DENVER - Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott addressed the Washington delegation this morning with a speech focused on the less fortunate members of society. He was introduced by Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz, who said McDermott was "never at a loss for words or principles." The representative acted true to form, saying right off the bat that, with Barack Obama, Democrats "are putting [their] best foot forward as Americans when we are in the tank."

He then went after Republicans for their anti-immigration sentiment, accusing them of trying to hold back the future, which in a few decades will see a majority of Americans as people of color. He said America's diversity is what makes it great, and "Barack is the next iteration of that greatness."

McDermott also took offense with the idea, espoused by some on the right (and even some on the left) that people who receive unemployment and welfare benefits uniformly wished to milk the system and refuse to look for a job.

"People who are unemployed want to get back to work," McDermott said.

Continuing with his values-laden address, he hit George Bush on the war in Iraq, especially in light of the current situation in Georgia. Saying that America currently lacks credibility to tell other nations not to invade, McDermott offered the idea that "there is no moral high ground left in this administration."

McDermott also touched on health care, and predicted that achieving universal care would be much easier now than it was in the early 1990s because many of the doctors he spoke with approve of it when they didn't fifteen years ago. He also suggested that it was an imperative move because of high insurance costs for employers, and guessed that if Boeing has a labor strike in the near future, health care would be the cause.

Finally, he urged Democrats to work hard on behalf of their candidates this year. McDermott himself is in what is arguably the state's safest seat, but he forecasted that it would be a particularly brutal campaign season across the state and the country and implied that most of the dirt would come from the other party.

"If I had small children," he said, "I would turn off the television in October."

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