Not Easily Dispelled

My Newest Rock Stars

April 6, 2017

Photo by Sergio Alejandro Ortiz on Unsplash

Before all of this mess, before 11/9, I knew very little about our U.S. Senators and Representatives, including those from my own home state of Massachusetts.

Now, so many of them are my rock stars. 

Leading my list is Senator Elizabeth Warren. My goodness, is she tough, direct, and strong. You don’t have to wonder what she is thinking. She attended the ribbon cutting of the Northeastern University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) where she told the crowd she believed in science. She also thinks it is “staggeringly stupid” not to invest in research.

Senator Ed Markey was also there. As ranking member of the Space, Science, and Competitiveness subcommittee, he told the crowd that he was looking forward to working with the chair of that subcommittee, Ted Cruz. The crowd chuckled.

After her husband, former Senator Paul Tsongas, died of cancer, Representative Niki Tsongas picked up the ball and ran for office. She’s been hard at work for 10 years now. For that, she has my admiration.

To be honest, I think I’ve fallen a little in love with Rep Adam Schiff. A New York Times reporter compared him to a labradoodle. He was okay with that although he wished she had compared him to a Churchillian bull dog. Let me tell you, he does have a bite, and he is like a dog with a bone over this Russian investigation. His tweets are absolutely wonderful. Here is one of his latest that I enjoyed:

Immediately after the election, my brother turned me on to Senator Kamala Harris. She is newly elected to the Senate and is a member of the Senate Intel Committee – one of the several committees investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Here’s what she has to say about that:

Senator Tim Kaine should be our VP. Right now, though, he is in the position of defending his Senate seat in 2018. The more I hear him, the more I like him. And he’s too cute for words.

In Texas, there is Rep Beto O’Rourke. Why do I like him? Because he is running against Ted Cruz. Contribute to his campaign.

I’ve sort of adopted Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, another Senator who must defend her seat in 2018. The Republicans out there are swinging at her with ad campaigns. She suspects they will enlist Sherriff David Clarke Jr. to run against her. I spent about 2 seconds on his twitter feed and had to run away. I’ll do you a favor and not share a link.

Then there are the Democratic leaders – Chuck Schumer of the Senate and Nancy Pelosi of the House. When Schumer reacted emotionally to the travel ban by saying 

This executive order was mean spirited and un-American. It was implemented in a way that caused chaos and confusion across the country, and it will only server to embolden and inspire those around the globe who will do us harm.

Trump responded by belittling him for his tears. Pelosi has been tireless in speaking out against Trump, and she has been a strong advocate of women entering the political pipeline. She has said, “You’ve marched for progress. Now run for office.”

In a special election to be held April 18, Jon Ossoff is running for the congressional seat vacated by Tom Price. It was reported today by the Atlanta Journal-Contitution that the Ossoff campaign has raised $8.3 million during the first quarter of this year. That far outpaces the fundraising of his Republican rivals.

Finally, there is Senator Jeff Merkley who stood and spoke for over 15 hours on the Senate floor in the filibuster against the Gorsuch nomination. Here is his tweet from a couple hours ago:

Yes, they are my rock stars.

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