| At the beginning I said that the biggest reason why this race was the most important race in the country is because of the opportunity to dramatically redefine (or properly define) what the words moderate and independent truly mean. Because of the closeness of this race, those words are now way to the left of JOe Lieberman. IN 2000, those words were defined as way to the right of JOe Lieberman. You should all be proud of that.
You've sent a message that a bunch of individuals with no money but creative signs and floats can get a message out when the media tries to silence them. You've energized people for decades to come. You should be proud of that.
You've sent a message to Democrats across the country that no longer will it be acceptable to put the lobbyists ahead of their constituents. You have probably changed who is going to be the next Democratic presidential nominee in 2008 and in this climate, you've probably will give America a great President. You should be proud of that.
You've taken back the Democratic party from the special interests and revitalized the grass roots. We will no longer be the party that sells out to corporations and the richest 1%. We may disagree on guns, gays, and abortions but we will not abandon these pro middle class economic positions. YOu should be proud of that.
You've changed the status quo in America. YOu got the ball rolling in congressional House races. Prior to your actions, Connecticut sent 3 Republicans to the US House. By next year that number will probably be 0. YOu made that happen.
Your actions in Connecticut sent a subtle message to the rest of America that Democrats mean business when you defeated Joe Lieberman on August 8th. It told Democrats in the other 49 states that Democrats are serious about change. And that message will bring millions of more people to the polls on Tuesday to vote for Democratic candidates. You should be proud of that.
YOu've made people realize that the media in this country stinks and you've encouraged people to get their news from alternative sources or truthful sources. Now, people are relying less on the Hartford Courant or their local CT TV station and more on the internet. You should be proud of that.
I'm the guy from New York City who has credit card debts, student loans that will start coming due next yr, and a car with way too many miles on it. I don't have Bloomberg's billions but I do have heart, brains, and integrity. Initially I may have been motivated by the fact that I had no competitive statewide race to make a difference in (The only 2 times I volunteered for members of congress was in 1994 with an incumbent endangered and in 1996 to pickup a seat from a Republican) (And in both cases my candidate won.) but I soon realized how important this Senate race was for the reasons articulated ad nausea.
It's been a pleasure to help and I will hopefully see many of you over the next 4 days. (I have to take a stupid MPRE exam tomorrow) I'm proud of myself, proud of all of you, and proud of all of Ned's supporters. I'll be most proud of all if we Retire Joe on Tuesday and send Mr. Lamont to Washington.
Thank you. |
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