In memoriam: Sen. Paul Simon... Sen. Paul Wellstone... add your own.

As we go about our work today, let us pause to remember the giants of our party who have gone on. Let us re-commit ourselves to the ideals they believed in, and honor their memories by our work. Let us go forward from today and help President John Kerry to heal this wounded nation, as I believe they would have done, and wanted us to do.

n/t

Jerry Litton, who would have been the U.S. senator instead of Jack Danforth.

Chris Sifford, who would have made a great state lawmaker. You'll always be aces, "Cliffy."

to the soldiers lost or wounded in Iraq...

all needlessly dead.

President John F. Kennedy

Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey

"... who saw wrong, and tried to right it... who saw war, and tried to stop it...."

---Sen. Edward Kennedy's eulogy, at RFK's funeral.

There was a popular song in the late 60's that played that clip. I'll never forget my cousin Teri breaking down and cry.

John F. Kennedy and his brothers Robert and Ted were and are good and decent men as despite that they are Kennedy's and being wealthy and educated and of high society and garnering the adoration of more women they could every possibly hope to explore they were and are good and decent because of the primary reasons they were and are in politics. They represent, to me anyway, men who were motivated by true public service motivations rather than just money and power that so totally describes Bush and the GOP. They already had money and they could have had sufficient power in nearly any field of endeavor they could have chosen to go into but they chose public service. I must say I see a great deal of that in John Kerry. Look what he exposed himself to by the Bush scum to run for president. I am convinced Kerry is also motivated by public service and I think that makes him a good and decent man as well.

Good one.

Causing great confusion to many Coloradoans, I'm sure.... But Paul, despite never being MY Senator, represents what we need to take back and I do so to honor him and his legacy.

One for Morris Udall

the more than 8,000 who are wounded, many for life, and for the some 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have died in this absurd war.

I hope people are thinking of them when they vote today.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Died in his first term, destined for great things. He ran the kind of campaign, and the kind of term, that we all dream could be possible.

You were a great Senator a true Texan.

Sorry to see Poppy fuck you over.

A true fighter, who was defeated in the end by the evil sexual predator Bob Packwood, who won by telling Oregonians that Morse wasn't bringing enough superfluous porkbarrel projects to Oregon, and that he would do so. Scumbag.

sorry I missed your post when I read this earlier. I added a tribute to Wayne below then saw yours.

It was so wrong to lose him. I also thought that if John Heinz would have made it to the finals I would have voted for him. That may seem like a stretch but I think they were both wise and compassionate men.

There is an awesome statue of him on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

1100+ dead in Iraq and all who were damaged by the last four years of misrule in the United States

I vote with you in mind.

as I pulled the handle HARD for Kerry.

I too represent the democratic wing of the democratic party.

God I miss that man.

RCM

Let's go get those Bush BASTARDS!

A true son of Illinois, and quite possibly the most intelligent person to ever run for President from either party.

Between 1953 & 1994, Bill Natcher never missed a vote! I was proud to have him as my representative for most of my life, and never missed an opportunity to vote for him. You may remember his last vote; he wanted to keep his record intact, but was hospitalized with pneumonia. Aides wheeled him into Congress on a gurney! I believe his perfect voting record will never be broken.

He had fought in his last years to get a bridge over the Ohio River built near where I live - a necessary one, not just political pork. After his death, repukes in Congress fought tooth & nail to derail the project. I fought just as hard to get it built. Here's the beautiful William H. Natcher Bridge:



It's won architectural awards!

some of you young folks won't remember her, but Sheila Jackson-Lee now holds her seat.

Who fought many a good fight, even against the deadly BFEE, on IranContra and BCCI and Iraq funding.... Even physically threatened by a car bomb, he still kept on. Always dear to my heart.

A great senator and statesman.

Before my time but heard a lot about him from my Mom.

remember the Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the world.

Wellstone, JFK, RFK, - the ones that died before they could offer all they had to offer.

A good, powerful (she was the Keynote Speaker at the 1980...and I could be wrong on the year...Democratic Convention. What a magnificent voice she had) liberal...a good, decent American.

"You shall not crucify man upon a cross of gold!"

so I am gonna do personal dedications.
To:
Barry Beltz: My uncle who died too young
Howard Kleeb: My grandfather, A true fighter for the little guy even though he came from a privileged background.
Ann Kovalcik: My godmother and aunt who made me a strong Catholic, Democrat and made me proud of my Slovak heritage, I still own the book she gave me and the Gore-Lieberman sign.
John Kovalcik and Louis Bevec: Two of my great grandfathers who just examplify the american immigrant's struggle to fit in with American society.
Mike Strank: You are one of my many personal heroes, the America you fought and bled for on Iwo will be back soon.
To all my relatives past and present, thank you for all that youve taught me, and thank everyone here too, you guys rock, and to my political heroes, thank you too.

We are the party of the common man.

:hi:

Hell they started my family's line of unionism, god bless em for that. They were United Miners, and my granddaddy became involved with the Bricklayers, and I joined the UFCW while working last year.

He did a disservice to his country by supporting segregation, I hear, but boy, he stood up for the Constitution against those Nixon thugs in the Watergate hearings. Never frightened of them for a minute. At that moment, he was the right guy in the right place on the right side. I salute him for that specific service.

------------------------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/

Only great men have great flaws. The Great Society of which John Kennedy dreamed became law, because of the efforts of LBJ.

Thank you, Padraig. I worked up close and personal with the Senator, before he was one. His religious faith was what gave him strength and focus.

Anyway--he WON that race in 1984, 10 POINTS AHEAD of all the others! by working his field campaign, phoning, canvassing, and phoning some more.

And so will Kerry.

Thoughts of him lay on my heart today. May God rest his good soul.

This is a very nice thread. I'm getting a lump in my throat reading the names of all of these good people who aren't with us.

:hug:

So many good men and women, many of whom passed on far too soon, like Paul...

:hug:

one of the greatest labor leaders ever.

"It (Illinois coal) comes up union, or it stays in the ground."

---John L. Lewis
West Frankfort, IL
July 4th, 1953

:thumbsup:

My grandparents whose fathers were miners worship him.

The Wisconsin woman whose obit in the Madison papers called for donations to any organization dedicated to removing Bush from office.

Oh, and she's the one who used to call Bush "Whistle-ass"!

My friends who died in an automobile accident last March. Their family asked that memorials be made in their names to moveon.org.

He hasn't gone yet in body, but has in mind - has Alzheimer's.

He replaced the infamous creep from here, joe mccarthy and become the leading Senator watch dog on spending handing out his "Golden Fleece Awards" identifying wasteful government spending.

He also had a great quote that I used as my sig line here for a while: "Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous."

unexplained airplane crash .

who literally got up from her death bed in '92 to go vote Democrat "one last time."

[She also threatened to shoot Dan Quayle because he was "too dumb to live" and she "had nothing to lose!"

My Gran once threatened to shoot George Ryan, because "Who would send an 88 year-old woman to prison?"

:P

worked in her garden every day, made the best fried okra on the planet, and was a die-hard Democrat!

And she's hangin' with us today!

Thanks!

Funniest politician ever. Detroit Mayor from 1973-93.

Favorite quotes:

When addressing a Detroit media convention via closed circuit tv from Hawaii: "Aloha, motherf&%#@!s".

"You can revolution your ass out of here" to a reporter from the communist newspaper.

To a japanese interpreter, who told him that some words in japanese have different meanings depending on their context: "We have words like that in english- motherf^#$(*."

About Ronald Reagan: "Pruneface"

After RR was elected President: "President Pruneface".

To Jimmy Carter's undersecretary, who Jimmy sent to greet Coleman at the White House: "I didn't come here to speak with the house n*^$%@, get me the man!".

Coleman was a lot of things, but he always gave reporters the best quotes.

Who said that we now "have a president who think that Kashmir is a sweater" before voting against the Iraq war.

It's been a while but I miss him still.
Kind, compassionate and a passionate defender of our state's environment.
He was a great one.

:cry:

First African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress and Presidential candidate.

See my post with the mp3s of Wellstone, Dean and others.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1275450

Though you are now dead and have been replaced by a scary robot, thank you Zell Miller 1.0 for the Hope scholarship that helped me through college. Thank you for your strong leadership when terrorists attacked our state, like the Army of God and its patsy Eric Rudolph.

Thank you for being one of the most progressive governors that we ever had, standing up for working people, and putting Bill Clinton in office. I'm sorry that Zell Miller 2.0 is running around wrecking your legacy...I think Ralph Nader knows what that's like.

Dob Bole

It just seems like a million years ago.

Tragedy.

My grandmother, who died this year of emphysema and Alzheimer's, weighed about eighty pounds and was physically frail her entire life, but she made up for it in her ferocity and conviction. She openly disdained the Republican tendencies of my mom's ex-husband, and reminded all of us of the conditions and suffering that made necessary the much-maligned federal programs that continue to protect and sustain the helpless, and the tragic consequences of racism in the South that she observed when she was young. She and my grandfather together engendered Democratic principles in their eight children with constant discussion of current events, and never let them think that they were better just because they were more privileged and fortunate than others.

Though usually very prim and quiet, she never held back from letting anybody in the immediate vicinity know what she thought of the opposing party, even telling another elderly woman at a nursing home, "Well, I wish you would just shut up!" after enduring several minutes of messianic praise for George W. Bush. On one such occasion, I was shocked to learn that my grandmother was indeed familiar with obscenities and how to use them.

Unfortunately, she died just months before she could cast her ballot.

Without parents and grandparents like her to teach the subseqent generations of the experiences that justify our positions, no political movement could survive. Ann-Lucille Mehlbauer, my Mamaw, this one is for you.

No one would have fought harder in the Senate against the war in Iraq. Wish he had been here to team with Sen Byrd to have put some spine in their younger Senate Democratic colleagues.

In Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, both of whom had worked with Simon earlier in their careers.

:D

3 Very Proud Kerry, Obama and Melissa Bean votes here.

Our precinct was very, very quiet today...a good thing here in mostly Repugnican Pleasant Valley Sunday.

I'm dedicating my votes to my parents who passed away in 2002, were lifelong Democrats and detested this regime. Fortunately today my daughter joined us to add one new Democratic vote (among the dozens we've recruited) and my son joins us in 2006!

I've never felt prouder.

Cheers and thanks to all!

He died long ago, but he will never be forgotten. He was surely one of the kindest men that ever lived. He had tremendous artistic talent and a sharp intellect, although he had virtually no formal education. He endured overwhelming suffering, personal tragedy, and shattered dreams throughout his entire life, more than anybody deserves. Just as an example, in the midst of the Depression, although a very bright child with great potential, he was forced to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door to make ends meet when his father died and left beyond a desperately poor family. His generosity was constantly exploited, even by his family and people that he trusted implicitly, and his heart was broken many times over.

Despite enduring times and personal circumstances that would make most men bitter, he was gentle-hearted, and progressive far beyond his time. Although on the surface he led a fairly traditional lifestyle and dressed conventionally, he was very tolerant of different ways of life, and rejected racism at a time when it was the norm in the South.

He was sometimes naive, but his principles remained firm, and he instilled Democratic beliefs into his entire family. Never once was he fooled by the elaborate facade of false masculinity, fear, guilt, appeals to 'family values', and nationalism often employed by the right-wing. RIP Grandpa, I love you and miss you so much it hurts.

Mickey Leland fought against world hunger, often lead local soup kitchens, fought for civil rights, and environmental justice in economically disadvantaged areas. He was Chairman of the DNC’s Black Caucus in 1985, and served as Majority Whip At-Large during the 97th Congress, and was appointed At-Large Whip by the House leadership for the 100th Congress.

In 1988 Mickey was becoming increasingly active in international human rights and world hunger issues. He worked endlessly to solve the problems of domestic and international hunger and malnutrition. On August 7, 1989, Leland was leading another humanitarian mission when a plane carrying Mickey, members of his Congressional staff, State Department officials, and Ethiopian nationals to a United Nations refugee camp in Ethiopia crashed in a mountainous region. There were no survivors.

John Lennon
Speaker Carl Albert
and my dad, U.S. Army veteran and tireless organizer for the U.A.W.

MLK
RFK
FDR
LBJ
B. Jordan
H.B. Gonzalez
All of the people that died on 9/11
our men and women that are loosing their lives in Iraq
the people of Iraq