“Let the Conversation Begin”
Writing by treason on Saturday, 27 of January , 2007 at 3:43 pm
It’s quickly turning into an all C-SPAN weekend. I’d missed the first few minutes of the National Review Institute’s Conservative Summit last night, so I turned on C-SPAN again today to try to catch them. But before I could watch the repeat of the summit, I had to wade through the anti-war rally on the Mall and a town hall meeting in Des Moines with Hillary. I knew it was Hillary because that’s what all the big blue signs said. (”Clinton” showed up in tiny letters, like a disclaimer, in the name of her website at the bottom of the signs.)
It was called “Let the Conversation Begin.” I had to watch. There was much conversation, true, about women and the work they do, about children and whatever it is they do; climate change came up, and so did Big Oil and the need for alternative fuels. Education was a big topic of conversation - probably because government schools are made up of so many women and children. Even dwarfism was mentioned. And then, of course, there was the subject of healthcare. (If at first you don’t succeed…)
One guy stood up, grabbed the mic, and asked Hillary what she was going to do, as president, about diabetes and obesity. I know a little something about the issue myself. My mother’s siblings had problems with diabetes and my mother found out she was diabetic on Election Night in 1998 when she fell into a diabetic coma - surprise!!! - and was rushed to the hospital. Her blood sugar was over 1000. She’s diabetic, and T and I spent several years caring for our diabetic dog. Like our vet said: “You guys know more about it than I do. You’ve lived it.”
I know that diet and exercise play a role, and I know that the disease runs in my family. I’m at that age when I should seriously consider changing my diet and dropping those fifteen…or twenty…extra pounds. This is something I am responsible for doing. Me. My diet, my body, my health.
Happily, I can now say that I don’t have to give up MoonPies or get off my ass because Hillary Clinton is going to fix diabetes and obesity in America. I’m headed to the kitchen - I’ll be right back…
…I’m back. Got a beer here. Hell, if Hillary’s going to tackle my extra pounds, I might as well have brought the whole 12-pack in with me. What a gal! So I’m watching this, right, and occasionally my eyes start glazing over. Did they glaze over completely and did I lose consciousness? Whoa - was that a diabetic coma? God, I hate to have to watch this meeting all over again to make sure I didn’t miss it, but I just can’t recall (sounds a little like Hillary, doesn’t it?) any mention of the T-word. I’m not sure I heard anything about abortion or immigration, either, but I’m pretty sure there was no conversation about TERRORISM. Impossible. There had to be. I must have been in the kitchen searching for MoonPies after her pledge to end obesity.
Please, if someone saw this and TERRORISM came up, please let me know so I don’t have to subject myself to another viewing.
What I was happy to watch twice was the summit. Kate O’Beirne, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, Kathryn Lopez, Mona Charen, and a sharp, articulate audience. One woman, in particular, a Chicagoan named Suzanne (although I can’t guarantee that’s the way she spells it), stood up and made some excellent points.
She described quite well what it is we’re doing - we’re “trying to enact a revolution in Iraq.” And she’s concerned about how something so important, so momentous, can be so trivialized in the media and by our politicians.
“We’re in a situation where one party prides itself on its support for our defeat…a party that is actually proud of relating to its role in Vietnam…proud of their role in bringing around that defeat…and they have taken no responsibility for the millions of deaths that followed. We’re in the same place now…and again no one is holding them to any responsibility.”
I would say something, but I think Suzanne pretty much said it all, and said it well. I just wish more people would say it. Let the conversation begin.
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