Be there about noon to make sure you get a parking space!!!
Traffic on rte 80 is bad due to construction, plan according if coming from the east!
Here's praying for traveling mercies for all those attending the rally!
I can't make it Race, but I'm with you in spirit. Let's boot Casey too!
Watch the Hannity & Colmes clip now: click |
Watch David Beamer's Rally speech |
Rush: You played on a team that won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years.
You played on a team thats reputed to be the greatest football team ever assembled in the National Football League, bar none
---not just in its era, but spanning all eras. Playing on a championship team like that is an experience that a statistically small percentage of human beings will ever experience,
and youve experienced it. One of the aspects of being a sports fan is to wonder what thats like.
Do you think that if you hadnt played on a championship team, had never gone to the Super Bowl, much less won it,
your attitude about the future and yourself would have been affected?
LS: I cant imagine it not having impacted my attitude about things as they could or should be.
The ability to achieve something that no one else has ever done before, as a team, to be a part of a group of people who came from all over the country, with different ideas, and different thoughts
..
is one of the experiences in my life that tells me that regardless of where we come from, if we have a plan, and if we sit down and communicate and discuss it and work on it together,
and we all buy in to the plan, that we can achieve great things.
I dont know if I could run for governor at this stage of my life if I didnt have that experience as an African-American.
Rush: A candidate is a suspect, particularly a Republican candidate, and youve exposed yourself to the media anal examine.
Plus as an African-American running as a Republican, youre considered fair game by the left.
Youre not going to get the same treatment as Barak Obama. How did you prepare yourself and your family for this, and has anything made you regret it?
LS: We understood that people would be making comments, saying things that obviously would be difficult to handle to some degree.
We talked to our kids, ages eight and ten. Weve given them the confidence and strength to be able to try and handle those things,
and to let them know we will always be there for them should someone say or do something.
This is no different than most things in my life, having an opportunity to do something that helps other people.
I spent 26 years working with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, because I believe in what they do.
This is an opportunity to help the state I live in; its like extended community work.
Frankly, I was just tired of listening to everyone talk about how bad things were in Pennsylvania.
So instead of talking about how bad things were, I felt they required some action, and if I truly believed that things werent good,
then why wouldnt I be willing to step up and make a change?
there is not an African-American man or woman who has achieved any success in this country
who hasnt had to break down some obstacle or barrier of perception about their ability to do it.
Rush: Is there progress being made in that, from your perspective?
Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, highly achieved, prominent, running as Republicans.
That to me, as an observer of the political scene, is new.
LS: It is new. Keep in mind, Rush, none of us, to my knowledge, was recruited by the Republican Party to run.
These were three individual decisions that were made to run for these particular offices, and they happened to coincide.
Weve never had an African-American Republican elected as governor of any state.
Do I think progress has been slow? Absolutely.
Rush: You mentioned earlier that you kept hearing people complain about the way things are in Pennsylvania, and you wanted to do something about it.
Do any of those complaints actually manifest themselves into criticisms of (Fast Eddy) Rendell, or the current administration?
LS: Hes not been held accountable for his orchestration and leadership in a 3 AM pay raise, and signing that bill after the legislature passed it.
The thing that resonates most is the fact that there was a promise of a 30 percent reduction in property taxes in Pennsylvania,
and our property taxes have gone up $2 billion.
The people who are talking about being disillusioned about property taxes, about having the second highest corporate net income tax in America,
about the personal income tax going up, are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Green Party. I mean everyone.
On President Bush:
The President is a man who I believe in, in terms of his character, and his reasoning for living his life the way he does.
I dont think you turn your back on people who are making hard decisions that are easy to pick apart.
The President has made some tough decisions. I challenge anybody to go back in our recent history and find a President whos had to make as many difficult decisions in a six-year period as President Bush."
Rush: In addition to education, your platform features tax cuts and opposition to abortion, among other issues.
Youve written a book, A New Direction: My Plan for a Better Pennsylvania that can be downloaded for free from your website.
Paul (The Forehead) Begala said: If I were Ed Rendell, then I would want nothing more than for Lynn Swann to write a book and take a position on each issue
Has Gov Rendell responded yet to anything specific in the book?
LS: No, the governor hasnt responded to anything. Not to debates, not to anything.
Rush: Your fundraising committee is called Team 88, after your jersey. As you connect your football career, how do people react to that?
Does anyone say You dont want to be running as a football player?
LS: Why shouldnt I be proud of nine years, four Super Bowls, and the Hall of Fame? What is there that I should be running from?
ping.