I didn't go to the Clinton/Murphy rally today even though I could have easily. I work about ten minutes from the event site. I saw Clinton when he came to Philly for Kerry and I brought the kids so they could see a president. He was fine. It was his first appearance after the heart surgery and so very emotional. But I'm not a Clinton fan. I blame his Third Way nonsense for a lot of where we are today. He'll always be King of the DLC to me and that alone is reason enough not to want to stand in a crowd to cheer him.
As for the Murphy part of the event, I'm off that train. It was always a struggle for me to support him anyway since I see him as yet another DLCer. Now that he's come out in support of the Military Commissions Act, I've lost my stomach for the effort completely. Down came the yard signs. Off came the bumper sticker. I'm done.
The sad thing is that I find the politics of Mike Fitzpatrick, the opponent, truly despicable. I believe him to be a radical corporatist and a rubber stamp for a party that is a grave danger to America and the world. It was that conviction that made my support of Murphy feasible. But now there's the torture thing. And the Habeas Corpus thing. And the warrantless searches. And my equally strong conviction that the Miltary Commissions Act is (obviously) more about rounding up and detaining Americans than anything else. I'm not sure how a Democrat running for Congress doesn't get that. And if he does get it, well, then god save Bucks County because we surely are in trouble.
So I didn't need to see Bill Clinton smiling at Patrick and hear thousands of Dems cheering for torture and the death of Habeas Corpus. I was busy at work getting ready to educate voters about health care, education and clean energy. Congress' priorities are upside down, is the message. That's an understatement if ever I heard one. It's just too bad that there isn't a candidate in Bucks County who will set them straight.
UPDATE: I forgot to point you to Jane's great post about both Clinton appearances in the area.
Why let the perfect be the enemy of the good?
Posted by: Gort | October 14, 2006 at 04:28 AM
I hear you and that was my mantra as I convinced myself to support him in the first place but this is the foundation of the American ideal we're talking about - not to mention the morality of torture.
Posted by: eRobin | October 14, 2006 at 02:34 PM
Wow -- I was completely unaware of Murphy's stand on the recent torture bill. I'm very disappointed in him.
Posted by: TatteredCoat | October 17, 2006 at 12:09 AM
After the very eloquent and apparently heartfelt anti-torture, pro-Constitution response he gave during a late-September debate in Doylestown, I have to think that he's listening to whatever consultants are telling him not to give Fitzpatrick any soft-on-terrorism ammo. That would be less horrible than honestly supporting the MCA, as Fitzpatrick seems to, but still the wrong thing to do.
Posted by: eRobin | October 17, 2006 at 08:57 AM