Poised

Does a great moment await America?
by Charlie Leck

I will never forget sitting before the TV nearly 7 years ago, watching Colin Powell, as the Secretary of State of the United States of America, address the United Nations. Powell presented reports from America intelligence agencies as evidence that the Nation of Iraq possessed and was prepared to use, weapons of mass destruction (WMD). His presentation was compelling and I reluctantly thought that the President of the United States had to take the action that he and Congress were about to pursue.

No one but Colin Powell could have convinced me. I held him in high regard. Not only had his marvelous autobiography impressed me, but his attention to detail as the Secretary of State and his manner in dealing with other nations seemed to make him the ideal head of foreign policy and diplomacy in our nation.

Colin Powell has lived in personal disgrace and shame for the last several years. Slowly, he came to realize that he had been duped and used by the Bush administration. The WMD intelligence information that had been provided to him was bogus. Outright lies were presented to him as confirmed facts. He, believing the lies, took an action that was completely against his nature. He recommended war and invasion.

Even so, in 2004, I believe Colin Powell could have had the Democratic nomination for President if he had sought it. He might have been able to get the nomination of either party in 2000. I believe, just prior to 9-11, he was the most popular military, political and diplomatic figure in America.

John McCain and his campaign organization has been pleased and relieved that Colin Powell has kept his silence in the last year – that he has not come forward to speak against McCain or for Obama.

Now, in a very low-key and humble manner, Colin Powell has endorsed the candidacy of Barack Obama for the office of President of the United States. I watched him make the endorsing statement. He didn’t seem thrilled to be doing it. I sensed that he would rather not do it. I also sensed that he felt he had no choice – that the future of the nation depended on what America does on Election Day in November. That may sound dramatic! I think Colin Powell believes it and I certainly believe it.

Powell called Obama “a transformational figure.” He talked about Obama’s “steadiness,… intellectual curiosity and…depth of knowledge… intellectual vigor… a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well.”

What surprised many were his comments about Sarah Palin. Powell made is clear that he felt she was “not fit” for office.

It could be an extraordinary day -- an exceptional moment in American history. In his column, The Old Scout, in today's Minneapolis newspaper, Garrison Keillor put it this way:

“The American people are poised to do something that could not be imagined 10 years ago, or even five, which is to vote for the best man regardless of his skin color and elect him president. The campaign against him is not one that anybody will point to with pride in years to come. It is a long trail of honking and flapping and traces of green slime, as if a flock of geese had taken up residence in the front yard. But, Barack’s cool poise in the face of blather is some sort of testament to American heart and humor. The man has walked tall and his wife has turned out to be the brightest figure in the whole political parade, an ebullient woman of quick wit and beautiful spirit. Bravo, Michelle!

Onward, America,. We’ve all seen plenty of the worst – the sly cruelty, the arrogant ignorance, the fascination with trivia, the cheats, the weaselish and piggish and the buzzardly – but we can rise above it if we will only recognize a leader when one comes along and have the sense to let him lead.”

America is poised at one of its most historic moments – one of its proudest moments – and we now only wait, with our breath held, to see if could possibly be real.

If it happens, I want to hold my children and weep with them in joy and proclaim my pride that I am an American. As I blogged a couple of days ago, my constant prayer is: “Let it be! Let it be!”

Do the children realize it? From a historical perspective, this may be the most important presidential election ever held in the United States of America.

America is like a giant ship at sea. She turns ever so slowly and in such a wide arch, sometimes being buffeted by her own wake, but turn she must, so she may head back to her own proper place of glory.

Joe McCarthy Returns!

Oh my god, did you hear Michelle Bachman’s accusations about anti-Americans?
by Charlie Leck

At the same time yesterday, Colin Powell expressed deep concerns about the remarks of Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman who called Senator Obama unAmerican.

I am truly shocked! Startled! Dry-mouthed. Not only are these imbecilic words, they come from the mouth of a Minnesotan who lives just up here to the northwest of me. I’m ashamed! And the folks up there are really going to send this stupid, idiotic, moronic, Christian-right-wing freak back to Congress! People, have you no shame?

Go watch her make a shocking fool of herself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SQTxxkdSIs&feature=related

By the way, she doesn’t understand that she’s made a fool of herself and thrown herself into the camp of Joe McCarthy. She also doesn’t understand who Saul Alinsky really was – a man who should be hailed as a hero rather than called un-American.

She says she was misunderstood!
Balderdash! The idiot’s remarks were on video. Watch them yourself!

We’ve got to stop sending jerks to Congress!
Enough already! Is the American electorate as idiotic as the representatives they send to Congress? We’ve got to stop doing this. As voters, let’s take a measurement of a candidates’ intelligence and common sense and refuse to vote for those who don’t at least measure up to our own levels. Michelle Bachman is way below the intelligence level of her constituency. Bachman doesn’t belong in the city government of the town she comes from – no less as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Are the people up there going mad?