And it's a World of Dread and Fear
OK, time to put my "liberal" hat on.
For those who don't notice, I have stolen a line from one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") for this blog.
As the Republicans are settling in for their national convention, they are sending their message out in a city whose homeless problems are legendary. Where a former mayor once proposed putting the homeless in jail that refused to go into the shelters.
George W. Bush will speak, most likely, on the thousands of lives lost less than five miles away on September 11, 2001. But the thousands he will refer to will be the almost 3,000 known to have perished in the tower and surrounding area; not of the estimated thousands who called the subway station below the towers home.
He will speak of an economy that is growing and of a better standard of living as gas prices remain at or above $2.00 a gallon in many parts of the country, and certain grocery items have experienced double digit inflation over the past year. He will also speak on this as the standard of living has dropped for many Americans and countless thousands are hovering on the brink of homelessness. It is ridiculous to think that the economy is entirely his fault; it is equally ridiculous for him to hide his head in the sand and proclaim that "prosperity is just around the corner" while millions of us know better.
He will speak of the tax cuts that his administration has provided, without acknowledging that those tax cuts have crippled many social programs without providing ample replacement for those programs, and have not addressed the corporate welfare that has historically been supported by his party.
He will speak on the sanctity of life before conception, while holding in low regard the sanctity of life AFTER conception.
He will speak of the war on terror while the chief terrorists remain at large.
He will speak on the protection of marriage as defined between a man and a woman while endorsing economic policies that threaten to undermine the stability of those marriages.
He will speak of the "dishonorable service" of a man who received three purple hearts while defending his own honor as he remained stateside to avoid the war.
He will speak a message of hope while implementing policies that have removed that hope for so many.
respectfully submitted,
Gideon MacLeish