Alan Grayson Injects Poetry Into His Senate Race

I've known Alan Grayson for a decade and, until this weekend, I never knew he was a poet. It doesn't surprise me though. He has 3 doctorates and he's the smartest guy in Congress. So a nursery rhyme must have taken him half an hour tops. Or maybe one of his staffers wrote it.

Twas sixty days before election day, and all through the campaign

Not a moment was wasted-- the staff was going insane.

They were all hard at work, preparing for his race to the Senate

Hoping that even without Wall Street funds, he’d be able to win it.

The progressives were eager and ready to volunteer

To help elect a Senator with Guts, a Senator without fear.

The Koch brothers were biting their nails to the quick,

Praying fervently that their Super PAC attack ads would stick.

When out among the grassroots, there arose such a clatter

As they called thousands of voters about the issues that matter

They organized canvasses, phonebanks, and voter registrations,

Wall Street kept spending against them, but that only increased their motivation.

The number of small campaign donors grew to dizzying heights,

Keeping the candidate unbought and unbossed, so he could fight the good fights.

When, what to our tired eyes should appear,

But, a poll that has us up three points, beating our peer.

The candidate was in cowboy boots, and a tie with the flag of our nation

And we knew in a moment, it must be the gutsy Alan Grayson.

More progressive than party leaders, his policies they came

And he whistled, and shouted, and with gusto proclaimed.

"Now expand Medicare! Now, scrap the cap on Social Security!

Stop discrimination! Stop inequality! Stop the TPP!

I’ll fight back against the Big Banks and the street with the wall!

I’ll fight for justice, equality, and peace for you all!”

The prospect of a Senator big money couldn’t buy

Grew more and more likely, as the election drew nigh.
His experience was significant, and his record, solidly blue,

He was certain to win-- as long as his supporters came through.

He had learned from the best, by clerking for the Supreme Justice Ruth

His policies were effective, he wasn’t afraid to tell the truth.

As his chances increased and his luck turned around,

It became clear that the next Senator from Florida had been found.

The candidate was tall, 6’4 in his stocking feet,

And he was dressed in an outfit that wasn’t exactly discreet.

He was determined to bring our nation forward, not back,

And he planned on doing that by putting an end to Super PACs.

His eyes-- how they twinkled, with mischief and glee

As he argued with the Tea Party on what it means to be free.

He had no muzzle on his mouth, and sometimes that got him in trouble

When he bravely assailed the crooks who created the housing bubble.

Even when he was tired, he still gritted his teeth,

And got to work passing legislation, even when the GOP made him seethe.

He told lots of jokes, some funny, some...well, he tried,

But we laughed at them all, even as his staff sighed.

He was bold and courageous, he was our Congressman with Guts,

We couldn’t imagine who wouldn’t want him in the Senate-- they’d have to be nuts.

A wink of his eye, and his hands typing furiously on his keyboard

Soon gave us to know he was writing the policy we adored.

He spoke few words, and went straight to his work,
Passing progressive amendments and shaming GOP jerks.

As he wooed more and more voters with policy and prose,

He became more and more popular, and in the polls he rose!

If we all work together as a team, we can elect Alan Grayson,

And we sure would appreciate it if you’d help-- send a donation!

We know Alan Grayson will stand up for us, no matter how tough the fight,

As long as he wins this election in 60 days-- and with your help, he just might!

Grayson has earned our help in the time he's served in Congress. The entire Democratic establishment, led by Schumer and his Wall Street paymasters, has ganged up against him and are trying to end the career of the Member of Congress with the most integrity and the most genuine desire to make life better for ordinary working families. Careerist crooks like Schumer and Reid can't stand him-- and have never been able to stand him. They react to him the way a vampire reacts to a cross-- or garlic.

Despite it all, as he explained, "I love the Democratic Party. I just hate what these Mafia accountants with Napoleonic complexes have done to it. In fact, it’s because I love the party that I so much hate what they have done. I have listened to so many Democratic activists, as you have reached out to express your anger, your frustration, and your worries. You have felt ignored, belittled, and betrayed. So have I." He continued to his supporters:

The disenfranchisement of Democratic voters in choosing our candidates has been largely ignored by the complicit national media. Leaders have been replaced or squelched by corporate bag men. We have been directed to sit down, shut up, and do what we are told. Or, as Archie Bunker used to say to Edith, “Stifle!”

Up for grabs, right now, is the very notion that candidates matter, that programs matter, that government matters, and that democracy even exists. Any candidate who shows the slightest commitment to Democratic principles is condemned by the party overlords and their media stenographers as “unelectable,” or “ideological,” or “unrealistic.” In fact, the one last thing that the Democratic Politburo is good at is defeating progressive Democratic candidates. Lord knows that they don’t have a clue about how to beat Republicans. In Florida, a very purple state, party bosses have delivered the nomination in statewide races to right-wing Democrats virtually every time this century. And we have lost 14 of those 15 races.

I will not sit down. I will not shut up. I will not do as I am told. And because of that, malicious party hacks are bent on ending this campaign.

I cannot with good conscience stand by and watch our party abandon the progressive principles and grassroots activists who have built the party we know and love today. I cannot stand by and watch our party recruit and promote candidates who betray the very people our party is supposed to serve, by eschewing the progressive values that working families so desperately need.

Once upon a time, our party was about so much more than the color blue. This party was about recognizing that many working families and seniors are struggling, and about making things better for them. It was about recognizing the injustice and inequality in our society, and then DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

When I was growing up, my parents were Democrats, not because it was trendy, but because they counted on the Democratic Party to improve their lives. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the healthcare benefits I needed to stay alive as a sick child. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the public housing we lived in, instead of the slum my father grew up in. They counted on the Democrats to protect their right to organize, and fair compensation to them as public employees.

What our corrupt, decrepit, and power-mad Democratic Establishment seems to have forgotten is the people like my parents today, the people who would like to vote for Democrats, feel that way because they need our help. Every time our self-appointed “leaders” ram through the nomination of a sellout corporate Democrat, another angel in heaven dies, and (perhaps more importantly) another 100,000 more Democrats flee the un-Democratic Party. Yes, the lobbyists are pleased, and they will keep those PAC checks coming, but our soul is gone. As Walt Kelly used to say in Pogo, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

I’m trying to change that. I’m trying to remind our party that we don’t have to be Republican to beat a Republican-- that never works-- and that we can still be champions for the People... Despite what our party Politburo may think, there’s a lot more at stake this year than which party gets to kowtow best to the 1 percent. This election season, we will decide what kind of party we want to be from here on out. We're fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party. I hope you’ll join us.

And, that's something you can do by tapping on the thermometer below: