I kept waiting for someone to say it.
Claire McCaskill was more than halfway through her speech at
the opening of the Jasper County Democratic Headquarters in Joplin Monday night
and no one had spoken the words.
“Let it be someone besides the loudmouth standing behind
me,” I thought. The guy was driving me to distraction, attempting to show how
much of an expert he was by anticipating everything the speaker was going to
say. There is always someone like that in every audience.
More than 200 Democrats were gathered outside. They came
expecting to hear the senator speak in the new headquarters, but the building
was too small and the air conditioning was not working, so the speech was moved
to the parking lot.
Who knew there were so many Democrats in Jasper County? In Joplin, there are three types of people
who are reviled by the general populace- tornado scam artists, telephone
marketers, and Democrats.
Now with 200 shoehorned into the parking lot, one well-placed
missile strike might have eliminated Democrats from Jasper County forever.
And I was still waiting for someone to say the words.
“I don’t care what Citizens United said, corporations aren’t
people. They have only one purpose,” McCaskill said.
“Making money,” the loudmouth behind me shouted.
“Can’t you just let her say it?” I thought. It was bad
enough that I wasn’t able to get inside and grab a handful of those little
packaged cheesecakes and now I have the sage of Jasper County belaboring the
obvious right in my ear.
Sen. McCaskill ripped into her three opponents, Congressman
Todd Akin, businessman John Brunner, and former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman.
“My three opponents are three of a kind, one and the same,” she said, noting
that one had been endorsed by the Tea Party Express and another by Freedom
Works.
“Dick Armey,” the guy behind me says loudly, showing off his
vast knowledge of American politics. A few seconds later, the senator noted
that Dick Armey was the founder of Freedom Works. I could picture the smug
smile on the guy behind me, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of
looking.
Her third potential opponent, McCaskill said, had been
endorsed by Michele Bachmann.
The senator never mentioned the three by name. To her and
her enthusiastic audience, they were just Moe, Sarah, and Curly.
She ripped them for their hatred of the federal government,
then added, “I don’t think I need to tell the people of Joplin why the federal
government is important.”
I waited for the man to say something, but no words emerged.
Even know-it-alls have to take a break.
“The federal government spent close to $3 million in
Joplin.”
My tormenter sprang back into action. “That’s a lot of
money!”
“That’s a lot of money,” I thought. “That’s the best you can
do? Moe, Sarah, and Curly could have come up with something better than that.”
McCaskill lambasted her opponents for their plans to
privatize Social Security, Medicare, and student loans. As her speech neared
its conclusion, she raised the name of Missouri’s most revered Democrat-
President Harry S Truman.
She noted that he was willing to take stances that were
unpopular. “Do you think it was easy when he integrated the armed services?”
she asked.
“No,” the guy behind me yelled.
It was a rhetorical question.
And why hadn’t anybody said the words yet?
McCaskill continued. “This is Harry Truman’s seat. I’m
awfully honored to sit in it. Harry
Truman would not want his seat filled by someone who thinks compromise is a
dirty word and who doesn’t think common sense is something we should value in
this job.”
The guy behind me did not wait for McCaskill to finish that
sentence. He topped her last word with the phrase I had been anticipating.
“Give ‘em hell, Claire!”
You’ve got that right, buddy.
1 comment:
I so wanted to yell "give em hell" but the media was there and I pride myself of being a lady. We have to keep her in the Senate and I hope she gives em hell.
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