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Hi ERPowers, My name is Sue and I don't post on DU, as a matter of fact I am posting under PDittie's signon. I am PDittie's wife. I too attended the meeting yesterday and heard the same things regarding the participation and the seeking out of the Hispanic community. I am a Cuban, I was born there and naturalized in 1968 when I was just eight years old. While I cannot address the reasons why all Cubans usually vote Republican, I can say there has been a long standing underlying issue and that was the handling of the Bay Of Pigs under Kennedy in that the freedom fighters felt they were left holding the bag. Many Cubans of that generation vowed never to vote for another Democrat. My grandfather was a casualty of the counter revolution at the time and many of my relatives were imprisoned as a result of their anti-Castro activities. My father got us out of the country in an elaborate plan employing much stealth. This all being said, I feel that the current generation does not prescribe to their parent's view and is not inclined to vote Republican for archaic reasons. I was extremely disappointed in the results of this election. The Bush administration is rife with reprehenible rogues. It appears to me that the appointment of Alberto Gonzales is nothing but window dressing. He has only appointed this person in a major error...their track record in researching death penalty cases in Texas is abysmal. He has appointed him as a result of the right wing ideologies he holds. In my humble opinion we need to take back the issues of moral values, which the Repubs have co-opted, and show everyone through words and actions that we have the moral values that everyone is seeking. We need to ask the questions. Is it moral values to send our men and women to die in a war for no good reason? NO. Is it moral values to run up a monolithic debt in fighting a war we did not have to be in and not be able to promote programs to make people's lives better? NO Is it moral values to disefranchise voters? NO Is it moral values to stop research that can potentially bring with it results to save lives? NO Is it moral values to give tax breaks to the rich while the middle and lower classes are being squeezed and outsourced? NO Like this we can change the rhetoric and move the discourse to our playing field. Most importantly, we need to demonstrate that we are and have always been the party that listens to the concerns of all Americans no matter what their racial backgroud is. I was in the session that dealt with formulation of the message and I too heard some very interesting discussions. What I took away from yesterday is that there are many good people and although approaches and ideas might vary the main point is that there are good people commited to making this a better country and by extension a better world with opportunity and equality for all.
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