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A Chill Wind Is Blowing Through This Nation

By: David Hinz (Diary)  |  August 9th, 2009 at 01:49 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Originally Published at The Minority Report

While I feel certain that actor Tim Robbins is equally as dissatisfied with the erosion of personal liberties under the Obama Administration as he was under the Bush Administration, he has not been afforded the opportunity to express those concerns before a national audience. That is an oversight that must be rectified. Here are his words — exactly as, I am sure, he would deliver them if he were given the chance.

National Press Club — Washington, DC — April 15, 2003

“A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent through the White House and its allies… If you oppose this administration, there can and will be ramifications.

And in the midst of all this madness, where is the political opposition?… We need leaders, not pragmatists that cower before the spin zones of former entertainment journalists. We need leaders who can understand the Constitution…

The journalists in this country can battle back at those who would rewrite our Constitution… You have, whether you like it or not, an awesome responsibility and an awesome power: the fate of discourse, the health of this republic is in your hands, whether you write on the left or the right. This is your time, and the destiny you have chosen.

We lay the continuance of our democracy on your desks, and count on your pens to be mightier. Millions are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope – hoping for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution, and to defy the intimidation that is visited upon us daily…

Our ability to disagree, and our inherent right to question our leaders and criticize their actions define who we are. To allow those rights to be taken away out of fear, to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access in the news media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy’s defeat…”

You tell them, Tim!

Hillary Clinton said it best…

“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic, and we should stand up and say, ‘WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DEBATE AND DISAGREE WITH ANY ADMINISTRATION!’”

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  • Scope

    and it expired the day a Democrat won the Presidency.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      The last Democrat leader with any integrity at all was President John F Kennedy

      • kcdude

        I thought he helped conservatives to come to their senses in Georgia.

        • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

          and because he was an honest man, he was not in Democrat leadership.

          • kcdude

            In a broader sense though, he was a great Democrat leader. Shunned by his own party but one who led in the only way he could and still be true to his heritage – conservative democrat. The one thing that makes him a shining example was his refusal to accept the status quo of his own party and his willingness to speak out. I have not been on this board long enough to know what Erik thinks of him, but I would be interested in his opinion. My thinking was that he regarded himself as too old to change parties but he was showing his constituents that it was okay and even preferable to vote the candidate and not the party. Georgia changed a great deal during and following his tenure as governor and then senator.

          • kcdude

            In a broader sense though, he was a great Democrat leader. Shunned by his own party but one who led in the only way he could and still be true to his heritage – conservative democrat. The one thing that makes him a shining example was his refusal to accept the status quo of his own party and his willingness to speak out. I have not been on this board long enough to know what Erik thinks of him, but I would be interested in his opinion. My thinking was that he regarded himself as too old to change parties but he was showing his constituents that it was okay and even preferable to vote the candidate and not the party. Georgia changed a great deal during and following his tenure as governor and then senator.

          • kcdude

            I did want to say that this was an excellent diary post.

  • janis

    word for …….” The song says “….nothing left to lose,” but in our case, it reads, “Freedom’s just another word for the left to misuse.”

    As their behavior indicates, concepts such as freedom, patriotism, and hypocrisy have different meanings for the left and for the right. In the case of the left, the first two words mean “our freedoms, not yours. And patriotism means protesting against the Right, not the Right protesting against the Left because that’s just stupid!”

    As for the word “hypocrisy”, those of us on the Right know the concept and are properly ashamed of ourselves when we realize that we have committed it. On the Left? Well, they not only don’t recognize themselves as being capable of doing it, they don’t even admit it when it’s pointed out to them as you have done here. After all, it was BOOOOOOOOSH they were speaking of, and we all know that anything was permitted if it was in protest of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, or Karl Rove.

  • Robert A. Hahn

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      now I will have that jingo stuck in my head all evening long — unless some SEIU thug comes along and whacks it out of me…