Posted on 06/23/2004 4:47:44 PM PDT by SpyderTim
Thank you, everybody, for being here today. I'm very grateful you came out today to listen to me and hear my thoughts.
We just spent a weekend in this country thinking about fatherhood. I couldn't be with my son this weekend, but he sent me the most beautiful picture. It's a picture of him in a James Bond costume. He's got an oversized tuxedo on, and he's got a hat that is way too big, and kind of askew. He's got this look on his face, and I think he's trying to be cunning, but he looks a little bit sad. It's the most adorable picture that a Dad could ever want. And, of course, he writes this "I love you" note in large handwriting that's kind of shaky.
I know it's on days like yesterday, when we want to be with the ones that we love the most, especially when we have Father's Day, and we cannot be with them, that we think about them the most. I thought a lot about my son this weekend, and I thought a lot about being a father, and about being a Dad, and what does it mean to be a Dad. What is the responsibility of being a Dad? And I thought, well, the first job of a Dad, of any parent, a Mom, a Dad, is to protect your children. That's what we want for our children, is to protect them. And it's so hard today.
The culture impinges on them. The media impinges upon them. The world sometimes seems to want to hurt them. So we all want our children close to us, and to protect them from anything that might come their way. I know that every parent out there feels the exact same way I do.
I also think about how Jeri Lynn and I have tried to protect Alex. We have tried to provide for him a nurturing home, and people around him who love him and comfort him at all times. And I think we do a good job of that. But Alex was born with many challenges - more than most children are born with, and as most of you know, he's a special needs child.
It's also become hard today when parents think about careers because you know that your first obligation is to your child, but you also know at times you are called to do things for a higher purpose. You have an obligation to your family, but it's also your calling to do things beyond your family, to help those beyond your immediate family, and also to add security to your family and make sure that you are doing the right things for the family.
It's not always easy to know what career you need to choose. What's the right career to fulfill your responsibility as a human, to be able to fulfill your responsibility to help the less fortunate, while always fulfilling your primary responsibility to your child? A lot of people have said to me in the last three months that it's politically damaging to keep these files sealed, so I should just release these files. But what Dad wouldn't do the same thing that I did?
What Dad would not try to keep information about your child that might cause them harm away from their eyes? And even the things that Moms and Dads say to each other about each other … these things should be kept away from children.
As parents, I think we all try to keep disagreements between each other away from our children. So what parents wouldn't try to do what Jeri Lynn and I tried to do?
So as I think about trying so hard with Jeri Lynn's help to keep these documents sealed … if I could say one thing to Alex I'd say I'm sorry. I tried the best I could. I wish I could have done better. To Jeri Lynn I'd say, thank you. While we worked together these past months to safeguard our son, she has been so supportive, and she has always been a great Mom.
Through adversity and failure and disappointment - and I have had my fair share of that in my life - I think God is trying to teach me a lesson. One lesson I know I keep getting is to persevere and to remember. The second lesson I always get is to stick by your principles, stick by your priorities, and stand up for those things that you think are right, that you know are right. The last thing, of course, is when you fail, get up and recommit to do better.
I will answer any question that any of you want to talk about.
Our only chance for winning would be to get Jim Edgar on the ticket, otherwise we loose the seat, and possibly GOP control of the Senate.
What bothers me most about the whole thing is the recklessness of it. His wife was a well-known TV star at the time when he was encouraging her to have sex with him in a sex club! That's either full-out stupidity (did he not think nobody would recognize her) or an ego trip (maybe he wanted people to recognize her)! Either way, they're not good qualities for a potential senator to have.
He sounds like one sick puppy to me.
I've been out of the loop on the Illinois FReeper page but I think we are screwed if Ryan stays in. He's a bum and has to go, I just hope we can get someone to replace him and beat out the extremist Obama.
Luckily, he won't, even if he wants to.
I hope State Senator Steve Rauschenberger will be selected to take the ball and run with it.
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