President’s Message: In Memory of Denise Short Smith
This has been one of the most difficult messages I’ve had to write. By the time our newsletter is published it will have been three weeks since I got a call late on Sunday night that Denise Short Smith had passed away unexpectedly on Thursday evening, March 18. I had just visited with Denise at our monthly meeting on Tuesday and it was almost impossible for me to believe that she was gone.
In the few short years that I have known Denise, we had become such close friends and I respected and loved her. We were “in sync” about our views of the world and our passionate love for this nation. She also loved the Republican Party. One of the last things that we talked about was her concern that we as Republicans were not standing up for our party. Denise believed in what the Republican Party stands for and while we have those in Congress who have strayed from those conservative principles, it does not mean that Republican Party should be abandoned. She also thought that the Republican Party spent too much time on the defensive by allowing the Democrats and others to define us.
Denise Short with Congressman Hall and Congressman Johnson, Lincoln Day Dinner, February 6, 2010We enjoyed many conversations about the need for leaders who could articulate our message and inspire conservatives everywhere. Denise wrote many times that we need to elect strong, principled conservatives who would stand up to the Democrats in Texas and in Washington and help take this country back. She feared, as I do, that we have only a short window of opportunity to turn the tide and that if we do not stand up now and make our voices heard, that we may not have that chance again.
The mainstream media is doing all in its power to “indoctrinate” the public regarding Obamacare, so-called “climate change,” and the rest of Obama’s leftist agenda, and all the while it continues to demonize the Republican Party and the Tea Party. What has been going on since this healthcare disaster passed is right out of Saul Alinsky’s playbook: demonize, divide and conquer. Obama’s promise to unite this country was just empty rhetoric as he uses his “bully pulpit” at every opportunity to divide us along racial lines.
For those who have asked what happened to Denise’s beloved dog, Jack: With the blessing of her family, he is now living with the Van Taylor family.Denise had a brilliant mind and she saw Obama for whom and what he really was from the very beginning. She knew that we were in for the fight of our lives if Obama was elected. We had lengthy discussions about all that was wrong with his ideas on healthcare, cap and trade, illegal immigration, and national security and policies that have left this nation vulnerable to attack. I am truly sorry that she will not be here with us to fight this to the end, but I know her spirit is with us. And one thing I know she believed: GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH! Rest in peace, my good friend.