Two years ago, as President Bush was running for a second term, a catchy folk rock hook would filter down from the rafters of the halls Karl Rove packed with glassy-eyed yes-people who bought and consumed the Administration's lies uncooked, fully raw and filled with brain-killing organisms. The hook was written by John Hall and performed by his early 70s rock band Orleans. As it turned out, buoyed by lies and personal attacks, Bush was sadly Still The One, but the campaign was forced to quit playing the song after Hall complained.
But John Hall wasn't just another songwriter peeved at having his work stolen by a political movement he abhored - nope, John's a politician too. Democrats, liberal variety, environmentally movitated. Yesterday, Hall won his primary in New York's 19th Congressional District and with it the right to face Bush lackey Sue Kelly, a Congresswoman for whom the utterance of the word "aye" is directed solely by the political whims of Mr. Rove.
Now, my one encounter with John Hall came in 1979 when he organized the fantastic No Nukes concerts in New York City, which included performances by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, James Taylor, Carly Simon, The Doobie Brothers, Jesse Colin Young, Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Petty, and others. A grooving time was had by all, but the grassroots anti-nuke movement never really achieved that level of pop culture sophisitication since. Funny thing, though - Hall never stopped. From his Wikipedia bio:
He has been involved with Mid-Hudson Nuclear Opponents, who successfully fought the siting of a nuclear power plant on the Hudson River in Greene County. While living in Saugerties, John co-founded Saugerties Concerned Citizens, and helped write the town's first zoning law. When Ulster County announced plans for a 200 acre solid waste dump on the historic Winston Farm, John led the opposition. This effort culminated in his 1989 election to the Ulster County Legislature. In the late nineties, after three successive school budgets were rejected by the voters, John ran for, and was elected twice to, the Saugerties Board of Education. His fellow trustees elected him president, and budgets were passed each year of Hall's tenure.
So he thought globally and acted locally - a fine old 70s slogan he actually lived by (most of us didn't, though we wore it on t-shirts and the like).
Another strong point in his favor: Hall has the strong backing of two buddies of mine, Brendan and Lance, which counts for a lot. Brendan, who I've known for all of his four decades, had this to say on his terrific blog.
John Hall's victory speech was inspiring, and gave me hope that the disastrous neocon social experiment may soon truly be coming to an end.
This is a guy with brains, guts and a list of endorsers a mile long - most notably Rep. Maurice Hinchey, the outspoken Bush critic and true champion of the middle class. This is a first for Hinchey, having never endorsed a congressional candidate before Hall.
The future looks bright.
As Karl Rove and his ilk sharpen their knives to eviscerate a genuinely decent American, as the neo-con money train chugs toward the Sue Kelly campaign HQ, as Sue Kelly's campaign workers start planting signs and start probing for weaknesses, as the whole status quo turns a hoary eye toward Beacon and Hall's campaign HQ, the man himself stands ready and anxious to join the fight.
Sue Kelly, while she stood alongside Newt Gingrich, campaigned on promises of supporting term limits.After 12 years of her brainless rubber-stamping of one Bush fiasco after another, it's time to put an end to her limitless terms.
Lance also met Hall, and wrote: "He's got the stuff, not just to beat Kelly, but to be an exemplary legislator."
Good enough for me. John Hall for Congress. Make a contribution if you can.
