come out on the record and said he got that story from a Republican source.
Now look, we've got some real problems in this country. The moral core of this country is eroding, and part of the reason it's eroding is not just folks out in Hollywood who give us movies and records we don't like, part of the reason we've got a moral problem in this country is not because there's gays and lesbians out there or people who are different from some of the rest of us, part of the reason we have a moral problem in this county in not just because there are people from different traditions and different backgrounds, part of it is us - who don't cull from our better selves. You should have room in your hearts to be outraged for what happened up there.
Morality is not Republican and it's not Democrat.
The truth is not Republican and it's not Democrat.
And I challenge you all tonight to do better than this, instead of letting yourselves be manipulated. Come on. Come on. We can do better than that. What's going on up there is wrong.
One of the problems in our country is the political system is broken. There is too much concern with political careers and power, and not enough concern about using government to make people's lives better, to address the real problems that affect real people. And that's what I'm about.
I have a lot of background in government, I have a Ph.D. from Indiana University with specialization in American Politics and a specialization in Public Policy. One of my specializations - I told you last time I was here - was the way that ideas and institutions work together over time to make our country great. A lot of those key things, those key ideas and key institutions are under erosion right now. One of the fundamentals is a sense of duty and a commitment to the truth. I think that we ought to be fools to be manipulated by anyone who tells us that that belongs to one religious belief, one political party. It's time for us to step up to the plate and call on our public officials to do better. And so I was really embarrassed to sit here and listen to you get manipulated by that stuff.
You can do better than that. You can do better than that. You've got a guy up there preying on kids and you've got his bosses covering up because he's the biggest fundraiser in this part of the country. Give me a break. Shame on you all, to be manipulated like that."
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