An open letter to Peter

Okay, big guy -- it's gut check time.

You know the situation. With Jim Stork out, Clay Shaw is running unopposed. Meaning that one of George Bush's and Tom DeLay's most reliable allies gets another two years to advance the most hateful, divisive and disasterous legislative agenda since the Confederate Congress.

And after 22 years of fighting against every item on that agenda, of standing up for the ordinary folks that Shaw and his party care nothing about, you're going to hang up your gloves? You're going to allow someone with a 30% rating from the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League to just waltz into another term? A corporate apologist with a 27% rating from the Consumer Federation of America, 20% from the ACLU, 13% from the Sierra Club, 9% from the National Education Association, and a fat zero from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights?

Say it ain't so.

We need you, Peter. We need you to restore hope to all the people who supported you in your Senate bid, as well as all the people who supported Jim. We need you to continue your fight for working families and senior citizens. We need you to help hold the line in Washington against a party whose only priority is making things easier for their wealthy campaign contributors at the expense of everyone else.

Above all, we need you to stand up -- as you always have -- for the principles this country was founded on: freedom, tolerance, justice, equal opportunity, and separation of church and state.

Under cover of a noxious brand of belligerent patriotism and self-righteous moralism, Clay Shaw and his party are trampling on those principles. You know that. And you can't tell me you don't care.

It's not in your nature to quit fighting, Peter. That's why we supported you in your Senate campaign and throughout your career. And why we plead with you now to pick up where you left off. Because you -- and we -- have been presented with the perfect opportunity to help turn back the red tide of hate, intolerance and lies.

And as my grandmother would have said, it would be a shanda to throw such an opportunity away.

Comments

[Mary]

Well I guess it is a little late, but i realy liked what you said about peter Deutsch. I am a good friend of his and was very dissapointed to see that he had lost. i helped with some of the campaigning. i was really dissapointed with the results and thought that even though i really like Peter Deutsch i thought he ran a very bad campaign

[stevecopy]

A little late, yes. Especially since I thought this blog was shut down. But better late than never.

I also thought he ran a poor campaign, and said so when I could, but my opinions didn't carry much weight.