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Monday, June 12, 2006
Chris Bell at the Democratic convention
Chris Bell
A Speech to the Texas Democratic Convention
Fort Worth, TX
June 08, 2006
When I started out on the campaign trail early last year, I sat down with Ann Richards to get her advice. I figured that it would be easier to follow in her footsteps if she shared her wisdom with me. She told me something that has come back to me time and time again. She said that running for Governor would be the best education I would ever get about Texas. I had no idea just how right Governor Richards would be.
Let me tell you, over the past year and a half, I have earned a PhD in Texas. And I’ve learned things about our great state that no pollster can tell you.
From the skyscraper canyons of Houston, to the red moonscapes of West Texas, from the bright heat of the Coastal Bend, to the green shade in the Hill Country, the character of Texas and its people is still as great as it was when I had the privilege of growing up here.
This is still Texas, by God, and we’re still Texans, and there’s nothing we can’t do. We think big, we dream bigger, and we reach as high as the Texas sky.
We each hold this vision of the true Texas in our hearts, where Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn have never even bothered to look. I am running for Governor because the Texas that is in our hearts is not the Texas we see around us.
Texas is poised to blow the doors off the rest of the country as the best place to work and raise a family. But we can’t do better than California and New York if our schools are competing with Mississippi and Arkansas, and we’re importing our ethics from Washington.
Improving our schools must be the ultimate task of our leaders every day and not just an election year sideshow or something we do just because the Supreme Court made us do it. Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn have made careers out of doing nothing unless it serves their political ambition. In an election year, you can always find some politician who will talk about education. But this year is different.
Texans are talking to the politicians. And they’re saying that they’re fed up with partisan, egotistical, and ethically challenged people in charge of our money and our schools. And we need a governor who will risk his political ambitions to fight for an education revolution.
We want a governor that stands and fights for what he believes and doesn’t change positions or political parties every time the wind changes direction. If you give me the bully pulpit and a veto pen, I will lead a “New Texas Revolution.� This requires nothing more radical than common sense, but in our state capitol, it requires nothing less than a revolution.
Texas is a big state with big dreams. And right now we need big changes, because this is a future worth fighting for.
You say you want a revolution? How about this? As Governor, I will make building the best public school system in the country my top priority. I am calling for a “moon shot� for public schools. Within 10 years, Texas can have the best schools in the country. Why?
Every business in America will want to move to Texas to hire our kids. Having the best public schools in the country will be the best economic development program that Texas has ever seen.
It would be a revolution to free our schools from the endless cycle of crisis funding. Real accountability means giving our schools the resources they need to lower class sizes, to put technology in the classroom, and to offer a tough curriculum that teaches our kids something more important than how to take another standardized test.
The first battle of the revolution must be to stop treating teachers like glorified test monitors and to start paying them the professional salaries they deserve. We need to get teacher pay up to the national average and then give them the authority to run their own classrooms.
And the next battle in the revolution is to eliminate the state’s over-reliance on high-stakes testing once and for all. After visiting schools and talking with students and teachers all around this state, I can tell you that the tail of the TAKS test is wagging the dog.
Principals have lost control of their schools to remote-control education from Austin. Teachers have lost control of their classrooms, and are leaving the profession in droves. Kids are losing months out of every year, and falling behind. Why?
It’s the tyranny of the TAKS test. Preparing for college should be more important than preparing for yet another standardized test. These tests were supposed to raise standards, but college readiness is down, and our dropout rate leads the nation. We started out to leave no child behind, and we’ve lost a generation.
I remember in particular one high-school classroom in McAllen. I asked the students in this senior government class how much time they had spent preparing for the TAKS test.
Blank stares. The question made no sense to them. Finally, one student raised his hand.
He said, “All of our time is spent on TAKS.�
The principal who had accompanied me to the classroom jumped in & told me that “these are the children of TAKS – their entire school careers have revolved around the TAKS test.�
How did this happen? And for that matter, how did we end up in first place in dropouts , teen pregnancy , and kids without health insurance?
On issue after issue —education, health care, and stem cell research—Rick Perry is a miserable failure as Governor, and Texas falls further behind the rest of the country.
When Rick Perry is forced to explain why our great state has fallen to last place in so many categories, he just smiles into the camera and says, “I’m proud of Texas. How about you?�
I’ve got to say, Rick, we’re all proud of Texas. We just don’t like what you’re doing to it.
I have seen a New Mainstream growing in Texas that rejects the empty rhetoric and failed politics of the status quo in our capitol. Exactly one week ago, on a stage much like this one, Rick Perry showed that he has no idea what the New Mainstream is. The New Mainstream doesn’t have anything to do with labels like “liberal� and “conservative.� The New Mainstream knows we can’t keep dividing people. We’re all in this together, and we’d better start acting like it.
It comes as a rude shock to people in our state capitol that The New Mainstream doesn’t spend a minute worrying about insider politics. They’ve got bigger problems.
The New Mainstream is a Mom in San Antonio, exhausted when she starts that last load of laundry before she goes to bed. She prays she’s doing a good job as a mother and that her kids are getting a real education.
The New Mainstream is a dad in Laredo rushing to the emergency room, cradling his little boy in his arms, worrying about two things: Dear God, please let him be OK… And Dear God, how am I ever going to pay for this?
The New Mainstream is a friend of mine in Houston, ashamed to tell me that he put his kids in private school because he wanted them to learn something more than how to take yet another standardized test.
The New Mainstream is a college student in Austin who told me that tuition bills were getting so expensive that he couldn’t afford to buy all his textbooks.
The New Mainstream is the teacher in Houston whose paycheck has shrunk, whose job has become a mockery of her dreams, and who has to give out textbooks that still say Ann Richards is Governor. After the mess Rick Perry has made of things, I bet she goes to bed every night wishing that Ann Richards really were still governor.
This is what’s going on in Texas, which is why I am making a pact with the parents of Texas. The moms and dads of Texas get up every day to do the best job they can as parents, and they deserve a Governor who will do the same for them. Now, that would be a revolution!
It would be revolution to have a Governor who understands that budgets are moral documents. If we fully fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Texas will gain almost a billion dollars in federal matching funds, but more importantly, we’ll stop paying a human price we simply can’t afford.
It would be a revolution to stop talking about banning stem cell research and to start funding it.
When Jesus healed the lepers, he didn’t call a pollster. I believe God gives us the tools of science and technology to help our fellow man.
We cannot let politics stand in the way of curing disease and healing the sick. It’s the right thing to do. And now is the time to do it.
Stem cell research is more than just an idea to me. It’s personal. A few years ago, I lost my mother to Parkinson’s. And after a grueling battle with breast cancer, my wife is in remission and cancer free.
This is a cynical age, and I hate it when politicians exploit personal tragedies to score points on the ol’ Oprah-meter. But after watching the people I have loved the most in my life fight these battles, I will do absolutely anything I can to keep others from having to go through the same.
What kind of son would I be if I didn’t demand progress into research that could spare other families what mine went through? And what kind of husband would I be if I didn’t wear this pink wrist band wherever I go? I think everybody knows what it means, and the band isn’t coming off until we start fighting for the future and funding stem cell research right here in Texas.
When we win this revolution, we can have the best schools, and a health care system that heals the sick and research that finds cures for diseases.
This is a future worth fighting for, my friends. But before we change Texas, we have to change ourselves.
We have to take a page from one of my favorite philosophers—UT football coach Mack Brown. After the Rose Bowl, he said the most important thing he taught the Longhorns wasn’t the zone read. Coach Brown said that to become national champions, the Longhorns had to learn to win again.
After getting shut out for the last decade, we’ve got to learn to win again, too. Because Texas needs us to lead again. We’re not going to win if we sell out to the lesser of Two Republicans.
Someone once said that Carole Strayhorn is Rick Perry in a skirt. I say that Carole Strayhorn and Rick Perry are two sleeves of the same empty suit.
When Carole Strayhorn left the Democratic Party 20 years ago and became a republican, Rick Perry followed her. And When Rick Perry has had a bad idea, Carole Strayhorn has backed him up, putting lipstick on the pig time after time after time.
Whether it’s privatizing the Medicaid call centers , deregulating college tuition , building toll-roads , cutting children’s health insurance , promoting private-school vouchers , or gutting the Texas Tomorrow Fund, Carole Strayhorn helped Rick Perry perpetuate his reign of error as long as it suited her political plans.
She is nothing more than a politician in search of a parade. And now she’s trying to be our buddy. You know what? We don’t need a Carole-Come-Lately. We need a leader to stand up today and tomorrow and the day after that, no matter which way the political winds are blowing.
You know, I’m just a dad from Houston, but almost exactly two years ago tonight, I stood up to Tom DeLay. And today is the last day of his reign of corruption.
We did that together. We won because we were right, because he was wrong, and because we stuck together.
We won because we had the guts to fight. We didn’t cut & run. We didn’t sell out. Instead, we made a stand. And we won.
Together—right here, right now—we can do it again.
To win, all we all need to do is stick together. United, we can make the Lone Star shine again and restore the greatness of Texas.
Join me in this quest. By winning the New Texas Revolution, we can have the best schools. We will cure disease and heal the sick. We will restore ethics to our government.
We will be true to the Texas that’s in our hearts. And we will build the Texas that’s in our dreams. Thank you and God Bless Texas.
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LTC (Ret.) Brian Birdwell at GOP convention
Comments as Prepared for the
Republican Party of Texas State Convention
June 2, 2006
Copyright © LTC (Ret.) Brian Birdwell
Good Morning/Afternoon,
It’s great to be back in The Holy Land. My thanks to Chairman Benkiser and her staff for tendering Mel and me an invitation to be with you today. In the 1990-1991 1st gulf war, I was part of 7th Corps which deployed to theater from Europe. Our mission as the largest armored formation since WWII was to destroy Saddam’s Republican Guard divisions, which we did exceedingly well. When I returned from Germany, my brother Wade and I were eating at The Mexican Inn in downtown Ft Worth and he asked me what was my toughest experience in the war? I told him that without a doubt, given the 7th Corps mission of destroying the Divisions of the Republican Guard; it was being ordered to kill my fellow Republicans. (Pause) Looking to assuage the heaviness of my heart, he replied, Brian, that’s ok, they may have been republicans, but they weren’t conservatives. Pause
Speaking of Wade, let me say some special hellos to the Tarrant County delegation of which he is a part, as well as the Jefferson and Hood County delegations.
At CGSC, we are taught that you must be three things when you are giving a briefing or presentation to a GO or large group. They are the standard rules of engagement for any public speaking. Be good, be brief, and be gone.
Our nation is not just engaged in serious business, but deadly serious business. We are at war with two cultures, one foreign and one domestic, both of which pose major threats to the existence of our nation as we know it. While I have made light of a tough mission in the first gulf war, the toughest mission the Lord would give my family and me was on the morning of Sep 11th when we as a nation would have to finally acknowledge the culture of terror which had been at war with us for decades and to which we would finally respond and no longer tolerate the despotism that foments it.
First, I would love to tell you the Birdwell’s 9-11 story started out with an act of heroism or valor on my part. It did not. I was simply coming out of the men’s restroom, returning to the office where I had been watching the events at the World Trade Center in New York unfold. I had had my morning Coke around 7 and it was now approximately 9:35, so I stepped out to go to the rest room. I told Sandy and Cheryl I would be back momentarily. Those would be the last words I would speak to my two coworkers. I was about 7-8 steps out of the restroom in front of the elevators in the newly renovated wedge on the second floor when AA flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon between the 4th and 5th corridors at the 1st and 2nd floor level. As you look at this picture (1st slide), I want you to clearly understand what a miracle it is for me to be with you today. This picture was taken by Officer Mike Garcia of the Pentagon police dept a few minutes after the crash. The large X indicates the impact point of the nose of the fuselage at first and second floor level. You can see the oval shaped arc of the fuselage at the point of penetration just above the X. The portion of the building to the right of the vertical line would collapse about 30 minutes later. The circled window is mine and the window just to the right is my boss’s office where Sandy, Cheryl and I were watching the TV and where their remains would be recovered. (2nd slide) The second slide shows the Pentagon a few days after the attack. My office window is still circled on the left and the window to the right at the hinge of the collapsed area was what I was a few yards behind inside the corridor about to turn, returning to my office through the crash site. I did not survive being 15-20 yards from the impact point of an 80 ton 757 traveling at 530 MPH with 3,000 gallons of jet fuel because the Army made me the toughest soldier in the Pentagon or even because I am a Texan, but because my Lord and Savior is as tough as they come. In an instant I went from a well-lit hallway, fully aware of my surroundings to an earthly hell of fire, intense heat, choking black smoke, pain and disorientation. In those first few moments, which seemed to last an eternity, I experienced the pain, both physical and emotional of dying a ghastly burning death. I was burned on 60-65% of my body on my back, legs, face, neck, and arms with the latter accounting for 40% being third degree burns requiring complete grafting. My arms are completely grafted from fingertip to arm pit. My facial areas to include eye sockets, forehead and ears have been reconstructed, as well as my hands. My most life threatening injury was the inhalation injury. My lungs were burned due to the heat and aerosolized jet fuel in them. Because of the blistering and gathering of fluid in my lungs, I was in fact beginning to drown. I was disoriented and unable to navigate my way out due to the loss of lighting combined with the black smoke. I cannot put in words the abject panic that captures your heart when you not only experience death in such a horrible manner, but the helplessness of not being able to escape to safety. I knew I was facing the finality of my life and when I crossed the threshold between the survival instinct and accepting my death, I screamed Jesus I’m coming to see you. I surrendered and collapsed to the floor and waited to die. I thought about Mel and Matt and how that morning would be my last to speak to them. In that moment that I gave up, the turmoil, pain, and panic was now filled with silence and the peace of knowing I would soon be in eternity with Christ. As I lay in the corridor waiting for the Lord to call me home, expecting to hear the words well done thou good and faithful servant, ALL I GOT WAS MORE WELL DONE. (Pause) There would still be many more tough moments.
Inside the emergency room at Georgetown University Hospital, it was like a battle drill, lots of activity, voice commands, energy and intensity, but no chaos. Dr Williams told me that he would shortly put me under general anesthesia, so I knew in my heart I was speaking my last words. I told Dr Williams I wished to do two things. I asked MAJ John Collison, who had ridden with me to the hospital to take the wedding ring off my finger and give it to Mel and tell her that I loved her. Jewelry is normally cut off burn survivors since gold melts near 800 degrees, but I didn’t want the ring destroyed. When the nurse removed it to give it to John, it was like running an overdone hot dog through something of a smaller diameter except the hot dog was my blackened fingers. Since most of the skin was already gone, when the ring was pulled off, it showed exposed bone and blood was streaming everywhere. I don’t recall it hurting; not because of the morphine shot I was given at the Pentagon, but because I was concentrating on the dignity of what I knew was my immanent death. I then asked for the hospital chaplain to say a final prayer acknowledging God’s sovereignty in my life and accepting his will for me should I awake or not from the anesthesia. After Chaplain Cirrilo lead that prayer I then told Dr Williams, not from the strength of a soldier, but with faith in my Savior, “lets get on with it� resting in the comfort of Christ’s command of my life.
Mel would arrive at Georgetown and the staff would guardedly tell her what to expect. While I was unconscious in ICU, she could only see me for a few seconds to keep the area sterile, and that I would not look anything like what I did when I left that morning. No words were truer when she came in and saw what was her husband.
LTG Peake, the Surgeon General of the Army, would visit in the early morning hours of the 12th and strongly encourage Mel to get Matt up to see me. Mel would very wisely process this advice. That my chances of survival were very poor and that Matt needed to say goodbye to his father before I passed. Matt would make that visit and it would be wonderful yet solemnly mournful as we said goodbye to each other without speaking a word.
Because of the trach tube in my throat with the respirator tube connected to it, I had no air passing over my vocal cords so I was unable to speak, leaving me in the silence of my own thoughts. I would spend long days and nights counting the seconds and minutes of intense pain with only my silent plea for the Lord’s mercy through death. I wanted my physical suffering and Mel and Matt’s emotional agony of watching me slowly die to be finished.
Dr Jang telling Mel that he had decided to use sterile larvae, also known as maggots. They were needed to eat the infection and dead tissue that were putting me at great risk of amputation of both arms. Dr Jang would have them FEDEXd to DC from the Univ. of Cal Irvine Medical Center and for three days I would consider the small pieces of rice, those nasty maggots, crawling on me a great improvement to how I looked prior to their application. With great respect for the memory of Ronald Reagan, we all know that California has the best maggots in the nation. (Pause)
Worst of all would be the debridment process the burn survivor experiences. The daily agonizing cleansing bath in a large stainless steel tub or tank where you are placed in a solution of water, iodine and either a mild bleach, chlorine, or some type of antiseptic. The sting is like when as a kid, you had a cut on your hand and your mom put rubbing alcohol on it. But since nearly your entire body is an open wound, the intensity of the pain is absolutely excruciating. Then exponentially increase the pain when the nurses take a washrag to your open wounds. With my inability to speak, only the Lord could hear me scream.
All the while Mel was with me the entire way. She was living her marriage vows with incredible rigor. She was my advocate, and like all military spouses, the strongest lady I know.
I would be hospitalized at the Washington Hospital Center for 92 days, I had my 39th operation just a year ago, I would be in ICU for 26 days, on the respirator for 24 days, the ghastly tank sessions, the infections threatening amputation, the maggots and grueling physical therapy that would make a professional athlete look forward to two-a-days in the Texas heat.
There was one day that was far tougher for our visitors than it was for us. On Sep 13th, Mel would get a call on her cell phone from a secret service agent requesting permission for President and Mrs. Bush to visit us at the WHC that day. That’s a funny story you need to have her tell. They would come to the hospital, both very gracious and genuine. At the time I was prepared for surgery with just sterile towels over my arms, portions of my head and legs. President Bush would come to the foot of my bed and render the salute out of respect for a wounded service-member and as he held his salute for me as I tried to return it, he would look at my horrific injuries in plain view (3rd slide). He would drop his salute and then step to the side of my bed, champion me and promise me, and you, that the culture of terrorism that bred, recruited, trained, deployed and financed this vile act, and so many before SEP 11th would no longer be tolerated.
We have taken the offensive in the war on terror for good reason. You don’t need to have spent time at the school for advanced military studies to know that defense may win Super bowls in the NFL but in warfare or political competition, it only gets you casualties without any corresponding accomplishments. Offense is one of the 8 principals of war, defense is not. Just as we have gone on offense to give the people of the Middle East a better choice than despotism and Islamofacism, we as a party must continue to stay on offense to give Texas and our nation a better choice than liberalism. Look, when it comes to national security, we know that the C in DNC stands for capitulation. If we quit the war on terror or the principles of our conservative cause, we will be no different than our Democrat friends and we will continue to tolerate the mosquitoes that come out of the jihadist swamp, instead of solving the strategic problem by draining the swamp which produces them. Our opponents believe there is choice in this battle, between taking casualties or not. That is a false choice. The true choice is what are we going to achieve while we are taking those casualties? Just as we have had casualties in the war on terror changing the culture of despotism and offering two nations the best choice of liberty, we have taken them domestically in elected office while defeating liberalism and offering Texans and Americans the best choice of conservatism. Next week Rep Delay becomes the latest casualty in the war on the conservative cause, but not a casualty by the authority of those living in his apportioned district. If we abandoned the fight in the war on terror, every casualty we called a sacrifice will simply and shamefully become a waste. Similarly, we cannot let the sacrifice of Rep Delay and the conservative principles for which he fought, be wasted. If we quit now we will affirm to the national Republican leadership that the conservative cause or a conservative leader is not worth the fight and that it only takes a single Democrat District Attorney in a blue county of the most populous red state to cause us to say…we quit. And if we quit, we will not only invite continued persecution under the guise of lawful prosecution from, Mr. Earle, you will tell every federal judge who prefers the concept of the consent of the appointed rather than the consent of the governed that you won’t fight to insure that the word supreme remains the adjective of court, rather than seeing Supreme becoming the noun. If you are not willing to take the casualties that will come in this fight, then you are prepared to define citizenship as no longer having the rigor of responsibility, but the convenience of physical presence within our borders. And whatever rigor or lack there of is required for citizenship, the standards for casting ballots won’t be far behind. If you doubt that wisdom, ask yourself how many lives lost to terrorism since the American Embassy in Iran was taken in NOV of 1979 would still be with us had we responded to the Ayatollah both swiftly and with great lethality, that instead of being concerned with not making him mad, we would have been better served insuring he learned never to make us mad. I know Texans are not averse to a fight and I don’t believe Texans or most Americans are casualty averse, rather I believe we are waste averse. The great Americans on Flight 93 knew what was at stake both personally and for citizens whom they did not know. They understood the true meaning of the words within our national anthem that most of us just routinely sing without thought. Those heroes didn’t call the state dept. for a dialog, nor did they call the UN for a Security Council resolution. They understood that what had the best chance of making and keeping them free was a perilous fight. And that is what is required of us. We must be perilously engaged in the fight against liberalism and we must take swift and lethal action at the ballot box in our respective counties.
Winston Churchill gave us the best advice in the most difficult of times. “Never Give in! Never, Never, Never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense!� Fortunately, God Blessed you in this convention hall, our party and in particular Texas with an abundance of honor and good sense.
See you on the objective.
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Fred Head at Texas Democratic Party convention
Fred Head
Democratic nominee, state comptroller
Texas Democratic Party convention
Fort Worth
June 10, 2006
You can clearly see why Marsha speaks for me and our family.
Now, I’m as serious as a funeral about what I’m doing and I don’t smile very much so you’ll excuse me for that. Maybe I’ll get to where I’ll learn how to do that before long. I’ve been accused of being a little bit too serious. But this is all very serious to me.
I wanna talk to you about a couple of things today. I wanna talk to you about telling the truth! An I wanna talk to you about winning an election. I’m planning on winning an election in November.
Now…we don’t…we don’t have much time to get up here and talk. In fact, they told us they were going to turn the mike off if we went over ten minutes and I’m, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, but uh what I wanna do, I wanna tell all of you how much I appreciate what you’re doing. Every one of you that are here today are a vital part of what’s gonna happen in the fall and if you’ll do your job at the local level, it’ll work.
But this business about trickling down from the top does not work. It’s got to start at the local level.
People have lost hope! Lots of people have lost hope! We’ve gotta giv‘em hope again, ladies and gentlemen to get ‘em back to the polls. This is the time we can do it! You’re the ones that are gonna do it!
Now, in my speeches across Texas I’ve been saying, “Texans love a good fight! Especially if there’s an underdog who’s standing up for what’s right!� That’s what we’ve got! We’ve got a buncha underdogs, but, but it’s time for a change in Austin! What we’ve got down there is a buncha lapdogs, ladies and gentlemen…lapdogs for the influence peddlers, lapdogs for the special interests…lapdogs for the influence peddlers and lobbyists. And we’ve gotta get rid of these people! And the only way we are gonna do it is take our campaign across Texas.
Now, the little bus you saw out there is, I think, gonna be a real good symbol of what’s wrong now and how we are gonna get it changed.
They’ve gone down and spent a Special Session and said, “Okay, we’ve got it all fixed.� That’s not true! You know it’s not true. Education’s not fixed. The tax system is not fixed…
When I’m Comptroller of Public Accounts, we’re gonna wind up having a working relationship with the Appraisal Districts where we can make sure everybody’s taxes are fair. We’re gonna reinstitute performance auditing where we can see what schools and agencies are doing. We’re gonna cut out all the waste.
Now, talking about what the Comptroller’s Office does is not very sexy, so I’m not gonna spend much time on that, but I wanna tell ya about this. I wanna tell ya that I have an opponent…and I wanna be sure nobody under..misunderstands this…I don’t intend to be mean or unkind to my opponent, but I believe my opponent’s life experiences and actions are a fair subject for you folks in this room and all the people of Texas to consider when you’re deciding whether or not to vote for me or to vote for her.
Now, I believe it’s unprecedented, ladies and gentlemen, to have a candidate for a state wide office in the state of Texas who has written and sold a trashy romance novel that glorifies premarital sex and arouses sexual desires.
I’m for the First Amendment. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in you being able to write what you want to. But, I don’t think that’s a qualification for serving as a state wide officer in Texas.
This woman, Susan Combs, has been a hypocrite and two-faced, and a major flip flopper to use the Republican language. So I want you to know that, and I want you to tell that story all across Texas. Cause I’m gonna tell it, ladies and gentlemen. That’s part of the truth about her.
Now, you would think that your governor, your Republican governor, would know about that. In fact here’s this little book right here called “The Perfect Match.� (Book entitled “A Perfect Match� by Susan Combs held up and shown to the crowd by Fred Head). And, and Mrs. Susan Combs in 1990, my opponent wrote this book. Now, she was only forty-five years old at the time, so I’m not sure that she was mature enough to know that she was really making a serious mistake by doing it. But there’s some other interesting questions. Uh, I think it would be nice to know how many more she wrote. Whether she wrote any more in assumed names. Whether or not she’s got some that were published in other areas that we don’t know about. I think this sort of thing is what we need to find out about these people that are on the other side. And I think you’ve gotta tell that story.
Now, I told you I wanted to talk to you about truth. The truth is, as I’m telling you about her, she’s been in a public office now for a long time, eight years as Agriculture Commissioner. She hasn’t tended to her job there, but she’s had time in her previous life to write this trashy novel. We need to get rid of this lady! We need to get rid of all those kind of folks!
And this is the kind of hypocrisy, ladies and gentlemen, that you’re seeing in the Republican Party. On all of the issues, they tell the public what they want the public to hear because they think it’s popular and then they go and do what helps the special interests, the influence peddlers, and their big money friends. And that’s why we’ve got to prevail…to change the situation in Austin.
Now, I invite all of you candidates who have a Republican opponent to confront this candidate and say, “Susan Combs is running on your ticket. Are you for Susan Combs?� You need to do that. You need to pin the candidate down. If they’re for Susan Combs, you got a lot of ammo, ladies and gentlemen. A lot of ammo. And you need to use it because this is the kind of stuff that they’ve used against us for years and we’ve let ‘em get away with it. Let’s stop that. Let’s don’t let them do that anymore.
Now, I’m sure that…if we had more time to do this, we could talk about some other things that are really important.
Thank you very much. I want you to go out and help us win this election in November. And let’s tell the truth about all of these Republican candidates. If we’ll do that, we’ll bring home the victory.
Thank you! God bless you! And God bless Texas! Thank you!
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Senator Leticia Van de Putte, before the Texas Senate Democratic Convention
The following are the prepared remarks of Senator Leticia Van de Putte, before the Texas Senate Democratic Convention
Thank you very much for that kind introduction. I am so pleased that the New Mexico Secretary of State is here.
Obviously, the Texas Senate Democrats are fond of New Mexico. We were there for so long; I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to switch to New Mexico license plates. It’s a real shame that the most recent Democratic Governor who Texans have enjoyed is…Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Thank you again for your state’s wonderful hospitality during our temporary exile.
I think there are only about 5 Republicans living in Albuquerque, and all of them were at our hotel picking on us every day.
Have you ever wondered if Republicans would have anything at all to talk about if they ran out of people to pick on?
Hey Republicans, falling behind in the polls? Let’s pick on people. People we don’t like. People who can’t hire lobbyists.
Desperate to change the subject from a failed foreign policy, Republicans? Let’s outlaw gay marriage. Never mind that we’re outlawing something that’s already illegal. Never mind that if Republicans really wanted to strengthen families they would make sure children have available health insurance and a quality education, that families have safe and affordable housing, that we have clean air and water, and that our streets are safe from predators.
Still behind in the polls, Republicans? Let’s build a wall on the border, let’s send in the troops, and let’s scapegoat the immigrants. Never mind that if the Republicans truly believed there was a problem they might think about enforcing laws already on the books before committing over-extended troops to a mission for which they have no training. Never mind that until the Bush administration advances a sane, rational, and compassionate foreign policy, Bush’s wall won’t work!
I guess if all that hasn’t done the trick and you’re still behind in the polls, you could change the subject by proclaiming that whoever leaked national security secrets to the press will be fired — until it comes out that the people who leaked ‘em work for you…and it probably doesn’t help that your chief standard-bearer Tom DeLay had to resign in disgrace under the cloud of criminal charges does it?
I would have some serious policy suggestions for my Republican friends on how to improve in the polls, except that if they followed those suggestions…they’d all be Democrats.
Because Democrats believe that the policies we pursue are for all the people, not just so a rich corporate buddy can get no-bid government contract.
Democrats believe that when you cut taxes it cannot be at the expense of public education and health care, and when you raise taxes it cannot be at the expense of small business and middle class families.
Democrats believe that when you choose to invest in people – through affordable health insurance and quality education – you’re laying a solid foundation that helps sustain the strongest possible families, and the healthiest possible economy.
Democrats believe that you can BOTH build the economy AND protect the environment.
And Democrats believe in the things that bring us together as one strong state and one strong nation, by celebrating our diversity…by protecting our freedoms…by raising our families out of poverty…and by respecting our privacy by trusting women and families to make their own family planning choices.
Afterall ladies, how can we trust the government in our bedrooms when we already know that we can’t trust a Republican not to leak a top secret file, we can’t leave a Republican Congressman alone for one minute with a corrupt lobbyist, and we can’t even trust Dick Cheney even for one day with a shotgun?
The vision of Texas Democrats is clear. Texans deserve a state and nation that offer all people the opportunity to succeed, fulfill their dreams and utilize their talents for themselves, their families, and their communities. And if those fundamental Democratic principles sound familiar to you, they should: you wrote ‘em. They’re in the preamble to the Texas Democratic Party Platform that we wrote and approved at this convention two years ago. I was proud to have co-chaired the working platform committee that expresses those principles. We – you and I – were right when we expressed them two years ago, and as long as Texas Democrats continue to fight for those principles we…can…not…fail. Friends, that is what true public service is all about, and that is what Texas Democrats are all about.
Thank you very much.
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Barbara Ann Radnofsky Address to State Democratic Convention
Barbara Ann Radnofsky
Democratic Nominee for the U.S. Senate, Texas
Address to State Democratic Convention
June 10, 2006
Our Fathers and Grandfathers Understood Sacrifice & Trust
Barbara Ann Radnofsky
My parents raised me to believe that we are here on earth due to service and sacrifice of others; we stand on the shoulders of others.
I’m the granddaughter of a WWI veteran who served as the commander of his American Legion post, and the daughter of a WW II prisoner of war.
When my father’s B-17 was shot down over Nazi Germany, flak pierced his flak jacket and his parachute sprang open inside the plane.
As he lay bleeding on the floor of the plane, his bombardier took off his own parachute, strapped it to my father, and threw him out of the plane on a static line.
The bombardier went on to receive the Silver Star his heroism years later.
I know I am here because of the bravery and sacrifice of others.
My Grandfather was a great man, a boxer before the war when he was injured in his navy service, and then a postal worker who proudly served as Commander of his American Legion Post.
My father and grandfather knew what it was to Trust the man next to you.
When the Nazis came to my father’s POW camp, they mustered the men, officers from the air forces. They announced: all the Jews will step forward. To a man, everyone stepped forward. They risked their life to save their fellow man.
Today you will hear from statewide candidates, men and women who have stepped forward. They deserve our respect and support. They are courageous and trustworthy. We are like you: mothers, fathers, teachers, ranchers, judges, lawyers, public servants, wives, husbands, children, grandchildren. And we love Texas.
Your state wide slate has courage and optimism Your state wide slate counts among our heroes a great man now gone on to his reward Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a loyal democrat who flew combat missions, succeeded in business and in all levels of elected leadership and brought us economic prosperity. He knew and revered this country’s democratic leadership in the early 1960s.
When Pres. Kennedy set goals for the nation, he united this country and caused great things to happen for Texans and the US. When he said we will put a man on the moon, that’s what we did: ordinary people working together in extraordinary times.
And we know we did not get here on our own. I had brave men and women in uniform who saved my father’s life and a government which made college possible for my dad on the GI bill so he could become a NASA scientist, his dream of public service.
And a government provided good schools and teachers so I can contribute. I had a work study grant in college and I can thank my grandparents and my parents and my teachers and the government for helping me get where I am.
After 9-11, the people of this country lined up to give blood. They stayed in line long after they were told no more blood was needed or storable. They wanted to give of themselves. The leadership of this state and country missed the opportunity to call on the moral, good Americans who are willing to give of ourselves.
And I can thank the grassroots of Texas for getting me past the primary and the runoff with sixty percent of the vote. Thank you.
People are ready to trust. Do Texans trust our state wide elected officials, every one of them an elected republican, who brag what they’ve done when:
Texas is forced by federal law which my opponent voted for to be a net donor of our federal gas tax dollars. Yes, Texas taxpayers subsidize the rest of our country with our gas tax dollars as gasoline exceeds three dollars a gallon.
Do we trust our state wide elected officials when:
Texas ranks last in federal bring home the bacon dollars. Last, while the federal government forgot about Hurricane Rita and its effects and we can’t get our fair share of hurricane reimbursement dollars.
Texas ranks last in keeping kids in school. Last, while my opponent voted for massive cuts in educational programs which would help keep Texas schoolchildren from dropping out and given them loans. Massive cuts that would have provided vocational programs for students who aren’t college bound and are ready to be vibrant members of society, not burdens.
Texas ranks last in uninsured adults and children by percentage. Last, while my opponent rubberstamped failed administration policies 95.6 percent of the time.
Do Texans trust our state’s senior senator who:
A. Calls perjury a mere technicality? Such a person should renounce perjury or resign.
B. Ignores letters and phone calls from her constituents and from non partisan groups for debate and issue discussion? Such a person should return her phone calls and come out from hiding and debate the issues.
C. Served as the hostess for Tom Delay’s lobbying project which provided lists as to which cronies would be hired for lobbying jobs to buy favors and votes. Such a person should renounce her embrace of lobbying abuses and sell out to special interests.
D. And, in this day of three dollar a gallon gasoline, do we trust a senior senator who took more oil lobby campaign cash than any other congressperson and then votes for wasting our tax dollars on subsidizing Alaskan bridges to nowhere and subsidies for her big oil company contributors and record, obscenely subsidized profits? And when she advocates US oil dependence on foreign places like corrupt Azerbaijan, where her big contributors hold energy leases? Such a person should give back her nearly 2 million dollars taken in energy lobby money, give up her Enron money, give back her Exxon money, and she should give back her tribal money while she’s at it.
E. Do we trust a Senator who runs for a third full term, after she was elected in 1994 by making a solemn contract with America, and repeating that solemn contract, that she would serve a maximum of two terms. Do we trust her? In her announced third term try, such a person should be held to her word. She gave her word to the voters and she broke it. Come November we will hold her to her word. This is the end.
F. Do we trust a senator who justifies the occupation of Iraq “for the credibility of America� and who promises “this war is going to last a long time�. Do we trust her with our national security? A senator who has deserted our veterans and turned her back on needed VA facilities, including a VA hospital south of San Antonio. These are the military personnel who risked their lives so that we may live free.
Towards the end of the War when Nazi Germany was in disarray, my father and several buddies stole a wood burning jeep, German uniforms and left the POW camp.
You don’t have to go far back in history to recognize that a country’s survival depends on energy independence. We’d cut off Germany’s fuel and she converted many vehicles to burn wood. Using my father’s knowledge of German and the stolen German uniforms, they made their way to Allied lines and when they got to Allied lines they traded that Jeep for a plane ride to England, where they got themselves promptly arrested and put in jail, the safest place to be at the end of the war if you were in England and wearing a German army uniform.
And after getting out of jail and reporting back to his unit, my father was sent stateside to hospital. My big burly dad who weighed 210 pounds when I knew him, had been machined gunned as he descended and still had the bullets and flak in his back, my big burly dad weighed 135 pounds after the war and when he got to the hospital, knowing a little bit about my father, it won’t surprise you to know that he left, in search of his childhood sweetheart, my mother.
But when they went to get married, they found out that they couldn’t, because after all he had been through he was too young to be married without his mother’s permission.
Those were the men and women…. Those were the teenagers …. Who saved the world for democracy. Ordinary children in extraordinary times saved the world and we Americans can step forward and do it again. Ordinary men and women in extraordinary times, who saved this world for democracy; they were and are my heroes.
My husband and I grew up at a time when government leadership meant something and mutual goals were achieved by hard work and sacrifice. That is how Texas know-how put a man on the moon.
People believed that good could come. They trusted their leaders. Why do Texans trust Radnofsky v Hutchison on leadership: We’ve posted where we stand on the issues at www.radnofsky.com, in an issues chart with more footnotes than a church organ, and in more than 400 appearances statewide as I’ve called for:
A VA hospital south of San Antonio
Pay as you go spending and a balanced budget
An independent ethics commission with subpoena power to truly stop our corrupt politicians wasting our taxpayer dollars
Public financing of campaigns
Passage of the Social Security Fairness Act to protect our educators, police officers, firefighters and other heroes
A national energy policy focusing on energy independence
Real health care reform including coverage for preventive care
Withdrawal from the occupation of Iraq
An end to foreign ownership of our ports. Use the U.S. Merchant Marine for port security combined with
A comprehensive immigration and border security plan that targets illegal trade, including the drug trade, instead of targeting legal trade and wasting billions of our taxpayer dollars, unfairly burdening Texas taxpayers and
A rational, respectful plan to target zero abortions and
A debate for goodness sake A debate on the issues of the day… issues which affect every day of our lives, our children’s lives, our grandchildren’s lives
This is doable. Believe.
