"If Romney were Santa Claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves!"
So spake former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland in a rip-roaring speech on the first night of the Democratic Convention. And the crowd roared right back, full of energy and enthusiasm. Not down and sad-looking like the GOP delegates last week.
And Michelle Obama loaded the bases and hit a home run! She's become one of the best political speakers EVER!
But the most impressive speaker at this convention - at any convention ever - was that mother who came on stage with her husband and two little children. The mother was nervous. But she had pulled her courage together because she was there to fight for her little girl's life. The little girl was maybe three years old. Her skirt was a bit too long. She wasn't dressed up fancy. The other child was maybe just under a year old and began to cry in her dad's arms, almost drowning out her mother's message for a bit.
But mom soldiered on. She's used to soldiering on. When you have a sick child, that's what you do. But her soldiering on is no longer going to be enough. That little girl needs heart surgery. And her mom had come to tell you that if Romney is elected he will repeal the Affordable Care Act and her little daughter will die.
She didn't use the word "die" because she didn't want her daughter to hear that word. Also, she probably can't bear to say it aloud. She probably wouldn't have been able to finish her speech if she had had to say that word.
But it is the word. Sarah Palin rattled the cages of the know-nothings with blather about "death panels". The real death panels are the likes of Palin and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They are determined to take away the only life-saving hope of millions of Americans - access to health care insurance that can't be denied because of pre-existing conditions or, as in the case of the little girl, because you have reached the dollar cap on coverage.
That mother came there to ask YOU to save her daughter's life.
If Romney is elected and repeals the Affordable Health Care Act on his "first day in office", as he has pledged, that little girl will die.
Lots of other people will also die because they won't be able to get medical care. One of our family friends died two years ago because he hit the cap on his policy. The Affordable Care Act was too late for him. His name was Steve and he was only forty-two years old. If he'd asked us, we would have scraped the money together somehow. I'd have mortgaged my house. But he was too shy to ask.
But when it's your little girl, you have got to ask. You have to beg and plead and do anything to save your child's life. And that mother did. She was scared on that stage, but she's more frightened by her daughter dying.
So what's it going to be, folks?
Are we going to save the little girl's life? Are we going to get Obama re-elected by contributing some dollars and lots of volunteer work? Or are we going to let the "death panel" GOP condemn that child and many more like her to dying for lack of medical care?
The Jews have a saying that he who saves one life saves the world. Now's your chance to save the world.
I don't think you need that big an incentive. I think you'll dig down in your pocket and you'll also sacrifice some time to help Obama just for the sake of that one little girl.
And they who thereby save that little girl save not just the world but themselves.
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Hey, Mitt, how much did you deduct for Ann's medical expenses on your income taxes? It must have been nice to have all the money you needed for her treatment. So how much was it? Why can't we see those tax returns? Because so many of us could never pay for such care when we need it?
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