Category: Politics

A Love/Hate Relationship

As most of you have heard by now, after a woman compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler in a town hall meeting, U.S. Representative Barney Frank responded, “It is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated.” I agree. She had a right to make the comparison, and Frank had a right to call the comparison vile.

For obvious reasons, this encounter was on my mind yesterday morning when a small group of extreme protesters (or, to be fair, “protesters who some have deemed to be extreme”) visited Vermont to protest gay marriage as well as, it seemed to this biased observer, everything else. They were doing so on behalf of God. I’m not making that up. One of the women in the group said, “you’re darn tootin’ we’re a hate group. We’re preaching the hatred of God.” I can’t begin to imagine what makes these people tick; how one goes about justifying such a message. What I can state with full confidence, though, is that the majority of Vermonters disagree. And disagree they did.

As a writer, my predilection is to use visual aids only when they can complement the written word. After witnessing yesterday’s events, though, I understand that the only proper way to document this story is to complement the photographs with captions.

This story is one of love and hate. While love is appropriate for all ages, the photo essay that follows might not be.

We love Viva Espresso for opening at 6 a.m. …

… so that Sarah and I could get our coffee.

And then Jen showed up and was loved …

… and reenacted the morning’s news.

And then the sun showed up.

And we love the sun.

When we saw this, we knew Montpelier loved us.

And God loves Anne.

And other people showed up …

… to show their love.

And this guy loved the shirt right off of his back.

And then the hate came.

But that didn’t stop the love.

And love laughed …

… and laughed …

… because hate is no match for love …

… and because the joke was on hate.

You see, every minute they hated, love raised money. (For more information, see the Facebook group Westboro Baptist Church Hates, Montpelier High School Donates.)

And raise money they did!

Even God helped.

And so did Peace.

And hate kept hating.

And we kept loving …

… even when it would have been easy not to.

Because love has no limits.

Not even in the eyes of the law.

So we honked for love.

And we sang for love.

And we flew balloons for love.

And they kept on hating.

And we saw their hate …

… and raised them peace.

And because of this …

… we prayed for them …

… and kept on loving.

Because why hate …

… when you can smile?

Our love is divine …

… no matter what they say.

And we walked proudly …

… around town.

Wherever hate went …

… love followed

(and the media).

And as much as hate tried …

… love was right …

… and strong.

And while hate disappeared …

… love burned brightly …

… on and on and on and on …

White Mountains or White Lies?

Freckles will tell you that I’ve become quite addicted to the ongoing political debate in our country. And what I’m learning from this debate is that although (some of) the candidates are new, the script is very much the same. And it reads like this…

Last week, the early-bird caucusing Iowans selected Barack Obama as their Democratic Party choice for president. John Edwards and Hilary Clinton finished in a virtual tie for second, relatively far behind Obama. Poor Dennis Kucinich never had a chance. Again.

According to polls, a whopping (considering how many candidates there were) 41% of “first-time voters” (read: youth) voted for Obama. 29% of “first-time voters” voted for Clinton. So new voters turned out in record numbers and an overwhelming number of them voted for Obama. That’s a pretty clear message, right? Well, according to Clinton, not exactly.

After barely mentioning youth her entire one-year-old campaign, Clinton responded to the Iowa result by saying it was clear that she was the voice of the youth. Say what? Obama played the young people trump card in Iowa, and realizing they just might be the key to victory, suddenly Clinton declared herself the voice of youth? OK. On to New Hampshire.

Though generally a dull state, New Hampshire was a hotbed of excitement the last five days. The highlight was undoubtedly the doubleheader CNN/Facebook debate, with the Republicans opening up for the headliners, the Democrats. (Facebook is my runner-up choice for the “Is That Really An Appropriate Presidential Debate Host?” award.) In that debate, John Edwards repeatedly described his campaign as “personal” (“personal cause”; “very personal”; “personal battle”; “deeply personal”; “personal”; “personal”; “personal”; etc). Though our trusty reporters (read: Tim Russert) called the debate a draw, it was clear to this unbiased viewer that Edwards scored quite a few direct blows to Clinton (my favorite being when he likened her to “the status quo”), while, in my opinion, performing far better than a stumbling Obama. If anything, and maybe thanks to redundancy, Edwards was convincing in his claim that his fight was personal. According to Clinton, though, he’s not the only one.

Two days later, in one of her new “young people” speeches, Hilary Clinton responded by tearing up and saying that the election was “very personal to me.” Move over Sally Field, because I think New Hampshire likes Clinton now, they really really like her!

So what happens next? Anyone who has ever followed politics or a good soap opera, could see the ending of this primary from a mile away. The New Hampshire voters, in all their “live free or die”/”you can’t tell us what to do, stupid Iowans!” glory, voted for Clinton. Barely. (I’m not kidding. Though Clinton won the popular vote, Clinton and Obama secured the same number of delegates. That’s how close it was.)

And then, while ignoring the fact that her speechwriters are up for this year’s Best Adapted Screenplay award, Clinton delivered the most transparent, ironic line I’ve ever heard in an election…

[fade in]

[Int. A large New Hampshire gymnasium filled with thousands of screaming fans.]

(Clinton walks to center stage, shaking the hands of the people she passes by. After a few waves of the hand, and a grin that cannot be suppressed, Clinton steps up to the podium looking humble, yet presidential.)

Clinton (personally): “I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice.”

(The fans scream.)

And scene!

Idiot Leading the Idiots

Bush starts off with the lowest approval ratings ever because most of us don’t consider him a real president; he spends the majority of his first year in office on vacation thus reinforcing our theory; despite the numerous warning signs he had, the US gets attacked by terrorists on HIS watch; he can’t find the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks so he instead brainwashes the majority of the public into thinking the leader of a paralyzed country is responsible for terrorism and we should all be afraid; he invades said country under the assumption that they have nuclear weapons even when he’s told by the world that his assumption is dead wrong; thousands of Americans lose their lives; when it’s discovered he was, in fact, wrong about the nuclear weapons he keeps said dying Americans in the paralyzed country and claims that it’s in the name of freedom.

Bush spends more than we have while cutting taxes; he’s for pollution and against the environment; he ignores the economy and instead “unites the country” by preaching hatred and bigotry; he’s ready to replace enough Supreme Court justices to eliminate a woman’s right to choose while remaining passionately proud of the number of capital punishments in his home state; he’s against ground-breaking science that could save the lives of millions; he’s taken away our freedoms in the name of freedom; he’s stretched our armed forces too thin like that guy named Hitler and consequently weakened our defenses against any acts of terrorism; he’s running our country into the ground like he ran every one of his oil companies into the oil-rich Texas ground; and after all of this, after he’s given you 4 years worth of reasons not to reelect him, you march to the polls like cows ready to be slaughtered and you vote for him.

I used to think Bush was the moron. Now I know you are.