{"id":22570,"date":"2016-06-24T08:48:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T15:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=22570"},"modified":"2016-06-24T08:48:30","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T15:48:30","slug":"friday-fun-a-week-to-be-proud-for-being-a-democrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/24\/friday-fun-a-week-to-be-proud-for-being-a-democrat\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Fun \u2013 A Week to Be Proud for Being a Democrat"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past week is one for the books – a week Democrats proudly asserted themselves by focusing attention on the travesty of our lax (virtually non-existent?)<\/em> gun regulations (Thanks, NRA)<\/em> with their sit-in in the House Chamber.<\/p>\n

For some of us of a certain age, it brings back bittersweet memories of our protesting days of youth.  So before we let this moment fade, just a few photos.  And since there’s no doubt that many of you have seen many of them, I’ll try to find a few outliers.  But let’s begin with the iconic one, led by a true American icon.<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Lewis-Group_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The above will be familiar to almost everyone.  It’s Reps. John Lewis, Katherine Clark and Donna Edwards<\/strong> beginning the sit-in.  While Rep. John Lewis, whose Civil Rights bona fides make him a superb leader for the sit-in, it was actually Rep. Clark<\/strong> (D-MA-5) who had the idea <\/a>to start the #NoBillNoBreak <\/strong><\/em>sit-in.<\/p>\n

As the saying goes\"Sit-In_Food-Buffet\"<\/a>, an army travels on its stomach …<\/p>\n

And it was Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/strong> who brought Dunkin’ Donuts for dessert …<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Warren-Donuts\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And joined in the sit-it …<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Warren-Selfie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And I love the note that Rep. Keith Ellison<\/strong> (D-MN-5) got from his Mom<\/a> …<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Mom-Note_Keith-Ellison\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, how could he refuse that?<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Lewis_Keith-Ellison\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But it’s the words of Rep. Lewis addressed to Rep. Paul Ryan<\/strong> (R) demanding a debate and vote on gun control measures <\/a>that sends chills down my spine:<\/p>\n

\n

“We have turned deaf ears to the blood of the innocent and the concern of our nation.  We are blind to a crisis. <\/p>\n

“Mr. Speaker, where is the heart of this body? Where is the soul? Where is our moral leadership? Where is our courage?”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(To which the republicans replied: "Where are our NRA checks?  Where are the tax cuts for gun manufacturers?  Where are OUR<\/em><\/strong> photo-ops?  Where are our talking points?<\/em>"<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

And yet Rep. Ryan had the unmitigated gall to call this sit-in just a “publicity stunt”<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

No, Mr. Ryan – THIS <\/strong><\/em>photo-op of yours while running with Mitt Romney<\/strong> was a publicity stunt …<\/p>\n

\"Paul-Ryan_Weightlifting-Stunt_02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To help you out, this sit-in, led by Civil Rights icon Rep. Lewis who was beaten in Selma on Bloody Sunday<\/em><\/strong>, is a protest …<\/p>\n

\"John-Lewis_Bloody-Sunday_Selma_02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And Paul, back when you forced yours and your family’s way into a soup kitchen in Youngstown, OH while campaigning for VP – JUST <\/i>so you could have a photo-op of you washing pots and pans THAT WERE ALREADY SPOTLESS<\/em><\/strong> (sort of your ode to your idol, Ayn Rand,<\/strong> as “Atlas Scrubbed”<\/em><\/strong>) –  now THAT<\/em><\/strong> is a publicity stunt …<\/p>\n

\"Paul-Ryan_Wash-Clean-Pots-Pans_02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But THIS <\/em>was a protest, led by someone who knows protests …<\/p>\n

\"John-Lewis_Bloody-Sunday_Selma_03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

See the difference, Paul?  You're a political hukster – Rep. John Lewis <\/strong>is an American hero …<\/p>\n

\"Sit-In_Lewis-Waves\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past week is one for the books – a week Democrats proudly asserted themselves by focusing attention on the travesty of our lax (virtually non-existent?) gun regulations (Thanks, NRA) with their sit-in in the House Chamber. For some of us of a certain age, it brings back bittersweet memories of our protesting days of […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}