POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

CHARLIE WILSON 1933-2010

I'm about to extend condolences for a Democrat.  For the first time, I'm actually sincere.  Charlie Wilson has passed away at age 76.

Wilson was a 12 term Congressman.  His retirement in 1997 ended a 50 year political career that start at age 13.  Yes, 13.  Wilson's dog wandered into the yard of city councilman, Charles Hazard, who retaliated by mixing crushed glass in the dog's food, killing him.  Wilson had a driver's permit because his father was a farmer, which he used to drive 96 voters to the polls.  He said he couldn't tell them which way to vote, but they should know Councilman Hazard killed his dog.  Hazard lost by 13 votes.  Wilson is widely quoted as saying, "That was the day I fell in love with America."

Wilson was a big man (6'4") with a big personality and a big heart.  In 1980 that big heart was touched by the plight of refugees leaving Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.  He repeatedly used his clout on the House Appropriations Committee to increase funding for CIA operations to aid the resistance, mainly providing better weapons to fight the Soviets.  He said, "The U.S. had nothing whatsoever to do with these people's decision to fight ... but we'll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones."  This aid remains controversial because much of it went to a noted Islamic extremist (politics for terrorist), who is a current leader in the Taliban.  Nevertheless, the Soviets don't control Afghanistan today and Charlie Wilson had a huge part in that.  One might even say he invented cowboy diplomacy.  You could even get a liberal to say that if you phrase it, "George Bush stole cowboy diplomacy from Charlie Wilson."

Wilson worked hard and played hard.  Unfortunately, his playboy antics often overshadowed the good he did.  There's an endless stream of tales of his hard partying and womanizing  He was accused of using cocaine in Las Vegas in 1980, but the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence.  He never admitted guilt, nor claimed innocence.

The girls had cocaine, and the music was loud. It was total happiness. And both of them had ten long, red fingernails with an endless supply of beautiful white powder....The feds spent a million bucks trying to figure out whether, when those fingernails passed under my nose, did I inhale or exhale, and I ain't telling.

"Beautiful white powder".  See, he only looked at it.  Whether you're repulsed or fascinated by the man's personal life there's one fact no one can deny.  Charlie Wilson never killed a girl. 

Wilson was a Navy veteran and an unwavering supporter of the troops, and the VA Hospital in Lufkin, Texas bears his name.  Here are some old campaign ads I found on youtube.  I won't try to say, "See, he was more like a Republican."  I hate it when the Dems do that with Lincoln, but he was clearly not today's Democrat.  Enjoy.

watch?v=Uke-gx56-h8

If there were more (or even 1) Democrat like Charlie Wilson there would be a chance in hell I'd vote for them. 

crossposted on killtruck and snarkandboobs

Kill Truck

KillTruck is a wife, mother, blogger and native midwesterner now living in Eastern Washington state. She writes about politics, pop culture, parenting, wifing and a few other subjects she has no authority to write about. She has macabre fascinations with prostitution and/or cannibalism. In her free time she enjoys eating and/or drinking her feelings, liveblogging Lifetime movies, thinking about Scott Brown and mocking things she doesn’t understand.

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