Dred Scott and the Election of 2004 - A Topsham Maine Journal

It's incredulous! Our President George W. Bush (George II) gave an example tonight of why he truly should reconsider his decision to run for re-election. Our president said tonight that one way he would evaluate his appointments to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Supreme Court is to figure out how a candidate for the position felt on issues like the Dred Scott Decision.

Even in the woods of Topsham, Maine, I howled like the nearby coyotes at this incredulous response. This is what I know about the Dred Scott Decision:

In 1846, (a slave) Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed suit for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. This suit began an eleven-year legal fight that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a landmark decision declaring that Scott remain a slave. This decision contributed to rising tensions between the free and slave states just before the American Civil War.
The records displayed in this exhibit document the Scotts' early struggle to gain their freedom through litigation and are the only extant records of this significant case as it was heard in the St. Louis Circuit Court.
The original Dred Scott case file is located in the Office of the St. Louis Circuit Clerk.

In fact, the Dred Scott case is the biggest embarrassment the United States Supreme Court ever made and it happened in 1846. In fact, the civil rights decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court in the 1950s and earlier actually rescinded the dreadful Dred Scott Decision of 1846.

I believe Senator John Kerry won tonight's second presidential debate because he has a command of the issues, and the Dred Scott case is not an issue in this election.

When President George Bush used an 1846 landmark case as criteria for evaluating a U.S. Supreme Court justice, an issue that was literally obliterated by 20th century civil rights legislation, he was saying his administration is thinking in the past. A second term for our President George II means four more years of irrelevant and incredulous premises for the purposes of creating American foreign and domestic policy.

Dred Scott was a black mark on our American History. Seeking weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, when the ruler of Iraq says he used the concept as a smokescreen to scare his enemies , and then, in fact, to find there were none - is another Dred Scott in my mind.

Please tell us, instead, Mr. President George II, about how you would use good judgment to appoint a U.S. Supreme Court justice in you administration.

This is serious business, but I'm still laughing like the coyotes in the woods of Topsham, Maine.

I simply cannot reconcile this Dred Scott analogy made by President George II. Therefore, John Kerry won this debate because, among other reasons, his arguments and responses to question were presented in real time about today's issues.

From the woods of Topsham, Maine, I'm still laughing with the coyotes.

Democracy's On The Move- A Topsham Maine Journal

We're like turkeys in the woods of Topsham Maine this election season, waiting for the next crumbs to lead us deeper into the thickets of the November 2, 2004 election. Last evening the Vice-presidential debate between Vice-President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards was the second hurdle to observe as the election-turkeys come home to roost. From our vantage point here in Topsham, Maine, the clear and convincing winner was Senator Edwards because of his statesmanship. I've cruised the blogs today looking for somebody in the web-universe to identify with my opinions. It was difficult to wade through all the spin. But we are an independent sort here in Topsham, Maine - and Democrats are the minority group, rising just slightly above the turkeys' status on Thanksgiving eve. Nevertheless, anybody, even a turkey, could see the trap the Vice-President was systematically setting for Senator Edwards who was obviously getting under the the skin of the incumbent vice president. Like garlic stabbed into the breast of a pre-cooked turkey, the Vice-President began to carve up Senator John Edwards like a cutting board artist. Ho, Ho....the charming Senator Edwards did not respond in kind but kept a statesmanship demeanor and even took the low blows with charm and good nature. Ho, Ho....and the Vice-President says (like a patient in the first stages of Alzheimers Disease, "...and I never met you until tonight..." Ho, Ho....and gets caught in his own web of spiraling deception when the Democrats immediately circulated pictures of the two in the same room together on three separate occasions. Ho, Ho...But, responds Senator Edwards, "the Vice-President is a man who, as a Congressman, voted against the Head Start Program for pre-school children, against Meals on Wheels for the aged, against a decree calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and against the Martin Luther King holiday..." Ho, ho...An eye for an eye....I liked Senator Edwards because he stood his ground, always kept to the high road and articulated the issues that matter to average people. But, on the personal side of the political equation, Senator Edwards was sincerely sympathetic when addressing the issue of gay marriage and the Vice-President's gay daughter, a situation that drives the dicey social issue home in the Cheney household. To his credit, Vice-President Dick Cheney accepted the graciousness from Senator Edwards and passed on his 90 second rebuttal to the issue of gay marriage....a politician giving up 90 seconds of the microphone? Welllll....Ho...Ho...Ho, indeed! Now, some of the blogs I've visited on this issue say how much Vice-President Dick Cheney looked like a "grand-father", so he was a difficult man to dislike. Well, I say, if you want a grandfather image on a political debate then ask Santa Claus to sit down and fold his hands as though in prayer in front of the television camera. This Vice-Presidential debate is about issues and your grandfather has nothing to do with it. So, my vote, as cast on many a blog today, is for Senator Edwards because he brought statesmanship back into politics. Now, on to Friday for the second Presidential debate. Ho, Ho....and "Gobble, Gobble".

Calling All Voters: Ladies and Gentlemen Voters- We Have a Presidential Race as seen from a Topsham, Maine Journal

Topsham, Maine might be in the woods New England's The Pine Tree State, but it's a place never far from a television when a Presidential Debate is forthcoming. My husband and I kept company with the brilliant moon ascending into the clear night sky as we watched The First Presidential Debate of the USA 2004 Presidential Election Season on television last Thursday evening.

Even before the end of the 90-minute moderated debate led by Public television anchor Jim Leherer, both my husband and I were raising questions about how this one-sided hyped debate would be perceived by the proverbial doctors of media "spin". It was a slam dunk in favor of Senator John Kerry, in our minds. Could we be so far out of step with Americans as to be the only two people in the universe of television watchers to see this statesmanship versus playacting duo presenting us with a clear choice for President of the United States on November 2nd? Alas, even in the woods of Topsham, Maine with the moon smiling over us, we were not alone. Thankfully, we were not alone.

Shaaabam! The minute polls taken right after the debate confirmed what we witnessed on television. It was a clear oratory victory for Senator John Kerry who went into the debate as the underdog against the "good old boy" President George W. Bush (George II).

I most enjoyed (or screeched) at the point in the debate when George II squealed, "Listen here, I know who Osama Bin Laden is. You don't have to tell me who Osama Bin Laden is. I know who he is...." To which I add here....weeelllll, ain't that a presidential answer. Ahhhh, "Hello?" Are the lights on but nobody home?

Instead of responding to a clear punch from Senator Kerry who was implying how we missed the real war on terror by fighting against Saddam Hussein rather than Osama Bin Laden, our political-weary president chose, instead, to remind us about how he can really pronounce the name Osama Bin Laden without stammering and, yes indeed, he knows who the evil man is. At least, at that point in the debate we were comforted with the truth. Yes, thank God, our President George II knows who Osama Bin Laden is. Now, if we can only find the devil.

But, other than that moment of blibberish over Osama Bin Laden, the rest of the debate showed Senator Kerry with a clear understanding of the issues while our dear President George II scowled, grimaced, and fidgeted with his water glass between whining answers. Of course, people who were "shocked...shocked!" to see their hero President George II behaving like the kid caught running the wrong way with somebody else's football were defending their guy. They responded by saying how forceful their George was in the debate. Well, that gimmick might work on people who waited until the news at eleven o'clock to figure out what happened, but did not pass the strait face test for those of us who witnessed the embarrassing episodes of unnecessary Presidential facial agitation.

Debates notwithstanding, it is distressing to realize how few people could see the truthof the matter in the debate on Thursday. Even with a clear victory for Senator John Kerry evident, the truth is still not showing up with as startling evidence in the polls.

I pray every day for the truth of this important election to become the focus of the voting population. Perhaps Senator John Kerry can raise this political mud-slinging that some call an election from below the belt "gotcha" rhetoric into a campaign of prose, words and ideas. Indeed, Senator John Kerry said he intends to bring "truth to the American people". I hope Americans are not blindsided by partisan politics to the extent that they are inoculated to truth. It's hard to break the bond of party loyalty, even in the face of truth about what is wrong with the foriegn policy of President George II.

We saw a lot going on in the USA from our home in Topsham, Maine last Thursday night. We hope we saw the lights going on in the brains of intelligent voters who want to know the truth about who they are electing to be the statesman and leader of our free world.

I pray this is the case and truth will prevail.