JFK titled his well-known book, “Profiles in Courage”.
We saw two today. Senators Jones and Romney. Everyone knows that — everyone but the zombies saw it and sees it. History sees it.
This, from these two men today, was that rarest of rarest things in our time — honest, decent and brave. Like “Mr. Smith”, they went to Washington and spoke up, spoke up for us.
Theirs was that kind of moment. The one you only see in the movies and TV shows anymore.
Who is the opposite, who is, by every comparison, a sniveling, lying, in fact, indeed, in every way, a dirty-lying, conniving stinker? Susan Collins Susan Collins Susan Collins Susan Collins Susan Collins…
Her opponent is going to be Sara Gideon. Send money to Gideon.
Sen. Jones’s cause may be hopeless in Alabama. So what. Stand with him. Send his campaign what you can. He is a good, good, good man. He is our Mr. Smith.
And even if you are a Dem, make a statement -send a contribution to Sen. Romney. Say thank you for reminding us that we are supposed to be one nation, for reminding us that if we differ in philosophy we can yet respect one another and be true to the virtues of America and to virtue itself.
Yes, maybe he could afford to do this because he is from Utah, a state that barely gave Trump a 5% plurality compared to Mr. Jones’s Alabama that voted 70% for Trump. But Mr. Romney knows and knew what awaited him in the Republican Party because of what he would do and did.
I do not agree with Mr. Romney on much except that most fundamental understanding of who we are or say we are, we Americans. I did not want him to be president. I still don’t and will not if he yet runs again which may be impossible now in what remains, or claims to be the remains of the Republican Party.
But were he to be president, had he been president, the nation would have been safe in resolute, principled, hands. The hands of a decent man. And, in this terrible time, that may be the most we can ask and the most we can expect.
That is why the Democratic candidates are missing the essential message now, the one about our fundamental values. Without those values underlying a presidency, no president can pass a bill, enact any program. Stop promising the moon and pledge to restore our nation’s understanding of its creation and purpose.
That is the way to win this year. That is, not Medicare for all. This is bigger than any issue and, so far, no Democratic candidates have understood or expressed this.
These two men, Doug Jones and Mitt Romney redeemed America today, redeemed us. Their moment is our moment. It was and is and will for all time, for all time, in history, be that dramatic — that important, that much an expression of our American conscience.
We owe them. We sure do. Just as we owe Attorney Joseph Welsh for saying that day in 1954, “At last Senator (McCarthy), at long last have you left no sense of decency.”
I saw that moment too, live on TV.
Yhea, I am that old and yhea I tell you that today — TODAY, Senators Jones and Romney measured up to that moment. History remembers that sharply and clearly. Their explanations of their votes and then their votes are the first thing and perhaps the only thing that history will remember from this day.
Peeling the Onion 