Sen. Obama is heading to Hawa’ii as we speak, in order to spend some precious time with his beloved grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who is in failing health. My prayers tonight are with both Sen. Obama and his beloved grandmother: that he is comforted by being in her presence, and that she lives long enough to see him elected President of the United States. Bless you both.
But there is more I have to say tonight.
Today, the vicious, horrifying GOP decided that it was important to MOCK Sen. Obama’s trip to see his ailing grandmother -- to use this trip as a "talking point" about his "spending" as a defense to their Marie Antoinette-level ("Let them wear Neiman-Marcus") profligate spending on clothes for Sarah Palin. Yup. That’s what they are saying. It‘s okay for the GOP VP candidate to eat up three times the median American household annual income in RNC money on CLOTHES (in two months) ~ but it‘s somehow financially evil for Barack Obama to visit his ailing grandmother.
Take a look at this video ~ and Sam Seder’s heartbreaking reaction:
MSNBC Keith Olbermann.
Embed here.
(Despite all of our best intentions, and the great links by kossack wader, the embed does not seem to work. Please see the link.) (Thanks, wader!)
Great family values, Republicans.
This diary is written in outrage and horror.
I will never forget the evening of December 13, 1981. I was at home, in my shoebox-sized apartment in NYC, preparing for the the biggest interview I had ever landed as a baby-cub at a New York newspaper -- for my first-ever magazine piece for said newspaper. I was 24 years old and a news clerk. I had worked on the story, on my own time, for the better part of two months. This was to be the final interview. And then the phone rang.
It was my Mom, and her voice sounded strange and I asked her what was wrong, and she said: "Nana died."
And I fell apart. This was my beloved Nana, my Mom’s mother. She had taught me how to bake and sew at her farm in Vermont. She had provided comfort to me when my Dad was deployed during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I was so frightened. She had always been endlessly patient and happy to do whatever it was my younger brother and I had wanted to do: have a beautiful picnic, pick berries, play in the dirt, pretend to be whoever it was we wanted to be (via the wonderful trunk of costumes she kept for us). She had made cookies and bread every day, walked with us after supper "down street" in Vermont for a cool, frosty custard; encouraged us to read biographies and history and to study, study, study and be good citizens. This was my Nana, who, four months before, during a surprise visit I am so grateful I had made to her, had told me I was too thin and too busy and needed to marry a good man and have a family -- and had presented me with the beautiful handmade crocheted and knitted baby sweaters and booties and hats she had already made for my children.
My Nana was dead; and I was heartbroken.
But I used all the strength my Nana had instilled in me that night and did the interview anyway. Because that’s what she would have wanted me to do.
Of course, I would have given up the interview to be with her had I known. And of course, Barack Obama is flying to Hawa’ii tonight because that‘s where he knows he should be.
For Republicans to take cheap shots at Barack Obama for interrupting his campaign to visit his ailing grandmother is simply beyond the pale. Shame on them.
I am glad to know that America disagrees with the GOP:
"She has been inundated with phone calls and e-mails and flowers from total strangers who have read about her in my first book," Obama said in an interview airing Friday on "Good Morning America."
"And so maybe she is getting a sense of, of long-deserved recognition at -- towards the end of her life," Obama told "GMA" in his last interview before leaving his campaign for over 36 hours.
Source ~ ABC News
Here's a great idea from ThatPostGirl in the comments -- toss in another $10 tonight to pay for the trip. I am so in.
Also from the comments:
From kossack pvlb:
There is a really insulting phrase in Mexican Spanish, where every compliment and the worst insults revolve around mothers:
"No tienes Madre" You don't have a mother.
To every single stone hearted crack pot (my mom would say that) who criticized or speculated negatively about Senator Obama going to see his Tutu: No tienes Madre.
Never get the mothers too angry.
Please hold Senator Barack Obama and his beautiful grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, in your heart tonight. Bless you, Senator Obama. Bless you, Madelyn Dunham: You did a terrific job. Thank you so very much.