" And just what does the Democrat Party have to do with democracy?

The majority of citizens want more offshore drilling to reduce the gas prices and Pelosi refuses to allow Congress to vote on it.

An oxymoron if there ever was one. (Emphasis on moron...) "

" So what was accomplished at the Democratic booth? Did you register voters? If so how many?

Did you hand out literature? How much?

Not to be overly critical, I'll leave that to the Republican-enablers, but it's not a real big deal for people to work well together at a fair booth.

What was accomplished is more important than singing Kumbayah when you face opponents as dishonest as the current crop of Republicans have demonstrated themselves to be.

~Ruff "

" FIESTA DE NAPA............

My best memory of the fair this year:

I DIDN"T GO!!!!!!! "

" I suppose you think the current crop of Democrats are honest and saintly . . . why??? "

" Ruff, I'm surprised at you. Unlike many of the regulars to this forum, you are the last person that I would expect to make a comment such as you have here. Before you dismiss the accomplishments of our volunteers with a comment like "it's not a real big deal for people to work well together at a fair booth," try pulling something like this together yourself, first. There were more than sixty-five different volunteers who contributed to this event, all of whom are politically active, conditions which in many organizations under similar circumstances would invite at least some friction and discord among some portion of the participants. Not so, this group. And yes, we registered a lot of voters, yes we gave out a lot of information about candidates AND issues, among many other things. However, this letter was meant to thank our volunteers, who gave generously of their time to do those democracy promoting tasks, not to cite a bunch of statistics. And that is how I'm going to leave it. "

" I cant believe Im saying this but I agree with Ruff.

Whats the big deal about a group of like minded people taking turns working shifts at a fair booth?

Maybe next year you can get rival gang members to work together at your booth without incedent, now that would be something! "

" Whew! Glad I'm boycotting the fair this year! "

" I was wondering why our son in-laws‘, daughters, married and not, brother in-law and his children all came home with bags full Republican signs and stuff ….keep up the good work Gifford or whoever opened their big mouth in the Democrat booth telling these young families that $5.00 gallon gas was really good for them and our economy…now they know Democrats don’t care….or don’t know….either one is fine with me.

I suppose at the end of the day it’s always better to be luckier than good….. "

" Joanne….unlike yourself….most of us had to start from the bottom rung of the ladder of life and the costs along the way for your pet policies have proven to be a great waste of our hard earned money…now your pet policies are bankrupting this state as well as the margin living family wage earners with $5.00 gas…(by the way thanks for the booth help converting the few democrats remaining in our family to Republican)…instead of soaking us you should know it is your constitutional right to give your inheritance to the STATE in one lump sum even …you know ‘walking your talk’ presuming you actually believe your own rhetoric… as opposed to just mouthing it. Once again thanks, and pass along best wishes to Dr. Gifford. "

" Thanks Joanne,
Because of you and all your great volunteers I got to have my picture taken with a cardboard cut out of the Messiah, praise be! "

" Can't wait for Hilary to steal the nomination from Hussein. "

" don't mind our resident crazies Joanne. They keep this site entertaining and humorous albeit predictable "

" I enjoy the demo booth, such happy chatty people that suddenly turn sullen and silent when I tell them "Sorry, I am a Republican"
Each year that I attend the fair I send Mike Thompson a note asking him to show up at the booth so we can chat but he never seems to show up ...... Darn.
One year an especially cheeky woman told me how sorry she was that I was a Republican ..lol "

" Joanne, however hard some Republicans will try to put a negative spin on a good thing, it doesn't change the fact that you and the volunteers (as well as the Republican volunteers, I'm sure), have done some very important work toward increasing participation in our democratic process. Your presence is appreciated, and being in the booth next to the dems made my own work that much more interesting. Thanks for your dedication! "

" I wanted so badly to put a McCain Decal on his shirt! "

" When, I discovered the Register on line, I was delighted. When, I discovered the comment section I believed there would be healthy, intelligent, mutually respectful discourse; this has not been the case.

Often when someone publically thanks another member of the community for their accomplishments or their volunteer service, several bloggers make negative comments.

Guidelines were posted for a purpose. Comments such as "....unlike yourself ….most of us had to start from the bottom rung of the ladder of life..." read like personal attacks. I'd say such comments are childish or juvenile but prefer not to insult our youth; lets settle for immature. "

" Joanne,
Please don't mind those republiCONS. They are simply mean and miserable.
Who else could make someone like Rush Limbaugh rich. "

" Shareathought-

While agree with you it's a sad fact of a few of the regular commentators on here. They play dirty probably not realizing that it makes everyone else respect them less and discredits the rest of their comments. "

" I have to say that regarding any fair I've ever been to, the Democrat party booth is always one of the things that sort of dampens the moment.

And when they try to hand those little trinkets and goodies to your kids, oh my. I'm so eager to say "no thanks", and hand it right back to them (then I say to myself, "Are you kidding? Like I'm going to let my kids go around with that stuff, oh yeah, RIGHT!"). "

" Greysack, hear ye, dellasumbrella, shareathought, and misfit: thank you for your kind words and support. As to the rest of you, I find it very sad that a simple letter of thanks to our volunteers, which should be largely uncontroversial, has been met with such an angry and savage response from some of those who have posted comments here. And to glenroy, specifically: it's easy to deploy cheap shots and innuendo when you are hiding behind a screen name, isn't it? Well my name is out there in the open, so why don't you come out from behind that protective barrier and level the playing field a bit? (Frankly, I don't think you have the courage.) Regardless, leave my family out of this.

You presume way too much in your post. I may have grown up in a nice home with plenty of food on the table, but I sewed most of my own clothes, started working at the age of 15, paid my own way through college, and have never owned a new car (nor even a "newer" car) in my life, nor one that my parents bought for me. Even now, I live in a very modest home and I still shop mostly at Ross. But as unpretentious as my lifestyle may be, I would still be more than willing to pay a higher tax rate if that meant fewer people would have to go without. So your implication that I am some kind of privileged "heiress," who doesn't "walk the talk" is not only very inaccurate and misleading, with my modest way of living in mind, it is really quite offensive, especially given, as you apparently already well know, that my father is still alive. "

" As to your claim that someone at our booth was "telling these young families that $5.00 gallon gas was really good for them and our economy," that certainly wasn't me and, frankly, there wasn't a single volunteer that I am aware of who worked our booth that embraces such a notion. I also never heard that said by or to anyone and I was there most of the time. So I find your claim in that regard rather dubious. Are you sure you aren't taking a bit of "poetic license" here?

By the way, what are these "pet policies" to which you refer and attribute to me.? Name me one specific policy that you know that I support that is "soaking" you. (Even though there's no way you can possibly do that, anyway, you might just want to reconsider "going there" altogether with me on this issue. The Republicans have done a fine job of "soaking" us all for sometime now and driving our deficit to record levels to carry out their own "pet policies," without any help whatsoever from me.) "

" Joanne, did you actually read my comment? :-) "

" Greysack, I think she read your comment and nailed your meaning completely..... "

" Joanne - I am sorry that you missed my point that just talking about how well volunteers worked together alone will not 'get the job done' when dealing with Republican-enablers as nasty as this crew.

You have gotten lots of personal criticism from Republicans, just as I predicted. But we need to face the fact that the Democratic Party needs to overcome a nasty-minded, well-funded disinformation campaign willing to lie about you, just as the "Usual Suspects" demonstrated in this thread. A part of that is actually talking about voter registration and the GOTV effort to come.

I am glad that you are proud of your peeps, but I hoped to hear more specifics about things that will actually get more Democratic votes cast in November.

~Ruff "

" Ruff,

I DID understand your intent AND your point. With all due respect, I think, perhaps, you missed mine.

I am well acquainted with the discursive character of this venue. I simply chose not to allow considerations of what some of the "regulars" might have to say in response to help me shape the message that I had to deliver: a simple, undiluted, heartfelt "thank you" to our volunteers, with whom I was privileged to work on this effort.

I would still like to leave this particular LTE as it was originally meant to be. So if it's "hard numbers" you seek, please contact me outside of this forum. (As I think you already have my contact information, that should be relatively easy for you to do.) "