May God Go with You, My Son---I'm crying my heart & guts out tonight

[ItsMyParty]

May I ask you to afford me the basic human dignity of reading my entire post. I am a contemporary of John Forbes Kerry--a Viet Nam era contemporary - and tonight there must be ghosts somewhere in his soul--I truly believe there are.

Kerry never had to go to Nam--no rich kid did--but he did. But it was when he came home from Nam that I first noticed him. He came back and fought for kid’s from blue collar homes (like me and my brother --you didn’t go to college back then unless you came from money) and for the poor. He fought for the Mama’s who cried at night because they didn’t have the money to keep their boys from dying (oh, Jesus, there is nothing to match that kind of pain)..

That never totally impacted me until now. Worrying over your son is nothing like a Grandma looking at her 15 month old grandson, her 9 month old grandson and her grandson who will be born by C-section at 8:00 a.m. on election day. I fought every fight back then---but now I truly would kill for these kids. So ...here’s the point....and here’s my love for J F Kerry tonight.

I wish I could walk up to Kerry tomorrow at high noon and take him by the hand and lead him to a place of solitude overlooking the waters. I would ask him to get rid of all the goddamn advisors and spend a few hours in peace and remember when he came back home and fought for the poor, the middle class and their sons in Nam.

Tonight I am a grandmother---but I ask John to remember the Moms back then and their agony (I don’t know how they ever could go on living). And I say to John that tomorrow night as you go against everything that those dead young men in Nam fought against, I say for all their Moms, “May God go with you, my son”. Everyone who ever died for this nation and for their mother and father who had to bury them is on the line tomorrow night. Don’t listen to anyone, John. Just be the young man who came back 35 years ago and fight them as you did then. Look at Bush and know that he was exactly the pigs you fought 35 year ago. Speak from your soul...........fight from your heart.......speak the true words of God to this nation tomorrow night.

[ewagner]

1. Thank you

for a moving post.

You have a wonderful heart.

[speedoo]

2. Thankyou.

You speak for so many.

[liberalmuse]

3. Beautiful.

Thank you. Amen.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. beautiful, soulful, and nominated

You put tears in my eyes with that. I pray the young John Kerry hears you.

[OKNancy]

5. Thank you, although posts

like this bring back my memories of the dear sweet friend I lost in Vietnam.
Thinking of Robbie.

[ItsMyParty]

12. And I remember Ron

A kid from my class who was poor but got into West Point and who threw himself on a genade to save his troops and died. And a guy who totally makes me ashamed--guess all is letting loose in me tonight. He was a good looking kid but not one of the 'in people' in my high school in 1963. I do not really know his name. He was the first to show up in our high school updates as dead in Nam. That I can't remember him truly haunts me. But I will never forget the photo in a news magazine (unlike the fucking pristine war of today) of dead Americans heaped in carts -- and the gaping mouth of a beautiful, good looking blonde young man in the height of his youth, dead and on top of the 'garbage wagon' heap........................where people like Bush belonged.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

65. So much these days...

Brings back the feelings, the smell, the taste, the fear and the loathing of those days.

Goddamn, I never wanted to go there again. Goddamnit.

[WiseMen]

6. I don't think America is ready for the real John Kerry. That's the tragedy

for us and for him.

Kerry is torn between the spiritual ideal and the
real politique.

Not a flip-flopper. But a torn man.

The nations needs him. But does not want that man.

We need a new communal mind. A sudden vision.

But will we get it?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

19. Wise Men

what a wise post. You summed it up beautifully. I have felt that about Kerry, too. I have felt it so strongly.

[Andromeda]

7. That was just lovely, IMP...

Truer words were never spoken. God Bless...O8)

[DancingBear]

8. You speak for me

and millions of others of that era as well.

May he do as you ask, and may we all be the better for it.

Thank you.

[DemoTex]

9. "... the poor, the middle class and their sons in Nam. "

That was me, we, us, and thou. I joined VVAW as soon as I got back. Kerry was a leader back then. A spontaneous leader. The GOP would say it was a contrived leadership. Planned. Funny, none of them were anywhere close. Bwaaa haa haa haa! What sycophants and hypocrites!

[ItsMyParty]

13. Demo--this useless nation should be so lucky. They don't know

who fights for them. But some day they will be wailing in their pain for a savior. Why should anyone help them when they end up killing their saviors!!..such pathetic creatures.

[DemoTex]

30. Nail on the head my friend.

Nail on the head. Thank you for you insight. Insight is hard to find around here anymore. It is always obscured by opinion.

[cheshire]

10. I think he will because he has always felt that way. His heart has never

left him. I also believe God walks by his side every minute of everyday. Your heart is full and so is Kerry's.

[pacalo]

29. I believe this, too. But like ItsMyParty, I want him to reach into the

depths of his good, decent soul & tap into that raw idealism that prompted him to stand up for the troops & for our country in the '70's.

[blondeatlast]

11. I'm in tears; that's beautiful.

Chris H, if you are on DU tonite, I hope you read this and pass it on.

We WILL rescue America on November 2nd!

[whalerider55]

14. read...

thank you.

whalerider55

[Gloria]

15. Beautiful. Bringing me back to the days when all my friends had numbers,

we all worried and worried. It made us so serious, so very young.

And it seems nowadays, it's all about cheapening what many of our best suffered...

[ItsMyParty]

20. Gloria--god you just made me remember the numbers

they drew your birthday...if they drew it, you went...to die..........they don't have a clue these days, do they??? That's why John fought them. If you had that birthday and were rich you didn't go. If you had that birthday and you were not rich, your mother watched you go and so often buried you. That was obscene. And it will happen again under Bush but the fools don't know it..yet. Isn't there something perverse about a mother seeing the day she gave birth being the day they took her son to kill him.........jesus......

[Sparkly]

16. What a moving post

Let me tell you, that brought my husband to tears, too!

[secular_warrior]

17. very beautiful - Kerry has fought for us and we must fight for him

Kerry is a true American patriot, as opposed to the "patriot act" in the WH.

All I can say is I hope the goodness and sensibility of the American people win out -- but I am deeply fearful they will not wake up in time.

[luaneryder]

18. This post is so beautifully,

inherently human. This is what it's all about. I know the grief of losing a child and will forever live with only half a soul. I know John Kerry will speak personally to me tomorrow night and I hope other parents are listening when he does. Many congrats on your precious grand babies and the one on the way!

[IowaGuy]

21. I believe that flame still burns in his soul....

I, like many people, have been fairly cynical of politicians throughout my life. I am a few years younger than JK, grew up during the Viet Nam era and spent most of my teen years worried about going to Nam, Would I live? Would I die? Would I face it with honor and courage? Through the luck of being born in 55 and a high lottery # I did not have to go, yet the experience of seeing other guys in my neighborhood who came home, with their bodies blown to shreds, missing limbs, with their minds and souls forever scarred leaves me trembling in anger to this day with the way that we were lied to and wasted for nothing more than false pride, false patriotism and political expediency.

I watched John here in DM the day he announced his candidacy for the Presidency. I was 10 feet from him. It was a typical political event with all the appropriate cheering and applause at the correct moments in the speech, the TV cameras, the local political pooh-bas, etc. JK gave a good political speech, everybody was cheerin' etc...
We've all seen it before....and then after it was over, I saw him looking at his "Band of brothers", the guys who had been with him in 'Nam and been through hell and back with him....guys who had all looked deep into each others souls and came out the other side stronger and survivors. They all locked eyes and started moving towards each other as if they were one organism, it was kind of surreal. He reached down and helped each one up on the stage and as they each held each other and looked directly into each others eyes...it just left me shuddering...and thinking...this has to be the guy, this is who this country needs now! It isn't something that can be easily explained to somebody that wasn't there....so I don't even try to explain to the freepers...but that guy you want is still there....maybe a lot of people will never know or understand that guy, but we do have to do everything possible to get that guy in the Whitehouse, not for him, not for the Democratic party, not because we hate Bush, but because this country can then start on a path worthy of those that have fought and bled for our freedoms, because he knows and understands to his core what it really means to be..."an American"!!

[ItsMyParty]

24. IowaGuy--yes...and that is what is so totally devoid in Bush

Military is a backdrop to him not a band of brothers---he has no brothers because he is a traitor to all of them. Oh, and Iowa is my dearly missed "homeland" of my birth and about 45 years of my life.....

[clydefrand]

61. What a moving testimonial

Thanks to you both...Let's pray for him today and everyday.

[MsConduct]

22. That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing. n/t

[knowbody0]

23. thank you-i think of the lost

every day. my husband sharpened a lead pencil and perforated his ear drum two weeks b4 the end of his tour because he just couldn't take it anymore. he never recovered from his time there.

[MsConduct]

48. I think of the lost too.....

going back to the Revolution, the European war against our native people, Civil War, WWI & II, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, the fake 'war' we're fighting now. Every lost brave man & woman and innocent child worldwide, since the beginning of man's war against his fellow man.....too much loss, too much pain and too much sadness.


Peace

[jody]

25. Leaders follow a dream, and Kerry has forgotten the dreams of young troops

It is so sad that Kerry listens to political advisers about Iraq instead of speaking from the heart as he did when he first returned from Vietnam.

When in combat or a combat theater, it is impossible to get complete information about the political situation and if available, troops must obey commands or face court martial. Vietnam was like that and many of us who returned, eventually realized that we had been misled and misused by Commanders in Chief and congress for purely political goals. Sad to say but history is repeating itself.

[Fuzzy LaRue]

26. I just got back...

from a service for a young Marine. Shane Folmar. He is the first local to die in the service since WW2. His parents were informed last friday. A letter from him arrived today. A note from the grave, so to speak.

[blondeatlast]

57. So sorry for your loss. May he rest in God's embrace.

We will reclaim the nation for your young friend.

We MUST.

[VOX]

27. Beautiful, IMP, simply beautiful...

Thank you for this gift, and for your prayer.

Bless you. :hug:

[Renew Deal]

28. I got the chills

I hope Kerry hears you. I think he does. He knows how to play the big game and he knows the world is relying on him.

O8)

[n2mark]

31. Kerry

Tears are falling.... GD we got to get this a...... out of office. We have a man of integrity who would like to lead our country. He can do it.... he is all heart. He cares and so does his family.

VOTE JOHN KERRY AND EDWARDS ON ELECTION DAY. TURN AMERICA AROUND. THIS IS OUR AMERICA.


VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! VOTE FOR JOHN KERRY AND GIVE SHRUB A HOME IN CRAWFORD.

[Spiffarino]

32. I hope Kerry does exactly that

He will do best if he remembers what brought him to this high plateau.

A very thoughtful post.

[misterphelps]

33. Loved your post

I really did. Bless you and give Kerry strength and honor

[rumguy]

34. excellent post

I hope he gets and takes your advice!

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[blondeatlast]

58. Then why bother replying?

I suspect you are too young to have lived through even part of the Vietnam war.

Many of us oldsters know at least one person who died or was severely injured in Vietnam; it would nearly be impossible for anyone born before 1970 NOT to.

Sometimes it's best to hold your tongue. Like now.

[grasswire]

36. okay, I'm crying

I wish your message could get to him. The future of the world is in his hands. I shudder to think of what he'll face if he wins. It's a sacrifice of his life, in a way, in service of mankind.

Righteousness is on his side. But good does not always prevail.

Sigh, big sigh.

[Chichiri]

37. Somebody MUST get that message to Kerry, TONIGHT. (n/t)

[stevedeshazer]

38. Thanks for your heartfelt post

We need more of that. :hug:

[kimchi]

39. Your post gave me serious chills.

The same back of the neck tingling reaction I had upon first hearing a friend's soulful song. That feeling that you've been touched by angels or perfection or blinding truth.

I've been down tonight, seeing the huge gap between what we at DU know and what the general populace knows--and then Hersch on the DS, and now your post. You are so right on; Kerry needs to speak from his soul--and I believe he will.

Thank you for bearing this message.

Namaste.

[Kimber Scott]

40. Amen.

nt

[goclark]

41. Powerful and So True!

Bless you...

[QuidditchFan]

42. Thank you. I read this aloud to my wife and she loved it, too...<nm>

[dave29]

43. How lucky am I

to have found this post in the wilderness.

Thank you.

[Zhade]

44. We need the 1971 Kerry. That Kerry was truly courageous.

NT!

[oasis]

45. Lovely thought. Kerry will do well.

:thumbsup:

[Chili]

46. beautifully said

I can tell you the moment John Kerry stopped being the Democratic nominee and became my President in my head: the night I watched his congressional testimony on C-Span. That night, he became a living breathing thinking hero in my mind, and there he stays. I want to see that young man again, I know he's still in there, in the statesman we watch making a run for the White House. I hope the country gets a good glimpse of him tomorrow night.

[blondeatlast]

62. When the word "leadership" is mentioned, I get that same image.

The courage he showed in the heat of battle was matched by the courage he showed in speaking truth to power.

And Nixon was a piker compared to Bush.

[HuskerDem]

47. Kerry MUST hear this collective cry........ your cry..........

our cry.

[Hepburn]

49. Absolutely beautiful....

...you brought tears to my eyes. I am of the VN era, too. I lost too many friends over there and I watched too many go and not come back the same. I have watched too many suffer nightmares for 30, 35 years of what they saw and did there. We were so young then. I look back and I lost my first friend to Vietnam when I was only 19 and he was 21. A beautiful, wonderful guy. I had such a crush on him in high school and I could not believe that this wonderful guy actually noticed me one day. Then he went to Vietnam and never came home.

I was so naive then, I knew so little. War was so unknown. It was something my father had done, my uncle had done and something that movies were made about. But....it didn't happen to people I knew. We were kids, we listened to Sonnie and Cher, we drove our VWs to the beach, we snuck cigarettes in the field behind the school, we went to proms, we applied to college...... and then some went away and never came back. And those that did were scarred, not just on the outside. Some of the real scares didn't show. I cried and I cried when I watched the news. Those numbers, the body count. My God....those were real people. People like my friend. My God, my God, my God.

Then one day, I heard John Kerry. He said it all, he said what my friends who had been there were saying. He spoke the truth, he said how wrong it was, how bad it was and that it needed to stop.

John Kerry, if you can hear us tonight, please feel the love and the understanding coming to you from us. We understand and we know what you are really all about. We know what you saw. We know you stood proud and you went. And when you came back, you stood proud and honest again and spoke the truth. The bastard forces of evil were against you then and they did not get you. They cannot get you now. Stand proud for us again, John Kerry. Let it come through, stand up again to the evil that men like George Bush do. Stay focused and stay strong with one thought: You speak the truth and the truth will win out. Stand tall and stand for those Moms and Dads and Friends and Loved Ones who saw young men go and never come back. Who saw young men go and come back as old men far before their time. We are there with you, John Kerry, and we stand with you. Those of us who you touched when you came back and spoke the truth although you cannot see us, we are there with you.

Bless you, John Kerry, and bless each of us who have come forward on this wonderful thread and have shared our thoughts.

[VOX]

50. Late-night kick for a beautiful post...

In hopes that early a.m. East-Coasters will catch this...

:kick:

[cthrumatrix]

51. morning kick....wonderful thoughts and surely received

[Beer Snob-50]

52. beautiful post,

my hope is that someone of importance in the demo party reads this and sends it jk's way!!! thank you

[Clinton Crusader]

53. wonderful, truly wonderful

We had a family member killed in Nam and I just love what you put into words here. Beautiful. I will read it again before the debate. Thanks for posting it.
:kick:

[mrgorth]

54. Awesome.

[FearofFutility]

55. Thank you

for your beautiful, eloquent post. I am moved to tears...

[wicket]

56. beautiful post...kicked and nominated

:kick:

[trogdor]

59. Amen.

Let Kerry be Kerry, and everything will be all right.

[RobertDevereaux]

60. Yes, tears to the eyes...

...I'm 57 and lived through the whole sad Vietnam era.

I'm doing all I can to keep this great nation from perishing.

May the ending to this that we all fear be averted.

And may the one we hope for come to pass.

It will, if enough of us *work* for it.

[Dawgs]

63. Beautiful...

John Kerry needs to read this!!!

[blm]

64. Nominated for front page.

What a beauty.

[Paradise]

66. Thanks for releasing the sadness, and the tears

that have been hard-locked inside of me.

[RobinA]

67. Thanks for the Post

This is exactly why I am voting for Kerry for himself, not for ABB. It's also why I'm tuning out of this fiasco of an election emotionally. It's a bullshit farce. You can do what you can, but you can't hook your sanity to it. Keep the light in sight, no matter what happens.

[YpsiH2Otwr]

68. Very nice

A thoughtful, touching essay. Thank you.

[newyawker99]

77. Hi YpsiH2Otwr!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Gildor Inglorion]

69. Your message affected me deeply

I couldn't help thinking of my own mother's agony at that time. In November 1965 her father (my grandfather, naturally) had a stroke and was paralyzed on his left side, requiring around-the-clock care. Less than a month later, my father died unexpectedly from cancer, and I had to drop out of college to come home and help. The next May, I was drafted and by December I was in Vietnam. I thought I had died and gone to hell, but it was much worse on my mother. I agree with every word you said about Senator Kerry. Bus**t and his menagerie of chickenhawks are not fit to speak his name. May God bless and keep Senator Kerry and grant us victory in November!
:kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

70. "I know how much you are counting on me," his e-mail said...

yesterday, and tears came to my eyes then, as they do now as I read your post. God be with him, indeed, and with us, and the country we love.

[chimpymustgo]

72. May God and the goodness in his soul guide John Kerry.

This is a heart wrenching, yet very inspiring thread. I wish we could email it to all the stooges in the media.

Thanks IMP for starting this. We must not give up the fight.

[NVMojo]

71. the words right out of the heart

You spoke the words and the pain and the fear that have been in my heart since my father, a high school drop out from Chicago, poor Irish kid, went to Viet Nam twice when I was a kid. The words that were still there when I was married to a poor working class kid from a rural town in Idaho when we worried about the hostage crisis in the early 80s. The words that were there as I gave birth to three sons in the following years and ended up divorced and not always with money and never enough money to send any of them to college.

Someone like you and me know that kids from our families are the ones who go to fight the wars of the rich and powerful, but never the wars to protect our country for those rarely and truly exist. Someone like you and me watch each president closely, fearing for our blue collar kids lives if those in power make a mistake.

Someone like you and me, respect John F. Kerry, the rich kid who fought with our dads, our brothers, our sons, our grandsons in Viet Nam when he didn't have to. I refuse to believe this man wasn't haunted by what he saw in Viet Nam anymore than my father was or anyone else who was over there and lived.

John F. Kerry has walked in the shoes of many, unlike the current puppet in the White House who has minions working so hard to paint an image of how he really is an American just like the rest of us.

Thank you for your words and for reminding all of us of what really is and who really is.

[deutsey]

73. Thank you

[TwentyFive]

74. I hope that God hears you - and gives guidance to John Kerry

You have a beautiful heart!

So many lives are on the line in this election. If Bush wins, he will start a draft next year. We'll see 4 more years of war, security alerts and constant fear mongering.

[Mister K]

75. I hear you.....

...and am very moved and honored to have read your words and I feel your pain. My children are not old enough to go to war and I thank God for that. Unfortunately, many parents and grandparents are not so lucky. A new website have been created for parents of fallen soldiers to speak out and it is www.realvoices.org.

There are many other like you who need to be heard. Some of them have the courage to speak out and be heard as you did and some people are brainwashed by the GOP machine in thinking that we need to be protected by our government and that we are in imminent danger.

Hopefully the truth will prevail...

Go Kerry!

[newyawker99]

78. Hi Mister K!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Mister K]

83. Thanks neighbor...from Jersey (Exit 7)

[Braunschweiger Bone]

76. Yes! YEs! YES!!

Will the young John Kerry PLEASE show up tonight. Don't be afraid. Don't back down. Tell the truth about the evils of this nation. Then... and now.

[grace0418]

79. I know you've already heard this

but your post made me cry. Thank you. As the debate draws near I am just in knots. Kerry has got to find a way. We have to stop Bush before it's too late. I'm really freaked out today.

[Tsiyu]

80. Lincoln Davis said it at a Rally last Saturday

"Something led me to say this. Faith is important."

I was holding back tears because I have seen too much injustice and greed and lack of mercy to see a just god leading anyone.

I was raised Episcopalian, hardly a hotbed of fundamentalism, so I learned faith was love and that it was shown in our deeds, not by our tongues. As a child during Viet Nam, I found rare solace in that little 1928 Book of Common Prayer. In those prayers for soldiers and leaders and our land.

Today I go back to that Old Word, to find a suitable prayer ( playing Bible Roulette.) The page opened to these verses, and lo and behold, *'s name is there:


"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He will be like a BUSH (emphasis mine) in the wastelands...

...Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
is the man who gains riches by unjust means...
...and in the end he will prove to be a fool."

Jeremiah 17:5-11 NIV



For Kerry:

" This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

The Wise Words of Jesus Christ
John 3:19-21 NIV

[GreenPartyVoter]

81. From your mouth to God's ears

[G_j]

82. straight to the heart! thank you.... n/t

[Career Prole]

84. Is there anyone here who can get IMP's post to Senator Kerry?

Because I think if he could read it he might just throw the "script" away. Beautiful and heartfelt. Kudos, IMP!
:hug:

[Imalittleteapot]

85. Your post reminded me of the brave

young John Kerry that I saw back then and that I also long to see tonight. I think we will.
You also tapped into my Vietnam era emotions and have brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks for your lovely post.

[knowbody0]

88. could this be the dawning?

for so long the dark days of vietnam lay beneath our dreams.the souls of the "gone" waiting in that netherworld for these truths to speak. inside of the inside-shameful legacy denied. horrific karma of this nation.peace and love was our revolutionary dogma-yet we were portrayed communist dirty hairy depraved and lazy.
me thinks these memories are in the collective spirit and that this could be the dawn's harsh light
peace out

[Malva Zebrina]

86. that is poingnant and very moving

"I wish I could walk up to Kerry tomorrow at high noon and take him by the hand and lead him to a place of solitude overlooking the waters. I would ask him to get rid of all the goddamn advisors and spend a few hours in peace and remember when he came back home and fought for the poor, the middle class and their sons in Nam."

[liberal N proud]

87. Wow! I am speechless.

[molly]

89. From the depths of your soul to the ears of the creator

[knowbody0]

90. i cannot stop weeping

[bushwakker]

91. thanks

[Cha]

92. I waited until just now to read your

piece and it has me dropping tears and a big lump in my throat..

I was there, too, in the VietNam era and so thankful when People like Kerry started speaking out against it. Your advice to Kerry is Awesome..thank you, ItsMyParty!

[demigoddess]

93. Amen, Amen

My dad fought in Korea, and luckily did not have to go to Vietnam,
My husband luckily did not have to go to Vietnam
My sons are not in Iraq,but they could be called up for a draft if bush gets his way.
But @#$%^&*())(*&^%$$$###@#!!!!!! I do not want to see ANOTHER war run by a bunch of idiots who just do it to pad their resumes. Bush just wants to go down as a 'war president' in his own mind to make sure he proves he has bigger ones than Poppy Bush.

[WillyT]

94. Thank You, That Was Powerful, And Beautifully Written !!!

:hug::grouphug::hug:

[Proud liberal Kat]

95. Thank you

for your beautiful post. You brought me back to what it is all about and made me again remember that hope is on the way. Truth will win over the lies and pettiness!
Kathy

[Missy Vixen]

96. Yes. Hope IS on the way.

If I could tell John Kerry one thing tonight before he takes that stage, I would tell him that I begged my parents for a POW/MIA bracelet. They were all the rage when I was 12. I wore that bracelet until I was in my 20's, only to discover that the soldier whose name was engraved on my bracelet, 1st Lieutenant Clive Jeffs, wasn't coming back. Ever.

At 12, I learned that my government lies. I learned that the life of 1st Lieutenant Clive Jeffs wasn't important to them, nor were the lives of 50,000 other sons and daughters of parents who no doubt grieve them daily still.

Two years ago, I went to the Wall on a trip to Washington, DC. I wasn't able to get near the locator book, so I laid both palms on the black granite, and hoped he knew I was finally there.

John Kerry and John Edwards, you must speak up. Speak up for the millions of parents across this country who are desperately afraid that their sons and daughters will lose their lives for a lie, and speak up for the tens of thousands already who have paid for that lie with their lives or their future health.

Ignore the "letter of understanding" and tell the American people what they need to hear: Hope IS on the way. Hope is on the way in the form of a man who has been to war and knows its awful cost. Hope is on the way because we will have two men leading our government who don't think that "Yeehaw!" is a foreign policy. Hope is on the way for those who have spent the past three and a half years terrified about what would happen next.

As Bill Clinton said, "John Kerry said, "Send ME."" For ItsMyParty (marvelous post; I think it should be pinned at the least,) for every American -- Send John Kerry. If we ever needed him, we need him now.

Julie

[Cats Against Frist]

97. Wow

I haven't teared up over politics like this since the montage of Latin American military coup deaths in "Bowling for Columbine." Well, maybe some of Clinton's convention speech.

Thank you.

[Bluzmann57]

98. Just got home and now I'm awestruck.

What an absolutely great post! Thank you for that message and may your grandchildren live a long, happy, and peaceful life.