Thursday, June 08, 2006
Missive From Maine
A delegate to the Maine Democratic Convention sends us her impressions:
- The most interesting thing that happened at the convention was the voting on what language to put in the platform. First the delegates vote to approve the bulk of the platform language that was recommended by the platform committee. Then any controversial language is voted on item by item.
We were supposed to be done voting by 4:30 on Saturday, because that's when Feingold was to speak. But the last and most controversial item, the impeachment language, was put off until after his speech. The problem is, right after his speech, many delegates started to leave, and unless you have a quorum, you can't have a vote. Also, all day the moderator should have followed Robert's Rules of Order (which I know from years of Union meetings) but didn't consistently do so, whether from ignorance or design, so for example, when I thought we were voting to close off debate, he had already jumped ahead and declared that we had voted on the item. So it was very confusing at times.
There were 2 choices of impeachment language, a brief one urging our Maine Congressional delegation to call for an investigation of Bush's various failings, and if necessary, to begin impeachment proceedings. The other language listed the failings item by item, ex. "has caused the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraq citizens" etc. and bypassed a call for investigation in favor of simply calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. To tell the truth, I have no idea if we meant to vote yes on the stronger language or not (I don't think so), but that's what got gaveled through. Another delegate sitting next to me groused that the papers would have a field day calling us "Bush-bashers", but it turns out that 9 or so other states have voted in some sort of impeachment language too.
I will say that it was a fired-up crowd that leapt to their feet every time Feingold (or any other speaker) railed against the war, the Patriot Act, domestic spying, Bush's energy/environmental policies, etc. It was exhilarating to be in a crowd of 900+ other people who feel exactly the same way we do. Demographically, the crowd was mostly baby-boomerish or older, which was a little disconcerting to me....yes we are an "old" state, but we have also lost many young people to the Green party. It makes no sense to me, because the Maine Democratic party is so left-wing (by national standards) that the Greens are only screwing themselves (and us) by staying separate.
Feingold took the stage and received several standing ovations throughout his speech. He seems like a very genuine guy. He started off by saying that in most houses, you don't discuss religion and politics, but in his home growing up, that's all they ever talked about, so that's why he's a senator and his sister's a rabbi. He made the point that, even aside from the principles involved, it was just good political sense for the Democratic party to stand up and really be the opposition party.
He said that Wisconsin has 70+ counties, and that every year he holds a town meeting in every one of them, so he gets lots of voter feedback: and it is ALWAYS the same - Stand up to the Republicans! Grow a spine! Stop rolling over for Bush! And yet, when his fellow senators return to Washington, they start listening to the consultants again who say to play it safe.
Regarding his movement to censure the president, he said, "I don't want history to record a blank page, that when these abuses were going on, Russ Feingold stood by and did nothing!" He said he originally got elected by beating an incumbent, against long odds, because Wisconsin had at the time some sort of publicly financed elections, and he complimented Maine as one of the few (if not the only?) state with publicly financed elections today (for state and local offices only).
And after the speech I shook his hand and said to him, "Please run for president!" He smiled and said "I'm thinking about it!"
I read in our paper today that he addressed the New Hampshire convention with the exact same effect, and they passed impeachment language too. Dare we hope to regain control in November? I don't know, but at least it felt great to be part of a like-minded, united group of fellow Democrats. It was lots of fun, and I bought this really cute donkey pin that blinks obnoxiously. Also, I bought a "Donkey Card" for $35. that entitles me to discount home heating oil as well as discounts from various other left-sympathetic businesses and services. Super idea, to use our bulk buying power to negotiate fuel discounts!
That's it for now................
