Out Of Many, One By: Mark W Adams

MCCAIN: MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT IS 'WELFARE' -- "In other words, Barack Obama's tax plan would convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington."

Now don’t get me wrong. The people I meet — in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks — they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead — and they want to.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. [...]

Voinovich: Obama a 'socialist' -- "He is left of Teddy Kennedy," Voinovich said. "With all due respect, the man is a socialist."

Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach our kids to learn — they know that parents have to teach, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things.

People don’t expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. [...]

Palin Touts the ‘Pro-America’ Areas of the Country -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.

Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America. [...]

Bachmann Calls Obama and Liberals Anti-American -- "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?" (HT C&L)

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too:

We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States.

We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. [...]

Pfotenhauer Insults Virginians: ‘Real Virginia’ Is Only Where McCain Is Winning -- "But the rest of the state — real Virginia if you will — I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message."

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? [...]

To Avoid Being 'Depressed,' Palin Skimps on Campaign News -- "At those times on the campaign trail when sometimes it's easy to get a little bit discouraged, when, you know, when you happen to turn on the news when your campaign staffers will let you turn on the news."

I’m not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial.

It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores.

The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta.

The hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds.

The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! [...]

McCain suggests Obama tax policies are socialist -- "At least in Europe, the Socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives."

In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity.

I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair.

I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us.

America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do — if we do what we must do, then I have no doubts that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, [. . .] and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.

OUT OF MANY, ONE by Barack Obama

Keynote Speech
Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass.
July 27, 2004

As much as I want to tap dance on the grave of the "conservative movement," it's not about picking the winning side and beating the losing side. It's about not dividing us into "sides" at all.

Frankly, I don't know if I'm mature enough to pull it off, but I sure am all in favor of electing a President who is, who will try, who will move us in the right direction instead of purposely exploiting those things that divide us and looking for more things to spread fear and unease with something or someone "different."

It has to end someday, right? The Atwater/Rove/Schmidt reliance on "wedge issue" stratagems destroy what we are and who we want to be. The only way to end it, and it won't end anytime soon, is to defeat it again and again until it no longer is a viable option in American politics.