Houston Democrats

He said that there is a disconnect in the White House that gets bigger and more frightening everyday. He proclaimed that we should "get back to the Parliamentary system so we can have a snap election and get rid of him right away!"

I could not possibly do justice to Hersh by trying to summarize his presentation. It is obvious when listening to him speak that he has so much to say that it is more of an effort for him to limit himself to the timeframe than anything else. Since I cannot cover everything, I'd like to simply share some of the more memorable quotes and moments from the evening.

On the real cost of war:
With a monetary value of about one trillion dollars, HALF of the cost of the war could fully fund social security for the next 70 years.

After retelling a story about a soldier involved in the My Lai massacre in Viet Nam, he quoted the soldier's mother: "I gave them a good boy and they sent me back a murderer."

A woman returns from service at Abu Ghraib, exhibiting a total change in personality. Her mother says she doesn't know who she is anymore. The woman began getting new tattoos every weekend. Her mother says, "It's as if she wanted to change her skin." This soldier had 80 horrendous pictures from Abu Ghraib saved on her computer. Many would later be published.

We have yet to realize the true cost of this war. 120,000 Viet Nam veterans ended up on disability. War premanently and irrevocably changes every person it touches. How many of our country's sons and daughters will lose a part of themselves because of this war?

What now?
"The quicker we get out, the more quickly these people (the fueding factions in Iraq) will come to terms with each other.

"As long as we are there, we are the 200 octane fuel that fuels the insurgency."

On the Bush administration and the Senate:
"Rationality does not exist in the White House."

"On any given day, the Senate is either supine or prone. You take your pick."

"I think that once Bush is out of office, he will be chased around like Pinochet. Good thing he's got his ranch!"

Bush is "a revolutionary. A revolutionary with no capacity to learn; no capacity to change."

"He's a rebel with a bedtime."

This administration is an exhibit of "an astonishing failure of moral leadership."

Sy Hersh spoke the truth, both in the message he delivered, and also in the warning that we would be the happiest early in the evening. It is not a pleasant thing, dwelling upon all of the many tragic failures of the Bush administration. But as unpleasant as it may be, continuing to talk about it and staying focused on reclaiming our right to a government with dignity and real moral clarity - as opposed to the depravity masquerading as Christianity which now occupies the White House - is important. Defeatism never wins. If we will prevail, we must continue to face all of these issues head-on, no matter how much easier it seems to pull the covers over our heads and try to go back to sleep.

While much of the evening was devoted to subjects that anger and appall, Mr. Hersh did say that he believes that the tide has changed and that we are heading toward a massive shift in the balance of power. I certainly hope he is right. That thought is all that keeps me going lately.