Senate.gov overloaded?
Just when I have something to say to my Senator, the entire family of Senate Websites seems to be down. Could it be that their feeble servers are overloaded by people trying to give feedback on the financial meltdown? Seems pretty likely.
For what it’s worth, here’s the email I was trying to send:
Dear Senator Wyden:
I am deeply concerned about the violent and potentially dangerous atmosphere that Senator McCain seems to be encouraging amongst his supporters. The continued insinuation that Senator Obama consorts with terrorists, that his name brands him an outsider and that he places his personal ambitions above the good of the nation create an environment in which the risk of violence becomes very real.
My father, Harold Hughes, was an associate editor at the Portland Oregonian for many years. Previous to becoming an editor, my father covered national politics for the paper. While working in that capacity, he covered the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. In fact, he was standing just a few feet away from Robert Kennedy when he was shot. I have a deep awareness of the events that led up to these two heinous killings and I see disturbing similarities between what happened then and what’s happening at Senator McCain and Governor Palin’s campaign rallies. It is my reasoned opinion that the creation of a mob mentality in order to curry favor with radical elements is reckless and that silence from the McCain campaign on this issue represents tacit approval of this behavior.
I’m calling on you and on my Congressman David Wu to join with your Republican counterparts and publicly denounce this escalation of harmful rhetoric. We must demand that the McCain campaign address this issue by telling their supporters that shouting “terrorist,” “traitor,” and “kill him” at rallies is unacceptable and does not represent the kind of values that the candidate and this nation stand for. The threat posed by fomenting this level of anger impacts not just Senator Obama but every man and woman who seeks public office. It is of vital importance that our public officials understand that they have a fundemental moral responsibility to speak out against this and do everything in their power to defuse the situation. The last thing this nation needs, particularly in this time of world economic crisis, is a repeat of the disasters of the JFK and RFK assassinations. If we as a community fail to make our opposition to violent rhetoric heard, we will have blood on our collective hands should the unthinkable come to pass.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
-Christopher G. Hughes
