Previously:

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa (September 18, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Senator Bernie Sanders (I) (September 19, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 1 (September 20, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 2 (September 22, 2011)

“…She saw through the eyes of an immigrant maid who had lived that American dream. And I never forgot that. And the whole ride home that day she left me with these three words. She spoke, by the way, three languages. She was fearsome smart, just not formally educated. But the whole ride home, three words. Only in America. Only in America. And what she meant by that was not the purple mountain’s majesty and the amber waves of grain…”

Paul Begala speaking under the big tent at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 18, 2011.

Paul Begala was one of the featured speakers at the annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday. The final portion of Paul Begala’s speech:

….Paul Begala: …And, and today, apparently, it’s in the papers, the President is announcing that he is going to call on Congress to pass a Buffett tax, not Jimmy Buffett, [laughter] uh, although with some of my friends you tax a margaritas you make a pile of money. [laughter] Uh, but this is Warren Buffett, the second richest man in America who said, who wrote an op-ed a little while ago and said, raise my taxes. He says, it is unjust that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. And it is and he is right and the President is moving to address that now. [applause] God bless [inaudible]. [applause]…

…You know, and all he’s trying to do, I have these right wing friends, all these rich friends, trying to do is, is, we’re trying to do is get this thing moving again. Jump start this thing. ‘Cause here’s the dirty little secret, if we do what the President and, and these senators are trying to do, you know what will happen? We’ll get the middle class moving again. And what happens when the middle class gets moving again? [voices] It lifts people up out of poverty, the American dream lives again, and, guess what, Warren Buffett gets all the richer still. I’m all for it, but the only way to do this is to lift everybody up to get this thing humming again. It’s, see they’re two very, very different approaches to this. Their approach is classic elitism. Right? It’s, it’s, they believe this. Let’s target all of our resources to a tiny elite at the very top and it’ll all trickle down to the rest of us. [voices] Well, we tried that. And it failed. It was the Bernie Madoff strategy basically. [voice: “Yeah.”]  Well, we’ll just trust old Bernie and it’ll all come down to the rest of us, right? We have a completely different approach. And that approach says, as we say back home, let’s put the jam on the lower shelf where the little folk can reach it. [laughter] Let’s empower people so that they can live a better life and earn a better income and raise their families and, and everything then moves up. Look, this is what happened the last time Democrats ran the House and the Senate and the White House. We did this. We know how to do this. We balanced the budget and created twenty-three million jobs and ushered in the greatest economic expansion that the whole world had ever seen. And we did it by focusing on the middle class, not on a few elites at the top. [applause] That’s what worked. [cheers] [applause]

You know, I, I mean, it’s, and it’s not that Republicans don’t love the poor. They must, ’cause they’ve created so many of ’em. [voice: “Yeah.”] [laughter] But they have a different view. It’s an honest to God true story. I have a friend in Houston who is a wealthy, wealthy man, but grew up poor. And God bless him, he’s still a Democrat.  But he lives in the richest part of town and he told me this story a couple months ago. One of his neighbors came out and they were shooting the breeze. And the neighbor, of course, a big Republican, equally wealthy and grew up poor, and so he says to my friend, well, why do you still help all those Democrats, how can you be a Democrat and their, you’re such a liberal and, you know. Why, basically? And he said, well, heck, you and I both grew up poor, we got into good schools, we’ve lived the American dream and I want, and he looked around and there was a gardener across the street. And he said, well, I want that man, that gardener and his son to live the same dream that we lived, don’t you? And you know what that Republican said? [voices: “No.”] That gardener’s son will be my son’s gardener. [voices: “Yep.” “No.”] Friends, that is their belief. It is the death of the American dream. They believe that the only way they can advance themselves is to tear the rest of you down. [voices: “Yep.” “Fascism.”] And we have a completely different view [voice: “That’s right”], which is, we’re all in this together, friends. We’re one nation, under God, by God, and we’re gonna [applause] go up or down together.  And that’s [applause], that’s why this is so profound. It is not even simply a debate about economics ’cause there’s no debate. We know what works, right?

It is also a debate about values. Values matter most. And, and think about how we were raised. And that’s why you’re here today, right? Think about this. And I’ve tried to raise my children this way, and certainly, my parents and, and the teachers and priests and coaches I had raised me this way. And they told me this, I still remember this, what was the first question ever asked in human history, recorded human history? The first question. Well, we know what it was, right, it was in the book of Genesis, right? When Cain and Abel, were the first two children of Adam and Eve, and they both were called upon to sa, to serve up a sacrifice to God. And, and Cain offered some of the fruits of his field and Abel offered like some goats and livestock, I guess the Lord preferred the, the meat. I don’t know [laughter], God’s not a vegetarian, I don’t know why. [laughter] But, Cain was, was thrown into a jealous rage. And so he picked up a rock and he slew Abel. He killed his brother. And so God, who wanted to spark conscience in humanity, he knew, God knows all. And he knew. So he said, though, to Cain, where is your brother? Even though he knew, ’cause he wanted to spark guilty conscience and knowledge of his own, Cain’s own sinfulness. And Cain said to the Lord, God, the first question any human being ever asked, Am I my brother’s keeper? [voice: “Yes.”] Am I my brother’s keeper? And I was raised to believe and I am raising my children to believe that how you answer that question will determine, frankly, whether you are good person or not. Right? [applause] Certainly, what, whether we’re [inaudible] or not. [applause] Am [applause], am I my brother’s keeper? [applause] Am I my sister’s keeper? [applause] And some of our friends have lost sight of that. Or they give the wrong answer, they go, no. No, I’m not, right, if you get work, but you’re on your own. Well, that’s not how I was raised. And that is not, I don’t think, it’s not the real values of, of the real Texas. It’s certainly not the values of Iowa and Iowa families. Because we all know this because we live it. Right?
We got here because we were all in this together. There’s this huge myth that they always say, oh, you know, the self made man. You know, well, actually, particularly out here and certainly out in Texas how did we get here? Well, you know what we did? We all pulled together. And a bunch of strangers, they formed a wagon train, but they all came out together. And they each protected the other. And then they got here and they cleared each other’s fields and they built each other’s barns and then they built a little one room school house and they all chipped in together to help each other. And that’s what they meant when they said, from many one. [voice: “Yep.”] That’s what they meant. And this is, in our time, how we all get here. I mean, I, I, I don’t know about you, but, I mean, I’ve lived this dream. It’s why I’m so passionate about it.

You, know, my grandmother was a maid. She came to this country, she didn’t speak a word of English, she didn’t have a nickel in her pocket, she came from Hungary, but she knew she wanted to be free. And she got the only job she could get. She never even went to a day of high school. But she had a strong work ethic and a great belief in freedom. And she got to America and she started working as a maid. And, you know, because it’s America she didn’t stay a maid. She got on with the phone company, she met an electrician at the phone company, they joined a union at the phone company [cheers][applause][inaudible], and, they had to be paid a minimum wage, they had to be given decent health benefits, they had to, the company had to help pay for their retirement and their pension. They, they were required to give them a safe workplace so that they didn’t lose fingers and hands in the machinery. They were able to send their son, my father, to free public schools, unimaginable in the old country. And my father got a good education and he got a college degree. My grandmother lived to see her son wear a suit and tie every day and be a businessman. She lived to see her grandson go to law school and advise the President of the United States. She was able to live in dignity, in Social Security. When her health needs came up she was able to go to Medicare which she had paid into all of her working life. And she lived the entire American dream. She lived to be ninety-four. And we, we lost her seven years ago so she’d be right almost, just over a hundred right now.

And, and I still remember, best day I ever had, honest to goodness, working the White House. It wasn’t, you know, the state dinners and all of, you know, the proms, and even getting to meet the Pope, which for a faithful Catholic was one of the great moments of my life. It was when I got to bring Grandma Begala to the Oval Office. [laughter] [cheers] [applause] Let me tell you, you talk about the American dream. [applause] And, you know, you can imagine, you know, President Clinton, and that is a room, one, one day you should all go to the Oval Office. It is the most spectacular room I’ve ever been in, believe me. And, I never got used to it I thought. And I had special reverence for it, even though I started every day in that room for a couple of years. And I saw four star generals turn to puddle of goo in that room. [laughter] I mean, it’s an intimidating place. Well, you should have seen Grandma B. She was about five foot nothing [laughter], little spitfire. She comes charging in like she owned the place. She goes over to the fireplace. There’s those two great wingback chairs there and the fireplace. And she says, Mr. President, come here. I said, oh, Grandma, we don’t say that. [laughter] he kind of ambles over, you know. Is this a working fireplace, Mr. President? [laughter] [voice impression] Yes, ma’am. [laughter] Why, why do you ask? [laughter] She said, well, these andirons that hold the log, they’re so clean. What do you use when you polish them, Mr. President? [laughter] Well, she’s a maid, right? She saw through the eyes of an immigrant maid who had lived that American dream. And I never forgot that. And the whole ride home that day she left me with these three words. She spoke, by the way, three languages. She was fearsome smart, just not formally educated. But the whole ride home, three words. Only in America. Only in America. And what she meant by that was not the purple mountain’s majesty and the amber waves of grain. They have those in Hungary. I’ve been.

In fact, I went when the Berlin Wall was coming down I went with a congressional delegation, actually, uh, as a staffer. And, and she didn’t want me to go. She’s like, oh, Paulie, I got you out of there, you don’t need to be going back. [laughter] I said, I think it’s going to be all right. She said, no, no, no, if I had stayed there you’re father, he’d be poor. And you, and she stopped for a second, she said, you, oh, they’d have shot you. [laughter] That, that mouth of yours, honey, they’d a shot you quick. [laughter] I said, Grandma, I believe it’ll be okay. So, she didn’t mean what the poets meant. She meant the moral America. She meant the America that you all have done so much to build, where neighbor cares about neighbor, where people help people, where families lift each other up and hold each other up, and actually even reached down to the people who haven’t come up yet. It is not the America of every man for himself and dog eat dog. It is the America of the founding fathers, it is the America of the people in this tent, and, most of all, it is the America of Tom Harkin and that is why I’m so glad to be fighting with Tom Harkin. God bless you all. [applause] Thank you very much. [applause][cheers]

Previously:

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa (September 18, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Senator Bernie Sanders (I) (September 19, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 1 (September 20, 2011)

“…President Obama, with help from the senators who are here, is going to sustain Medicare. Which works. Which helps. And let me tell you something about, this is what I’ve learned. My father is alive today because of Medicare. He’s old right wing guy, used to be a salesman in the oil field industry. But he is alive because of Medicare. And now, he voted for Reagan when I was working on him, he’s a big conservative, you know, now, oh my goodness. Don’t get between him and his Medicare. Right? He’s now the chairman of old right wing white guys in Texas for socialized medicine. [laughter] [applause] [cheers] You know why? [applause] Here’s the dirty little secret, now don’t just think it’s my daddy, we really like being alive…”

Paul Begala speaking under the big tent at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 18, 2011.

Paul Begala was one of the featured speakers at the annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday. The second portion of Paul Begala’s speech:

Paul Begala: ….And so, yeah, Senator Harkin mentioned now my, my governor, last night we were having a, a dinner. And he was pointing out that, that, by the way, it’s been a great year and, and I do thank the Lord for the rain, because it’s been a great year for Iowa farmers. He said corn exports is up, bean exports are up, hog exports are up. And he asked me, what do you all export in Texas. And I said underachieving governors. [laughter] [applause] That’s about all we’re raising down there now. And so, now we have inflicted Rick Perry on you all. [voices: “Oh.”]  Yeah, the pride of Texas A and M. [laughter], which is this little remedial school we have in Texas. [laughter] I’m a Texas longhorn, listen that’s way bigger than [inaudible]. So, if you meet him, be nice to him but talk real slow. [laughter] And somebody, now get this, this, this is a man, he took office and he’s running, he’s running, oddly enough at all, he’s running as a Republican. I thought he was running as a joke. [laughter] But, apparently now he’s running as a job generator. Now, just know this about my beloved state of Texas. On the day Rick Perry became governor unemployment in Texas was four point two percent.  Today it is eight point four percent. And he thinks that’s a miracle. [laughter] Holy smokes, what if he becomes president? What’s he gonna take it to, eighteen? You know, and, and now they released his transcript from Texas A and M. He got a D in economics. Now we understand. [laughter][voices: “Oh.”] Um, but for a guy who got a D in economics he’s made millions while being a public employee, which is pretty remarkable. So, he must be fairly astute. My favorite thing in that transcript, though, he got, this is true, he got a, check my notes, a C in animal breeding. [laughter] Hell, I got goats that got an A in that. [laughter] I mean, how stupid do you have to be [laughter][applause] to get a C in animal breeding. Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, governor. [laughter] Holy smokes. So, ya’ll can have him. Uh [laughter], he, he may win the Iowa caucuses, I don’t know, but he ain’t gonna win Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader.  [laughter][applause] I don’t know who they’re gonna nominate. It’s none of my business, but I’m just enjoying it, enjoying the show…

…Uh, there was one poll, before Perry got in, that showed, um, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin tied. And I thought, well, you know, not to be disrespectful, but, you know, one of ’em is just kind of another pretty face, obsessed with hair and clothes and makeup, and the other, the former Governor of Alaska. She’s a little [laughter], she’s a little more substantive, she’s a little tougher than Mitt. She’s got a lot more to her. Uh, I , I think. But he does. He’s beautiful. [laughter] He looks like the guy in the picture frame that you buy when, you know, the drug store. [laughter] [applause] But, of course, you know what happens. When we get home we take that out and put a real person in, don’t we? [laughter][applause][cheers] He, he, too, he, too, wants to run on his record of jobs. He has created thousands of jobs in Bangalore, India,[laughter] but shipped thousands of jobs from America over there. At least five different companies he took over, loaded ’em with debt, pulled out millions of dollars for himself and then shipped those jobs overseas. [voice: “Right.”] That’s astonishing. And he wants to run as the jobs guy. And as Senator Harkin said, now he goes out, and he was here at the state fair, right? And he said, yeah, well, corporations are people, too. And I felt like saying, well, people are people, too, Mitt. [laughter] How about treating us like corporations? He actually said in one of the debates that it was immoral, that was his word, immoral to have disaster relief. Immoral to help our neighbors when, when the floods have hit Senator Sanders’ state of Vermont, the fires have hit my state of Texas, it would be immoral to help them. He wants to privatize it. He did. He said we should as much as this over to the private sector because, you know, Enron and BP will be all over it. Man, right there. [laughter] That’s all they want to do is help. [laughter] It’s astonishing. So my advice, actually, to the folks in, in Vermont who, who need assistance or in New York or New Jersey where they’ve got terrible, terrible flooding or in Texas where there’s wild fires? We gotta couple options, I think. One, is to hope that somehow Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld invade us. [laughter] Because then, oh my God, then they’ll flood us with aid, right? [laughter] And then they’ll , they’re big for rebuilding those countries. Or, the alternative is, incorporate yourself as an oil company. ‘Cause, boy, they will be there for you then. [laughter] They’re great at subsidizing the oil companies.

Um, I did see that Ms., uh, Congresswoman Bachmann, who I guess is a native of Iowa. [voices] Is still running pretty strong here. [voices: “Oh.”] Oh, come on, if I have to deal with Rick Perry you all [laughter] can take Michele Bachmann. [laughter]  And she, I saw she went out, she went out to Waterloo, right, isn’t that where she was born? [voices: “Yeah.”] And then she bragged that that was the birthplace of John Wayne. [laughter] Even I know, Winterset, the Duke. [laughter] Waterloo, John Wayne Gacy. Oh. [laughter] [applause][inaudible] She also said that the, the Revolutionary War began in New Hampshire, not in Massachusetts and that, that, that Paul Revere was riding to warn the British. [laughter] The Americans are here, the Americans are here. Well, no. [laughter] No, congresswoman, we were already here, they were coming. [laughter] Um, but that’s what she, she congratulated Elvis on his birthday when it was actually the anniversary of his death. [voices: “Yeah.”] My suspicion is that she has hired Sarah Palin to be her fact checker. [laughter][cheers][applause]

I, I’ve seen Rick Santorum running. I, I, in fact I worked for, uh, uh, Bobby Casey, Senator Casey, Bob Casey, uh, who defeated Rick Santorum, made him an ex senator. And so, I don’t want to speak about the Santorum campaign because I was raised not to speak ill of the dead and that campaign is dead, dead, dead. [voices: “Oh.”]

But I can’t, I cannot resist a little shot at our friend Newt Gingrich who is ap
parently still running, right? [voices: “Ssssss.”] Yeah. No, I, I , I asked, it was, I was, at, I was downtown DesMoines and I asked somebody about that and said, is Newt still running? This man said, yeah, we were just laughing about that a minute ago. [laughter] But he is one of the finest minds of the twelfth century [voice: “Oh, yeah.”] And so we [laughter], we’re glad to see him.

So this, this, America, this, Iowa, is what they have put up. This is what they have put up. This is what we have to put up with. But this is what they have put up to lead our country, the only super power left on God’s earth in some of the most difficult challenging times we have ever had. And I know some of us, we get frustrated, we get disappointed, I hear the grumbling, believe me, about our president and our party. But, here’s the deal, as a political strategist, you know who our chief political strategist for twenty-twelve needs to be? Henny Youngman. [laughter] Remember Henny Youngman? Every time somebody asked him, how’s your wife? He said, compared to what? [laughter] That’s all I want to ask. Every day. How’s our president?  Well, compared to what? [laughter] Right? Compared to Republicans who want to roll back the clock on equal rights and civil rights and women’s rights Barrack Obama signed the law that Senator Harkin and Senator Sanders helped to pass, the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act. [cheers][applause] You know it, so, if that’s the choice that’s easy. I’m for Barack Obama. Right. The Republicans have said, Mitt Romney said it himself and all the rest of them repeated it. If they get a chance to put, uh, justices on the Supreme Court they will be justices like Thomas and Scalia. [voices: “Oh.” “Boo.”] Okay? Compared to what? [voice: “Yeah.”] Barack Obama appointed Justice Sotomayor and Justice Elana Kagan two, two brilliant [cheers][applause] , brilliant justices. Compared to what? [applause] The Republicans, Senator Harkin used to say this, the Republican’s idea of, of a good farm program is Hee Haw. Right? [laughter] Compared to what? [laughter] Barack Obama, who has worked with Harkin for years to try to save family farms, I know in that choice, compared to what, who I’m for. I’m for Barrack Obama. It’s an easy choice [applause] for farmers here in Iowa. [applause] Compared to a Republican Party that wants, as Senator Sanders and Senator Harkin said, they want to, uh, in Rick Perry’s case, abolish Social Security. [voice: “Yep.”] He believes it’s unconstitutional. It’s criminal, he says. So we have to abolish it. Oh, and the so, the moderate is Mitt Romney who just wants to hand it off to Wall Street. Which is the functional equivalent, friend, right, what are we gonna do, invest it in Enron and, and Lehman and, you know? This is their position on Social Security, compared to what? Barrack Obama, who is gonna preserve it and protect and defend Social Security so that my mother can [applause] retire in dignity. [applause] I know which side I’m on in that fight. [applause] And the same goes for Medicare. You know, when, when Paul Ryan, the Republican House Budget Committee Chairman, passed his budget through the House of Representatives it includes an attack on Medicare so complete that the Wall Street Journal, not exactly a left wing institution, said this, it essentially ends Medicare. [whistle] Because it does. And ask Mitt Romney if he would sign it, he said, yeah, we’re on the same page, yes I would. He would essentially end Medicare. And all the rest of them are worse. Again, Perry thinks it’s unconstitutional. Right? It, it, apparently he thinks, the only thing that he’s ever read in the Constitution  is the Second Amendment. He’s never read any of the rest of ’em. [laughter] President Obama, with help from the senators who are here, is going to sustain Medicare. Which works. Which helps. And let me tell you something about, this is what I’ve learned. My father is alive today because of Medicare. He’s old right wing guy, used to be a salesman in the oil field industry. But he is alive because of Medicare. And now, he voted for Reagan when I was working on him, he’s a big conservative, you know, now, oh my goodness. Don’t get between him and his Medicare. Right? He’s now the chairman of old right wing white guys in Texas for socialized medicine. [laughter] [applause] [cheers] You know why? [applause] Here’s the dirty little secret, now don’t just think it’s my daddy, we really like being alive. [voice: “Yeah.”][laughter] And we don’t want to join those forty-two thousand that Senator Sanders talked about, right? So, we’re gonna stick with Barack Obama who is gonna help preserve and protect and defend Medicare for my father and your father and all the other mothers and fathers who need it. This is the choice. This is the real world rock bottom choice that we have to face….

The final portion of the transcript will follow in a subsequent post.

Previously:

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa (September 18, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Senator Bernie Sanders (I) (September 19, 2011)

Paul Begala (center right) speaking with the press at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa. photo – Jerry Schmidt, Show Me Progress.

Paul Begala was one of the featured speakers at the annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday. Paul Begala’s speech:

[applause] Paul Begala: Thank you very much. Thank you.  [applause] Uh, thank you, Senator [Tom] Harkin, uh, and, and Ruth [Harkin].  I want to particularly thank you all for coming out on a rainy afternoon, you know, on a rainy Sunday.  And so if I may begin by quoting scripture, in the Book of Matthew, right, the Lord taught us the rain falls upon the just and the unjust. Which means somewhere Dick Cheney is soakin’ wet. [laughter][applause][cheers] I know I’m among the just under this tent, brothers and sisters. And talk about preachin’, how about Brother [Senator Bernie] Sanders. [applause][cheers] Preach it. Golly. That was wonderful. [applause] I could take you home to Sugarland [Texas] and put you in a tent, tent revival, Senator. That was fantastic. Thank you for reminding us of what’s at stake. [voice: “Yes.”] And what we can be when we are at our best. And he has been such a powerful voice for us in the Senate, so I really want to thank and honor Senator Bernie Sanders. [applause]…

“…the Lord taught us the rain falls upon the just and the unjust. Which means somewhere Dick Cheney is soakin’ wet….”

…And, of course, none of us would be here if it were not for Ruth Harkin. [laughter] Um, it’s true. [applause] As, as, as my wife likes to say, behind every successful man is an astonished wife. [laughter] Ruth has dragged Tom a long way in forty-three years and we’re grateful for it. [laughter] Uh, and of course, mostly, uh, our, our host, uh, I told him this, um, earlier this morning. Uh, my old boss, President Clinton, was, had to do Meet the Press and a bunch of these shows this morning ’cause he’s doing his Clinton Global Initiative.  So, just like the old days he kinda got the old band together yesterday and we did a little prep session, you know. And it was just great fun, but, you know, we kinda wrapped up. And he said, you know, you gonna be watchin’? I said, well, I’m gonna try, but I’m gonna be out in Iowa for the Harkin Steak Fry. [voice impression] Oh, God, I love that thing. That’s great. [laughter][cheers]  I swear to God, that’s exactly. [voice impression]  You know, I, I’ve spoken there three times. I believe I hold a personal record. [laughter] [inaudible] He said, [voice impression] it was raining cats and dogs. Harkin was all worried. I told him it’d be just fine. The good lord just parted the clouds, just… [laughter]  So, he loves, loves, loves Tom Harkin. He loves Ruth Harkin. And he loves Iowa and he loves you. And he wanted me to tell you that from the bottom of his heart. [applause] So, thank you for supporting Bill Clinton [applause] [inaudible].

I am from Texas. I, I grew up there. Uh, I’m from a little town called Sugarland, Texas where our congressman was Tom Delay. [voices: “Oh.”] Oh, but he’s committed, so, so committed to public service that I believe soon he’ll be making license plates [voices][inaudible][laughter][applause] So he’s got a heart for service, you gotta admire that from, from old Delay. Um, but you know, I grew up in that town. It is, it is maybe the most right wing little town in my great big right wing state. [laughter] And, uh, I’d go home and I’d go see all the guys I grew up with and, and ’cause I lived in Washington and worked there, my friends would say, well, I would say to them, like how, what do you think about Delay? I thought at some point, you know, that car would run out of gas back home. So, I’d say that to ’em, how’s, how’s Delay doing? And invariably they’d say, well, you know, not bad, for a liberal. [laughter] Those are the people I grew up with, but I love ’em. [laughter] Um, I, I very often felt like the only fireplug at the dog show, but, you know. [laughter] It makes you tough. [laughter] And [laugh], and so what you do, maybe many of you grew up like that, right, what you do if you’re, first of all it is good for the soul. It gave me great respect, honestly, for the other side, and to learn from them, and to be honest, and have these discussions, and to know that I, I not only know, but I love people who are Republican. Some of them are in my family. Deeply misguided, my brother [inaudible]. [laughter] Um, but this teaches us, right, all how to get along. But, they way you kind of, people always ask me, you came out of this really right wing town and you’re big liberal and how does that happen? Well, in part, it happens because you have to seek your leadership. It’s not handed to you. You have to seek it. So, all those years in Texas I was not represented by Tom Delay. I was represented by Tom Harkin. [voices: “Yeah.”] [applause][cheers]

Every, every one of us, show of hands. How many of us, and I’m one of ’em, have a loved one who is disabled and now emancipated because of Tom Harkin’s Americans With Disability Act, the Emancipation Proclamation [applause] for the disabled community?  Thank you, Senator Harkin for that law. [cheers] It’s a life changing law [applause] for a whole lot of people. How many of us have a loved one who can benefit from the stem cell research and the medical research and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Act that Senator Harkin wrote and passed and put into law [applause] to try to save lives [cheers] here in America? [applause] How many of us have been, could be, or would be denied health coverage because we committed the sin of having a preexisting condition? Or, as my wife likes to say, hell, life is a preexisting condition. [laughter] That’s no longer [applause] gonna happen because of Tom Harkin and the work he does chairing [cheers] that health committee in Washington. [applause][cheers] I want to thank Senator Harkin [applause] for his fight on behalf of all of us. And, and, by the way, for all of you who are in to agriculture, who’s here into agriculture, if you eat you’re into agriculture. [laughter] Some of you are into it a little more than others. [laughter] I, I have, you know, you’ll all laugh at this, but I have a little bitty sixty-three acre, uh, farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. And every farmer and every farm family in America owes a debt to Tom Harkin for the decades of service he has done for family farmers and small farmers all across this country. [applause] In your state and all the other forty-nine states, too. [applause] So we owe him so much. And I want him to know this in public, that all across America there are places where sometimes we feel like we’re represented, we don’t have a voice, no one is fighting for us, and then, by God, we can go turn on the television and see Tom Harkin and it says D Iowa, but it ought to say D everyone. [voices: “Yeah.”] [applause] ‘Cause that’s who he’s fighting for [inaudible]. [applause] And this is the thing. This is what I love about him. Is that he combines this wonderful big hearted compassion and this, this very broad sense of what winner circle ought to be in America with a willingness and ability to fight. [voices: “Yeah.”] [applause] You know, sometimes I think the definition of a liberal is someone who’s afraid to take his own side in a fight. [laughter] That’s not Harkin, right?

You know, I , when,
I, my wife and I first started dating, this is now thirty years ago, and, ad I’m a big sports fan and it was fight night at our college. And so I took her to the fights. And, and, you know, they, they begin and she’s real smart and full of questions, she said, well, why does the, the ref in the ring, why does he wear a bow tie? It seems sort of odd for a boxing match. I said, well, that, that symbolizes the civility, that there is some rules here and dignity and civility and that’s what he sort of represents. Then they come to the center of the ring and shake hands. She said, well, well, what is, what does that mean, they shake hands? I said, well, it’s, you know, it’s still a friendly fight. They’re gonna go and beat each other’s brains out, but, but then they’ll [laughter] come back and, and be friends again. And then right before the fight began one of the fighters in the corner did this. My wife, a Lutheran, I’m a Catholic, she looks at this, sign of the cross, and she says, well, what does that mean? And I said, well, honey, it don’t mean a damn thing if he don’t know how to fight. [laughter][applause] Tom Harkin knows how to fight. [applause] By God, he knows how to fight. [applause] And I love that about him. And we need that on our side, ’cause we can see the other side, right?

I don’t know how many of y’all saw the big Republican debate at the Reagan Library. [voice: “No.”][voice: “Yeah.”] Yeah. I, I had the, I had the sense that for some of them it was their first time in a library. [laughter] [inaudible][cheers] [applause]  You know, they, they, they held it, I work at CNN, but I watched, it was on Fox News, and I highly recommend it. It’s the, Fox is this comedy channel pretends like it’s news, it’s hilarious. [laughter] But I do two things every day. I do. I read the Holy Bible and I watch Fox News so I know what both sides are thinking. [laughter] [applause] ‘Cause I believe in good and evil in the world. [applause] So I like to hear from both, so I tuned in and I watched that debate. And, oh, my stars, I mean, Senator Harkin is right, these, these, these folks, uh, Eisenhower would not have been welcome on that stage. Ronald Reagan woulda had the bends. I mean. They’ve gone so far right it was really astonishing. There was a point at which they were all arguing over who hates evolution more. [laughter] Right? You remember that? And, and I knew Rick Perry when he was first starting out, he was a Democrat, now he’s a Republican, so he supports evolution of a sort. [voice: “Yeah.”] Right? [laughter] And Mitt Romney? [laughter] [voice: “That’s devolution.”] Devolution. That’s right, that’s moving in the wrong direction. That’s, that’s going in the, uh, from, that’s going the other way in that ascent of man chart, you know, they’re about the third one from the left. [laughter] And, and Romney, he, I remember when he was running against Teddy Kennedy, God rest his soul, back in ninety-four. And he got up in a debate, I swear to you, you go look at this on YouTube, Mitt Romney, uh, still with that very perfect Grecian hair that he’s got. [laughter] Grecian formula, whatever it is. And he turns to Senator Ted Kennedy, one of the great progressive champions we have ever had, and he turns to him and he says, if I’m elected to the Senate I will be more pro gay rights than you will, [laughter] Senator Kennedy. And, I, even at the time I thought, well, Mitt, unless you’re like doing it with a dude you’re not gonna be more. [laughter][applause] And now [applause], now [applause], now he wants to amend our Constitution to discriminate against our brothers and sisters just because of who they happen to be and how God made them? That’s evolution of a sort, but you’re right, it’s going the wrong way. But, oh, no, they can’t say that anymore, right? They, they, now, it’s, it’s a litmus test.

Wolf Blitzer asked them at one of the debates, who here believes in, in the biblical, not the biblical, the biological theory of evolution? And, kind of, nobody raised their hand.  And so a few sort of looked like they might have wanted to, but they didn’t dare and. [laughter] Course, they don’t let me out on the stage to do the questions or my follow up would have been, okay, how ’bout gravity or photosynthesis, [laughter], electromagnetism, any of that spooky science [laughter][inaudible]? [applause] My, my oldest, my, I have four boys and my oldest just turned nineteen, he’s starting college. He’s [inaudible] he wants to be a neuroscientist, right, so, he’s studying science. And so he’s studying evolution. By the way, he went to a Catholic school and the priest who taught him evolution explained to him that there’s no, there’s no, uh, uh, uh, conflict there at all. Uh, and so, my, my son was having one of these arguments with on of his right wing friends who said that, well, you know, evolution is just a theory. And my son said, yes, so is gravity. Lay down on the floor and let me hold a rock over your head. [laughter][applause] he’s a smart ass, he really is. He gets that from his mother. [applause]….

The remainder of the transcript will follow in subsequent posts.

One of the great Fall political events is the annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa. This morning we drove the almost two hundred fifty miles to the Balloon Field in Indianola to listen to Democratic Party and other like-minded luminaries address a large crowd of Iowa Democrats at the outdoor venue. The weather wasn’t too cooperative, ranging from a persistent drizzle to a steady downpour. Never mind – we brought our rain gear, old shoes, and large umbrellas. The big tent covering the dining area (and venue for speeches) also helped keep us relatively dry.

The featured speakers, in addition to Senator Tom Harkin (D) of Iowa, were Paul Begala – Democratic Party strategist and senior staffer for President Bill Clinton – and Senator Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont. They fired up the audience of over five hundred under the big tent.

“I Back Barack – 2012”

Volunteers on the food serving line. Note the Obama campaign buttons.

Paul Begala.

Paul Begala (right) and an Iowa Democrat conversing out in the rain.

Senator Tom Harkin (D) (left) and Paul Begala at the grill.

Paul Begala speaking to the press.

Senator Tom Harkin (D) speaking to the press.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I) addressing the crowd under the big tent.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I).

Listening to the message.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I).

Applauding Senator Bernie Sanders.

Senator Tom Harkin (D) addressing the crowd under the big tent – Ruth Harkin (left).

Paul Begala enjoying one of Senator Tom Harkin’s (D) many punch lines.

Taking it all in.

Paul Begala addressing the crowd under the big tent.

After the speech.