I was honored to spend most of Veteran's Day at the Vietnam Memorial with a rally
and ceremony honoring heroes of America from every branch of the service, and their families, immediate and extended.
On their behalf, talking to leaders of veterans groups and a large number of veterans, one
message I heard often was the need for mandatory coverage and adequate financing of veterans health care programs through the Veterans Administration.
I did write a Veterans Day memo this morning
to one of the highest ranking Democrats in the
Senate and will reiterate this and others points
very soon.
What follows is a point that hit me when I returned home, and within 15
seconds Fox
News had a banner headline: Holiday Terror
Horror! Presumably Osama Bin Laden will
have a bomb under our holiday tree and we
should, again, be afraid.
Here is my reaction to Fox, to Rove, to Bush,
to Cheney and anyone else who has been
peddling the politics of fear: kiss my ass.
If there is one thing we are going to kill, bury,
and put away forever it is this politics of fear.
This sad, pathetic, exploitive wimpy view of
America that we are a nation of cowards and
that we can be intimidated by fear.
Maybe Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Fox News
can be intimidated by fear.
We are not.
The American are not.
This politics was kicked out the door, by we
the people of the United States, on November
7, 2006.
Message to Fox: keep your fear media and
your fear politics to yourselves.
It was so jarring to spend the day with great
heroes in a spirit of togetherness with veterans
and families from everywhere, then turn on the
television and see that some people have not
learned a thing from the election returns.
We do have a terrorist threat.
There are real dangers.
They have to be dealt with.
And we will deal with them.
This is not the time or place to revisit the
election issues. The election is won. The
politics of fear has been defeated. The
Congress is Democratic. It is now time to
lead and do what needs to be done.
I would much rather spend my day with heroes
celebrating courage, unity and patriotism.
To those who even today, broadcast this fear
television, and fear politics, all I can say to you
at Fox and elsewhere is: we are not a nation of cowards, we will not be
intimidated by fear,
and you can your brand of fearmongering
partisanship and shove it right up your ass.
We won.
You lost.
America moves on.
Deal with it.