Chappaquiddick: 42 Years Ago Today

Mary Jo Kopechne, 1962 college yearbook photo

CHAPPAQUIDDICK

[Ted] Kennedy's family legacy seemed to assure him a competitive candidacy for the presidency -- but for a fatal mistake on July 18, 1969. Following a dutiful appreciation party for the "boiler room girls" who had worked on his brother Robert's campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts. Although Kennedy managed to escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Furthermore, Kennedy did not report the incident immediately. Later, he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick seemed to quash Kennedy's presidential prospects.

This is an extremely sanitized version of the story. There are many resources available that go into much more detail.

Here is Kennedy's explanation of what happened 42 years ago:

Edward M. Kennedy: "Chappaquiddick"



Broadcast nationally from Joseph P. Kennedy's home on 25 July 1969

My fellow citizens:

I have requested this opportunity to talk to the people of Massachusetts about the tragedy which happened last Friday evening. This morning I entered a plea of guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Prior to my appearance in court it would have been improper for me to comment on these matters. But tonight I am free to tell you what happened and to say what it means to me.

On the weekend of July 18, I was on Martha's Vineyard Island participating with my nephew, Joe Kennedy -- as for thirty years my family has participated -- in the annual Edgartown Sailing Regatta. Only reasons of health prevented my wife from accompanying me.

On Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha's Vineyard, I attended, on Friday evening, July 18, a cook-out, I had encouraged and helped sponsor for devoted group of Kennedy campaign secretaries. When I left the party, around 11:15 P.M., I was accompanied by one of these girls, Miss Mary Jo Kopechne. Mary J was one of the most devoted members of the staff of Senator Robert Kennedy. She worked for him for four years and was broken up over his death. For this reason, and because she was such a gentle, kind, and idealistic person, all of us tried to help her feel that she still had a home with the Kennedy family.

There is not truth, not truth whatever, to the widely circulated suspicions of immoral conduct that have been leveled at my behavior and hers regarding that evening. There has never been a private relationship between us of any kind. I know of nothing in Mary Jo's conduct on that or nay other occasion -- the same is true of the other girls at that party -- that would lend any substance to such ugly speculation about their character.

Nor was I driving under the influence of liquor.

Little over one mile away, the car that I was driving on the unlit road went of a narrow bridge which had no guard rails and was built on a left angle to the road. The car overturned in a deep pond and immediately filled with water. I remember thinking as the cold water rushed in around my head that I was for certain drowning. Then water entered my lungs and I actual felt the sensation of drowning. But somehow I struggled to the surface alive.

I made immediate and repeated efforts to save Mary Jo be diving into strong and murky current, but succeeded only in increasing my state of utter exhaustion and alarm. My conduct and conversations during the next several hours, to the extent that I can remember them, make no sense to me at all.

Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either in the physical, emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else. I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the policy immediately.

Instead of looking directly for a telephone after lying exhausted in the grass for an undetermined time, I walked back to the cottage where the party was being held and requested the help of two friends, my cousin, Joseph Gargan and Phil Markham, and directed them to return immediately to the scene with me -- this was sometime after midnight -- in order to undertake a new effort to dive down and locate Miss Kopechne. Their strenuous efforts, undertaken at some risk to their own lives also proved futile.

All kinds of scrambled thoughts -- all of them confused, some of them irrational, many of them which I cannot recall, and some of which I would not have seriously entertained under normal circumstances -- went through my mind during this period. They were reflected in the various inexplicable, inconsistent, and inconclusive things I said and did, including such questions as whether the girl might still be alive somewhere out of that immediate area, whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what has happened and to delay my report, whether somehow the awful weight of this incredible incident might, in some way, pass from my shoulders. I was overcome, I'm frank to say, by a jumble of emotions, grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion and shock.

Instructing Gargan and Markham not to alarm Mary Jo's friends that night, I had them take me to the ferry crossing. The ferry having shut down for the night, I suddenly jumped into the water and impulsively swam across, nearly drowning once again in the effort, and returned to my hotel about 2 A.M. and collapsed in my room.

I remember going out at one point and saying something to the room clerk.

In the morning, with my mind somewhat more lucid, I made an effort to call a family legal advisor, Burke Marshall, from a public telephone on the Chappaquiddick side of the ferry and belatedly reported the accident to the Martha's Vineyard police.

Today, as I mentioned, I felt morally obligated to plead guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. No words on my part can possibly express the terrible pain and suffering I feel over this tragic incident. This last week has been an agonizing one for me and for the members of my family, and the grief we feel over the loss of a wonderful friend will remain with us the rest of our lives.

These events, the publicity, innuendo, and whispers which have surrounded them and my admission of guilt this morning raises the question in my mind of whether my standing among the people of my state has been so impaired that I should resign my seat in the United States Senate. If at any time the citizens of Massachusetts should lack confidence in their Senator's character or his ability, with or without justification, he could not in my opinion adequately perform his duty and should not continue in office.

The people of this State, the State which sent John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner, and Henry Cabot Lodge, and John Kennedy to the United States Senate are entitled to representation in that body by men who inspire their utmost confidence. For this reason, I would understand full well why some might think it right for me to resign. For me this will be a difficult decision to make.

It has been seven years since my first election to the Senate. You and I share many memories -- some of them have been glorious, some have been very sad. The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile.

And so I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think this through with me. In facing this decision, I seek your advice and opinion. In making it, I seek your prayers -- for this is a decision that I will have finally to make on my own.

It has been written a man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles, and dangers, and pressures, and that is the basis of human morality. Whatever may be the sacrifices he faces, if he follows his conscience -- the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow man -- each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of the past courage cannot supply courage itself. For this, each man must look into his own soul.

I pray that I can have the courage to make the right decision. Whatever is decided and whatever the future holds for me, I hope that I shall have been able to put this most recent tragedy behind me and make some further contribution to our state and mankind, whether it be in public or private life.

Thank you and good night.
(Source)



Here's an account of the scandal as relayed on PBS's American Experience, "The Kennedys":

Narrator: Friday, July 18, 1969. As the Apollo 11 crew approached the moon, fulfilling a goal set by John Kennedy, Edward Kennedy was in Massachusetts, fulfilling still another family obligation—attending a reunion party of young women who had worked for his brother Robert's last campaign. One of them was Mary Jo Kopechne. The party was held on Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha's Vineyard.

Late that evening, Kennedy left the party with Miss Kopechne. Sometime later, his car
plunged off a narrow wooden bridge. Kennedy managed to get out. His passenger did not. Yet, for 10 hours, he failed to report the accident. The car was discovered by two boys on an early morning fishing trip. Police were summoned and the young woman's body was recovered. The diver suspected she had not died immediately.

Kennedy aides helped the other party-goers leave the island hurriedly, without making
statements. On Saturday morning, Kennedy finally appeared before Police Chief Dominic
Arena and was allowed simply to leave a hastily handwritten statement and return to Hyannis Port.

5th reporter (archival): I mean, wasn't there some point—since someone was killed and he hadn't reported it for 10 hours—in actually questioning him a bit deeper?

Dominic Arena, Police Chief (archival): Right, well—well, to tell you the truth, at the time, I thought I would have been able to get back to him. When he left here, I, at the time, thought that he was going to consult his attorney and we would get further [information] from him.

Rita Dallas, Joseph P. Kennedy's Nurse: After Chappaquiddick, I can still see Eunice flying in the house. She took off her coat and threw it. She said, "Where's Teddy?" She said, "I want to talk to him." But there was rage and horror and anger, a lot of anger at not any particular person, not at Teddy, but, I really think, at fate.

Narrator: The Senator stayed behind the walls of the Kennedy compound. Friends, advisers and former speechwriters descended upon Hyannis Port to offer legal advice and propose ways to salvage the Senator's political future.

Midge Decter, political essayist: An army of Jack's loyalists and speech writers—that court that was still, to some extent, a court-in-exile and still dreaming of Washington—descended on Cape Cod to help him, advise him and to write this speech he gave.

Narrator: Just hours before going on television, Senator Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month jail sentence—suspended. That night, Kennedy offered his version of what had happened, calling his own conduct "indefensible."

Edward M. Kennedy (archival): I would understand full well why some might think it right for me to resign. You and I share many memories. Some of them have been glorious, some have been very sad. The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile and so, I ask you tonight—the people of Massachusetts—to think this through with me.

Narrator: Massachusetts rallied to the last of the Kennedy brothers, but across the country, many found his explanations inadequate, his speech mawkish.

Hays Gorey, Time Magazine: Many of us in the press corps thought it reminded us of Nixon's "Checkers" speech. It did not ring true. It was highly political and intended, obviously, to save his political neck.

Pierre Salinger, White House Press Secretary: I think that Ted Kennedy was very badly advised, very badly advised by those who went to advise him. I mean, instead of putting it in the context of the future of his political life, they should have just put it in the context of what happened and had him deal with what happened in the most honest and open way possible.

Narrator: As the story of Chappaquiddick unfolded, Democratic leaders were meeting in Virginia to discuss the next presidential campaign.

Sen. Fred Harris, U.S. Senate 1964-73: Everybody knew - well, they thought—that Ted Kennedy would be the Democratic nominee for president in 1972. Right in the midst of that retreat came the terrible news of the tragedy at Chappaquiddick.

We stopped what we were doing. The issues were still there, but there was no question, from that moment on. Ted Kennedy would not be the Democratic nominee. The situation changed totally and we simply quit and went home.

Rita Dallas, Joseph P. Kennedy's Nurse: Teddy went upstairs and he said, "Dad, there was an accident." And he said, "There was a girl in the car," and he said, "She drowned." He said, "It was an accident."

And his father had his head forward, listening to Teddy and then, he dropped his head back. And Teddy sat down and he put his hands up to his face and he said, "I don't know, Dad, I don't know." But after that, I could see a deterioration in Mr. Kennedy.

Narrator: Joseph P. Kennedy, 81, refused nourishment and began to waste away. He died on November 18, 1969.

Had she lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 71 on July 26.

She died at the age of 28.

Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senate Run

Tammy Baldwin thinks that she's "likely" to run for the U.S. Senate seat open in the wake of Herb Kohl's departure.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) tells the Capital Times that, "I think I am likely to run" for the U.S. Senate seat held by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), who is retiring next year.

I can say with absolute certitude that in the event Baldwin does run, I am 100 percent unlikely to vote for her.

She's an extremist, certainly more radical than Herb Kohl.

Please run, Tammy.

Ron Johnson's Senate Speech, June 28 (Video, Transcript)

UPDATE, June 30, 2011: Harry Reid cancels Senate July 4 recess
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UPDATE, June 29, 2011: Johnson vows to fight any attempt in Senate to proceed with Fourth of July recess

Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson said Wednesday he will try to block any move by the Senate to recess tomorrow in advance of the Fourth of July holiday, saying lawmakers should remain in session to work on the budget and spending issues.

Johnson’s comments come a day after he took to the Senate floor vowing to block regular business unless Democrats advance a budget plan.

“We’re just trying to ratchet up the pressure on Democratic leadership, who controls what we do by and large,” the Oshkosh Republican said in an interview. “I’m doing this to make a point, to make sure we start turning our attention to the budget.”

...Johnson was joined by nine GOP colleagues at a press conference Wednesday demanding the Senate stay in session.

It is so refreshing to finally have someone like Ron Johnson representing me in the U.S. Senate.

What a tremendous improvement over Russ Feingold!

Ron Johnson presents real hope and change.
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Ron Johnson isn't satisfied with business as usual in Washington.

He may be new in the U.S. Senate but he isn't afraid to shake things up.

He knows changes are needed in Washington. He wants to be part of the solution.

Video of Johnson speaking on the floor of the Senate, June 28, 2011:



Transcript:

SENATOR RON JOHNSON: “Mr. President, I ask to be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes.

“Thank you.

“Mr. President, I've been here for almost six months now.

“But I've been carefully watching Washington for more than 32 years, while operating my manufacturing business in Oshkosh, Wisconsin - watching how increasingly broken Washington has become over the years.

“Nothing I've seen in the last six months changes that evaluation.

“Washington is broken and America is going broke.

“Our economy is in a coma; people are suffering.

“America hungers for leadership, and it it’s not getting any - not from President Obama, not from the United States Senate.

“We can't afford to have a broken political process - not now - not while America is hurtling toward a financial crisis.

“Under Democratic leadership, it has been over two years since the United States Senate has passed a budget, and there is currently no mark-up going on in the Budget Committee to produce one.

“America is going bankrupt, and the Senate refuses to pass a budget.

“The President's budget - the one he presented several months ago to great fanfare, remember that? It was 4 ¼ inches thick, 2,400 pages long. Who knows how many thousands of man hours that document took to produce? It was going to be the solution to our fiscal problems.

“But it was so unserious, it would have added over $12 trillion to our nation’s debt.

“It was so unserious, when it was voted on in the United States Senate, it lost by a vote of ZERO to 97.

“It was so unserious, that not a single member of the President's own party voted for it.

“Instead of rolling up his shirt sleeves and personally tackling the number one problem facing this nation right from the beginning, President Obama delegated his role in sporadic negotiations to Vice President Biden.

“Now that those talks have broken down, the President is finally getting personally involved in this process.

“But what kind of process is this – a few people, talking behind closed doors, far from the view of the American public? Is that the process that is going to decide the fate of America’s financial situation, of our financial future? Is this how our government is supposed to work?

“I don’t think so.

“Of course not.

“Unfortunately, this has become business as usual in Washington.

“As a manufacturer, I know if the process is bad, the product will be bad.

“Business as usual here in Washington is a bad process.

“Business as usual is bankrupting America.

“It must stop.

“America is simply too precious to subject our financial future to Washington’s ‘business as usual.’

“Now I'm pretty new here, and I don't pretend to understand everything that makes the Senate work (or maybe more accurately, doesn’t allow the Senate to work). But I do know the Senate runs on something called unanimous consent.

“So unless we receive some assurance from the Democrat leadership that we will actually start addressing our budget out in the open, in the bright light of day - I will begin to object. I will begin to withhold my consent.

“The Senate needs to pass a budget. It shouldn't be that difficult.

“Families do it every day. A husband earns $40,000. A wife earns $40,000. Their total family income is $80,000. That's their budget. That's what they can afford to spend. American families figure out how to live within their means.

“The federal government should be no different. A budget is a number. We should first pick one number, and then a set of numbers, that won't let America go bankrupt.

“So let me start the process by throwing out a number: $2.6 trillion. This is $800 billion more than we spent just 10 years ago. That is the amount that President Obama, in his budget, says the federal government will receive in revenue next year. If we only spent that amount of money, we would be living within our means. What a concept, huh?

“If we want to spend more than $2.6 trillion, Members of Congress and members of this Administration should go before Congressional committees and openly justify what they want to spend, how much they want to borrow, and how much debt they are willing to pile on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren.

“They should explain just how much of our children’s future they are willing to mortgage.

“The American people deserve to be told the truth.

“Unless that happens, I will begin to withhold my consent.

“Unless there is some assurance that the Senate will take up its budget responsibilities in an open process, I will begin to object.

“Madame President, I note the absence of a quorum.”

I'm so glad we sent Ron Johnson to the Senate.

Patrick McIlheran and Ron Johnson

UPDATE, June 19, 2011: Patrick McIlheran's last Journal Sentinel column: "The right's ideas are winning"
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's voice of sanity is leaving the newspaper.

Patrick McIlheran is joining Senator Ron Johnson's staff.

Patrick McIlheran, a columnist for the Journal Sentinel's op-ed page since 2004, is leaving the newspaper this week to take a job with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's staff.

McIlheran, who will work out of Johnson's Washington, D.C., office, will research issues and write about them for the senator. McIlheran also will work for the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, of which Johnson is the ranking member.

McIlheran's last column for the paper is scheduled to be published Sunday.

This is a good news/bad news thing.

McIlheran will be an asset for Johnson, and in turn, the Wisconsinites that Johnson represents.

Unfortunately, Southeastern Wisconsin is losing an important conservative voice with McIlheran's departure.

I hope the Journal Sentinel considers finding someone else to express a conservative viewpoint. It should be a top priority.

I also wish McIlheran great success in Washington.

Earth Day and DDT

Happy Earth Day 2011!

This year's theme is "A Billion Acts of Green."

I think people should behave responsibly when it comes to the environment.

I believe that we are stewards of God's creation and must care for the Earth. I believe that we are called to protect the environment and not abuse the gift that it is. However, that goal cannot take precedence over caring for human life.

It's a sad reality, but the environmental movement kills.

Let's talk about Rachel Carson and the impact she has had on the lives of millions of people, causing suffering and death.

Because of Rachel Carson, bad science, and politics decades ago, millions and millions of people needlessly have died of malaria.

Their deaths were preventable - not by the use of mosquito nets, but by the application of DDT.

The banning of DDT is a tragic example of what happens when politics and environmentalism run amok.

I think of Al Gore and his hero, Rachel Carson.

The banning of DDT wasn't a victory. It was a death sentence for millions of people. Literally.

It was bad science. It was bad politics.

From the 1998 PBS Frontline report, "Fooling with Mother Nature":

On the walls of the US vice president's office, you might expect to see framed photos of political giants past and present. Amidst his collection, however, Al Gore cherishes a picture of a biologist from Western Pennsylvania - Rachel Carson, author of "Silent Spring." Why does an unassuming scientist lay claim to this space? "For me personally," says Gore in his introduction to the 1992 edition of her book, "Silent Spring had a profound impact ... Indeed, Rachel Carson was one of the reasons that I became so conscious of the environment and so involved with environmental issues ... Carson has had as much or more effect on me than any, and perhaps than all of them together."

Carson's Silent Spring killed and continues to kill.

So many of Carson's claims have been refuted.

Read a sampling of the debunking of Silent Spring.

Why The Insecticide DDT Should Never Have Been Banned

Killing People - The banning of DDT and radical environmentalists

Malaria Foundation International

The Lies of Rachel Carson

Bring Back DDT, and Science With It!

The latter is a 2002 piece by Marjorie Mazel Hecht. It provides a concise overview of Carson's illegitimate assertions and the consequences of the hysteria that she launched.

The 1972 U.S. ban on DDT is responsible for a genocide 10 times larger than that for which we sent Nazis to the gallows at Nuremberg. It is also responsible for a menticide which has already condemned one entire generation to a dark age of anti-science ignorance, and is now infecting a new one.

The lies and hysteria spread to defend the DDT ban are typical of the irrationalist, anti-science wave which has virtually destroyed rational forms of discourse in our society. If you want to save science—and human lives—the fight to bring back DDT, now being championed by that very electable candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., had better be at the top of your agenda.

Sixty million people have died needlessly of malaria, since the imposition of the 1972 ban on DDT, and hundreds of millions more have suffered from this debilitating disease. The majority of those affected are children. Of the 300 to 500 million new cases of malaria each year, 200 to 300 million are children, and malaria now kills one child every 30 seconds. Ninety percent of the reported cases of malaria are in Africa, and 40 percent of the world’s population, inhabitants of tropical countries, are threatened by the increasing incidence of malaria.

...The campaign to ban DDT got its start with the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962. Carson’s popular book was a fraud. She played on people’s emotions, and to do so, she selected and falsified data from scientific studies... .

Does that sound a bit extreme?

Are you thinking that I'm citing sources that lack credibility?

Do you need a source that you can identify as enlightened, sophisticated, and acceptable to the liberal mindset?

OK.

Read "What the World Needs Now Is DDT."

It's by Tina Rosenberg and was published in The New York Times on April 11, 2004.

It appears that Rachel Carson, Al Gore's inspiration, sparked a movement that cost millions of lives.

What the world needs now is DDT.

And look at the topic of Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl's April 21, 2010, e-mail message:

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans paused for a day to celebrate our planet and press for the urgent actions needed to preserve and protect it. As we observe this 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, we once again reflect on the necessity of a clean and safe environment, celebrate the successes of the last four decades, and consider the long way we still must go to achieve the goals laid out that day.

In Wisconsin, we also stop to remember and honor one of our most prominent citizens.

Earth Day was born out of the passion of Gaylord Nelson. His life was one of service – from the Pacific theater during World War II, to the State House as a State Senator and Governor, and to Washington D.C. where he served Wisconsin as a U.S. Senator for nearly 20 years.

When Gaylord came to Washington, he did so with a mission to bring environmental causes to the forefront of the national debate. He believed that the cause of environmentalism needed as much attention as national defense. For his first years in the Senate, his cause was lonely. In 1966, his bill to ban the pesticide DDT garnered no cosponsors.

Gaylord knew that only with the grassroots support of regular Americans, could the environmental agenda rise to prominence. His idea for Earth Day came from the student teach-ins of the 1960s, but his cause inspired people across boundaries of age, race and location. This year, more than one billion people around the world will come together in the same way they did 40 years ago.

In a speech on that historic day in 1970, Gaylord noted that his goal was not just one of clean air and water, but also “an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.” He told the crowd that America could meet the challenge through our technology. The unanswered question was, he said, “Are we willing?”

That question was answered with a resounding yes. That year saw the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air Act. In 1972, six years after Gaylord Nelson stood alone on his proposed DDT ban, its use was ended. Later years would bring better protection of drinking water, emissions and efficiency standards for cars, programs to cleanup brownfields sites, and the protection and preservation of our forests, rivers, mountains and oceans.

Despite that progress – and I imagine Gaylord would be the first to note this – we still have much work ahead of us. We must use this anniversary to commit to another environmental decade. The needs of 40 years ago – cleaner water, cleaner air, more protection of our lands – are still here, but the next challenge we must face is climate change.

From lower lake levels, to more invasive species, the consequences of unchecked climate change could be devastating to the people of Wisconsin. Climate change isn’t just a threat, it is also an opportunity. Structured correctly, the solutions to slowing climate change can also speed up our economic recovery.

Remarkable research and development is happening today in Wisconsin – on products for cleaner water, advanced battery technology, and using waste from farms and forests to make advanced biofuels. We have companies developing products to harness the power of the sun to replace traditional interior lighting, retrofitting heavy-duty trucks into hybrids, and manufacturing energy-efficient hot water heaters.

In Congress, legislative work to address climate change is ongoing. With the right mixture of requirements and incentives, we can achieve a policy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, lowers prices at the pump and on the electricity bill, and creates good-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced.

We do not have to choose between the environment and the economy; between jobs and solving climate change. Gaylord Nelson made this point over and over again. He once wrote that “all economic activity depends upon the…air, water, soil, forest, minerals, wetlands, rivers, lakes, oceans, wildlife habitats, and scenic beauty.” These, he said, “are the accumulated capital resources of the nation. Take them away and what you have left is a wasteland.”

On this 40th anniversary of Earth Day, while we remember the pioneering sprit of Gaylord Nelson, we must honor his legacy by turning words into action.


Sincerely,


Herb Kohl

Good grief, Herb.

While Nelson did many worthy deeds, working to ban DDT was certainly not one of them.

I have no problem with Earth Day.

We should take care of the environment, but we're also morally obligated to take care of each other.

Properly using DDT would help us to ease so much suffering and spare so much pain and save so many, many precious lives.

Ron Johnson, Maiden Speech (Video, Transcript)

On Tuesday, Senator Ron Johnson delivered his Maiden Speech on the U.S. Senate floor.

Video



Here is the transcript, as prepared for delivery:

“Thank you Mr. President. It is my honor to represent the good people of Wisconsin in the United States Senate. It is an awesome responsibility - a responsibility I take very seriously.

“Today, it is my distinct privilege to address this historic body for the first time. It is a moment in time when our nation is in peril. Not only do we continue to face the very real threat of international terrorism, but we also face a threat of our own making - one that challenges the very foundation of this republic.

“Our nation was founded on the basis of God-given rights and individual liberty. The genius of our Founding Fathers’ vision was rooted in their recognition that more often than not, government was something to fear. Government necessarily limited individual freedom, and therefore, government itself must be limited; its potential for growth, highly constrained.

“During America’s first century, this vision was largely upheld. The last century, however, has been an entirely different story.

“In 1902, the federal government spent 2% of the nation’s gross domestic product. State and local governments spent 5%. Government was close to the governed. The size, scope, and cost of the federal government was constrained by the Constitution’s enumerated powers. The individual was preeminent, and government’s role was modest and pedestrian.

“This body played a key role in limiting federal government expansion. Debate in the Senate was unlimited. The cloture vote did not exist. As George Washington had said, the Senate really was the saucer that cooled the tea.

“All that changed in the 20th century’s second decade. The Senate adopted the cloture vote, and America adopted the 16th Amendment. The federal government now had the power to tax income, and the Senate had made it easier for government to grow. And guess what, government grew.

“It grew in reaction to real problems. Trusts had been formed that concentrated power and created monopolies that threatened free-markets. Capital did exert too much power over labor. Balance was needed.

“And as our nation’s prosperity grew, the elimination of poverty and retirement insecurity became a public responsibility. Private charity was simply deemed not up to the task.

“So government acted and government grew. From 2% in 1902 to today, where the federal government spends 25% of our nation’s economy, and combined, all levels of government in the U.S. now consume 39%. By comparison, the size of government in Norway is 40%; in Greece, 47%; and in France, 53%. In the end, I don’t believe Americans want to be like France or Greece. We haven’t reached that tipping point yet, but we are extremely close.

“There is a reason America holds 5% of the world’s population, and yet accounts for 24% of the world’s GDP. It is because of freedom, the free market system, and the American people.

“America became a land of unlimited opportunity because we were a nation of self-reliant people. Hard work was valued, personal responsibility expected, and success was celebrated, not demonized. I grew up in that America.

“I am sad to say, what I have witnessed during my lifetime, is a slow but steady drift, and I would argue over the last two years, a lurch, toward a culture of entitlement and dependency. This is not an America I recognize. It is not an America that will work.

“Even worse, we have granted entitlements and encouraged dependency with little thought as to how we would pay for it. We have racked up enormous debt, and now the bill is coming due.

“Time is running out. Last week, the government almost shut down because we were arguing over a few billion dollars. But our debt and deficits are measured in the trillions. Our problem is a thousand times larger than the current debate.

“Most of us recognize this is simply unsustainable. Most of us know what programs need to be reformed. And most of us want to fix the problem. So let’s start addressing these issues now, before it is too late.

“These are enormous problems, and it is easy to be pessimistic. But there is reason to be hopeful.

“I’ve done a fair amount of traveling throughout Wisconsin over the last year, speaking to all kinds of people: Republicans, Democrats, union members and Tea Party folks. I talked about America. About how incredibly precious and exceptional it is, and how I fear we may be losing it.

“What I will never forget is how many people came up to me after my speeches with tears in their eyes, or tears rolling down their cheeks. Not because I’m a great public speaker, but because people love this country. Their political affiliation makes absolutely no difference. Americans want this nation preserved, and they are counting on us to do just that. The good news is that they will support us, if we make the hard choices together.

“So together, let’s roll up our sleeves, and do what needs to be done.

“Mr. President, I yield the floor.”

I am so thankful that I have Ron Johnson representing me in the U.S. Senate.

Finally, FINALLY, the long Wisconsin nightmare of Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold is over.

Schumer: Conservatives, Flea

DEMOCRAT Sen. Chuck Schumer is dissing conservatives, likening them to fleas.

From The Hill:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) compared House conservatives to a flea Friday as rhetoric in the spending fight intensified.

Schumer, who has been criticizing Republicans all day, said in a floor speech Friday that conservatives were the flea controlling the dog, which he said in this case is a federal government that could shut down at midnight.

“What we have here is a flea, wagging a tail, wagging a dog,” said Schumer, chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

“The flea are the minority of House Republicans who are hard right, the tail is the House Republican caucus, and the dog is the government,” Schumer explained. “That flea is influencing what the dog does ... and it is sad.”

Schumer for more than a week has been arguing that Tea Party conservatives will be to blame if there is a shutdown.

“When either party goes to the extreme they don’t do the right thing,” said Schumer. “My experience is they lose politically, but much more importantly they do what is wrong for the country substantively."

A flea. Very nice.

Schumer continues to try to paint conservatives as extreme.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said he doesn't regret reporters overhearing him telling Democratic colleagues that Republican budget cuts should be
painted as "extreme."

Schumer and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., sparred on just where the Tea Party political movement stood in relationship to the American people, in an exclusive
political debate on "This Week."

Schumer stood by the remarks he made when he was apparently unaware his microphone was open to reporters.

"I have no problem with reporters hearing that," Schumer told anchor Christiane Amanpour. "I said a few hours before [the call] on the floor of the Senate.
I've said it on this show. The Tea Party is the group standing in the way. They are extreme," he insisted.

Schumer and the Dems are a joke.

I think when they trash conservatives it only serves to energize them.

Ron Johnson: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson!