I have been encouraged recently by a couple emails I've received from total strangers who say they share my displeasure with the current administration in Washington, DC. Though both voted for Bush in 2000, they plan to vote third-party in 2004! This is great news!
Is it possible that some whacko right-winger disguised as a libertarian might do to Bush what Michael Moore and Ralph Nader did to Al Gore? It might be possible! Republicans who are not part of the christian right could un-elect Bush by voting third-party.
This means that thinking and working Americans might be able to band together and elect a Democrat to this White House. I know it's unlikely, but I can dream! It is my sincerest hope that Bush is dethroned. Enough is enough already!
Whichever candidate you support, I hope you will be active in this election. I hope you will send money, or volunteer time, or speak-out in your professional and social circles. That is old-fashioned democracy. It's fun! Do it. Let everyone know you are working to oust Bush.
The Republicans are the greatest mudslingers in the history of American electoral politics. They lie about that, but it's true. They sink lower and lower each time. Their biggest tricks are playing the Black Card and the Gay Card. They insinuate that the Democrats only represent gay people and people of color, and that election of Democrats mean that your wives and children are not safe. It's vulgar, it is so fifties, and so effective. It's depressing that people still fall for it; but, it's so visceral that everyone responds.
The Republicans say they want small government and less taxes, but they have raised working families' taxes so much and eliminated so many services for working families since the Reagan administration, that it will take a hundred years of token Republican give-backs to bring working families back to the standard of living they enjoyed during the Carter Administration in 1977! The tax-cuts and budget changes made by the two Bushes and Reagan have benefited only a very small percentage of the country and many working families are now members of the greatest Republican invention: the working poor!
Acting in their formal role as the mouthpiece for the christian right and poster children for unbridled corporate avarice, Republicans have found support from the Club for Growth in their current attack against Democratic front-runner Howard Dean.
Club For Growth is paying for the current campaign and it is outlined in this email from Joe Trippi, of the Dean Campaign:
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Dear Dean Supporter:
They'll do anything to stop you. We knew that the special interests that support George Bush would attack your campaign even as we're fending off attacks from the other Democratic campaigns.
The Club for Growth, the corporate interest group that attacked us last month, is now on the air again in Iowa trying to stereotype you. The new ad shows an elderly couple saying:
"I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs."
It's one thing to distort Howard Dean's record, but it's a new low when they resort to trying to smear you, the people who built this campaign. The president of this despicable group said: "What we're trying to show is Dean is supported by the cultural elite and not by anyone with middle-American values and finances."
Smearing and stereotyping are not "middle-American values." We need to stand together now for the integrity and common purpose that sparked this campaign and fuels it today:
Contribute to Dean For America
You can send a message today that our campaign is about restoring the American community, not resorting to name-calling as a substitute for meaningful discussion of the real concerns that face our country.
Your past contributions have carried us to where we are today. We are on our way to reaching two million Americans giving $100 to defeat George Bush. Now, with this battle underway, please join the $100 revolution:
The Dean For America Revolution
And in the final stretch to Iowa, the Los Angeles Times reports that it's not just the Club for Growth that is spending all it's got to try and distort what it is we're fighting for. The story shows that three of our opponents have outspent us on the air in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
We're fighting a battle on many fronts. The supporters of George W. Bush have already launched their air war. Combined, the other campaigns have $45 million against our $15 raised last quarter. And they are spending all of it to stop you.
Thank you for all that you do.
Joe Trippi
Campaign Manager
Dean for America
Watch the Club for Growth attack ad
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I hope you are making a decision to de-throne the current president of the United States. America deserves a chance to become a great nation again. Please support a candidate, any candidate against Bush!
Peace.
The rantings of an unrepentant old leftist, and his friends.
