I wanted to take a few minutes to explain to you why I decided to make this race and what
went into my thought process about making this race. This was a very difficult decision for me to make this race.
I love my country very deeply & I love the Democratic Party deeply. I feel very strongly that since we took control of Congress in 2006 the Democratic Party as a whole has not stood up and fought hard enough on so many issues that confront this country. That's not to say that we haven't done good things in the last few years but we face so many problems in this country. For example, we have seen a slow undoing of our civil liberties in the name of national security. Benjamin Franklin said that when you give up security for freedom you have neither security nor freedom. Ben Franklin was right.
This administration of Bush & Cheney and the rest of the incompetent group that the Republicans have in their administration have ruined this country. They should have been impeached 3 years ago. We as Democrats have a responsibility to stand up and pass Articles of Impeachment even if we did not have enough votes to convict them in the Senate. Some of you may say 'Why? Why spend the money? Why spend the time when you don't have the votes?'.
Because we have a constitutional form of government. The President is the Chief Executive Law Enforcer of this country and when they violate the constitution the way they have repeatedly then they must suffer the consequences and must be removed from office.
Too many Democrats have not lived up to their oath of office as Senators and Congressmen and this country will suffer for it for a very long time. Whether the next President be Democratic or Republican they should receive the message from the Congress that if you violate the Constitution you will be removed from office.
I'm old enough to remember Watergate. We had courageous Congressmen and Senators that sent Richard Nixon a message that you cannot violate the Constitution and get away with it. We failed to do that this time.
That's not the only reason I'm running.
I love this country deeply. It's ironic that Brian [Moran] speaks about Bobby & Jack so passionately because there was another family in South Carolina that felt the same way about Bobby and Jack. I commend your family, Jim, for your spirit of public service. That same type of public service was instilled in my family.
Today we've heard rhetoric that sounds like a liberal but some of our Congressmen, some of our Senators, have voted for bankruptcy reform acts which have led to a million foreclosures in this country. The number of foreclosures in Virginia has doubled in the last year.
We've had Congressmen & Senators who voted against the Iraq War but wanted to overthrow and advocated the overthrow of Saddam. Frankly Saddam is gone, and I don't see that much difference between advocating the overthrow and [advocating for] the war because the end result is the same. With all due respect to you, Jim, I think you've done a tremendous job for so many years on so many issues. But we have lost our soul. We have lost our soul in the Democratic Party.
Let us reclaim the soul that Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt laid down.
Almost 40 years ago my mother walked into my bedroom on June 6, 1968. She had to inform her young son that his hero was dead. It was that day that I decided that I would always strive to keep Bobby & Jack's legacy alive. It's a valid legacy. It's one that built this middle class.
[As John Kennedy said in his last paragraph of his inaugural speech, "Let us go forth to lead the land we love, knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."]
I am supporting Matt for Congressman because I really believe that Matt has the characteristics we need.
Everybody's talking about change right now, and you have to wonder what kind of change and change for what.
I believe that we have to have change from a career politician that is insincere, that is more looking out for his career, rather than people; we have to change from that.
And what we have to do is we need people that are going to be able to empathize and feel what people are going through right now.
I want to support Matt because I know he is that kind of a person.
I know Matt is a smart person. He has the intellect to be able to carry things out and I believe that he can lead us in a great direction.
I believe that Matt has experience working with people. I believe he has the right kind of experience working with people, not working with lobbyists and people that have money that are just looking to get more money, but people that have real problems.
I really believe that he would serve us all well, and I support him wholeheartedly.