Sound Off Part II: Madrid's Madness by Peter Bafangazi

Editor's Note: This Sound Off was submitted by Peter Bafangazi as a follow-up to his original Sound Off on this topic, which can be found here. Sound Off is a sometimes feature of this blog designed to give our readers a chance to post their personal views. If you'd like to submit a Sound Off of your own, use the email link near the top of the right-hand sidebar on this page.

I'm sure that some of your readers will find my focus on the political machinations of New Mexico's political leaders to be inappropriate at a time of national emergency. And though Sen. Bingaman, Sen. Domenici, Rep. Pearce and Rep. Wilson believe that now is not the time for finger pointing, we do have to remember that the thousands of deaths that likely occurred as a result of the levee's breach and the government's slow and paltry initial response, could arguably have been avoided, or at the least lessened, had our elected leaders heeded the warning signs, listened to the experts and reevaluated their priorities.

I say THEIR (in reference to our elected leaders) priorities because we can't possibly hope to refocus our great nation's priorities away from terrorism, Tax Cuts, Social Security "reform", Religion and multi-billion dollar pork projects, if the first priority of our elected officials is political ascendance instead of national service.

Without carrying on too much, this brings me to Patricia Madrid, who previously I speculated was backing away from running against Heather Wilson in order to run against fellow Democrat Diane Dennish. I also speculated that Madrid's Madness may not stop at g/running for Lt. Governor, but may even include going after Big Bill himself by exchanging favors with perpetual presidential candidate and eventual primary opponent to the Gov, John Edwards. Well, sometimes being right doesn't feel good...It feels scary. Lo and behold, this showed up in my email box the other day.

(Click on image for larger version.)

I swear I didn't know about this before writing you in late August. Presumably a scan of an actual mailed invitation and not an invite to yours truly. You can't make up amateur machiavellian crap like this. (And remember, funds donated to Madrid's PAC can't be used on a Congressional race.)

I'm sure that some out there are saying: "Hey, Peter, why do you care if Madrid challenges Denish? So what if she runs for land commissioner?," and "why do you want Madrid to run for Congress so bad?"  My answer is the following: I don't give a shit if Madrid wants to be governor or if she and our Democratic Party Chair have some sort of plan to further their own political careers to the detriment of the Governor and the Lt. Governor. I don't care that the Governor doesn't care that these people are screwing him. Although you've got to wonder if he's blind or if he just likes getting screwed from behind. What I care about is that all three branches of the federal government are in the hands of a Republican party that has proven itself time and again to be either criminally incompetent or criminally negligent or both.

It hasn't even been a year since the re-election of George W. Bush, we have 3 more years of his "leadership" ahead of us, the country is going down the god damn drain and we're sitting on our fucking hands while B team Democrats in the state are preoccupied with grinding personal axes and fulfilling egomaniacal ambitions that have no chance of being realized. For New Mexico to do its part in getting this country off its present collision course with reality, it has to replace Wilson and Pearce pronto. Swinging the balance of Congress in 2006 is America's only chance before 2008 to slow down the train wreck that is the Bush administration. Wilson and Pearce took the brakes off by signing off on every initiative of the Bush administration. New Mexico needs responsible leaders that understand that their job isn't only to garner favor with the President or even their own party leaders, but to represent the best interest of all voting members in their district, regardless of party affiliation, class, race or financial support.

So here it is: I don't know Patricia Madrid and I don't know if she could even beat Heather Wilson were she to run. I know that the DCCC wants her to run because they think she can take Heather down and I know that means money in the bank to finance the operation. I know that there are a lot of compelling reasons for Madrid to run for Congress, but I would hope the most compelling would be that she knows the country needs a change of direction. Being a public servant is a sacrifice. As we pass the fourth aniversary of September 11th and we witness the heroics of first responders in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast region, we are reminded that being a public servant means making a personal sacrifice for the public good. Sometimes this means running in races you aren't guaranteed to win and against people you don't necessarily dislike.  If Patricia Madrid runs for Land Commissioner or Lt. Governor, she'll confirm what we always suspected -- she's a politician and not a public servant.

Instead, I hope that Patricia Madrid contemplates what another term for Heather would actually mean, draws on her emotions and takes seriously her responsibilities as a public servant. It is so critical that we have a change of direction in this country, and that Democrats like Patsy step up to the plate to strengthen our party, our state and our nation, rather than just trying to maximize their own personal political power.