The things you learn doing Campaign Underground

[OKNancy]

I was doing my entries for Campaign Underground when I found a really interesting candidate. He is running for Senate as a Democrat ( Oklahoma). Brad Carson ( now a Rep in District 2 )is pretty much considered a shoo-in. This guy is named Monte Johnson.
I decided to go look at his site to see if I could find a snail mail address.

So I read a little. Oh, I thought. He has "preacher hair". And sure enough he is a minister. But then I read more. He was a lawyer before.
Then I read more.....and this guy sounds like a DUer, not some Oklahoma lawyer turned preacher.

Go read his whole first page but here is one of many good parts.
http://www.johnson2004.com/

Congress created a law to protect big corporations against "frivolous" lawsuits and now WorldCom, Enron and others are using this law to defend against "frivolous" lawsuits brought by thousands of people who lost millions of dollars. (Private Securities Litigation Reform Act)

Finally, we were attacked by al Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. Fifteen of the terrorists were Saudis. Their leader, Osama bin Laden was Saudi and the attack was financed by Saudis. So we attack Iraq, a nation that posed no immediate threat to the U.S., even if it had weapons of mass destruction, which it did not. It had little, if any, connection to al Qaeda and no connection to 9/11.

It turns out the Bush Administration had been looking for an excuse to attack Iraq, from the time they came into office, and 9/11 was used as that excuse. As a result, we have spent $200 billion, and used 150,000 troops, on Iraq. We should have been spending that money and military to hunt for Osama and al Qaeda, or to strengthen our defenses at home by securing our nuclear and chemical plants and our trains, or by spending more on our F.B.I. so they can catch the al Qaeda agents living in the U.S.

We have created al Qaeda's greatest recruitment poster. By invading an oil rich Muslim country that had done nothing to the U.S., we proved to millions of Muslims that bin Laden was right when he said America was at war with Islam and wanted to occupy Muslim land so our big oil companies could take over their oil. Meanwhile, Osama and his top aides have had 2 ½ years to grow, recruit and reorganize while our focus is on Iraq.

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He also slams Bush on Medicare, free trade, health care...it's a fun read.

So the moral of the story is: don't stereotype because someone has preacher hair.

[Prodemsouth]

1. Why do you call yourself a real pink tutu Democrat?

n/t

[m-jean03]

2. I bet ya she's a real ballerina.

:-) Am I right?

[OKNancy]

3. Yes, It's a joke

Since Bartcop from Tulsa uses the "pink tutu" so much and I am from Tulsa, and since I am a ballet teacher, I thought it was funny.

I'm thinking about changing my avatar and sig line because I've been getting way too many responses to my posts calling me "babe" and "honey" and other such nonsense....kind of like the preacher hair thing, now that I think about it.

[m-jean03]

5. I think it's great -- good play on words

Really, pay the idiots no mind...:hi:

[cosmicdot]

4. The "Full Monte"

sounds like a winner

My name is Monte Johnson and I am running for the United States Senate in 2004. I have no experience as a politician and I am far from rich. I am just a man who grew up in the small-town of Muldrow, Oklahoma.

I am in this race because I believe the people of this State are looking for a leader in the Senate that has a genuine concern for them and their lives. That is not the way our Congress is being run today.

Today, our Congress is being run by the big corporations and special interests for the benefit of the wealthy. In the past few years, Congress has passed one law after another favoring big business

[OKNancy]

6. I think I'll vote for him

I'm sure Carson will win, and that he would be the best one in conservative Oklahoma to grab the open Senate seat for a Democrat, but it's kind of a D.K. thing....this guy believes a lot more like I do than Carson.

[no name no slogan]

9. Damn, I'd vote for him, preacher hair and all

Did anyone see the time Rev. Al Sharpton was on SNL last fall? They did a bit with the "him" from today meeting up with the "him" from ten years ago, when he was the gold-medalion-and-silk-track-suit-wearing, heavily-conked-hair-having preacher/activist from Brooklyn. It was pretty funny, actually, even if Rev. Al's campaign was financed by Republicans.

[salin]

7. back in the eighties wasn't there a pretty good Dem OK Congressman

(or senator)... seemed moderate at the time, a tad hawkish but overall quite solid. In todays terms he would seem quite progressive (compared to... say... my moderate democrat senator Bayh). Name escapes me but I worked with someone who had been a staffer... does the description ring any bells?

[OKNancy]

8. Mike Synar?

He was very progressive. Hated the tobacco industry. He died a few years ago at a young age.

[salin]

10. Yes. I forgot that he had died

how very sad.

But there was a time when he was electable in Oklahoma. At the same time (in the eighties) there were a number of fairly progressive democrats in Congress and the Senate who came from what are now considered very red states. Things have shifted. But if they can shift/drift one direction over time, the other is possible as well.