You Respond To Ken August 26, 2011March 24, 2017 Peter Kaczowka: “To Ken and others who say ‘politics stink,’ I say ‘hold your nose and vote.’ If it takes two hands, bring a clothespin.” Kathryn Lance: “I too am over sixty. I don’t have millions, and if the right-wing thugs succeed in doing away with Social Security and Medicare I’ll be eating cat food and my cats will be eating mice. I STILL LOVE AND BELIEVE IN OUR WONDERFUL PRESIDENT. Seeing how many so-called liberals, like your rich friend in today’s column, have given up on him depresses me to tears. Have they not noticed that he has been thwarted and dissed at every turn, not only by the opposition but by most of the media? There is so much to say in his defense, but why should he have to be defended? He should be thanked and blessed each day for all he has accomplished against such great odds and unimaginable disrespect and vilification.” Chuck Burgner: “Save the money millions I don’t have, Ken expresses my sentiments to the tee. I too donated to Obama’s campaign and volunteered time to his election at our local Obama office. And often I ask myself ‘why I did it?’ I wrote to Obama several months ago and told him of my disappointment and that he was not the same man I voted for.” ☞ You did it because Obama stood – and stands – for almost all the same things you do (science, reason, moderation, compassion, shared responsibility, a strong social safety net, health insurance for all, a woman’s right to choose, equal rights for people like me, a progressive Supreme Court, membership in the community of nations, investment in education, innovation and infrastructure, clean air and water, effective government regulation) and because he was – and remains – a man of astounding talent and temperament. And because the alternative was a heroic but reckless man, 894th in is class of 897, who chose as his understudy a woman who got a D in economics and couldn’t name any newspapers or magazines she read regularly. Rick: “Please forward this to Ken: I too get tired. I too have been a bit disappointed as our President keeps his cool while his critics howl into the wind. But if we don’t care, who will? Who will care for the inner-city youth in need of a quality education? Who will make sure impoverished expectant mothers receive quality medical care for their unborn babies? Who will assure dignity is available to EVERY American? I left the Republican party two years ago as I finally opened my eyes to the truth that THEY DON’T CARE! They give lip service to win elections while spinning public policy to make the rich wealthier and the poor, more impoverished. They still laugh at racial jokes, bully gay kids and expect the inner-city kids to fix their own problems. I too am tired, but mostly of their rhetoric. We must fight, and if not for victory in our generation, then for those who come after us. Ken, true happiness will only come by living our lives for other people. The GOP must be the largest group of the most unhappy people in the world. If I were not so mad, I would feel sorry for them.” Kevin Kotowski: “If it’s any consolation, I hear Ken, too. There are times (many times) over the last couple of years when I wanted to wash my hands of politics completely. Does Obama disappoint us occasionally? Of course. But I believe we as a country are in far better shape than if McCain/Palin had won. The Democrats’ problem isn’t that they’ve accomplished little, it’s that they aren’t getting the word out and letting the country know all they HAVE done. Your list of accomplishments under this President was inspiring and so I forwarded it on to my friends both Democratic and Republican (many who are disgusted with their own party’s shenanigans) and posted it on my Facebook page. Maybe it’s up to us to yell a little louder about what we Democrats have accomplished.” Jim: “Re: ‘Disappointed Ken’ yesterday, I liked your response but feel you missed three useful tacks: **** 1. The problem isn’t evil crazy Republicans and cowardly Obama. It’s evil crazy Republicans and cowardly media, which is intimidated (by the right’s nonstop hollering about supposed ‘liberal bias’) into under-reporting his victories. Your list of Obama’s good deeds barely gets started. Few are aware of it all because the media downplays it. And so liberals are ‘disappointed’ because they’re poorly informed, drawing their conclusions from the results of a small handful of big, spotlit fights. **** 2. Tons of your kindred spirits who aren’t 60 year old millionaires will suffer if Republicans win. I understand the urge to give up on low/middle class Republicans foolish enough to clamor for policies counter to their own interests. But why abandon the rest of us, who do not yet ‘have ours?’ Obama may have disappointed Ken (though he’s done a better job than Gore or Kerry would have done, and look what happened when we didn’t fully support them), but he hasn’t turned away from it all in disgust. So who’s the coward? If Ken is absolutely resigned to stop caring, then at least throw a big wad of dough at the Democrats as you leave, as a gesture toward the rest of us who are too young and too poor to disconnect from this insanity. **** 3. The right’s persistent, and this exasperates the left into giving up. Pushy immoderate forces always have an advantage. For example, that’s why our gun laws sharply diverge from majority preferences. And it’s why two year olds throw tantrums, forcing aggravated mothers to give them their chocolate cake. By pulling yourself out of the game, Ken accomplishes their agenda to a tee. You hand them their cake. This is a binary tug of war, and one side will never let go of the rope. You may spitefully yell ‘ALL of you can burn in hell!’ as you walk away, but don’t fool yourself. You are granting victory to one side – the side you consider ‘evil and nuts’.” ☞ For the record: I think ‘evil’ is way too strong. But ‘selfish’ and ‘bullying’ and ‘misguided’ sometimes fit. Mike M (in response to an earlier column): “But nobody knows the Republicans are doing this [terrible] stuff, unless they watch what’s her name (the lesbian you are always linking to, I’m not knocking her, I know several and like them) but they know she is liberal so they don’t – they have fair and balanced FOX NEWS and viewers think they are getting the truth. They think the other station is biased. Believe me, they think FOX is telling the truth. I used to watch them and never suspected they were lying until I started reading up on the facts. (Granted I watched Fox because of the really hot women, which I am sure is one strategy to hook people in.) The Dems gotta wise up and get a TV station with even better looking women, and guys too . . . say it is even more fair and balanced and get people to watch so the truth can be exposed. You don’t need a biased station, just one to expose the lies.” GOOD NEWS Here’s one piece of bright news (about 8 minutes into the clip): the Tea Party is now less popular than 23 of the 24 groups rated in a recent poll. They finished dead last behind atheists, gays, Muslims, and 20 others. So maybe – though loud – they are not winning the argument.