Paul Tsongas, RIP
Ager or Persson
Beth drops down from the rafters, clutching a page from the Eau Claire
Leader-Telegram. Snagging a cup of Kenya AA from Mike, she strolls up
to the chalk line and holds up a photo of an ailing Paul Tsongas. "It
says here that former Senator Paul Tsongas died of pneumonia yesterday.
I knew that he kept having recurrences of his lymphoma, but I had no
idea that he had been this bad off. He died in much the same way that
Carl Sagan did, and his death hits me just as hard. Like Sagan, he was
one sane man.
"Senator Tsongas was the first person to declare his candidacy in the
1992 presidential races, and he caught my eye right away because he was
my idea of a dream candidate: a social liberal and a fiscal
conservative." Beth takes a long sip of coffee and scans the patrons.
Having been in the rafters for so long, she has trouble gauging the
range of political feeling in the Place.
"Tsongas caught my eye, but he did not catch the eye of the press quite
as easily. They said he wasn't telegenic; they said he spoke like Elmer
Fudd." Beth stares at the floor a moment. "Radiation therapy for the
lymphoma he contracted in 1984 had weakened his lungs and voice. As
some of you might recall, the press quickly annointed the most
telegenic, voluble Democrat as the frontrunner, and it wasn't
Tsongas--it was Bill Clinton. I eventually voted for Clinton in the
general election, but only because Tsongas had droppped out a week after
the Wisconsin primary. At least I got to vote for Tsongas once...
"But I refuse to lay all or even most of the blame for Tsongas'
unsuccessful presidential campaign on the press; most of it lies with
the Great Unwashed. The American public has never wanted to hear
unpleasant things from its candidates and certainly doesn't like to be
asked to sacrifice anything. Remember Jimmy Carter telling us that the
American public had a "crisis of confidence"? Remember how Walter
Mondale blew it when he admitted that taxes might have to be raised?
The public dismissed those two fine men and dismissed Tsongas, too, in
favor of the sunniest of speechmakers. I'm sorry that we as a nation
are so shallow and self-indulgent in such matters, very sorry."
Draining her coffee cup, Beth looks at Tsongas' photo and says, "Paul
Tsongas, I sat in an Arkansas motel room and cried *hard* when I saw you
drop out of the race. You deserved to win the '92 election. You would
have been a fine president. Rest in peace."
****crash!****
Beth Ager
Marc C Allain
In article <> Ager or Persson <mik...@discover-net.net> writes:
>
>"Tsongas caught my eye, but he did not catch the eye of the press quite
>as easily. They said he wasn't telegenic; they said he spoke like Elmer
>Fudd." Beth stares at the floor a moment. "Radiation therapy for the
>lymphoma he contracted in 1984 had weakened his lungs and voice. As
>some of you might recall, the press quickly annointed the most
>telegenic, voluble Democrat as the frontrunner, and it wasn't
>Tsongas--it was Bill Clinton. I eventually voted for Clinton in the
>general election, but only because Tsongas had droppped out a week after
>the Wisconsin primary. At least I got to vote for Tsongas once...
>
>"But I refuse to lay all or even most of the blame for Tsongas'
>unsuccessful presidential campaign on the press; most of it lies with
>the Great Unwashed. The American public has never wanted to hear
>unpleasant things from its candidates and certainly doesn't like to be
>asked to sacrifice anything. Remember Jimmy Carter telling us that the
>American public had a "crisis of confidence"? Remember how Walter
>Mondale blew it when he admitted that taxes might have to be raised?
>The public dismissed those two fine men and dismissed Tsongas, too, in
>favor of the sunniest of speechmakers. I'm sorry that we as a nation
>are so shallow and self-indulgent in such matters, very sorry."
>
*Won* the New Hapmshire democratic primary in '92. And yes, he had a
better-than-fair chance of taking the whole thing.
Of course, the presidency would probably have killed him. Life just
isn't fair sometimes.
--
If you need me, I'll be down in the lab, mixing metaphors
Patchmaker Marc C. Allain m...@christa.unh.edu
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mca
Mike [insert quote here] Bartman
In article <32E2D2...@discover-net.net>, Ager or Persson <mik...@discover-net.net> took the time to say:
>idea that he had been this bad off. He died in much the same way that
>Carl Sagan did, and his death hits me just as hard. Like Sagan, he was
>one sane man.
"I agree with your assessment of the man. His disease did more damage to
the country than any number of floods, hurricanes or twisters. The loss of
the common sense he advocated will continue to cost us dearly for a long
time. It's a very rare commodity in politics."
>"Senator Tsongas was the first person to declare his candidacy in the
>1992 presidential races, and he caught my eye right away because he was
>my idea of a dream candidate: a social liberal and a fiscal
>conservative." Beth takes a long sip of coffee and scans the patrons.
>Having been in the rafters for so long, she has trouble gauging the
>range of political feeling in the Place.
"I liked him too, but I could see that his lack of forcefullness was going
to cost him. He was making sense, but he wasn't appealing to people's guts,
which seems to be what most voters use instead of brains when deciding who
to vote for. It's sad, but it explains a lot."
>some of you might recall, the press quickly annointed the most
>telegenic, voluble Democrat as the frontrunner, and it wasn't
>Tsongas--it was Bill Clinton. I eventually voted for Clinton in the
>general election, but only because Tsongas had droppped out a week after
>the Wisconsin primary. At least I got to vote for Tsongas once...
"I would have voted for Paul, but I wasn't about to vote for Bill. Clinton
*almost* convinced me to vote for him, he's very persuasive if you don't pay
close attention, but I finally noticed that what he said and what he did
weren't linked, and he frequently changed his message to match what his
current audience wanted to hear (even if it contradicted what he had said a
day earlier...), so what he *said* was completely irrelevent and I couldn't
know what I was 'buying' in his case, so I looked elsewhere. I spent the
next four years thanking my good judgement! In the most recent election I
*knew* what Bill was selling (I'd watched his first term...) so I didn't
even consider voting for him."
"But after Bill was elected, Paul's delivery seemed to improve dramatically.
I saw him on a talk show a few months into Clinton's first term and was
*amazed* at how much clearer his message was, how much more energy he had to
make his points, and how much more I regreted not being able to give him the
vote he deserved. In that state I'm sure he could have pushed Bill Clinton
into the dismal obscurity he so richly deserves."
"I had high hopes for the Concord Coalition when he announced it, and have
wondered what happened to it. I guess Paul was the one driving it, and as
his health suffered, he wasn't able to keep up the push at the level
needed."
"Officially I'm a Libertarian. They make the most sense to me, however,
there are occasional flashes of reasonableness from other parties, and I
vote for common sense every chance I get (which isn't often...). When
squeezed into the standard 1D spectrum I tend to come out Conservative.
When we make it 2D by seperating social and fiscal issues, I'm fiscally
conserviative and socially liberal. Add more dimensions and I move around
again. I'm not easily classified by the overly simplistic models of current
politics. I suspect that most people aren't, which probably explains why
the polls do the wierd and frequently unexpected things they do."
"I hope you have a better idea what the politics of at least one denizen of
Callahan's are now."
>asked to sacrifice anything. Remember Jimmy Carter telling us that the
>American public had a "crisis of confidence"? Remember how Walter
>Mondale blew it when he admitted that taxes might have to be raised?
>The public dismissed those two fine men and dismissed Tsongas, too, in
>favor of the sunniest of speechmakers. I'm sorry that we as a nation
>are so shallow and self-indulgent in such matters, very sorry."
"Jimmy Carter is a fine man, someone I'd have no objection to having for a
neighbor or a friend. Unfortunately, he wasn't a very good president. He
kept seeing the best in people, and expecting people to be nice just because
it was right...when what was needed was a more realistic view of the world.
He also tried really hard to carry out all of his campaign promises, several
of which were truely bad ideas. At least he tried to be honest, but I wish
he'd had better ideas."
"Mondale I have no respect for at all, but that's mostly because I think he
supports moronic positions, and does so because he thinks that's what people
want, not because he truely thinks they are good ideas. I watched his
jellyfish-like conformance to shifting public opinion with disdain and
wasn't surprised when he lost to someone who stated a position and stuck to
it as long as the facts supported it's correctness. I was more surprised
when Bill Clinton did the same thing and people bought it. I guess Bill is
a smoother jellyfish than Mondale was..."
>drop out of the race. You deserved to win the '92 election. You would
>have been a fine president. Rest in peace."
"Ditto. A much better choice than we ended up with, and a great loss."
--Berek "the first democrat that ever would have gotten my vote" Halfaxe--
==============================================================================
| I didn't really say all the things that I said. You probably didn't read |
| what you thought you read. Statistics show that this whole thing is more |
| than likely just a hideous misunderstanding. |
==============================================================================
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All hope abandon, ye who enter messages here!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ager or Persson
Mike [insert quote here] Bartman wrote:
> "I would have voted for Paul, but I wasn't about to vote for Bill. Clinton
> *almost* convinced me to vote for him, he's very persuasive if you don't pay
> close attention, but I finally noticed that what he said and what he did
> weren't linked, and he frequently changed his message to match what his
> current audience wanted to hear (even if it contradicted what he had said a
> day earlier...), so what he *said* was completely irrelevent and I couldn't
> know what I was 'buying' in his case, so I looked elsewhere.
Beth smiles at Berek. "Clinton has always reminded me of Eddie Haskell,
but I held my nose and voted for him. That was the general election and
I felt that I had no choice." Craning her neck and looking for the ADD
on the french fry-strewn altar of the Goddess, she adds, "There was no
way in hell I was gonna vote for the HUGE BERSERK REBEL WARTHOG.
Something in me was sickened by a man whose only rationale for running
for president was that his daddy always told him that he ought to... and
whose only accomplishment was to kick some Iraqi butt. I was sick of
that prep-school John Wayne."
Beth Ager, who did *not* make popcorn and settle down on the davenport
for George Bush's made-for-TV war.
Merritt Stone
In "As USENET Turns", Ager or Persson hatched the following nasty
scheme...
>
> Beth smiles at Berek. "Clinton has always reminded me of Eddie Haskell,
> but I held my nose and voted for him. That was the general election and
> I felt that I had no choice." Craning her neck and looking for the ADD
> on the french fry-strewn altar of the Goddess, she adds, "There was no
> way in hell I was gonna vote for the HUGE BERSERK REBEL WARTHOG.
> Something in me was sickened by a man whose only rationale for running
> for president was that his daddy always told him that he ought to... and
> whose only accomplishment was to kick some Iraqi butt. I was sick of
> that prep-school John Wayne."
>
> Beth Ager, who did *not* make popcorn and settle down on the davenport
> for George Bush's made-for-TV war.
>
brightly.
"I voted for Harry Browne myself, so the next four years are not my
fault. Of course, if something really good happens, I don't get any
credit, either."
"And I was in boot camp and A-school during George Bush's made-for-TV
war, or I would have fought. I disagreed with half the reasons we
were over there, but in the words of Nathan Hale, "It is the duty of
every officer to obey his commander-in-chief."
--
Merritt Stone, MSTie #54420
ratmm's Resident Utility Infielder
"You're the nicest guy in Hollywood. You're...Cary Grant and Jimmy
Stewart rolled into a great big ball. Not that... that's ever
happened..."
---Brain, "Brain's Song" (Pinky and the Brain)
Francis A. Ney, Jr.
In article <MPG.d4f71d6e...@news.pixi.com> howi...@pixi.com writes:
> "I voted for Harry Browne myself, so the next four years are not my
> fault. Of course, if something really good happens, I don't get any
> credit, either."
The chances of that happening are represented by that cowboy in the corner
over there, and Sister Mary-Of-The-Metal-Yardstick over there...
---
Frank Ney WV/EMT-B VA/EMT-A N4ZHG LPWV NRA(L) GOA CCRKBA JPFO
Sponsor, BATF Abuse page http://www.access.digex.net/~croaker/batfabus.html
West Virginia Coordinator, Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus
NOTICE: Flaming email received will be posted to the appropriate newsgroups
- --
"Some people just enjoy finding fault with our leaders. They're anarchists.
They're troublemakers. Or they're just unpatriotic."
- Julie Musante, "Political Officer"
_Babylon 5_, _Voices Of Authority_, Third Season
Sanford E. Walke IV
Francis A. Ney, Jr. (cro...@access.digex.net) wrote:
>In article <MPG.d4f71d6e...@news.pixi.com> howi...@pixi.com writes:
>> "I voted for Harry Browne myself, so the next four years are not my
>> fault. Of course, if something really good happens, I don't get any
>> credit, either."
>The chances of that happening are represented by that cowboy in the corner
>over there, and Sister Mary-Of-The-Metal-Yardstick over there...
I was composing a reply to say "Huh?" when I got this.
peanuts for you, pal.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
--
Sandy se...@izzy.net
Honesty is paramount to me. Lying to me to avoid hurting me never works.
Being lied to always causes me more pain than the truth ever could.
I don't speak for anyone but myself, and sometimes not even that.
AmyCat
The following e-mail is forwarded (with Spider's permission); please
e-mail any replies to me. Thanks for any help you folks can offer!
--AmyCat
_______________Forwarded Message_____________________
Subject: Job for Jody
This is a gang mail-out, to everybody I can think of who might be able to help;
no reply necessary or desired.
There's a woman down in Lafayette Tennessee named Jody Day. Known her twenty
years now, fan and friend. She is both blind and grand mal epileptic...and one
of the most remarkably CHEERFUL people I've ever met. It could have been a bit
wearing, sharing her history of medical misfortunes over the years (she's had
plenty of luck, just not much of it good), but since she never complains, the
net effect is inspirational.
Her second husband (the good one) died recently, and she's now living with a
young fellow who sounds nice but as poor as she is, which is considerable.
Anyhow, she's looking for work she can do cybernetically.
Her assets known to me include:
a) good computer gear, PC-type
b) a lot of net and Web savvy
c) ham and CB savvy for that matter
d) several means of reading text, including an Optacon and talking OCR software
e) good writing skills, and some reviewing experience
f) superb typing considering her handicaps
g) rock-ribbed integrity
h) ferocious industry
i) indomitable good cheer
j) extensive knowledge of sf and fantasy
If you know anyone who could use someone with any combination of those assets,
I'd take it as a personal favor if you'd help connect them. If not, maybe you
know somebody who might know somebody. Jody Day's e-mail address is:
Thanks for listening. She's definitely One Of The Nice Ones...
--Spider