« Delaware State Police Prevent Elderly Woman From Buying a Gun | Main | Open Thread »
October 31, 2008
Obama Speechwriter Wendy Button Defects to the Good Guys
Posted by Dave Blount at October 31, 2008 7:56 AM
Here's something you won't see prominently featured in the liberal establishment media: an Obama speechwriter realized what she had crawled into bed with and defected to the good guys. In her own words, this is why Wendy Button made the switch:
The final straw came the other week when Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) asked a question about higher taxes for small businesses. Instead of celebrating his aspirations, they were mocked. He wasn't "a real plumber," and "They're fighting for Joe the Hedge-Fund manager," and the patronizing, "I've got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber."
…The party I believed in wouldn't look down on working people under any circumstance. And Joe the Plumber is right. This is the absolutely worst time to raise taxes on anyone: the rich, the middle class, the poor, small businesses and corporations.
…Not only has this party belittled working people in this campaign from Joe the Plumber to the bitter comments, it has also been part of tearing down two female candidates. At first, certain Democrats and the press called Senator Clinton "dishonest." They went after her cleavage. They said her experience as First Lady consisted of having tea parties. There was no outrage over "Bros before Hoes" or "Iron My Shirt." Did Senator Clinton make mistakes? Of course. She's human.
But here we are about a week out and it's déjà vu all over again. Really, front-page news is how the Republican National Committee paid for Governor Sarah Palin's wardrobe? Where's the op-ed about how Obama tucks in his shirt when he plays basketball or how Senator Biden buttons the top button on his golf shirt?
…Governor Palin and I don't agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor. I was one of those initial skeptics and would laugh at the pictures. Not anymore. When someone takes on a corrupt political machine and a sitting governor, that is not done by someone with a low I.Q. or a moral core made of tissue paper. When someone fights her way to get scholarships and work her way through college even in a jagged line, that shows determination and humility you can't learn from reading Reinhold Niebuhr. When a mother brings her son with special needs onto the national stage with love, honesty, and pride, that gives hope to families like mine as my older brother lives with a mental disability. And when someone can sit on a stage during the Sarah Palin rap on Saturday Night Live, put her hands in the air and watch someone in a moose costume get shot — that's a sign of both humor and humanity.
Has she made mistakes? Of course, she's human too. But the attention paid to her mistakes has been unprecedented compared to Senator Obama's "57 states" remarks or Senator Biden using a version of the Samuel Johnson quote, "There's nothing like a hanging in the morning to focus a man's thoughts."
…I was dead wrong about the surge and thought it would be a disaster. Senator John McCain led when many of us were ready to quit. Yet we march on as if nothing has changed, wedded to an old plan, and that too is a long way from the Democratic Party.
I can no longer justify what this party has done and can't dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It's wrong and someone has to say that.
She also points out that attempts to portray McCain as identical to Bush are bogus, and that McCain is the only candidate who has "worked in a bipartisan way on big challenges."
It's contemptible for the likes of Colin Powell and Scott McClellan to switch opportunistically to what appears to be the winning team. But to switch to the underdog on the basis of principle takes character. The media isn't going to commend her for it, but Button's integrity is still appreciated.
On a tip from Debbie Lee.
