A funny thing happened after a forward...

I had a pretty interesting e-mail exchange yesterday with a relative of mine, who shall remain nameless. It all stemmed from an irritating immigration e-mail forward I received. Of course, the originator of the e-mail urged everyone to sign the petition, and the 1000th one was to forward it on to the White House, where it no doubt ends up in Dubya's outhouse. Anyway, I'll have more on the great Wedge Issue of '08, immigration, in the coming days, but for now, I'll tell you I hit Reply All and sounded off about the absurdity of the forward, and how this administration has shown a willful disregard for what most Americans think. (More proof on that in a bit.) Anyway, most amusing of all was the response I received from said relative. Indulge me - it's pretty good. What follows is my relative's response, followed by my response.

First, my relative's missive:

YES I do sincerely believe our elected Republican Representatives do care what we think. I can find no creditable documentation that 2/3 of Americans believing we should be out of Iraq. No doubt more incorrect left wing radical statistics to try and make a point and spew more venom and trite [sic] innuendoes about [sic] out duly elected officials. [I let him have the "elected" part of that phrase without comment, for now.] Having spent over three years in the military I learned to reserve my opinions and not second guess the military leadership of this great nation. God bless George Bush and Vice President [sic] Chaney, without them we could be learning a new language and religion now.

[signed]

PS: I have received an answer to every e-mail I have sent to the White House! So much for that BS.

A beauty, eh? Well, I wasn't going to take an e-mail like that without responding. Note that my additional comments that were not included in my e-mail to said relative are in [brackets]. Here goes:

And I thought this was going to be a dull Friday night! Congratulations - some of your comments are making the blog - I found them that amusing.

[Snip...]

When you say "Republican Representatives," speak for yourself - I'm proud to say I live in a state that dispatched of the insipidly asinine Rick Santorum from the U.S. Senate, and we now have a Democratic Senator in Bob Casey, Jr. and a Republican Senator, Arlen Specter, who's a liberal Senator by just about anyone's definition. And at least I live in Pa.'s First District - which has had the common sense to send a Democrat to the House, too. You wouldn't happen to live in the district that sent Katherine Harris to the House, would you? [Okay, I'm revealing a little here - this relative lives in Florida.] That would be too perfect. Cruella de Vil really distinguished herself in the House, didn't she?

[By the way, in case any of you have forgotten, Harris was Florida's Secretary of State in 2000, while simultaneously serving as the Bush campaign's Florida Chairperson - an outrageous conflict of interest. She went on to certify the Florida vote, which helped pave the way for the mess we are in now. She also ran for the U.S. Senate in '06 and got the stuffing kicked out of her, partly for statements like this:

"We have to have the faithful in government and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

Is there any end to her stupidity?]

Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic Nominee for president every year since 1988, when Bush carried the state in his disgraceful campaign against Michael Dukakis. And I'll be campaigning like hell this fall, regardless of who gets the Democratic Party's nomination.

As far as finding "credible documentation" about America wanting to be out of Iraq, well, you aren't going to find it on Fox News - try changing the channel and getting some non-State TV news. Leading up to the last election, public opinion polls far and wide consistently had over 60% of Americans wanting us out of Iraq, NOW. Last I heard, it was in the high fifties, no doubt as a result of the Bush administration's ongoing PR effort to "sell" this war. As far as if Americans think the war is a "mistake," as of two weeks ago, that number was at 63%. Hey, don't take my word for it, take Gallup's word for it - a right-wing leaning organization that knows a helluva lot more about polls than either of us ever will. Here's the latest I could find - copy/paste this link [Here's the video so you can watch it here]:

As for this administration paying attention to what the American public thinks, take a look at the two short videos I've attached. (And no, I'm not holding my breath that you will) - it's Dick being the dickish Dick we've all grown to know and "love" - expressing his contempt for the American people when asked about the Iraq War. Pretty enlightening and tragic.

[Here are the two videos I attached to the e-mail - a not-so-pleasant walk down memory lane from a few months ago, when Dick Cheney had some pretty outrageous things to say regarding our troops in the field, American public opinion, and the 4000th American death in Iraq. They serve as an excellent barometer of how this administration Supports the Troops. ...]

[This certainly starts out good enough, but it quickly denigrates into Cheney's filibustering about how great the troops are. Too bad they aren't treated that way. However, as the interview winds on, Cheney doesn't disappoint - turning into the smug SOB most of us know him to be. They volunteered. I'll be the first to say I recognize that the men and women in our military need to follow orders to have an effective military - I get that. But this just speaks to the callousness, cold-heartedness, detachment and willful disregard that this administration has treated our troops, both in the field and after they return home. The whole Support the Troops slogan has been beaten to death, so I won't do it much more here, other than to say that usually the people who scream it the loudest are the people doing the least to actually support them, and that includes a majority of the Republicans who are backing this war; Bush and Cheney top that list.

It's pretty amazing what hindsight can do to political debate. As bad of a campaign as John Kerry conducted in '04, he was right on a number of things about this war - there really was and is a "back-door draft," this administration has extended tours of duty from 12 to 15 months, has not provided the benefits to our soldiers that they deserve, has not provided our troops with the equipment they need in the field, along with a myriad of other outrages. This gets sickenly little press, Walter Reed Hospital aside (and that didn't last very long. Yet, somehow, Democrats are the ones who don't support the troops. I find that equal parts hilarious, outrageous and tragic.

One more thought - I find it breathtaking that Cheney brings up Afghanistan in this interview, and how abandoning that country set up a haven for Al-Qaeda (following the Soviets' withdraw from Afghanistan, when we abandoned Al-Qaeda after they no longer suited our proposes - defeating the Soviet invasion). Hmm, I wonder why he doesn't take responsibility for that tremendous blunder? After all, he was Secretary of Defense from March 1989 through the end of Bush Sr.'s administration. Once again, Cheney must think the American people are that stupid, and that we know nothing of history. We're not the stupid ones, Dick.

Cheney goes on to ask his interlocutor what the alternative should be to extending tours of duty. I dunno, Mr. Vice President, how about a draft? This administration won't even consider a draft, because Bush and Cheney know that public support for this war (what's left of it) would vanish in a nanosecond. Instead, they just keep Stop Lossing and extending tours of duty with the troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, and the troops are powerless to do anything about it. Christ, I wish I could interview Cheney.]

[You see? Right away with the attitude? That's Cheney's response - "So?" when asked about American opinion polls saying we should get out of Iraq. I find it entertaining that Bush and Cheney will endlessly pimp a poll when it's in favor of what they're doing, but the minute the winds of public opinion are blowing in their faces, then opinion polls don't mean diddly. You can't have it both ways, guys.]

I find your undying devotion to Cheney and Bush ironic in that these two right-wing chicken hawks did all they could to get out of serving during the Vietnam War. Two pussies with itchy trigger fingers - quick to go to war, and also quick to label people as traitors who don't agree with their rush-to-war strategy, but who refused to serve when offered the chance to serve themselves. Maybe if these two dolts had spent any time in combat when their country was drafting the non-privileged, they would know the true cost of war in lives and blood, and they wouldn't be so quick to drop bombs on innocent people.

This line had me up out of my chair, laughing, and saying to my wife in the other room, "You've got to hear THIS!"...

"God bless George Bush and Vice President [sic] Chaney, without them we could be learning a new language and religion now."

Really? Wow, you're really drank the propaganda Kool-Aid, haven't you? John Kerry was right - bin Laden really is "Osama bin Forgotten." Thank GOD we got rid of Saddam though, eh? This administration is one of the biggest frauds ever endured by the American people. We'd be learning a new language and religion by now? This is the Hyperbole Police - pull over! I must have missed the Islamic invasion of America, but I guess we'll truly be conquered if that Muslim wins the presidency, huh?

I find your comments about our military quite interesting - it's a perspective I'll never have - I've never had to fight for my freedom, and I'm thankful for that more than you'll ever know. But, I vehemently disagree regarding your comments regarding our military leadership. This great country was set up in such a way that our military leaders are answerable to our civilian elected officials, not the other way around. (Of course, in the case of Bush and Cheney, I use the word "elected" pretty loosely.) I'm sick to death of people crucifying politicians who have the temerity to question General Petraeus and others for our course of action in Iraq. Traditionally, the president, with the help of his advisers, dictate military policy in this country. But, not during this administration - we openly defer to the generals on the ground, and this is a tragic mistake. We rely on their assessments of the military situation, and every time, it's guaranteed that they will paint a rosy picture for the president and Congress. In essence, it's a set-up for failure. What general is going to go before the cameras and say, "Look, what I've been doing on such-and-such a battlefield is an abject failure - bring those boys home." Ain't happenin', captain. And you know what? Before the war began, the generals didn't know squat - our no-show National Guard president and his cabal of morons did - when General Eric Shinseki told the administration that it needed about 100,000 more troops for the invasion, they replaced him. But, Bush, Cheney and Rummy knew more than the generals did when it suited their proposes. Now that no general will ever say, "We're failing on the battle field," Bush and his morons defer to the generals.

General Westmoreland during the Vietnam War was the exact same way - we were "just around the corner" - victory was just a hundred thousand troops away. Over 58,000 dead Americans, and for what? NO, they didn't die in vain - any American who answers his country's call never, ever dies or serves in vain, but in the end, what did we accomplish in Vietnam? [Heaven forbid you don't write or say that qualifier whenever discussing the military - if you don't - you hate your country, you're unpatriotic, you don't support the troops, you should pack up and leave, and blah, blah, blah.] And, by the way, Democrats share a great deal more of that blame for that war than Republicans do - 300 years from now, President Johnson's legacy will be stained by the blood of Vietnam. Nixon can and should take some blame, too, but LBJ started us down the tragic path.

Were it not for civilian restraint, we would have used nuclear weapons during the Korean War, and we would have had a nuclear exchange with the Soviets in the early 1960s. I shudder to think what would have happened had the press and our elected officials had the same, tragic, slavish devotion to our military leaders back then they all seem to have today.

Generals aren't always wrong, though - Colin Powell, during the '91 Gulf War, reasoned that we should not invade and occupy Iraq - that it would have turned into a bloody, costly occupation. Too bad his voice wasn't heard in this administration.

One more point - this administration has NOT given our troops the tools on the ground in Iraq, and anyone who hasn't been living in a cave, or who hasn't had his or her head in the ideological sand knows this. From a lack of body armor and not providing armored Humvees in Iraq, to short changing the vets when they come home, to not giving them adequate pay raises while on active duty to not giving them proper health care, this administration has done just about everything BUT Support the Troops. What an empty, meaningless slogan. Sort of like Mission Accomplished, when Our National Embarrassment landed on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in his Halloween costume, with that smug smirk on his face.

Wake up and smell the outrage.

I could go on and on, but what's the point? My goal is not to educate you, nor is it to persuade you - I've got a better shot at becoming president myself. But what I won't do is sit idly by while my country that I love so much kills innocents in my stead, destroys a country halfway around the world, and dumps trillions of taxpayer money into a country that no one would give two craps about were it not for all of the oil underneath its sands.

Oh yea, and thanks for all the war debt, Mr. President. This war you're seemingly so blindly devoted to is going to be paid off on the backs of the middle class for decades to come, long after you're gone (and I hope that's a long time from now) - NOT by you, and not by Bush. God willing, if I live a long life, I'm going to suffer along with all Americans as we endure a crippled government that's hampered by war debt, declining prestige and credibility around the world, and a hopelessly politicized federal government, thanks in large part to Bush, Cheney and Karl Rove. You said something about having to learn a new language? Well, we might have to do just that - Chinese. After all, the Chinese are financing this war. Only a jackass like Bush would cut taxes and start a preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us. Wow, some businessman he is. It really makes me wonder about Harvard - that university gave this guy an MBA. Then again, or first MBA president is also our first DUI president. Maybe he was knee deep in scotch and cocaine when making these decisions about going to war in Iraq. And what's McCain's solution? Make the tax cuts permanent! Cut the corporate tax rate! [And end the Estate Tax, which really gets me going - more on that very soon, too.] Just what we need, more debt. I weep for the future. It's no wonder Vandra and I aren't having children - I firmly believe that bringing children into this world right now is borderline criminal. And before you start trotting out the "pinko commie liberal" label, or some other GOP doggerel, stick it. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

What's even more tragic is what could happen to me for sending this e-mail. I would be held as an enemy combatant in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without access to council or without being told what the charges are against me. That's thanks to the policies of this administration. How... American.

###

I share this e-mail not to attack or embarrass a relative (after all, I didn't name him - only my family will know who I'm talking about), but to make a point - this is the kind of blind devotion and hostility that moderates and progressives are up against. After all that's happened during these past 7+ years, there are still people who proudly have "Bush/Cheney '04" bumper stickers on their cars, which never ceases to amaze me. It does tell me that this election won't be won easily, and that progressives are going to have to fight tooth and nail for every vote.

Oh, and those sheeple with those Bush stickers still on their cars? As I pass them, I smile and wave with all my fingers. Once I get past them, they no doubt see the anti-Bush love on my car. They can kiss my rear bumper.

The bottom line is that there ought to be a saying for e-mail forwards, just like there is for drinking alcohol. You no doubt have heard Impairment starts with the first drink. How about Stupidity starts with the first forward? Okay, I guess I have to work on it. I'll gladly take any suggestions.

Oh, and you must pass this on to 10 people, or something realllllly bad will happen to you in 10 minutes.