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November 03, 2004

You need to get out of bed

I'm gonna ask you to do something I know is hard, I'm gonna ask you to stand up, dust yourself off and forgive those that voted for Bush. I'm not asking you to forget them - just forgive them.

Now what do we do? That's what you asked yourself this morning in the shower - I know you did, I did. I stood there thinking why? I don't understand how ..... how a person makes an educated decision to vote for Bush. Don't they read the papers; don't they watch the news; don't they see what has happened to our country? They do all of those things, and the bottom line is - they vote for him anyway.

We need to understand we can't change their minds - we can't even argue with them, because there is no explaining reality to those that live in a fantasy world.

What we need to ask ourselves is why we are Democrats. We need to have real answers. We need to be passionate again about why our Party is our Party. We need to educate people about what we stand for and why.

I know many Republicans, I do, and you do too. The funny thing is I know pro-choice Republicans and yet they voted for Bush. The reason is simple, no one really thinks that their right of individual choice will be taken away. To that I say, meet Chief Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court. Here is a man that will not be serving on the high bench very much longer, GW Bush will be picking his replacement...and we know that he believes you don't "read into the Constitution." Now, I'm a betting girl and I don't think he has even read the document, but that being what it is, what I can't understand for the life of me is why, knowing that pro-choice people supported this President baffles me.

There are reasons why first time voters in Ohio waited in line for 9 hours to cast their vote for John Kerry, and thousands of reasons we as Democrats nominated him. He was and continues to be better able to lead this country, but we must play with the cards dealt us yesterday - and for the next four years.

You all in Virginia did the unthinkable - you helped put Virginia in play - for that I thank you. I also ask that you continue to work in this Party. Our Party is the Party of Franklin Roosevelt, of Harry Truman of John Kennedy. Our Party created the middle class in 100 days, we created a safety net for Americans in transition, we balanced the budget and created surpluses -- this is our Party, the Democratic Party.

We are going to be called on again real soon to elect a Democrat to the House of Delegates this December. After that victory we will be called on to elect Tim Kaine Governor and a Democratic Lt. Governor and Attorney General. So rest today, but don't agonize over making sense of an election that makes none. We simply have to be better and stronger in the next round.

In politics there are battles, and we have won our fair share, but there are more to come. So work harder to make a difference, work harder to elect Democrats and remember that what you did this year is historic - Virginia usually a Republican strong-hold, felt some cracks in it's foundation yesterday - a state that is usually colored red when the clock turns 7:01pm on election day held off - for the first time in a very long time Virginia was for a brief time, Too Close to Call.

Thank you all,

Lindsey Reynolds

Posted by lindsey at November 3, 2004 10:03 AM

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