YOUR FLY IS OPEN!
Good job Congressman Cohen.
Sounds to me like you are doing things that need doing, so no apology is needed.
Agreed with Jeff, but we still miss you!
Forgive me for saying this but, "ditto."
Yeah, you're not like the rest of us, well, some of us, I mean, me, sitting around doing nothing but complaining about shit and trying to find the humor in our ongoing national nightmare. You're actually making a difference.
Another good point about Congressman Cohen is even if you are not in his district he have time for you.
CPL, I wish you would post more because I enjoy it when you do and your comments on this site and others are always on point.
I've missed you guys, too. But it was great to have that sit down with Rep. Cohen - although I'm not in his district, the young lady I mentioned in the post, Latricia, lives right there in Memphis.
As long as you're not in his office to BS him, he makes the time for you; for us, he gave up part of some weekly House luncheon he was supposed to attend to meet with his constituents.
He also had very kind words for his predecsssor (Unca Junior). I asked how would he represent Memphis differently than Harold, and he responded , "I'm not voting my ambition - I'm voting the best interests of the district I represent. My predecessor was not a bad man - he's young, and he basically voted his ambition; that is what people need to understand about him."
For me, I think that's why Harold never bothered to listen to us, his critics. We knew he was ambitious; we knew he was going to follow any path that would get him to his goal. We'd admire it if his ambition didn't result in Memphis....well, you know where I'm going with that one.
I got a better reception from Cohen's office than many members of the Congressional Black Caucus (save for Conyers, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters and Bobby Scott's offices - they receive me like Cohen did).
So, it's not about a person's race or charisma - I think Steve Cohen's "charisma" is just as potent as Harold Ford's, but in a more distinctive manner (genuine, versus "your game face"). It is about one's character, and I hope you can convince the challengers to Cohen to remember that they had African-Americans representing them and ask them what do they have as a result? By no means allow the Race Card to be played here, because it's a crap shoot at best. Tell them to stop celebrating Black Faces in High Places because you may get another politician whose ambition is far more important than representing the people who voted for them.
As much as I hate the DLC, it is the only group that allows outside the beltway Democrats to move up.
Since 1968, there has been Z-E-R-O presidents elected from sitting terms as A US Senator and only two former congressman (George HW Bush & Nixon).
In that same time, the only two democrats elected were former governors of southern states.
The DLC gives the governors and others a way in to leadership.
The odds are real good, if we look at the 38 year trend that a outside of the beltway republican will be president. Right now it looks like a Massachusets Governor or a NY City Mayor, and both are more liberal than conservative.
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