I went with Lauren, Brad, Heather, Nathan and Brandon to a local fundraising event for
Senator Cantwell which featured short talks by Seattle’s Mayor Nickels as well as the Democratic pundit, James Carville.
After we had paid our $35(USD) entrance fee we got something to drink and hit up the buffet line. A little while later Ron Sims did a few thank you’s and introductions. Mayor Nickels got up and talked about how Seattle was all Democrat all the time and the various initiatives throughout the city, one of which is an initiative to sign all of the major US cities on to the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush refused to sign. 178 cities and counting have given Bush the collective bird on that front, which I commend. As one of the movers who helped me move said to me regarding Bush’s refusal to the Kyoto Protocol, “Who the hell doesn’t want clean water and clean air?”
Up next was James Carville, who spoke for about ten minutes about what was going on in the country and how power didn’t need another puppet in D.C. Probably the funniest part, which is sad at the same time, is when he talked about what the country has lost since Bush and his cronies have entered the White House. Here is a short list from my somewhat fuzzy memory.
- A five trillion dollar surplus. I assume this is over the long run, because I remember a $70 billion dollar yearly surplus.
- The respect of the entire world. Who the hell is going to listen to us after the debacle that was Iraq?
- An entire city (New Orleans). Everyone chuckled when he said, “Nobody though we could lose an entire city, but we did.” Kind of a laugh in disbelief.
The most poignant point he made about us losing the respect of the entire world is that when the Bay of Pigs thing was going on in the early 60’s a US diplomat went to brief France’s President at the time, Charles de Gaulle. The US diplomat was shuffling through his briefcase when de Gaulle asked him what he was doing. The diplomat said he was getting the photographic proof that would show de Gaulle the nuclear missiles and unequivocally prove the US’s point. de Gaulle said, “Don’t be absurd. I have the word of the President of the United States.”
What foreign dignitary in their right mind would even believe the photographs we send these days?