Ciro represents a district that was drawn up by the courts to provide a better opportunity at Hispanic representation, though you would not know it by looking at the audience. This audience was very, very white, and it would seem not willing to listen to the remarks of the Congressman. No less than 4 different people brought up government funded abortions. On each occasion Rep. Rodriguez pointed to to the copy of the house bill sitting on a table and said that it is not part of the bill and is not allowed because of the Hyde Amendment. One of the 4 questioners brought up grant money for Planned Parenthood. This is hypocracy at its finest. Planned Parenthood does many things in the community, abortion couseling is only one of them. They are an organization that works to make contraceptives avilible and aid in resposible family planning. If one is against abortion, don't work to outlaw it, use sensible education which takes the stigma off of contraception and family planning so that unintended pregnancies can be prevented.
While we had nobody in the crowd who questioned Obama's citizenship, on more than one occasion the stigma of healthcare for illegal aliens reared its ugly head. I am sure there are families in the area who are decended from the original Tejanos whose claim for citizenship in Texas predates many of the Anglos in attendence. The most outrageous comment came from someone who heard on, I think she said Fox News (suprise suprise) that Obama wanted to outlaw certain internet sites.
On the whole Ciro performed adequately but he could have been much much stronger. He showed brief glimpses of passion and fire to fight for what he know is right, but these were tempered by the hostility he was getting from the largely angry, white people in attendence. This would have been a time where Ted Kennedy would have stood up, outlined his principles, presented his arguments and not be afraid to proclaim himself a liberal. Ciro, stand tall and fight for good solid legislation. The members who came before you saw similar opposition to Medicare and Medicaid, and the Democrats in Congress stood tall and did what had to be done.
I leave you all with a little thought, this was the Dali Lama's definition of the True Meaning of Life, and it described Ted Kennedy and the entire Progressive agenda:
We are visitor on this planet.
We are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most.
During that period, we must try to do something good, something useful with our lives.
If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.
H.H. the 14th Dali Lama
No comments:
Post a Comment