Sunday, September 03, 2006

Guess Who Made Candidate Larry Cry Today?

We are trying to head out to Boston with all of Billy's stuff - including the 2 foot high ceramic gnome, the earplugs, skis, ski boots, ice skates, his coach's old Brown fencing team jacket, his donkey tie, his French dictionaries, his voltage converter, the family battery charger, a cubic yard of miscellaneous cables and the electronics that go with the cables and a contraband espresso machine. But first we have some political obligations to attend to. The funny thing is, what we sigh about going to, thinking they are necessary if dull events, turn out to have the most importance in our lives.

Today we went to the AFL-CIO breakfast in San Antonio with Chris Bell, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, and David Van Os. There was enough food for a change (hell, working people were in charge, they know if food is served and speeches are planned, everybody needs a plate and a chair). The room was full of local politicians, labor leaders, and activists. We had a 14 story high view of San Antonio, and a jazz band played.

Chris Bell was awesome. He was at his best with good imagery and lots of his trademark biting humor. He didn't talk too long, either. Barbara Ann was good, too. She has a command of the issues and their interconnection like no other politician I know. (Actually, I'd like to see President Radnofsky in about 12 years.) But it was hoarse, tired, sick, faithful David Van Os who brought tears to Larry's eyes by excoriating the TDP back-room boys for choosing to ignore most races in the state this year. David said it may be because most of the folks running this year were not annointed,they are simply Democrats that have waited too long for professional politicians to do anything about the state of the state; and they just decided to go out there and "kick ass". Now, that describes Maj. Larry Dean Stallings, USA (ret.) down to his toenails. He just wants to kick some ass on November 7th, and he is hoping a whole bunch of y'all out there are gonna do it, too. So he had tears in his eyes when David Van Os finished his short speech this morning.