Winning Friends & Influencing People

The American Spectator certainly knows how to win friends and influence people.

Crocodile Tears
By Christopher Orlet
Published 8/12/2005 12:06:48 AM

Cindy Sheehan has now been squatting in a roadside ditch near President Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch since August 6. And every day more aging hippies, professional grievance-mongers, and underemployed liberal arts majors show up with their backpacks and banjos to join her. Squatting in ditches, sleeping in pup tents, and sitting around a campfire at night yodeling “This Land Is Your Land” is after all the anti-war protesters idea of nirvana.

I just don’t understand why anyone in either party feels the need to resort to regularly insulting anyone who doesn’t agree with their political views. Politics is the new racism, isn’t it? Just remember the old cliche: You get more flies with honey. Maybe if people on both sides of the fence started treating each other with respect and common courtesy, we might find some middle ground to meet on…but then I suspect there are a number of loud mouth rebel-rousers that don’t want anyone meeting in the middle. What then would they have to rally about? Who would be listening?

Tags: Cindy Sheehan, George W. Bush, politics, protestors, mud-slinging

A Conservative Wrote My Feelings

To be honest, I haven’t said anything about Cindy Sheehan here simply because it seemed like everyone else was talking about her and so many liberals had already voiced how I felt and expressed it in much better words that I think I could have.

Just in case you didn’t know, I deeply respect Cindy, her courage and her dedication. I wish that I could believe that if I were in her position, I would be sitting there in her chair. I’m not even sure I’m brave enough to be one of those who’ve joined her — I keep thinking of practical things like paying my bills and keeping my job and quite frankly I think what Cindy is doing is far more important. It’s about time someone started trying to get the President’s attention to let him know that maybe things aren’t going as well as his minions are telling him. Quite frankly, I think she’s amazing, a heroine, a role model, and apparently I’m not alone — just look at all the people who have been brave enough to join her. Those people are my heroes too. Without people like them, nothing would ever change.

CNN.com - Bush motorcade passes anti-war mom’s protest - Aug 12, 2005
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — President Bush’s motorcade, en route to a political fund-raiser near his ranch, passed Friday by the site of Cindy Sheehan’s Iraq war protest where more than 100 people had gathered to support her.

Sheehan — whose son, Casey, was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year at age 24 — held a sign that read: “Why do you make time for donors and not for me?”

I bring this up because I found this post at Brilliant at Breakfast written by a conservative and it so eloquently expressed my feelings about Cindy and those who want to discredit her. I’m so tired of seeing conservative right-wingers who just regurgitate rhetoric and propoganda who can’t do anything more than quote Rush and O’Reilly as their arguments for why they are right and anyone who doesn’t agree is wrong. I’m tired of seeing people on both sides of the party line who refuse to look at the big picture and realize that when you select your party on your voter registration, you aren’t signing your mind over to political brainwashing. No one is going to take your voters’ rights away if you say something bad about your party, it’s current platform, or even it’s head honcho. You are not betraying your party if you read or hear some fact that doesn’t agree with what you’ve been told. I’m tired of people ignoring facts that don’t fit with what they want to believe.

Anyway, here’s the post that made me think there is hope…a liberal and a conservative agreeing on something — we might be o.k. afterall…

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: Decency Is Not In Them

Even when something really outrages me, usually that outrage gives way to a bit of calm, measured thinking. With the Cindy Sheehan story, that’s not the case.

If one needed any further proof that this incarnation of “Republicans” and alleged conservatives includes a faction that has gone completely and tragically over the edge, the smear campaign against Cindy Sheehan is it. For those who might not be familiar with the details of this and are looking for an accurate, factual account, a good summary appears here.

The essence of the right-wing smear machine’s “outing” of Cindy Sheehan is her supposed flip-flop from supporting President Bush in 2004 to disapproving of him in 2005. As details of this have become clearer, it’s obvious the flip-flop is nothing more than a canard. But setting aside the Sheehan story for a moment, have any of the shameless smearsters seen the public opinion polls recently? Here’s some breaking news for them: a whole lot of Americans who supported Bush a year ago—including an increasingly large part of his “base”—have turned against him. And that includes many millions of people who haven’t lost a parent, child, or sibling in Iraq.

There are so many side issues of shamelessness and crass opportunism in this story it makes my head spin. Think about the gall of a political and media machine “accusing” a private citizen of changing her mind (imagine that!) about an elected and supposedly accountable public official. When did a private citizen supposedly changing her opinion about something rise to the same level as a flip-flop about firing anyone involved in the leaking a CIA agent’s name? At what point did the ability to change one’s mind about a politician become something to be ridiculed and accused of instead of cherished as a basic right? And it’s not as if in the past year we haven’t learned anything about the pre-war manipulation of intelligence, as well as the incompetent planning, that resulted in the death of Cindy Sheehan’s son and thousands of others like him.

Something else about this story that infuriates me is the vision of feckless, smarmy smearsters and cowards hiding behind keyboards in cities like Washington and New York (and yes, Miami), punching out electronic missives in a pathetic and desperate attempt to impugn the integrity of a woman sitting in the dust and August heat of Texas—a woman who, along with her dead son, embodies everything that’s right about this country. The growing division between the professional class of spinning punditry and the vast expanse of Middle America that actually does the working, the fighting and the dying so the pundits can spend their time chattering has never been more clear than with this story.

If I had lost a parent, child or sibling in Iraq, I’d be right next to Cindy Sheehan sitting in that dust and heat. And I wouldn’t budge until the president—ensconced within that reassuring bubble of faith, brush-clearing and mountain bike-riding—found a few moments to come listen to me. I hope as many people as possible join her protest and offer her food, water, and whatever legal or media assistance she may need.

In the meantime, it behooves the rest of us to do our part and engage in some “outing” of our own. That includes identifying and relentlessly shaming those who have become so unmoored from morality that not only have they abandoned the uniquely American ideals of accountability and sacrifice, they openly ridicule them.

Amen.

Tags: Cindy Sheehan, anti-war, protestors, politics, George W. Bush, Iraq, mud-slinging

Get Over It Already

I am so over the mistruths, untruths, rumors and mudslinging. I’m over the people (on both sides) who appear to have no real sense of humor and who will believe anything true or not that agrees with what they want to be true. I’m tired of people being nasty and rude to each other just because of a difference of opinion.

Get over it all already; neither candidate is perfect, certainly neither is God, and neither is the devil incarnate.

If you aren’t willing to have an intelligent conversation without spew hatred, negativity, rhetoric, and propoganda, take heed to the old adage that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

That said. Get informed, get an opinion, and vote for something, but don’t try to ram your opinion, informed or uninformed, down anyone’s throat. It doesn’t help anyone’s opinion of you or your candidate and could have the opposite effect you wanted.

Tags: politics, hypocrisy, mud-slinging

A Nation Divided

I have for some time been searching for a way to express how I feel about the war in Iraq. I’m tired of being told I’m unpatriotic and Unamerican if I disagree with the war itself. I’m tired of being insulted and being accused of not supporting the troops because I vocally believe exactly what Kerry has said — “Wrong war, wrong time.”

Someone finally put into words what I’ve been trying to convey. It is possible to support our troops while disagreeing with the commander-in-cheif. I think the men and women who choose to serve in the military are very special, brave people who deserve respect. I am aware that many of them believe in the “cause” they are fighting for in Iraq, though I suspect that number is higher than it probably would be if many didn’t feel the need to believe it’s righteous to make themselves feel better about it all.

D was supposed to ship out to Iraq last month. His orders changed at the last minute to my relief. Apparently to his as well. He told me how important it is to vote in this election and vote for someone who’ll put an end to the madness.

My neighbor, a man who has served in the Navy in several wars including Vietnam, doesn’t like what Kerry did immediately after coming home from Vietnam (something he and I disagree on), but he’s voting for Kerry. He doesn’t seem to think that Bush is doing a very good job making decisions for this country, particularly where our military is concerned.

My father who was Army, who I thought was a Republican growing up, is probably the most liberal person I know now. He’s voting for Kerry. Like me, he never believed in the WMD claims by this administration.

I feel so sad because at one time I did respect President Bush. I thought that while he didn’t appear to be a very smart man, he had been smart enough to surround himself with smart people. Now I think that has turned around and bit him in the ass. I think he sees the world through rose-colored glasses provided to him by the likes of Dick Chenney and the other Bush minions. I think that Bush can stand up there and tell lies and mislead the country because he’s been misled by his own people, the people he trusts. I’m not saying his completely innocent. I also think he wanted to get Sadaam and he challenged his people to find a way.

It’s all such a disappointment.

The truth is that I like Kerry. I even like most of the things that the Republicans accuse him of. When I have gone to investigate the accusations and claims, I’ve found that in the correct context, mis-quoted things make sense and show him to be an intelligent man who looks at the changing world and changes with it as needed. I look at his record in Congress and I am not at all upset by most of his choices. I don’t know how he’d be as president. Obviously I hadn’t known how Bush would be. You take that risk when you vote. I know how Bush has been the last two years. I see how his administration has misled this country, sent our men and women to die, left Osama Bin Laden running free despite claims to get him no matter what, and destroyed most of the environmental protection legislation in favor of unregulating corporations who are out to help themselves despite the effects on the less-than-priviliged and the next generations who inherit the world.

But still mostly, I’m tired of the division in this country. Bush was supposed to be a uniter but from Nov. 2, 2000, he has been everything but with the exception of the few months following September 11, 2001 — which was more a coming together of patriotism and pride and mourning by the American people. Al-Queida united us far better than Bush has.

Tags: Iraq, patriotism, John Kerry, George W. Bush, Support the Troops, mud-slinging

Is it Nov. 3rd yet?

Well, I have quickly learned that the tension is too thick and feelings are too strong for most people, Democrat or Republican, to be able to laugh at themselves or their candidates this election year. As much as I love Kerry, I can at least laugh at a good joke poking fun at either candidate. I admit, I do take some things about the election seriously, but I can still laugh. :rolleyes:

I will admit here so people understand that I’m not just one of those AntiBushBots running around claiming Bush is the anti-Christ. I do know he has done a few good things. I feel that his bad things outweigh the good. I don’t think he should have another 4 years to run up the debt, start more unnecessary wars, and try to take away our civil liberties, but I will admit to being pleased with his announcement on Monday to re-allign the troups stationed in Europe and Asia. Now, admittedly, I don’t know enough about the military and strategy to understand it all, but I think that any effort to make the military more mobile and bring as many Americans home as possible is a good thing. I know Kerry has criticized this decision and I don’t pretend to understand why. I do know that Bush’s announcement was 7 years in the making (which means it started with Clinton, which means it can’t be all bad. ) and it will take 10 years to implement.

Ironically, I encountered a bunch of Bushbots yesterday who claimed that Kerry says he’s going to bring home the troops in Iraq within the first 6 months of his presidency and that he is going to get Germany and France to replace those troops. That’s not what he said. He said he was going to start reducing the number of American troops in Iraq within 6 months and also has indicated that he will endevour to resecure tarnished relationships with traditional alliances like NATO, and countries like France and Germany in an effort to get their support in the Iraq endevour. Support does not necessarily mean military.

I’m becoming wary of anyone spouting negativity and using one candidate’s website as proof of conjecture and half-truths they are declaring in regards to other candidate. For example, don’t send me a like to the Bush/Chenney website that has an article about how horrible Kerry is or vice versa. I also don’t care to visit Fox News or any blantantly obvious right-wing or even left-wing website. I just want the truth. I want provable facts. I want people who can back up what they are saying in a political debate.

Someone told me that Kerry has never released his military records and refuses to release records of his senate voting after 1995. I did a quick google and found all of that information on non-partisan websites. I’ve even found Bush’s National Guard records. I wish I knew where people were getting their information from.

Someone even told me that with thinking like those of us who didn’t want to go into Iraq in the first place, Hitler would still be in power…this is another comparison I am tired of dealing with. I don’t even have the interest to discuss it here.

Tags: politics, mud-slinging, 2004 election

I Wish It Were Over Already!

I kind of wish the whole election thing was over already so we could go on with our lives. However, my experience with the last election tells me that it won’t be over on Nov. 3rd, but will drag on and on and on.

I saw a statistic in Newsweek last week, I think, about how in the 1992 election at this time 66% of people were still undecided, but polsters working for Bush (probably from India) say that this year only 17% are undecided. I wonder if they’re counting all the Amish people Republicans have been registering to vote lately — apparently the Amish traditionally vote Republican and the Republicans have been out in the fields signing them up to vote this year.

Still, I’m tired of all the debating going on between people who appear to be brainwashed on either side — though mostly it does seem to be the right-wing conservative Republicans that are acting like parrots, but I could be biased. I don’t really know anymore if I’m capable of not being biased.

I’ve heard complaints that some people are upset that Bush might not win because people are voting for Kerry because they don’t like Bush. To me that’s completely reasonable and logical. Why would they vote for Bush if they don’t like him?

I’ve heard outright lies and rumors, some of which have been perpetuated by the Republican Party and by popular right-wing talk show hosts (even the ones who claim to be fair and balanced). I’ve heard silliness even from the Democrats. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out who to believe. There are Vets for John Kerry and Vets against John Kerry. I tend to believe the ones who served under and with him more than those who didn’t even know him then — and those apparently are the ones for him. In fact, one of the really big mouthed ones against him has even recanted his claims, though I understand it’ll still be in the Kerry-bashing commercial.

Bush is crowing about Kerry saying that despite what he knows now he would have still voted to give Bush authorization to go to war. Bush seems to think that this proves Kerry is flip-flopping. However, Kerry did give authorization to Bush and he never denied it. What Kerry has stood by is that he would have done things differently than Bush, would have made sure of the intelligence being used (which has been proven faulty) and would have ensured that we didn’t go it alone but had the support of the world, or at least the allies we usually depend on. The Republicans keep touting about how Kerry voted against the $87 billion needed to continue the war in Iraq, but what they don’t tell you is that Kerry did support it as long as it had an amendment to increas taxes on the wealthy so that the money would be coming from somewhere. It bothers me that Bush seems to be spending a lot of money we don’t have. It makes sense to me that the money has to come from somewhere. If I were charging up that much debt, the creditors would be constantly calling my house.

People are also talking about Kerry’s money and they can’t seem to separate his finances from Teresa’s, but Teresa did make him sign a pre-nup which keeps him from all that wealth and last December he had to mortgage his Boston home to pay for the campaign. Teresa can only give him $2000 for his campaign because of campaign-finance laws. (He has repayed the debt, which is good, because I was actually worried for him.)

I’m tired of people complaining that Kerry will raise taxes. I don’t want to pay higher taxes either, but I do understand that our country is in debt; we are closing schools and cutting back on fire and police services nationwide, but we are financing a war and supposedly rebuilding two war-torn Middle Eastern countries, including providing new schools and fire houses. Where are we going to get that money? Kerry says he is only going to roll back Bush’s tax break on the very wealthy (those that make $200,000 per year). I don’t know anyone personally in that tax bracket, but since I’m living on less than $70K a year, I can imagine that they will survive.

Mostly I’m tired of the rhetoric and propoganda. I’m tired of the games and the debates. My mind is made up. Most people’s minds are made up. There’s little that can be said or done now that will change anyone’s minds. For the most part, either people love Bush, people love Kerry, or they hate Bush enough to vote for Kerry. I suppose there are other options, but on election day, those are the three that are going to matter.

I think the closer it gets to election day, the more outbreaks of bar room-like brawls will occur. And honestly, I’m very afraid for this country. I think no matter who wins, somewhere, some unhappy people are going to make a violent scene. I remember the L.A. riot. I’m afraid that could happen again.

Tags: 2004 election, politics, John Kerry, George W. Bush, mud-slinging, propaganda