Norman is Still Stormin'

The right is wrong, and he's not taking it anymore

by Alan Bisbort

Source: Hartford Advocate, February 12, 2004.

Norman Sommer just won't give up, or give in. His one-man campaign to forge a grassroots movement to counter the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy strangling rational political discourse in America was partially energized by a piece I wrote in this space last year ["Nobody is a Nobody, Norman," July 24, 2003]. Since that time, Sommer has garnered support from around the country and the affections of folks like Kurt Vonnegut, Ed Asner and Janet Reno.

Now, however, the 78-year-old retired salesman has crossed "the point of no return." He has announced the first meeting of his "Umbrella Movement To Take Back Our Country," to be held at the Marco Polo Ramada Plaza Beach Resort (19201 Collins Ave., North Miami Beach, www.ramadaplazamiamibeach.com) on March 16, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This one-day event will bring together kindred spirits from around the country to exchange ideas about fighting back and, then, sustaining the gains once they are made. The theme is "The Right Is Wrong." It is neither a pro-Democrat nor an anti-Republican rantfest. Rather, it is a pro-America town meeting big enough for an entire nation.

Single-handedly, the wheelchair-bound Sommer has alerted local and national media, mailed out 700 invitations and paid a down-payment for the meeting hall ($600) from his own fixed income. Now he wonders aloud: "What if they start a movement and nobody comes?"

Alas, "Nobody" will be there. "Nobody" is Sommer's adopted nickname. His favorite fable begins, "Once upon a time, there were four people named Everybody, Somebody, Nobody and Anybody." And it ends, "Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place."

Thus far, Ed Asner has committed to come ("schedule permitting"). Robert Prowler, father of a New York City firefighter killed at the World Trade Center, will be there. Impressed by a letter to the editor that Mr. Prowler wrote about the USA Patriot Act, Sommer contacted him, only to learn that he'd received hate mail and threatening phone calls for his letter. Those were bona fides enough for Sommer; Prowler is one of the guest speakers. Another speaker is a veteran journalist from Silver Spring, Md., who is alarmed about the muzzling of the press. In short, this is a bunch of dedicated "Nobodies" -- as high a compliment as I know how to give.

As Sommer sees it, "The right wing has been at it steadily for 20 years. They were there before Clinton, they are there now and they will be there after Kerry is elected. The problem will be mitigated but it won't evaporate. The right will still own talk radio, dominate Congress, the think tanks and much of the concentrated media."

Sommer singles out the likes of Grover Norquist, a Washington-based right winger whose ideas are the driving force of the Bush administration, and Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh billionaire.

He said, "Norquist meets once a week with 100 conservative leaders, elected officials, press lords and pundits, and they all get their talking points and then go out and inundate the airwaves with what amounts to a right-wing propaganda campaign. Norquist has a fake organization, with no staff or structure. It is all funded by Scaife."

This is not Norman's first crusade, if you'll recall from my original piece. He proved how one "Nobody" could level the national playing field six years ago, at the height of the Clinton impeachment hearings. His friend and tennis partner was the fellow cuckolded by Henry Hyde, the House leader sitting in judgment of Clinton's affair with an intern. Hyde's "youthful indiscretion" (he was 40; it lasted seven years) destroyed Norman's friend's marriage and irreparably harmed the family. Only Sommer's doggedness -- after seven months of trying -- was able to get Salon.com to run with the story. When the story of Hyde's affair broke, the momentum for Clinton's impeachment was broken. (Sidney Blumenthal was blamed for the leak, called before Ken Starr's kangaroo court, but fessed up about Sommer in his book, The Clinton Wars ).

Hyde, the silver-haired hypocrite, is still in Congress. But Clinton served out his term and, in hindsight and relative to the bleakness of Bush, left a golden legacy. Now, Sommer -- who should be enjoying his own golden legacy -- is seeking bigger fish to fry on the grill of truth and democracy. Until I had the pleasure of seeing Sommer in action, I had not fully been convinced about that "Greatest Generation" tag. Now I am.

He is, in my view, the embodiment of the statement made by Margaret Mead many years ago: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that has."

For information, contact Sommer at NSommer@bellsouth.net, or 305-935-4434, or 20355 NE 34th Court, #821, Aventura, FL 33180.

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