My Interview With Senator Slade Gorton
At the 2008 Republican Convention in Minneapolis, I had the pleasure of meeting former Washington State Senator Slade Gorton.
Slade Gorton had the unusual distinction of holding both senate seats. He was elected in 1981 as part of the Reagan Revolution. When he was defeated for reelection in 1987, he simply ran for the other seat two years later and won.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slade_Gorton
He was very genial with me, and seemed to enjoy being a spectator who could shake hands with people without needing anything from them. He ran several campaigns, and fought the good fight. My interview with him is below.
1) What are the most important issues of 2008?
SG: “National and domestic security are most important. Keeping America safe is what matters.”
2) Who are your 3 favorite political heroes?
SG: “My political heroes are Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Howard Baker.”
3) How would you like to be remembered 100 years from now? What would you want people to say about Slade Gorton the person?
SG: “I would like to be remembered as a thoughtful person who was principled. I would also liked to be thought of as a man who advanced the cause of freedom.”
4) Given that Republicans are the party of John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Slade Gorton, and the Democrats offer Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd, are the Democrats bigoted against the follically challenged? Can we finally crack the glass ceiling and elect the first bald President since your hero Dwight Eisenhower?
SG: “I sure hope so! I’m one, and we deserve it!”
To say that Senator Gorton is good-natured would be an understatement. He also is, as he hopes to be remembered, quite thoughtful. I still maintain that he lost his seat in 2001 because his female opponent and supermodel stunning beauty. It is one thing to be follically challenged, but it is another to have to face off against a woman that captures the male vote by tossing her hair around like in the commercials.
I did not bring that issue up with him.
Senator Gorton will have to settle for being a good man of substance that represented his state and his nation well.
It was thoroughly enjoyable meeting him. The people of both Washingtons were lucky to have him, from State to DC.
eric
April 18th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
As far as Republicans go, Gorton is was a pretty moderate, thoughtful, and clean politician. Over the years, especialy his later years, he ran into more trouble with the GOP than the Dems, becoming known as sort of a RINO. It’s ashame, because really he was more like what the GOP used to be and not the rabble-pandering party they are today. Gorton, for whatever his failings, had class. He reminds me of senators like Alan Simpson and Arlen Specter. If the GOP is going to rebound, they are desparately going to have to bring guys like that back into the fold.
JMJ
April 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Both my doctor and dentist are Jewish of a sorts. What that exactly
means is frankly, something I have yet to figure out? A Christian friend
of many years in answering my question about what he believes the Jewish religion is, said, “the ten commandments”.
Now for those uninformed, the 10 were included in the 613 commandments
given (according to our bible) to Moses by G-d on Mount Sinai. However,
there was a short waiting period until they were actually codified (which
Im sure he also didn’t know).
The fascinating thing about this friend is his instinctive anti-Semitism.
Of course that doesn’t apply to me. Somehow I’m different. Yeah sure!
My point is, if most Jews don’t have the foggiest idea either of what
our religion is all about, how can we expect others?
When 85% of US Jews voted for Obama, and 85% voted No on Prop
8 (legalizing same sex marriages), I mean, are we a failed people or what? One of the 613 forbids sodomy. Get it, sodomy.
Does one really have to wonder why, our population is declining at 35,000 year..while the world’s population @ 6.5 billion is increasing at 1%.
Prior to WW2, there were (according to German sources and we know how
reliable they are), 19m Jews worldwide. Afterwards there were 13m, thank to over 300 concentration camps..the biggest being Treblinka and Auschwitz (never bombed but experienced minor ineffective revolts).
There are now about 13m worldwide in Israel and the USA and 2m
in Europe, Russia and South Africa and South America.
No gain, no pain I guess.
Arlen Spector and Alan Simpson were real menchen (people).
Joe Lieberman should have been listed among these real patriots,
but more importantly, people who want the US as we know and love it
to survive.
I don’t care if the entire world loves US. China, India, Brazil, Japan
will always at least like us. The Arab world, with their 300m people
and vast oil resources..blames a little tiny Jewish enclave (5.4m) people
with no natural resources and certainly no oil, for all their
failings. Where have we heard this before?
With Obama shaking hands with Chavez, softening our stance on
Cuba (with no apparent reciprocity), how can we expect him to relate differently
to China, No. Korea, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran?
I hear that the Taliban are quickly taking over Pakistan..with all that
means for Afghanistan. What has been our response? What is
Obama going to do about it besides giving Pakistan another 5b on top of the prior 10b? Does he think that sending 20,000 military to Afghanistan
will accomplish anything besides more frozen bodies in frozen boxes (US)?
Let’s be honest..the Taliban can draw on 60m Pashtun in Pakistan
living in the “Punjab”. The midrashas are pouring out Koran devoted
Jihadists..(potential suicide bombers) by the hundreds of thousands.
There is no way, we can surmount these numbers., folks.
I’m amazed Obama’s wife didn’t kiss Chavez’s wife.
To my fellow Jews and Christians..wake up., while there is still
a chance to save our country. Next election..vote for candidates
like Gorton (Coleman may be lost to us). It’s in our best interests.
April 18th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Dan,
Perhaps you should miove to Israel - Oh, that’s right… They’re a more liberal society than we are!
You seem to have forgotten the Talmud, and how it instructs the Jewish people to view their role in the world through their faith. Why do Jews care so little about gay marraige? Because it doesn’t concern them. In the Jewish tradition, the legal definition of “marraige” is a nonsequitar. In the Reform temple, gay marraige may be considered legitimate because they believe modern Jewish law trumps much of Leviticus. In the Orthodox tradition, they wouldn’t marry a gay union anyway. What you do with the state means nothing to either institution. Jews, unlike Christians, do not demand that everyone on the planet live by their rules.
And you’re right about the fact that the “War on Islamofascism” can never be won. We simply have to avoid them and keep them at bay until they grow up and realize that theocracy, any theocracy, will always only lead to disaster.
As for Cuba - good for Obama. The conservative approach, as usual, is nothing but an abmyssmal failure that hurts only the regular working people and does nothing to change the status quo. It’s time to end the embargo next and move on. Cuba is no threat to the United States. For that matter, neither is Venezuela.
It’s time for us to grow up and stop blaming everyone else in the world for our problems.
JMJ
April 20th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Veterans not going to take janet napolitano lame excuse.
http://citytavern.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/a-veterans-perspective-on-the-dhs-drivel/
April 20th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Good for you, Laree, for posting on “City Tavern,” a site with the awesome courage to erase posts it doesn’t like.
Here’s what I wrote about what CT had to say…
“Last week it was revealed to all police authorities and the American public that veterans were now considered terrorists.”
Hmmm…
The text of the report says things like this: “Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years…” This should come as no surprise. A very small number of vets returning from wars throughtout our history have been radicalized and employed by fringe groups. Given the dubious reasons for this war, the horrific nature of the fighting, and the terrible economy left to the returning vets by the GOP one-party state, it only stands to reason that the threat would be a little up. Is this news to anyone? If it is, I would suggest occasionally reading something rather than just staring at your naval and thinking “patriotic” thoughts.
The jist of this post is that somehow Napolitano and DHS are slandering all our returning troops, and this, of course, is a sleazy, creepy, lowlifey LIE. But lies from the Rightwing Rabble Rousers are nothing new, and it’s just these sorts of lies that help to radicalize these few vets who happen to be ripe for Fringe Right recruitment. Ironic, huh? So keep it up, City Tavern. Maybe the next Timothy McVeigh will throw some press your way.
Now, of course, CT could have refuted what I had to say, but that takes effort and a real belief in what they had to say. I guess my comment was too inconveniently uncomfortable. You guys always say the “left” “hates” and is “bigotted” against you, but I have found leftwing blogs are faaaaaaaaar more amenable to debate and dissent than Rightwing blogs, with the very notable exception of this one. Micjy, here, has been accusing me of lying lately, angry, I suppose, that GOP philosophy has been so thoroughly rejected at the polls recently. Perhaps he’d prefer to live in a world filled with City Taverns, where everyone agrees on everything, everything is the same, and nothing ever happens at all. Of course, to that I say, just close your eyes and look inside - that world is right there for you.
JMJ