Posted on 09/30/2002 10:40:40 PM PDT by bonesmccoy
BARBRA STREISAND at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Gala September 29, 2002
"THE WAY WE WERE"/"THE WAY WE ARE"
MEM'RIES,
LIGHT THE CORNERS OF MY MIND
MISTY WATERCOLOR MEM'RIES
OF THE WAY WE WERE
When I sing that song now, I can't help but think about it politically.
SCATTERED PICTURES
OF THE HOUSE WE LEFT BEHIND
LOVELY DEMOCRATIC MEM'RIES
OF THE WAY WE WERE
It was 1993… a time of hope… of new possibilities. We believed that our children and grandchildren would live in an age of extraordinary opportunity.
We had a Democratic Congress that put the country on the road to prosperity…passed the family and medical leave act…legislation to increase funds for education…an anti-crime bill that banned assault weapons and violence against women…safe water and clean air acts.
We had a president who enforced the peace agreement in Bosnia… helped reach the peace accords in Northern Ireland…We were even on the verge of a settlement in the Middle East.
The American dream was alive and well…
UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH IN THE ECONOMY.
THE DOW WAS UP, THE DEFICIT WAS DOWN.
AS LONG AS DEMOCRATS WERE THE MAJORITY,
I COULD SLEEP NIGHTS,
NOT WEEP NIGHTS.
PEOPLE
SEE THEIR SAVINGS SLIP AWAY
AS THEY FEEL THE WORLD AROUND THEM
BECOME MORE FRIGHT'NING EV'RY DAY.
Talk about frightening…
Shortly after George W. Bush was elected…sort of…I saw him on television say, "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck-of-a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." And he laughed…
You know people never really joke. That was very revealing…a taste of things to come…the arrogance of wanting unlimited executive power… a government that operates in secret…keeping presidential papers secret…holding secret meetings with oil companies.
I find George Bush and Dick Cheney frightening…Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft frightening.
I find the erosion of our civil liberties in the guise of "homeland security" frightening…
I find the shrinking ozone layer and the melting icecaps frightening…
I find bringing the country to the brink of war unilaterally five weeks before an election questionable - and very, very frightening.
MIS'RIES,
SEEMS THAT'S ALL THAT FILLS THE NEWS,
BLAME THE FELLAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE
FOR THE WAY WE ARE
IT'S NO WONDER
WE ALL SING THOSE TEXAS BLUES
IT'S THAT TOO-FAR-TO-THE RIGHT HOUSE
AND THE WAY WE ARE.
The way we are…
The accountants' lobbyist heads the SEC
The timber lobbyist heads the forest service
The Federalist Society is in charge of judges
The Christian Coalition is in charge of White House appointments
…And Lady Justice is wearing a shroud.
All that in less than two years!
GLOBAL WARMING? DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF IT
AND WHAT'S A DROP OF ARSENIC OR TWO?
SAVING MEDICARE? THEY NEVER HEARD OF IT.
TO THEM, HEALTH CARE
IS WEALTH CARE
In the last election, some people said it didn't make a difference - Republican, Democrat…what's the difference?
I'll tell you the difference.
This is what the Republican House did in the last two years:
Passed the drug companies' prescription bill that does nothing to control prices.
Passed the Enron energy bill, that does nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Passed a sham pension reform bill that eliminates employee retirement accounts.
Now we have tax cuts for the rich, but no raise in the minimum wage for the poor…
…poison in the water, salmonella in the food, carbon dioxide in the air and toxic waste in the ground that polluters no longer have to pay to clean up -- the taxpayers do.
WE KNOW
CRIME IS NOT SUPPOSED TO PAY.
MEANWHILE SITTING ON HIS ASSETS,
IS ENRON'S OWN KENNETH LAY.
OH, WHAT WE NEED IS,
SOMEONE TO CURE US
'CAUSE BABY WE'VE GOT "TSURUS"
THE WAY WE ARE.
If we take back the House, we can limit the damage the Bush White House does.
We can check the power of an administration that wants to police what you do in your bedroom and hide what they do in office.
We can force votes on programs that benefit people - working men and women, children, seniors, teachers, veterans, fire-fighters, police officers, coal miners …Americans that this administration seems to care about only when the TV crews are around.
SO ON
NEXT ELECTION DAY I PRAY
THAT THE COUNTRY WILL DELIVER,
A HOUSE WITHOUT TOM DELAY!
WE NEED A TEAM CHANGE
A DEFINITE REGIME CHANGE.
OH, THAT WOULD BE A DREAM CHANGE
FROM THE WAY WE ARE.
We have the facts on our side…the truth on our side
We have to get the facts out…the truth out…and the vote out!
SO, IN NOVEMBER,
LET'S MAKE THE CONGRESS
A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS
THE WAY WE WERE
THE WAY WE WERE!
Based on "The Way We Were". Words by Alan and Marilyn Bergman; Music by
Marvin Hamlisch. Copyright 1973 Colgems-EMI Music, Inc. (ASCAP). Special
Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Reprinted by Permission. All rights
reserved.
BJS: You know, really good artists have a way of being relevant in their time… but great artists are relevant at anytime.
So, in the words William Shakespeare,
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war
in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind…
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no
need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry,
infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of
their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.
How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."
BJS (contd.): Imagine that was written over 400 years ago… It's amazing how history without consciousness is destined to repeat itself.
So…from the words of William Shakespeare to the words of Irving Berlin…
Tonight I sing this next song as both a declaration and a prayer -- to God to keep us safe… and a prayer for our Democratic leaders to continue to have the strength and the courage to stand up for what is right.
Speech Copyright 2002
A recent private memo to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt from Barbra Streisand and her associate, Marge Tabankin, was leaked to media and reprinted in various edited forms. We present the memo here in its full and final form.
CONFIDENTIAL MEMO
DATE: September 25, 2002
TO: Congressman Dick Gephardt
FROM: Barbra Streisand/Margery Tabankin
RE: Take the Offense
As you know, Barbra Streisand is busy in rehearsals for the performance she’s giving on Sunday for the DCCC, so she asked me to convey to you her feeling that it is time for the Democrats to get off the defensive and go on the offensive.
Naturally, Barbra’s not surprised to see the Bush Administration evoke strong rhetoric about Democrats caring more about their own ‘special interests’ than protecting the security of the country. Of course, the Republicans will say anything they need to in order to accomplish their own political agenda. Barbra feels that the Democratic Leadership must not continue to take this lying down.
While the Republicans are shouting about the Democrats’ special interests, why are the Democrats not saying the same about the Republicans? How can we ignore the obvious influence on the Bush Administration of such special interests as the oil industry, the chemical companies, the logging industry, the defense contractors, the mining industry, and the automobile industry, just to name a few? Many of these industries, run by big Republican donors and insiders, clearly have much to gain if we go to war against Iraq. Barbra urges the Democrats to publicly convey this message to the American people.
While there are serious problems with Iraq and Saddam Hussein, Barbra feels that we can’t let this issue become a distraction from the country’s domestic problems and the President’s inability to fully dismantle the Al Qaeda network. Afterall, Saddam Hussein did not bomb the World Trade Center.
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