Truth - Al Franken [119]
These days, the 2004 election is mostly remembered as the beginning of the end of the Republican hammerlock on America. But back then, it seemed, at best, like the end of the beginning. Air America was just a radio network, as opposed to the international media behemoth it is today. Back then, you couldn’t turn on a television without hearing about the death of the Democratic Party and the collapse of liberalism. The radical Republican elite controlled the White House, both houses of Congress, and to a greater and greater extent, the courts, along with a well-oiled media machine and a network of well-funded think tanks, such as the extremely untrustworthy Heritage Foundation. The right had divided us along many lines: age, class, religion, race, sexuality, and color of state. And when it came to Iraq, anyone who dared point out any of Bush’s mistakes, even the blindingly obvious ones, was labeled unpatriotic. The conventional wisdom held that the 2004 election was just the first blow, and that America was doomed to generations of GOP misrule.
But as we know now, there was fire in the ashes of that defeat.
Although you didn’t hear it on television, anyone who read the coffee grinds could see that the Democrats were getting their act together. In fact, I myself made a strong case at that point, that we were poised for a resurgence, and wrote a bestselling book on the subject.
One group of Kerry voters in particular gave us hope: your parents’ generation. I’m talking about young people. (I know it may seem hard to believe, but your folks were young at one time. They were pretty wild, too! Not really. But your grandparents were!!!) While voters over thirty went for Bush by a seven-point margin, the under-30s went overwhelmingly for Kerry: 54–45 percent. Youth turnout had shot up from 42.3 percent in 2000 to 51.6 percent—reaching 64 percent in battleground states. (I know that you’ll be able to understand these percentages, because of the dedicated teachers in your public school who now receive such excellent salaries.)
There were other hopeful signs. Democrats gained more than sixty seats in state legislatures, winning majorities in so-called “red states” like Colorado and Montana. And Democrats, even though they weren’t as rich as Republicans, gave almost as much money to their candidates. That was a big change. Al Gore had only gotten contributions from 155,000 people. John Kerry received contributions from well over a million. Yes, back then, people gave money to politicians. That was before the second McCain-Feingold bill, the Feingold-McCain Bill, finally got it right.
One key to the Democrats’ success was that we had begun to build a new progressive movement. And to support the movement, we were building an infrastructure.
Your granddad had just started on the radio back then. No, radio wasn’t a new medium. But progressive radio was. This may sound crazy, but back in 2004, liberal radio was a new idea. It was conservatives who dominated radio. In every city in America, radio stations were devoted to nothing but right-wing talk, every hour of every day. What did they talk about? It’s a good question. They had to make stuff up and call us names, something I know you kids are much too grown-up to do. Except for baby Joe III. You can’t talk. Yet!
I didn’t have to go into radio. There was a whole bunch of other stuff I could have done. After all, I had quite a career in television, and writing movies and books. And there was the Al Franken All-Girl Orchestra. I would have loved to have gone back out on tour with