Sunday Discussion Group – The Carpetbagger Report

Anyone in the Bush administration who lost their jobs for being right and telling the truth.

Jimmy Carter… “I’ll never lie to you”. Where would we be today if the current administation subscribed to that statment? A true Christan that seems to have allowed other beleifs, what a concept!

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, especially in the last year of his life. Hearing the recording of his Indianapolis speech (via this site) after the murder of Dr. King brought tears to my eyes, not only because of what he said but because of the realization that there is no one in public life today who could possibly summon up anything comparable under similar circumstances.

Best President of my lifetime: FDR — and his wife, Eleanor.

Best continuing evidence of that fact: the pathological loathing of both of them by the Bushies (particularly by the Queen Mother, Barbara, and her beloved Son, W).

boris yeltsin. he stood up to the old way of doing things, knowing that if he failed he would be killed. no one in american politics today has that type of courage. they’re not even willing to face bad poll numbers, let alone a real challenge in their carefully gerrymandered districts.

I’d have to say the person whose books introduced me to the entire idea of politics in America – Alexis de Tocqueville. My two personal heroes, while only tangentially related to politics, also introduced themselves to me through their books. Rachel Carson, whom you all know, and Dr. Eugenie Clark, who you could describe as the love child of Jacques Cousteau and Indiana Jones.

hubert humphrey

maybe it didn’t take a whole lot of courage to fight for civil rights in minnesota, and maybe he bit his tongue too often when he was lbj’s vice, but god damn it, his heart was in the right place.

‘the happy warrior’ – is there any politician today to whom that name could be even remotely applied?

your pal,
blake

This weekend it would be a tie between the late Col. David Hackworth, and Wesley Clark, neither of whom went back later to shoot videos.

John F. Kennedy.

George Washington.

He understood completely his role in shaping the office of the president and how his every decision would establish tradition and set precedent.

And he was prescient. If you never have, take the time to read his farewell address. He saw Bush, Cheney and the Rebulican Congress coming from over 200 years away.

From the White House, I’d include the Democratic Icons: Thomas Jefferson, FDR, and JFK.

I’d also include visionairies who transformed the nation, including Martin Luther King, Jr., RFK, Thurgood Marshall, and Frederick Douglass.

But on a purely personal note, I still consider Bill Clinton, despite his faults, to be a political hero. His campaign inspired me to get involved in politics in 1992 and his presidency didn’t let me down.

Call me a knee-kerk lefty, but let’s not forget the late, great Paul Wellstone.

My father. He grew up as the youngest of eight (surviving) children in a slum (South Philadelphia), quit high school to earn enough to move his mother and several of his sisters away from an abusive father. After moving to LA in the early ’30s he was asked to run a congressional campaign for the expected loser (no Democrat had ever represented Pasadena), John Steven McGroarty, who served two New Deal terms, 1934-38. My dad was his “congressional secretary” (as legislative assistants used to be called – he actually formed the “Congressional Secretaries Club” so he could figure out how to do his job). My mother was the office secretary (imagine a congressional office with a staff of two).

During that time McGroarty was the congressional proponent of the “Townsend Plan”, a failed scheme of old-age assistance which ultimately pushed FDR toward Social Security. McGroarty is credited by John F. Kennedy (page 8 of “Profiles in Courage”) with having the nerve to write to one of his complaining constituents “go to hell”; that letter was actually written by my father.

As WWII was heating up, Dad was asked to supervise construction of off-base military housing around Camp Roberts, in California’s Salinas Valley. The housing project I grew up in became veterans housing after the war and low-income public housing after that. Dad remained very active in all sorts of liberal causes (the Hatch act prevented him from accepting invitations to run for office). It was particularly his organization of state- and nation-wide public housing programs which led Richard Nixon to attack my father and the then-mayor of LA through Congressional hearings involving all sorts of groundless accusations. My earliest memories of politics were dinner table condemnations of Richard Nixon for having destroyed Congressman Jerry Voorhees and Senator Helen Gahagan Douglas on his climb up the ladder. The very last words I ever heard my father say, just after Nixon resigned the Presidency, were a joyous “We finally got that son of a bitch!”

The town I grew up in, Paso Robles, was very small and very, very conservative Republican (e.g., just after WWII the new Catholic priest was greeted by a burning cross on the church lawn). My Dad was always developing programs to help others, mostly the poor, and it was always an uphill struggle to overcome the rural inertia and outright prejudice of that area. During Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign (I was 8 years old) I went every day along the two business streets handing out Democratic campaign literature, to the jeers of the shopkeepers and passersby. I would never have done that, or remained the political junkie I still am, without that early influence if my first political hero.

Just to follow up on Ed’s terrific story, and if readers will tolerate a brief tangent, the McGroarty/Stephan “go to hell” letter is one of the all-time great pieces of correspondence. It reads in whole:

One of the countless drawbacks of being in Congress is that I am compelled to receive impertinent letters from a jackass like you in which you say I promised to have the Sierra Madre mountains reforested and I have been in Congress two months and haven’t done it. Will you please take two running jumps and go to hell.

I don’t buy into the notion that contemporary politics is devoid of great leaders, but I happily acknowledge there isn’t a politician alive today that would put his or her signature on a constituent letter like this one!

Not all political heroes have to be politicians. But to be heroic one must act in the political sphere.

Born the same year as I was, blessed with a talent and skill that few have ever had; he placed principle ahead of fame, took an extra load of abuse (his race marked him for a standard load; he took on the extra). And he still emerged as a hero to people all over the world.

He endured, he prevailed, he’s the hero of my youth (for it is only the young who need heroes).

Muhammad Ali.

Well, surprisingly, my hero is a former Republican…but don’t shoot me.

The Honorable Harold Stassen.

If you know anything about him, you understand why. Dripped with integrity, and anyone who passes the scrutiny of John Howard Yoder like Amb. Stassen did must be taken seriously. Finally, he’s one of the cretaceous Republicans who, if alive today, would most likely be a Democrat.

Besides, his son Glen and I occasionally correspond.

How about Ralph Nader for taking on General Motors during the 60’s, Thomas Jefferson for being one of the most enlightened thinkers of his time, John Kenneth Galbraith for his liberal economic thinking, Jimmy Carter for not asking the country to do anything that he himself wouldn’t do, Henry Waxman for his persistence in rooting out corruption in government.

America has really been blessed with a multitude of good leaders, of course we have had more than our share of bad ones too.

Political heroes occur both within government and outside.

Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the community of their close supporters are great heroes to me. (Winnie being one exception.) It’s important to remind ourselves that courage and integrity build community – the body politic – and are nourished by it. Jim Wallis tells a story of being in Bishop Tutu’s cathedral as it was surrounded by armed troops. Bishop Tutu went outside and pronounced that the military should join them “You might as well join us because you have already lost.” Wallis thought he was going to die that day. Bishop Tutu turned it around with his courage and insight into the minds of the military. He invited them to be part of the ‘community’.

Martin Luther King and Bayard Rustin are another team. It’s amazing to realize that King saw Rustin for who he was first, not what. In this day, with Rev. Ken Hutcherson and Bishop Eddie Long screaming homophobic epithets while their congregants suffer at the hands of Neo-Con policy, it’s easy to forget that accepting a known homosexual was, at that time, tantamount to accepting communists.

We can’t know politics without heroes from the world of journalism. So here’s to Edward Murrow, Walter Lippmann, Seymour Hersh, Walter Cronkite, and damn it, Paul Krugman.

My maternal grandparents. My grandfather was a Democratic farmer. He ran for every office in the county & township. He usually got more people to sign his papers than would vote for him. He always said, “People deserve a choice. If you let one party run things, it isn’t really a republic then is it?” He also had a sign up, We do not extend credit to Republicans. My grandmother was a poll worker for over 60 years. She also worked at the county hospital for over 30 years, & volunteered there as well. I asked once why she was a democrat, and her answer shaped my views ever since. “I’ll never be RICH enough or MEAN enough to be a Republican.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mr. Archibald Cox. A man who knew a crook when he saw one. And a whole lot more.

Cox, Bill Clinton, and so many of the others already mentioned come to mind.

If I limit my range to politicians, this is tougher because politicians may please you one moment and devastate you the next.

At times, I would label Howard Dean, Colleen Rowley (the FBI whistleblower), Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy, and even Scott Ritter political heroes. There are more, of course, including Sy Hersh, Amy Goodman, and more than a couple of the soldiers who have come out of Iraq and Afghanistan to bravely tell their tales of the abuse and wrongness.

Tough, tough question.

I’ll try to do one from each party:

Federalist – George Washington. One of the three people I’d like to have dinner with. (the other two, by the way are Jesus (I’m Jewish, but boy that would be interesting) and JFK (I know, I know, two U.S. presidents, I could be more imaginative, like Aristotle or Ghandi or something, but that’s what it is.))

D-R – Thomas Jefferson. D of I, Bill of Rights.

Republican – Abraham Lincon (I’m surprised at the lack of mention here). Leading the country out of slavery and keeping the union together was indeed heroic.

Democrat – John F. Kennedy. While FDR may have achieved greater things, JFK inspired me. Special mention to Bubba, tho, as the best prez during my lifetime.

Whig – ok, you got me I don’t have one here. Tippecanoe and Tyler too!!

p.s. I bet you didn’t know that Abraham Lincoln had a cousin named Abe Lincon!!! 😉

JFK-among other things, he also had the courage to take responsibility for the failed Bay of Pigs fiasco. Nobody anywhere admits failure today; especially those in politics.

My hero – Mahatma Ghandhi – He taught the world that given a chance, peace can win.
http://www.mkgandhi.org/index.htm

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.

For over 350 years, the European Great Powers fought continent-wide wars every fifty years or so as former Greats declined and new powers rose. We were due another – final? war in the 1980s as the Soviet empire crumbled, and its leaders resisted the inevitable with all their might and viciousness.

Except they didn’t. Instead we had the Sinatra doctrine – “they can do it their way.”

Just as remarkable, their leader was acknowledged as a true moral and inspirational figure – observe the response of the Tiananmen students to his visit to Beijing. You’d have been nuts to think a Soviet leader could have achieved, or deserved that stature 10 years before.

I’d argue with the fact there are no great leaders today. There have been many, many brave people who have given up their careers to blow the whistle on the Bush admin, only to have their careers destroyed, and the cowardly media to stand silent. All of them would be heros in any less cynical time.

John Kerry – for over thirty years now.

Go ahead, bring on the flamethrowers.

Abe Lincon, hands down – if for no other reason than he came from common stock, and never let his rise to the Presidency change him. He’s the opposite of the political elitism and seperation that pervades Congress and the Presidency today. And he KNEW what war really was – he wasn’t afraid to fight for what’s right, but he never backed down from the suffering and pain his decisions caused. Oh, and as an aside, he was a pretty good speech-writer too!

Another Kerry vote – a true liberal who had to tone it down to run for President. A hero & he would have been awesome. Also, Waxman – it is nice to know someone is watching what is going on and trying to make some noise about it.

Off topic – favorite political image; Bobby Kennedy flipping the crowd the peace sign. Every time I see that clip I get the goosebumps.

Diane,
I wanted to mention Kerry myself. After I wrote my post I realized that the ones that I had the most admiration for were the politicians that stood up for the little guy or went after corruption. In my opinion Kerry didn’t get enough press during the election for his work on BCCI or Iran Contra, especially considering that he was essentially swimming against the tide with these investigations.

Heroes? Hmm. Well, the reality-based community doesn’t live in cartoon books with overblown “knights in shining armour” to lead us to the promised land. It is we, ordinary schlumps, together, who each in our own way will determine our collective success or failure. In that sense, the real heroes are those who are suffering anonymously right now, nameless and voiceless, all over the planet, while we the activist community get our shit together and struggle take our country back.

But not everyone has the same influence or character, and there are many who stand out in providing inspiration and leadership today. In that sense, I give out a big YEAARARRRRGH to Howard Dean! And Michael Moore. And Al Franken and Barbara Lee and Jello Biafra and Paul Krugman and Max Cleland and Russ Feingold and Richard Clarke and David Brock and and Cynthia McKinney and Barbara Boxer and Wesley Clark and Kos the bloggers and commenters here and Randi Rhodes and Navy Lieutenant JG John F. Kerry and Harry Reid and… there are so many who are doing so much, and we need them *all*, and more. All who join or start organisations and go out and *do* shit to try to take our country back. The Internet is a great example of the modernist vision of Everyman and Everywoman as hero (in that case, shall I include James Joyce here too, then? Dunno.).

In history, my favourites would have to be Benjamin Franklin and Mohandas Gandhi.

Of the recently-deceased, without question I’d pick Frank Vincent Zappa and Bill Hicks. Gentlemen you were so so very right in 1988 and 1994 (respectively). Everything you said and wrote then is even more relevant today than the day it was written, and that’s only because we didn’t heed your warnings or take your advice. I wish you were still around to help us through these dark times, and I miss you both.

From the US Senate’s historical archives:

“Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy rocketed to public attention in 1950 with his allegations that hundreds of Communists had infiltrated the State Department and other federal agencies. These charges struck a particularly responsive note at a time of deepening national anxiety about the spread of world communism.”

“McCarthy relentlessly continued his anticommunist campaign into 1953, when he gained a new platform as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He quickly put his imprint on that subcommittee, shifting its focus from investigating fraud and waste in the executive branch to hunting for Communists. He conducted scores of hearings, calling hundreds of witnesses in both public and closed sessions.”

Not to mention the innumerable careers damaged and lives broken.

“In the spring of 1954, McCarthy picked a fight with the U.S. Army, charging lax security at a top-secret army facility. The army responded that the senator had sought preferential treatment for a recently drafted subcommittee aide. Amidst this controversy, McCarthy temporarily stepped down as chairman for the duration of the three-month nationally televised spectacle known to history as the Army-McCarthy hearings.”

“The army hired Boston lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch’s attorneys had ties to a Communist organization.”

Some excerpts, immediately after McCarthy leveling the charge:

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness…. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I will do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.”

McCarthy continued. Welch interrupted him:

“You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

McCarthy kept on, and Welch interrupted once more:

“Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this with you further. You have sat within 6 feet of me, and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have brought it out. If there is a God in heaven, it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask Mr. Cohn any more questions. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness.”

The Senate archive continues: “Overnight, McCarthy’s immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, forty-eight years old and a broken man.”

Would that we had the courage of Mr. Welch’s convictions.

Paul Wellstone. Howard Dean. Inspiring and powerful leaders.

Hmm. And Lynn Rivers. U.S. Representaive for Ann Arbor ’til she was redistricted into Dingell territory. Refused to take the automatic raises given to Congress every year she was there.

Up way too late here, but I just wanted to add a heartfelt thank you for the civilized tone.

It’s not fashionable to admit to admiring John Kerry these days. In fact, more often than not the mention of his name is greeted with sneers and insults – as much by self-identified liberals as by the right wing. I haven’t always been a very political person, but there are a few people in politics who stir deep admiration in me. Bobby Kennedy – as much for his heroic willingness to learn from his mistakes, to grow and change, as for any particular policy position. Kerry is the other. He is constitutionally incapable of taking the easy route. What some mock as “nuance” I call thoughtfulness. His Iran Contra and BCCI work went against the grain of the senate and his own party and showed deep courage. More than anyone, he knows what the Bush family is capable of.

And he is a man of true integrity and principle. It was an honor to volunteer and to vote for such a man.

Eugene McCarthy – he brought down a President – and single-handedly, for better or worse, changed the course of the world. One man CAN make a difference.

Glenn Poshard is my political hero for many reasons, not the least of which is that the former southern Illinois Congressman did’t accept any PAC money. Once a proponent of the flag-burning amendment, he actually listened when I ranted about it and sought out the reasons for my opposition. He changed his mind and came out against it. (I wish I coult take credit for that, but I’m not) After leaving Congress, he ran a squeaky-clean campaign for governor but lost to the ethically-challenged George Ryan.
Poshard’s politics were usually more conservative than mine, but his integrity was far more important.

In the future, hopefully Barack Obama and Lindsey Graham. No joke. Both have shown integrity and honesty. In my opinion, both have also shown a willingness to work reach out to those on the other side to work to improve the country. More of what we need.

Aung San Suu Kyi. She is an inspiration to democratic loving people all over the world.

I just saw Hotel Rwanda. I must add Paul Rusesabagina to the list. Not a politician, not a diplomat, not a government official of any kind, but has more smarts, integrity, honor, kindness and resourcefulness, skills that saved more than 1,200 people, than most. Fantastic movie if no one has seen it. I’d highly recommend the added features including interviews with Rusesabagina.

John Henry Faulk has to be my all time hero – since you’re speaking of McCarthy. Native son of Austin, Texas, he shared his keen wit and rare intelligence as a popular radio personality in New York City until AWARE, Inc, an organization inspired by McCarthy’s witch hunt, tarred him as a communist. Faulk wasn’t one to either hold his tongue or back down. With the financial help of his friend Edward R. Murrow, he hired attorney Louis Nizer and sued McCarty’s AWARE and won. However, it was a Pyrric victory in some ways. The committee had no money to pay his award. CBS never did rehire him. But he showed the stuff he was made of and did clear his name and his battle began the end of the spell of Joe McCarthy.

I had the privilege to hear him as part of a panel a few years before he died. He was so much more than a humorist, as he is often described. A brilliant man. The main branch of the Austin Public Library is named for him. But he deserves more than this, and few even know who he is, at that.

You can hear several of the speeches cited above (especially those by Robert Kennedy and Joseph Welch) here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html (though I’m a little skeptical that all top 100 American speeches occurred in this century). While you’re there, you can also listen to some of the reasons why it is important to have people like these around.

And for me: Albert Einstein. No more humane person ever lived.

Henry Waxman, Eliot Spitzer, John Conyers, and the few others who speak truth to power.

Diane: No flames from me. Kerry would have made a terrific president. Maybe he would have won if you had run his campaign instead of those morons Bob Shrum and Marybeth Cahill. What in these losers’ resumes possessed Kerry to hire them? Once he brought in competent advisors, his campaign improved exponentially and he almost pulled off a victory. Seriously, whomever gets the nomination in ’08-please, no more Bob Shrum.

The comman man/woman. We all have it within us to inspire others. Great political leaders are only such as there exsists followers who are inspired and inspire through risk taking. Tear down the statues of people and erect ones of principle. Look beyond the source to whom you will inspire.

Late addition: W. Mark Felt, The man known as “Deep Throat”.

Not just because he brought down Nixon, but because he had the courage to stand up to a seriously corrupt administration. Who would have that kind of balls in this day and age?