Anyone else reading Kristen Breitweiser's book?

So on yesterday, I started reading Kristen Breitweiser's book Wake Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow.

And I find that one of the major themes that jumps from the pages of the book (at least for me), is the need to vote for one's own best interests. Too many people in this country vote for someone because they have the letter 'R' or 'D' next to their name.

Or, like Kristen Breitweiser, they followed their spouse's politics.

On Pages 22-23, she writes:

"During the Clinton years, we both thought Bill and Hillary were shameless liberals who were taking the country in the wrong direction. For someone who had always been independent and able to think for herself, I adopted my husband's politics and views as easily as inhaling my next breath."

-snip-

"I saw absolutely no reason to care about politics....In 2000, I knew that Al Gore was running against George Bush but could not have told you three things about Gore....I voted because Ron voted. I remember Sunday mornings when Ron would watch the political talk shows on the television. He loved Dick Cheney. When I would raise concerns about George Bush not receiving good grades in college and not seeming to be very bright, Ron would allay my fears by saying that Cheney was a man who would make sure George Bush didn't screw anything up. How ironic."

Then, after discussing how the Bushies invited her to the White House to witness the signing of the legislation that created the 9/11 Commission, she writes on page 136:

"It was not lost on me that the administration my husband had so passionately and ardently supported had been trying to thwart an independent investigation into the facts of his own death and that of 3,996 others on the morning of September 11."


We need to do a better job of getting people to vote for their own best interests, and thinking about what is at stake before they get into the voting booth.

She was like most people.

at the hands of terrorists, for her to have her political awakening.

But I think that she has definitely done a wonderful service to her country. She demanded accountability from the government. And she has given all of us a wonderful lesson in not backing down when the most powerful people in Washington are falling prey to political cowardice.

Cindy Sheehan seems to have come under more attack from the rightwing than Kristen has.

What explains that?

Because Cindy Sheehan has been more visible in the Press?

Is it because Kristen's husband was killed on 9/11 and Cindy's son was killed in Iraq?

It seems to be hands off concerning the 9/11 people but critics of the Iraq War are fair game... but they both are critical of the Bush Administration.

from the right-wing.

Remember, in her latest book, Ann Coulter accuses Kristen and the other Jersey Girls of "enjoying their husbands deaths."

And she stated on the Today show that they are an example of "the left's doctrine of infallability." And the right wing talking heads have fully supported Coulter's comments.

So the Jersey Girls (some of whom, like Kristen, voted for Bush in 2000) have been attacked for their outspokeness.

Kristen Breitweiser responded by having an open letter to Ann Coulter in the back of her book.

They work very hard to cultivate the belief in women voters that they should vote with their FAUX watching husbands. The GOP has been able to steal a significant part of the Dem base this way.

A sort of Mushroom Club - keep the women voters in the dark and cover them with manure.

OTOH, Dems ignored women voters for years, continuing to base their outreach to women on abortion issues. Thankfully they're starting to turn that around, but they still have a long way to go.

that I never thought of before, is regarding Bush's appearance at the Rdio and Television Correspondents Dinner when they showed the tape of him running around the White House looking for the non-existent WMDs from Iraq.

Of course, everyone knows how disrespectful that is to the soldiers in Iraq, and their families.

But Mrs. Breitweiser makes the point that she was offended too, as the widow of someone killed on 9/11. Especially because George Bush connected the war in Iraq to the overall war on terror he supposedly waged after 9/11.

She writes: (page 161)

"That same evening, at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, President Bush appeared in a slide presentation searching in the Oval Office for weapons of mass destruction. It seemed like a perfect snapshot of the arrogrance and cavalier attitude of the Bush administration..."

-snip-

"...the president was ridiculing the reason he started a war in response to the murder of 3,000 Americans, one of whom was my husband."

you should go to amazon.com and review the book. It hasn't been reviewed yet. I'm afraid it will get attacked by Coulterettes.

Kick and Rec.
:dem: