Long time Republican gives up on Bush - AWESOME statement

Long time Republican gives up on Bush

The Last Straw
Carl F. Worden
http://www.sierratimes.com/04/10/20/carlworden.htm

That's it, I've had it.

I've been a registered Republican since I pulled my first lever in a voting
booth, and I've voted as a loyal Republican for Republican candidates
consistently every year. I am 55 years of age. I am considered a right-wing
Christian conservative and strict constitutionist who knows the Framers of
the Constitution expected strict adherence to that original document unless
and until it is amended.

You don't get much more conservative and constitutionally-minded than I am,
and that is why I just cast my Oregon vote-by-mail ballot for Democrat John
Kerry as the next president of the United States. So did my wife -- and
she's a very independent thinker. I know there are thousands of lifelong
Republican/Independent conservatives who are going to do the same thing on
November 2nd, because they've written and told me so.

The absolute last straw for me took place at the Bush rally, held in Central
Point, Oregon on October 14th. President Bush stayed in Jacksonville, Oregon
overnight after the rally, and protesters and police clashed on the streets.
I sent out a photo of a Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy, all Nazi'd up in
black leather riot control gear and grinning evilly as he shoved a woman
holding her 5 year-old daughter. It wasn't the finest hour for local law
enforcement, but even that wasn't the last straw for me. No, the last straw
for me happened just before the Bush rally itself.

Three local teachers got tickets to the Bush rally, passed all the security
checkpoints and scrutiny and got in. They never created or caused a
disturbance, and they were perfectly peaceful members of the audience
waiting to hear Bush speak. But before they got to hear Bush, they were
expelled from the rally by Bush rally staff who objected to the words
printed on the T-shirts they were wearing.

No, the words on the T-shirts the ladies were wearing did not disparage
Bush, nor did they suggest support for Kerry or any other candidate. The
words did not condemn or support the war in Iraq, nor did they slam any
Administration policy. No, the T-shirts the three women wore showed an
American flag, and under it the words, "Protect Our Civil Liberties". That
was all -- I kid you not.

That was it. That was the last straw for me. That was the defining moment
I'll never forget. That was my epiphany.

Bryan Platt, Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central Committee,
said he stood 100 percent behind the person who made the decision to exclude
the women, removing any doubt that one or two individuals exceeded their
authority and blew it. No, it was solid, Republican neo-conservative fascist
policy on open display, and the Brown Shirts weren't about to apologize for
it. No way.

I am now a man without a political party. I will never again register as a
Republican unless the party returns to what it was before the fascists took
it over. I'm certainly not a Democrat or a liberal, but I might just
register as a Democrat to help them avoid mistakes in the next primary, like
running another John Kerry for president. Any moderate, pro-gun southern
Democrat would have easily swept Bush aside this election. As it is, the
race is so close it could go either way at this point.

My decision to vote for Kerry was a vote to get Bush and his administration
out. I could have voted for a third party candidate who couldn't possibly
win, but that would have translated into a vote for Bush, and I just
couldn't do that. Too many kids in uniform have already been killed and
maimed for nothing, and I see it as my primary duty to save as many of them
as I can. If my vote for a third party candidate means Bush wins and more
kids come home dead and mutilated, then I have abrogated my duty as an
American, as a Christian and as a decent human being. I didn't know better
during the Vietnam War, when I voted for Nixon twice, but I would be without
excuse if I did it again now.

This election is different: In this election, we all have to answer the call
to vote wisely. Lives depend on it, and God is watching how we vote as well.
When an individual sins, God deals with him individually. When a whole
nation sins, God deals with the nation nationally. It's right there in the
Bible.

The way I see it, the threat Bush presents is just too great. I know what
Bush did with his first four years on good behavior, and so do you. What
scares the bejeebers out of me is what Bush would do with four more years
with nothing to lose -- and an assumed mandate from the people for what he
did the first four. At least a Kerry Administration would be strapped down
by a Republican Congress, so I'm not too worried about major gun control
bills being passed, and as far as abortion is concerned, it really doesn't
matter what a president believes, because that issue is decided only by the
Judiciary Branch now.

Regardless of the proclaimed Bush position on abortion, he never issued an
executive order banning any form of abortion because he knew such an order
would be overturned by the courts. Oh, and that phony Late-Term Abortion Ban
Bush signed? It's as good as dead -- and I have a niggling feeling it was
intended to be killed even as they wrote it. The lower Federal Courts are
already finding it unconstitutional, and why?, because the people who
authored it left no possibility for a woman to use late term abortion to
save her life, let alone to preserve her health. In lieu of that provision,
any first year law student knew the federal courts would overturn it, so why
did seasoned lawyers/legislators write it that way? Don't even try to
convince me they overlooked something as obvious as that.

I still believe this election is going to Kerry, no matter what the polls
predict. Last time, it was so close the Supreme Court had to decide the
outcome. This time, a huge number of former Bush Republicans like me have
bolted to Kerry. Unless a large number of former Gore supporters are going
to vote for Bush this time, I don't see how Bush can get re-elected. Add to
that the massive numbers of young voters who are registered to vote for the
first time under threat of a draft, and I see Bush being shown the door by
more than a close vote. But we'll see...

What I do know is that any party that would find the words, "Protect Our
Civil Liberties" offensive or even threatening, is a party I won't belong to
anymore.

That was the last straw.

Carl F. Worden

I remember reading a couple editorials by him from google searches and he was really enthusiastic about Dean. HE doesn't seem to like Kerry very much though.

But I think he's being very intellectually honest in publicly shouting that the emperor has no clothes.

That's EXACTLY why I think Chimpy is toast.

I always felt Kerry would get every vote Al Gore got. All he had to do was take some of the Repug vote.

:party: :party: :party:

Kerry is going to win..Just wait..he is the right man at this time in History..it's not over yet!

Women ejected from Bush rally for wearing t-shirts with the American Flag on them.


MEDIA BLAST THIS.

required reading for all *ies

Fascism is on the move and it is using the Republican party as it's disguise.

eom

Even though Carl is one of those extreme Libertarian types.

my email list.

I thought that was an extinct breed. I am a liberal, have always been and probably will always be... but I can appreciate a true conservative and the merits of a few true republicans I have encountered during my life time.

Decency and dignity knows no political affiliation, and this person is a clear proof. God bless him...

No, the words on the T-shirts the ladies were wearing did not disparage
Bush, nor did they suggest support for Kerry or any other candidate. The
words did not condemn or support the war in Iraq, nor did they slam any
Administration policy. No, the T-shirts the three women wore showed an
American flag, and under it the words, "Protect Our Civil Liberties". That
was all -- I kid you not.

The implication? It would have been perfectly OK to kick them out, despite their being absolutely peaceful and non-disruptive, if the t-shirts HAD said any of those other things.

Is that what Carl thinks, or just what he thinks his readers would think? Either way, it is profoundly revolting. Not surprising, but revolting. And I insist that, at least in a place like DU, it should not pass without comment.

.... no matter what he had written you'd "seen" something else. I don't particularly care for peope who put words on other people's mouths.

Cheers!

For me, the gist of what he was saying is that it wouldn't be particularly shocking to hear about people with pro-Kerry or anti-war t-shirts being ejected from a * rally -- we all know it's happened many times. He's not making a judgement about whether that's okay or not, it's just an established fact of the * campaign.

The point that I take from how he wrote this is how DIFFERENT the "Protect our Civil Liberties" t-shirt message is from the other kinds of t-shirt messages, which are overt statements of political opposition.

It's a perfectly valid point, imho.

sw

It struck me that, to this gentleman, the expelling of these women over the slogan "protect our civil liberties" established it once and for all in his mind that it is precisely the civil liberties of the people under our Constitution that the Republican Party is now in full-blown opposition to. That is a point where all of us here can certainly find agreement with honest persons on the right of our country's political spectrum. This gentleman is an honest man of genuine conviction, and even if an opponent, must be deemed an honorable one: those are a joy to encounter....

"Liberty means responsibility, which is why most men dread it."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

It is a pleasure to see a conservative Republican who realizes his party has gone far astray.

...where people HAVE been thrown out for wearing anti-Bush or pro-Kerry shirts. I don't think he was endorsing the Bush campaign's pratices, just saying that in THIS case, they can't even excuse it as partisanship, but rather a blatant attack on freedom of speech itself.

Thanks for posting.

Kerry on!

:dem:

-Laelth

(I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I think that's actually pretty funny. I'm a big muppet fan, though.)

Can't take credit for that, obviously, but I'm rather fond of it too.

Pass it on.

:dem:

Kerry on!

-Laelth

should go to Bush speeches with that message on their shirt. Piss off some more Repugs.

Its a very simple message and it would appear that Repugs are now opposed to it, so it's a message that needs to be gotten out.

I've worried so much about this neo-conservative PNAC fascism, that sometimes lately I've just thought that I must be getting paranoid. And when the media doesn't cover what clearly should be covered, and covers trivia when we are at war and facing perhaps the most important election of our lives, then I really sometimes doubt my convictions. But this letter was from a lifelong conservative and he saw the same things. This brought a tremendous sense of hope and relief.

Hope is on the Way!!!!!!!!

Now in Maryland, I formerly resided in Jackson County Oregon less than a mile from where the three women were ejected from Bush's sermon to the choir. Oregon has had the "audacity" to successfully stand up to the religious right, in numerous anti-gay ballot initiatives and more notably on the doctor-assisted suicide question. Oregon's "Death With Dignity" initiative first passed by a narrow majority and was immediately challenged by the conservative wing of the state GOP and several church groups. The issue was referred to voters a second time, resulting in an unforseen backlash and overwhelming (3 to 2) vote NOT to do away with the law voters had approved 2 years earlier.

Enter John Ashcroft and his fundamentalist church-state unification mindset -- his office has unsuccessfully challenged the law in the courts. The fact that one state has successfully resisted the RR's efforts to turn back the clock on personal freedoms as affirmed by the voters themselves does not set well with the current administration. Perhaps the mere presence of three women affirming a basic constitutional right rubbed salt in an ideological wound that refuses to heal. At any rate, what these women experienced just reinforces the fact that the Bush/Cheney thought police and the actions of their enforcers are well outside the mainstream of American political discourse, not only in Oregon but in the Nation as a whole. There undoubtedly many other Republicans besides Mr. Worden who are preceptive enough to get this message, and who will vote accordingly.

...and without regard to political parties or ideologies, thank you, Mr. Worden, for your sober and lucid letter. We all want the same thing- a sane country. Rest assured most of us Americans feel as you do. We all love America, and we hate to see her suffer at the hands of unthinking, ignorant, and brutal neocons. Give America back to the people!

Bad dialup!

It is absolutely incredible that

A) Local law enforcement would willingly treat citizens so poorly just to try out their fancy new testosterone-laden equipment (they probably have more equipment per capita in Jackson County, Oregon than the cops in New York City have) and...

B) That the words 'Civil Liberties" frighten Republicans. What the hell happened to Republicans, people? Have they always been this fascist? I've never trusted them, but now I see them as treasonous enemies of America and all it stands for.


WHAT HAPPENED TO REPUBLICANS? I wish they could explain themselves.

The people getting arrested at rallies for wearing tee shirts was the thing that made him question his support. I don't know if he's changed his vote or not but he's looking at things with doubt.

If you look at the Sierra Times or Google Worden and read any of his other stuff, he's very right-wing, and the Sierra Times is a right-wing extremist rag. From some of the other stuff in it, I think Mr. Worden is in for a shitstorm of furious attacks from his colleagues.

Which only makes his "apostasy" even more courageous and compelling. This is the cyberspace journalistic equivalent to putting up a Kerry-Edwards sign next door to Tom DeLay's house. It's almost as brave as what the Crawford Iconoclast did. Bravo, Mr. Worden!

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Thank you.

DU Moderator

The words "Protect Our Civil Liberties" was perceived as criticism becuase Chimpy does not protect our civil liberties. How can that be more clear ?... Those people are total nazis...

This needs to be spread far and wide.