Wow. The one-two of your McCain article/information followed by this piece … I have so many thoughts. But mainly I’m left with a pit-like feeling of sadness and disappointment. The through-line for me being severely tarnished nobility and honor. I’m a grown woman who has been involved in politics and political campaigns since I was a chi…
Wow. The one-two of your McCain article/information followed by this piece … I have so many thoughts. But mainly I’m left with a pit-like feeling of sadness and disappointment. The through-line for me being severely tarnished nobility and honor. I’m a grown woman who has been involved in politics and political campaigns since I was a child. I’m what you might call a Peter, Paul & Mary-style liberal. And I have over the years, tended toward a steadfast belief in the ability of peaceful social justice to triumph over power-hungry greed and ugly discrimination in the long haul. End game? Love is stronger than hate.
Many times I cheered on my sense of Senator McCain as ‘one of the good ones’ … the cynical pick of Palin as his VP running mate was a difficult truth to confront. But watching his respect for Obama and the politically democratic process that resulted in a gracefully accepted loss (something that didn’t seem quite so shockingly remarkable back then as it does now, in this ‘post’ ? Trumpian hellscape)- and his remaining time in the Senate - helped to restore my own personal sense of order. Learning what I did from you recently has shaken things up.
Onto The Lincoln Project. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say it gave Biden the winning edge - it absolutely helped and the work you all did was brilliant. It also gave me great hope that the GOP could possibly relocate its own moral compass. And not the faux morality of the far right … but the notion that politicians, be they conservative, liberal or somewhere in the great between, are public servants. They are committed to representing their constituents. They want the best for this country and all the people who call it home. They believe, support and defend the democratic process and DEMOCRACY is our common North Star. That’s what TLP did for me during a time when my sense of order was positively crumbling. But again, so many things turned that message of light into a murkiness that has left me both confused and sad.
Steve, I appreciate all the work you have done with and for this group. I also have always enjoyed and LEARNED from your commentary on MSNBC - thank you for all your hard work. In truth, I tried HARD to carefully read both of these letter/notice segments to the NYT. But I couldn’t wade through them. I tried, repeatedly. I am a pretty quick reader and can process complex subjects and assimilate a sizable amount of information in one sitting. but this was too much. In every sense of that phrase. And I had to skim through large segments. I truly tried not to - but I ended up just doing my best. So I maybe cannot stand on solid ground to state opinion on this matter. Clearly there were errors made in the reporting and I agree that when errors are brought to the attention of journalists, ‘full-throated’ retractions are absolutely in order (see, I did try to read the whole thing!). I can’t really speak to motivation. I know that media - like everything else - can fall prey to bias and self serving motivation. But I also know that without smart and dedicated journalists the public may never have known about this predator and other questionable practices involved here. I fully support your transparency and desire to set the record straight and hold certain specific journalists to account for patterns of bias in their reporting. At the same time, I furiously resist the implanted notion (cast into society and nurtured by the former administration and so many surrounding it/him) that media and reporters and journalism are ‘the enemy of the people’. All one needs to do is to watch the documentary ‘Navalny’ to know that we had all better support a free and open press if we have any hope of saving our democracy. So, put all of that in with everything else about this situation and call it living in the grey.
Again, I am feeling very sad. I am watching this democracy seem to fall apart. And with it, the individual rights and freedoms that I never DREAMED would be in jeopardy for my own/all of our children just as they enter young adulthood. Perhaps the lesson to take here is that we cannot look to ‘heroes’ to save what is most precious to us. Flawed though we all clearly are; we must be our own heroes. We must stand up for what is right and fair and decent. We MUST VOTE.
And most importantly, we must embody the Love that will triumph in the end.
I like your optimism. Unfortunately, mine is gone. I'll still fight but I think we need to take a hard, uncomfortable look at why evil seems to wins out over good. If we can figure out why, and use it against them, maybe the world could become the place it was intended to be, not the place it seems to be heading.
Wow. The one-two of your McCain article/information followed by this piece … I have so many thoughts. But mainly I’m left with a pit-like feeling of sadness and disappointment. The through-line for me being severely tarnished nobility and honor. I’m a grown woman who has been involved in politics and political campaigns since I was a child. I’m what you might call a Peter, Paul & Mary-style liberal. And I have over the years, tended toward a steadfast belief in the ability of peaceful social justice to triumph over power-hungry greed and ugly discrimination in the long haul. End game? Love is stronger than hate.
Many times I cheered on my sense of Senator McCain as ‘one of the good ones’ … the cynical pick of Palin as his VP running mate was a difficult truth to confront. But watching his respect for Obama and the politically democratic process that resulted in a gracefully accepted loss (something that didn’t seem quite so shockingly remarkable back then as it does now, in this ‘post’ ? Trumpian hellscape)- and his remaining time in the Senate - helped to restore my own personal sense of order. Learning what I did from you recently has shaken things up.
Onto The Lincoln Project. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say it gave Biden the winning edge - it absolutely helped and the work you all did was brilliant. It also gave me great hope that the GOP could possibly relocate its own moral compass. And not the faux morality of the far right … but the notion that politicians, be they conservative, liberal or somewhere in the great between, are public servants. They are committed to representing their constituents. They want the best for this country and all the people who call it home. They believe, support and defend the democratic process and DEMOCRACY is our common North Star. That’s what TLP did for me during a time when my sense of order was positively crumbling. But again, so many things turned that message of light into a murkiness that has left me both confused and sad.
Steve, I appreciate all the work you have done with and for this group. I also have always enjoyed and LEARNED from your commentary on MSNBC - thank you for all your hard work. In truth, I tried HARD to carefully read both of these letter/notice segments to the NYT. But I couldn’t wade through them. I tried, repeatedly. I am a pretty quick reader and can process complex subjects and assimilate a sizable amount of information in one sitting. but this was too much. In every sense of that phrase. And I had to skim through large segments. I truly tried not to - but I ended up just doing my best. So I maybe cannot stand on solid ground to state opinion on this matter. Clearly there were errors made in the reporting and I agree that when errors are brought to the attention of journalists, ‘full-throated’ retractions are absolutely in order (see, I did try to read the whole thing!). I can’t really speak to motivation. I know that media - like everything else - can fall prey to bias and self serving motivation. But I also know that without smart and dedicated journalists the public may never have known about this predator and other questionable practices involved here. I fully support your transparency and desire to set the record straight and hold certain specific journalists to account for patterns of bias in their reporting. At the same time, I furiously resist the implanted notion (cast into society and nurtured by the former administration and so many surrounding it/him) that media and reporters and journalism are ‘the enemy of the people’. All one needs to do is to watch the documentary ‘Navalny’ to know that we had all better support a free and open press if we have any hope of saving our democracy. So, put all of that in with everything else about this situation and call it living in the grey.
Again, I am feeling very sad. I am watching this democracy seem to fall apart. And with it, the individual rights and freedoms that I never DREAMED would be in jeopardy for my own/all of our children just as they enter young adulthood. Perhaps the lesson to take here is that we cannot look to ‘heroes’ to save what is most precious to us. Flawed though we all clearly are; we must be our own heroes. We must stand up for what is right and fair and decent. We MUST VOTE.
And most importantly, we must embody the Love that will triumph in the end.
I like your optimism. Unfortunately, mine is gone. I'll still fight but I think we need to take a hard, uncomfortable look at why evil seems to wins out over good. If we can figure out why, and use it against them, maybe the world could become the place it was intended to be, not the place it seems to be heading.
Yeah, I whole heartedly agree.