This is Labor Day weekend. There are just over two months to election day, so it seems important to share the recent opinion of patriotic Americans who have served the United States in the federal government.
The 230+ former officials who signed this letter all served in Republican administrations. They recently issued it to explain their unequivocal endorsement of the Democratic ticket–to explain why they will vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I am reprinting their letter in its entirety–I don’t want to paraphrase, select portions, or otherwise alter its language.
The signatories are individuals who understand government–and the existential choice presented by this election.
I’ll return to my own commentary tomorrow. For today, here’s the letter, and a reminder that there are still some Republicans who put country over party.
_____________________
Bush, McCain, and Romney Alumni for Harris Statement
Four years ago, President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, and then-Gov. Mitt Romney alumni came together to warn fellow Republicans that re-electing President Trump would be a disaster for our nation. In those declarations we stated the plain truth, each predicting that another four years of a Trump presidency would irreparably damage our beloved democracy. We made those announcements months before lies about a stolen election became everyday talking points and six months before Trump incited an insurrection, cheering on a mob of sore losers and sycophants as they tried to use force to overturn the will of the American public.
We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November. Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable. At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions. Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen. We know now, thanks to exit polling and voter data, that it was moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states that ultimately delivered the presidency to Joe Biden—honest, hardworking Americans in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and beyond that put country far before party. We’re heartfully calling on these friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family members to take a brave stand once more, to vote for leaders that will strive for consensus, not chaos; that will work to unite, not divide; that will make our country and our children proud.
Those leaders are Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.
_________________________
You can access the signatures–all eighteen pages of them–here.
Bush,McCain and Romney. What a seller group
I wonder if Bush continues to read children’s books? Did he ever finish My Pet Goat?
McCain…the Keating Five.
Romney— Magic Underwear and planet Kolob.
They want power to stay in the control of the same circles. Strength Through Joy?
Steller…spellchecker.
G’damned spellcheck.
LOL; your insights, Ian, are about the same quality as your spelling. I suppose the culprit is once again spellcheck; seller; steller, stellar.
For Ian: CELLAR, where you belong … along with the other lumps of coal.
It’s a shame that this letter has to be written at all. It should be patently obvious that Trump is a raving psychopath with only one goal, himself. He is totally without honor, honesty, integrity, respect for anything, humility, grace and, most of all, a very weak mind inside a diseased brain. He’s perfect for people like Ian who align with these traits.
Well,Ms Asperger…
How is the current administration handling the wave of Covid at the moment?
Cases of TB are up 26% for children under 5 in the US. I wonder what Mort’s thoughts on the current state of the pandemic would be?
Ian, there you go again. I’m very concerned about you. You should check in with your therapist. It’s apparent that you’ve missed a number of your recent appointments.
Oh Ian, it’s so easy to see which camp you’re in: that if the former name-caller in chief. When you can’t rebut with facts, just name-call and try to distract. It’s an old game, and tiresome.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-30/covid-new-subvariant-even-more-contagious
You should worry…not for me. But for folks such as yourself who have chosen to be wilfully ignorant of the current state of the pandemic.
Strength Through Joy, yes?
Ian, do you support tfg, or are you just frustrated by the status quo? Is it the Military-Industrial Complex, as it is with Todd? If so, I’d like to point out that Todd always has backup for his positions. He doesn’t just spew insults and innuendo as you did today.
It might be time for you to grow up. Your rant today went over the line. You might personally think whatever you want about religion, but please don’t denigrate anyone for his or her beliefs. I’m not a Morman, but I know many people who are. They are bright, hardworking individuals.
Hey, y’all; get a grip. Ian isn’t the enemy here, neither are Bush, McCain or Romney. Sheila chose this Labor Day Weekend Sunday to cede her space to “The 230+ former officials who signed this letter all served in Republican administrations. They recently issued it to explain their unequivocal endorsement of the Democratic ticket–to explain why they will vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.” A much more valid issue than a misspelled or incorrect word usage by Ian and spell checker.
Let’s stick with the issue of the day on this Labor Day Weekend, which may be the last Labor Day Weekend we will be allowed to celebrate if the Trump Pandemic of Fascists return to control of the Executive Branch of OUR government. Ian sometimes pisses me off but his 8:28 comments are on target; we are facing the possibility of Trump appointing Hannibal Lector to a high level cabinet position and emptying our prisons and pardoning all of the January 6th insurrectionist along with all rapists.
Hijackers have stolen the Republican Party little by little over decades by advancing the notion that our government was illegitimate and wasteful and that all politicians were crooks and incompetents, especially compared to the stellar accomplishments of people in business. The tools of the trade they used were mass entertainment media rented to them daily by the Murdochs. They slowly recruited other malcontented minorities.
Then Trump, in search of more businesses to bankrupt, stole the party from the hijackers. That was the great heist and a marriage made in hell for the country.
I don’t know if defeating them in this election will excise the cancer, but their win will surely nourish the malignancy.
To answer Peggy….
Frustrated with the status quo
If the above responses are emblematic of the acolytes of the DNC —- which I believe they are…we are so f%$#@!.
What courage for these Republicans to stand up against the noise and the hate. Thank you for loving our country. It is somewhat amazing to witness such out of control hostility, which has become all too predictable, trying to consume everything and everyone in sight, even bashing their own with their joyless criticism and hate. It seems we are all exhausted from the childish fear and smear tactics as Trump and MAGA attempt to drag us all downward with their constant ranting, raging, and pure chaos. There is a rather large community of trauma therapists these days who are ready to help these folks heal their apparent unresolved pain and unresolved core grief issues, which they have been projecting upon the rest of society through conspiracy theories and acting out behavior. The adaptations of addiction and consumption to joyless hate, righteous nationalistic religion, and obsession with right wing media like Fox News can be broken. It may take a major intervention by the silent majority on November 5th to start that afore mentioned intervention process, to begin the process of breaking down the denial. Healing this mess will no doubt take consistent effort and time. Our country is worth that effort. To even criticize joy? To criticize a teenager openly loving his dad on stage at a convention? I’m sure this will be criticized also.
Yes, joy does bring strength. Love is real and lasting strength. The love of these Republicans standing up for our country, thus even crossing party lines, must really be unsettling to those whose pain is consuming them. Love allows so much space for us to heal and come together, while fear attempts to control and infect, even destroy everyone in its path. Love, joy, and heartfelt connection are the antidote for the deep pain and dissociation these people seemingly suffer from. Most of us suffer from some form of deep wounds in our lifetimes. It’s of no surprise to me they would deny the problem, hate anyone who tries to help, hate the solution, hate the messengers. It’s what collective unresolved grief and grievance often descends into. Trump and MAGA are but an avatar for the expression of these festering wounds. If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it, repeat it, repeat it… It took unbelievable acts of love and selfless heroism for The Greatest Generation to rise up and defend freedom. Hopefully we will all do it at the ballot box this time. Republicans voting for Democrats to unite and preserve our republic really warms my heart. You are heroic in my book. I am so grateful for your love, your love of self and of country. Thank you so much from a life long Democrat, but mostly from one American to another. We know who you are by your example. You are awesome!
Ian, I searched your claim about TB cases for kids under 5. The number of cases did increase in the US by 26% from 160 cases to 202 cases in 2022. There were about 8,300 TB cases in total. Case totals are lower than they were in 2019.
For added context I did a quick check of the UK—-their number of TB cases was roughly 2 1/2 times ours on a percentage to population basis.
Lessons learned: you never provide context and like to deflect. And, reminder to ignore your future comments.
This letter may help a few Independents see the light, but I don’t think it will move the needle for MAGAs who already hate Mittens and McCain. They will be considered part of the Deep State and dismiss it completely.
Now, if you really want to see some movement, let’s look at the real Deep State, like the politically active billionaire class. Elon Musk still pretends to be an outsider looking in while he quietly censors the DDoSecrets account on X for posting links to a hack on the Israeli Justice Ministry, which explains how Israel silences critics in the social media realm and how Tel Aviv controls the US and UK governments. They also destroyed the First Amendment rights of college students across the country.
Anybody who tells you one party or the other is part of the Deep State (Trump and his MAGATS) doesn’t understand the Deep State.
One note on the letter mentioning the Battleground States of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona. As the elections come down to the results in those swing states, and the media harps on the results of those electors, this is destroying election participation in other states like Indiana. Why bother voting if our electors will vote for the Republican president?
This built-in rigged election outcome is killing Democrats who run for statewide elections because people watching TV broadcasts believe there is no point voting in Indiana and other non-swing states. It reinforces the voting outcome dilemma.
an now trolls have even invaded this usually sane blog environment
Trump learned his despotic culture from a master of it, Roy Cohn, as well as from his father.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240517-roy-cohn-the-mysterious-us-lawyer-who-helped-donald-trump-rise-to-power
Mike. Beautifully expressed.
One of the propaganda tools issued to MAGA extremists is to label facts about their movement as a kind of institutional “hate” of Trump. Of course this is from folks who worship him as a savior of their institutionalized hate of our government and Constitution.
Politics is the art of finding the possible; i,e, the point where both sides can live with each other. And that IS the point! Both sides have to go on living!!
If they don’t find a mutually acceptable compromise, the result is Israel / Gaza; a situation where some leaders on both sides are implacably certain that the other side must be totally exterminated irregardless of the consequences for the majority of good people on both sides who just want to go on living.
In our country, there is an organization named Braver Angels which is attempting to mediate between the Red side and the Blue side. The point is that there is always SOME component of truth on both sides of a conflict! At the risk of making things worse; the Bible says that on the seventh day God relaxed and surveyed his creation, and said that it was good. No equivocation; ALL of it was good!
Why can’t we just accept that? You let me live my life and I let you live yours! So simple.
Sorry, God didn’t relax on the seventh day; he rested. Although most of us use the two terms interchangeably:-)
I find a number of related issues puzzling! Why do Democrats – TELL – people that they are doing better, when many are not – e.g. – the cost-of-living. The Political Polarization – parallels – ECONOMIC – divergences – though those Hurting Badly – tend to hear the propaganda from the Republicans. The MESS – we are in developed over the past 50+ years – as The Right Organized- and the rest of us -rested mostly – in the ORGANIZING area. Ignoring- the – SYSTEMIC issues which Todd – often references – leads us into the FEAR – focus that the Rep’s excel at exploiting. GAZA- is a significant issue – and MICHIGAN – for example is a key state. Pretending – that it is – a – “Balance Beam” type of issue is simply 100% wrong – Israel’s Genocide and Harris’s 100% complicity in it – is a fact. The obvious fact that – Trump and the Rep’s are horribly worse – doesn’t take away from the fact that when One dies – as probably 200,000 people or more will have died soon – close to 10% of the Gazans (think 30+ million Americans dying – 10% of our population) – Genocide is HORRIBLE – PERIOD AND most importantly – Dem’s those who MAY vote for Harris – support a Ceasefire – those who vehemently oppose it – a significant percentage of them – either will vote for Trump – or NOT vote. The “liberal” denial – is simply wrong – here – I’d refer those who want an “education” on this – to look at some of my writings – with links to others – at: https://www.georgemarx.org/2022/12/palestine-israel-judiasm-posts-links-my.html – a lot of this – is Practical and it is very dangerous!
How about “Great letter!” And, yes Vernon, too bad it became necessary.
Get out the vote!
While it is nice that so many republicans signed the letter, I would have been much more impressed if they had chosen to point out the radical right wing media sources that are guilty of continuously pushing and repeating lies and propaganda that the oligarchy demands.
They should have pointed out that Newsmax and Fox (along with radical right radio and bloggers) are nothing but propaganda and that R voters should stop watching/listening to them for their own safety.
bush lookin to make amens.mmmm.after trickery to install roberts as’chief justice,while congress was out..speaks with forked tongue. bush hasnt said much about trumps wave of crap.. but then again who,wants to remember bush/blair war mongers..
Mike … I join Sharon in this stream to say your thoughtful statement speaks for me. Well said. AND THANK YOU, Sheila, for giving your space to shine a light on courageous Americans to do what is right for our country.
I applaud the 230 alums of previous Republican administrations who have chosen to remonstrate against the campaign ‘platform’ of the Trump entourage and commit to vote for Harris.
Critique if you will of such a historically courageous initiative in our lifetime, only to borrow from the wisdom of Voltaire, the truth of this aphorism: never let the pursuit of perfection become the enemy of what is good.
Interestingly, all these Republican alumni would take a stand against Trump, knowing that they’d be labeled as traitors and placed on Trump’s V drone list (V for vendetta).
Not to mention being doxxed by the MAGATs. The military service woman who had the altercation at Arlington refused to press charges against Trump’s entourage because she feared being doxxed by MAGATs.
Well it sure is good she has those 230 votes because Independent voters now prefer Trump over Scam-ala by double digits. 🇺🇸
Maybe she can try flip-flopping some more on ALL her “policies” 🤪
Gail,
I’m not sure I’d point fingers at another candidate and accuse them of “flip-flopping” when you’re supporting Trump. He had 200+ former administrative staff help write Project 2025, yet he claimed he had never heard of it and even mocked it. We all know he knows full well what it’s about and will implement it on day one in late January 2025.
He circles the states, telling one lie after another, and just used dead soldiers for a campaign stunt even after JD Vance said, “Trump would never do such a thing.”
Trump and Vance are the most dishonest duo ever to run for a presidential/vice presidential ticket. The fact-checking industry loves them both! LOL
It’s good in this time of US history that people are setting aside differences (that can be worked on later) to join forces and find strength in unity. This is war! It’s a fight for the soul of America and defend against an evil, deceptive, oppressive, destructive force that will use its power to destroy our freedoms and join with other nuclear dictators to rule the world. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
I appreciate JoAnn’s wisdom and Petes clear thinking today. I’m missing Gerald Stinson’s measured, grounded comments and hope he’s ok.
I agree that enemies of US established Constitution and rules of law are using our freedoms (speech) to deceptively herd groups of Americans into their movements to overtake this country. Americans in those media silos are like hostages, not getting the facts and having their resentments, anger and fear stoked and aimed in the wrong direction toward other Americans and immigrants.
Anyway, I think joy can come out of unity, strength and fending off evil that will harm us, our families and all Americans.
Todd, thought your were an RFK jr
supporter? lol – bet you’re not 🤣 now
Rose … to your statement as you wrote: “ I agree that enemies of US established Constitution and rules of law are using our freedoms (speech) to deceptively herd groups of Americans into their movements to overtake this country. Americans in those media silos are like hostages, not getting the facts and having their resentments, anger and fear stoked and aimed in the wrong direction toward other Americans and immigrants.”
A very thoughtful strong statement. Thank you. I agree.
Norris … Thanks!
Too many people with too much time results in all the lengthy comments made today. Maybe a mandatory period of volunteer activity for those with nothing better to do than write comments, including this writer.
Morton J. Marcus. Engaging in thoughtful civil discourse is an important activity. As one whose physical condition limits the kind of actions I can take, I think it is probably the most important way I can help except, of course, for voting. And I fully intend to vote blue!
I have learned much by participating in this activity, including the importance of engaging with people of different opinions.
Gail,
Kennedy lost my support when he caved on the Gaza genocide and appeared with Rabbi Shmuley. In fact, he lost almost all his support at that point. We have enough Israeli ass-kissers in Washington, and RFK was posturing as anti-war.
The recent Justice Ministry hacks revealed how much Tel Aviv controls many countries. It’s pathetic.
Trump also claimed to be anti-war, but not with the genocide in Gaza. He says he would be even more pro-Israel than Biden has been. I believe him.
Thou Shalt Not Kill means what it says in the Sixth Commandment.
I look forward every morning to Sheila’s newsletter and enjoy reading intelligent comments from people who may have differing views from myself, but are courteous and appreciate hearing from the other side themselves as well.
That being said, I do not appreciate having trolls like “Ian” and “Gail” entering into our lively conversations. (I am no fan of censorship, but can we block these guys? If I want to read comments like theirs, I can go to Fox News.)