As he was approaching the gate, he recognized an aging man heading the same direction. He walked over to the man and shook his hand and thanked him for his service. The man smiled and looked grateful for the acknowledgement.
It was the old guy's 80th birthday and he was likely wondering whether people still recognize and respect his tenure. He served three years in the Navy when he was young. But for the last 45 years he has been an elected official serving the state of Indiana.
Richard Lugar was elected to the United States Senate in 1976 where he continues to this day. Senator Lugar has few adversaries, on either side of the aisle. He's the third most senior member of the Senate and the ranking member of Committee on Foreign Relations. There were many elections that the Democrats didn't even bother to run a candidate against him because he's been virtually guaranteed a Senate seat, much like the late Teddy Kennedy.
Earlier this year, the Marion County Board of Elections determined that since Lugar had not resided in Indiana for the past 35 years he was ineligible to vote in the state. They finally ruled, however, that he would be allowed to re-register using his Indiana farm address, a place he never actually lived.
Those that vilified the TEA Party, claiming they were radical extremists and accused of all kinds of racist ideals are the same ones who glorify the Occupy Wall Street crowd who demands free everything. They also claim that the TEA party faded into the background, accomplishing nothing.
Except that we didn't fade into the background. And we only believed in less government intrusion, less out of control spending and no more business-as-usual in Washington.
Business as usual. To the TEA Party, that means voting for bailouts, voting for liberal Supreme Court Justices, voting for allowing illegal aliens citizenship, not voting for amendments to prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions and not voting for a ban to earmarks. Put a checkmark behind each of those that Senator Lugar supported.
This TEA Party that was supposedly faded into nothingness, found a GOP candidate to challenge Senator Lugar in a primary election. This hasn't been considered for years. And up until a couple months ago, a candidate running against Lugar was considered to have been a joke.
But today it appears that Lugar's guaranteed seat in the Senate may very well not have his name permanently engraved any longer.
The ads running against Lugar's opponent, Richard Mourdock would leave one with the idea that he is not much better than a crook. But an analysis of the truth of the claims against him have proven the ads are in fact a lie. Even Factcheck.org cites the ads as blatantly false and misleading.
Some of the latest polls show Lugar trailing by 5 points.
Today I visited the county courthouse since I will be out of town on primary election day next Tuesday.
For the first time in my voting history, I cast my ballot against Richard Lugar.
When we say we no longer want business as usual in DC, we MEAN it. Even if it feels a little like kicking Grandpa to the curb, we mean it.
I will continue to have respect for Indiana's statesman, but he has become so ingrained into the Washington culture that he no longer holds my political viewpoint.
Respect for his service no longer means voting for someone who does not represent my values.
We'll see next Tuesday if Richard Mourdock pulls off the unthinkable. If he wins, the establishment GOP will stand up and take notice. No one could imagine such an established long-term GOP Senator would be voted out in a primary election.
Had I been at the airport with Bob that day, I too would have thanked Mr. Lugar for his service.
And I would have kept my decision to vote against him to myself. Why ruin the man's 80th birthday?
So long Dick. With all due respect....it's time.
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13 comments:
I am with you on the vote against Obama's favorite republican too.!
Rita, you are a wonderful writer, thanks for sharing your gift.
I think this post's sentiment is absolutely right and absolutely perfect in every way.
Bob did the right thing and you are doing the "RIGHT" thing!
Is the public being told that the ads against Mourdock are lies?
I have to comment re how Lugar couldn't vote in Indiana anymore because he hasn't lived there (putting aside the farm house, or whatever)....imagine our not allowing senators from their states to vote from that state because they're living in D.C. serving that state? I'm guessing that's the reason he couldn't vote there?
that's NUTS, don't you think?
PLEASE LET US KNOW WHO WINS!
xx
Thanks for the compliment Z, not always sure about the writer thing. I used to think I would love being a writer, but I have found way too many really gifted writers who blog. Now I just consider myself a hack, but that's okay too.
To Lugar's credit, he has never claimed the farm was his residence. The only way they would reinstate his ability to vote was to allow him to re-register using an address he never lived at.
At it did seem odd that he could not vote, but he could run. It was a political ploy just to make it clear that Lugar isn't really a Hoosier.
The ads supporting Mourdock seem to outnumber the ones supporting Lugar quite a bit.
Mitch Daniels announced his support for Lugar, but Sarah Palin announced a couple days ago her support for Mourdock.
The primary is actually getting quite a bit of national press because it was inconcievable that Lugar might not win the primary.
I also cast my "protest" vote against Mitt Romney. Santorum was still on the ballot, so I decided I would vote for him. Of course, it's just a protest vote, but I'm not willing to risk a protest vote in November, so it was my own version of objecting to the GOP establishment candidate.
Indiana rarely actually gets much of a choice in the Presidential primary, which is incredibly frustrating.
Mark: Don't forget to vote on Tuesday.
Even Bob (Mr. Non-Political) said he thinks for Lugar's "retirement". But I'll have to remind him to vote on Tuesday.
Two Words...Term Limits!
I was about 75% I was not going to vote for Luger until he started running the very negative ads. Now I am pretty sure iwill vote for Mourdoch.
It is not that Luger lives in Washington, Z, it is that he sold his house in Indiana. He has no residence here other than hotels. He still reported the old house (he sold) as his residence.
How I wish Indiana had NO voter ID laws...
I'd just pop over real quick and vote against this old RINO.
Want term limits Coffey?
Vote 'em out.
Term limits "limit" my freedom.
I want to vote the way I want without government intervention!
LESS GOVERNMENT
LOWER TAXES
MORE FREEDOM!
Like GB said.
Reward the good, vote out the bad.
I'm on the fence about term limits Coffey. I think of guys like Mike Pence. He's represented Indiana well and would still be running there, but has decided to be our next governor. I'd rather him be Prez, but I think he knew he would stand a better chance after being governor.
Joe: I was having a hard time thinking I could vote against Lugar too and the horrible lies in the ads convinced me. Maybe he's always seemed above the fray of the nastiness of politics because he's never really had an opponent. The ad was created by a PAC group, but we all know that the candidate could put a stop to it if he wanted to. Those ads helped me guide my fingers to fill in the circles next to Mourdock's name. It still hurt a little, but it's not just the Dems that need a wake up call to stop the spending, the GOP needs to realize there's a new kid in town.
GB: The media has been great at convincing so many people that the TEA party did not stand for those three basic principles.
That didn't surprise me as much as their backing of the imbeciles and anarchists of OWS. I would read from OWS' own website for information. Most were just imbecilic kids that recited the main street media's mantra. Fox News is bad, Koch Brothers are evil, Sarah Palin is dangerous, TEA Party is a bunch of racist hillbillies. It was hilarious to watch them realize their General Assemblies where one person could block a vote for thousands didn't work when they had two loons hijack meeting after meeting. And watch them wipe out 3/4 of a million dollars in donations in just a few months on handouts to the laziest of the bums.
The NY OWS now consists of a dozen or so diehards, the rest fled when the money was gone. May Day ignites the anarchists and the union thugs.
If you only get your news from Huffington Post and DailyKos, I suppose it's hard to know what's really going on.
Did that Ed. I thought about not voting since I don't return back to Indy until after 4 on Tuesday and the polls close at 6. Since I had to be off work for a doctor's appointment yesterday and driving into my little suburban county seat for the prescription, I knew I should go inside and vote.
Back in 2008, the courthouse had people wrapped up the staircases and out the door and around the sidewalks for people voting early. Everyone was dreading the regular lines on election day and I think the election day polls were scarce because everyone voted early.
I waited in line an hour and a half that year. This year I was surprised they still had the setup still in the hallways instead of a regular office in the courthouse, but since it was mid-day there was no line.
We have the old fashion fill in the blank ballots, so it was a five minute process and I was glad I went.
We notice a Lugar sign at Bob's parent's house yesterday as we drove past. It reminded Bob that he needed to vote on Tuesday. He asked about Lugar. I told him about his vote on the Dream Act, his lousy record of gun rights and I didn't need to go any farther. He only knew to not vote for Lugar, which is why I suspect Mourdock might actually win.
Mourdock's ads are striking a chord with the non-political junkies now.
Rita, when you write this many words, you take up a lot of my time, because they're all worth reading.
I'll deal with it.
Now Ed, you were the one complaing a week or so ago because I hadn't posted anything.
I've had this one brewing in the drafts for a while. Knowing the primary was coming up and voting yesterday stirred me to finish it.
If you think this one is long, wait til I finally get around to finishing the story of my former boss when he died for 6 minutes on the operating table several years ago.
Glad you're dealing with it. :D
Rita, Mourdock was on FOX last night, I think it was...on Hannity; did you see him?
I didn't see it Z. The election is getting a LOT of national attention because it's just so unthinkable that Lugar isn't a shoe-in.
You know when Palin chimes in, it's getting a lot of attention.
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