Open Letter to George Bush and Dick Cheney
Dear George and Dick,
I can't believe how you are reacting to Congress, and the people whom they represent--who think that war has been a mistake--63% of us. Are we all cowards who want to cut and run? Are 63% of the American people giving aid and comfort to the "enemy"?
How dare anyone who dodged combat service in Viet Nam call into question the patriotism and courage of a decorated combat veteran. Shame on you two. How dare Representative Jean Schmidt stand up in front of the entire Congress and tell Murtha that he isn't enough of a marine? A man with TWO Purple Hearts, Bronze Star with Combat "V", and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry does not deserve to be called a coward by a fellow congressperson and have that charge demanded to be entered into the Congressional Record.
And now, in Republican Standard Operating Proceedure, instead of adressing the substance of the charges a man makes in his criticism of your policies...you instead attack his character and rush a vote on his resolution to withdraw without any time for discussion or debate merely in order to force the democrats who have made it so clear that they are willing to continue the committment so long as there is a plan with some kind of end envisioned...something beyond the political sound bite of "Total Victory."
Shame on you. But maybe you just don't understand what the American People are asking of you.
Look, I know you guys are Chicken Hawks, but you are also business people.
Think of it on a business model. Imagine you are a business, and that I am an investor in your business. I've heavily invested, and continue to invest even more each year. You need these investements in order to keep your business going, because profits are not what anyone expected.
Now, a large percentage...in fact, large enough to represent a controlling interest in your corporation...are telling you they want to see the business plan.
If we don't get a plan, we are not going to continue to invest.
Maybe looked at this way it will make sense to you. We are not cowards, but we are also not stupid. We are not going to allow you to squander our sons, daughters, and hard earned tax dollars on this war indefinitely, and you have not right to expect us to do so in the absence of a clear, coherent, and workable plan to use our dearest of resources and our precious investment in your war.
Now, absurdly optimistic that you have read this far, I'd like to also take this opportunity to ask you what the heck you are thinking with the passage of all these cuts to social programs in order to offset the deficit you've gleefully created.
The poor are not the enemy. The terrorists are. You want a way to reduce the deficit, maybe finding some way to drop the spending on this war a couple billion below the $6 BILLION A MONTH we're forking out instead of telling some poor bastard living in a shelter that he's got to move and you aren't going to feed him anymore.
Remember, YOU'RE supposed to be the CHRISTIANS. Remember that thing Jesus said about knowing them by their fruit? Remember that stuff he used to say about feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and not hoarding up wealth?
I'm looking at your trees, George and Dick, and I ain't seeing much fruit.
And I'm thinking Jesus had the right idea when he had the same problem with that fig tree.
Oh, and by the way, one last that thing that has always bugged me. George, you used to pull that quote about the plank in your own eye thing a lot when responding to questions about your critics...I think you miss the point, which was a caution not to commit hypocrisy, not a verbal weapon to use against critics. I think the world would be a much better place if you'd sit down a spell and have Condi read that particular passage to you until you actually understand it.
That's all, thanks for taking the time to listen to one of your constituents, it's certainly great to live in a democracy where all of us are free to hold our own opinions and express them, and know that they will get the consideration of a great President and Vice President who truly respect their nation, it's people, and the constitution they've sworn to protect.
Now, I'd like you both to go do that thing Cheney told Leahy to do.
Yours without much faith,
Archie Levine
I can't believe how you are reacting to Congress, and the people whom they represent--who think that war has been a mistake--63% of us. Are we all cowards who want to cut and run? Are 63% of the American people giving aid and comfort to the "enemy"?
How dare anyone who dodged combat service in Viet Nam call into question the patriotism and courage of a decorated combat veteran. Shame on you two. How dare Representative Jean Schmidt stand up in front of the entire Congress and tell Murtha that he isn't enough of a marine? A man with TWO Purple Hearts, Bronze Star with Combat "V", and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry does not deserve to be called a coward by a fellow congressperson and have that charge demanded to be entered into the Congressional Record.
And now, in Republican Standard Operating Proceedure, instead of adressing the substance of the charges a man makes in his criticism of your policies...you instead attack his character and rush a vote on his resolution to withdraw without any time for discussion or debate merely in order to force the democrats who have made it so clear that they are willing to continue the committment so long as there is a plan with some kind of end envisioned...something beyond the political sound bite of "Total Victory."
Shame on you. But maybe you just don't understand what the American People are asking of you.
Look, I know you guys are Chicken Hawks, but you are also business people.
Think of it on a business model. Imagine you are a business, and that I am an investor in your business. I've heavily invested, and continue to invest even more each year. You need these investements in order to keep your business going, because profits are not what anyone expected.
Now, a large percentage...in fact, large enough to represent a controlling interest in your corporation...are telling you they want to see the business plan.
If we don't get a plan, we are not going to continue to invest.
Maybe looked at this way it will make sense to you. We are not cowards, but we are also not stupid. We are not going to allow you to squander our sons, daughters, and hard earned tax dollars on this war indefinitely, and you have not right to expect us to do so in the absence of a clear, coherent, and workable plan to use our dearest of resources and our precious investment in your war.
Now, absurdly optimistic that you have read this far, I'd like to also take this opportunity to ask you what the heck you are thinking with the passage of all these cuts to social programs in order to offset the deficit you've gleefully created.
The poor are not the enemy. The terrorists are. You want a way to reduce the deficit, maybe finding some way to drop the spending on this war a couple billion below the $6 BILLION A MONTH we're forking out instead of telling some poor bastard living in a shelter that he's got to move and you aren't going to feed him anymore.
Remember, YOU'RE supposed to be the CHRISTIANS. Remember that thing Jesus said about knowing them by their fruit? Remember that stuff he used to say about feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and not hoarding up wealth?
I'm looking at your trees, George and Dick, and I ain't seeing much fruit.
And I'm thinking Jesus had the right idea when he had the same problem with that fig tree.
Oh, and by the way, one last that thing that has always bugged me. George, you used to pull that quote about the plank in your own eye thing a lot when responding to questions about your critics...I think you miss the point, which was a caution not to commit hypocrisy, not a verbal weapon to use against critics. I think the world would be a much better place if you'd sit down a spell and have Condi read that particular passage to you until you actually understand it.
That's all, thanks for taking the time to listen to one of your constituents, it's certainly great to live in a democracy where all of us are free to hold our own opinions and express them, and know that they will get the consideration of a great President and Vice President who truly respect their nation, it's people, and the constitution they've sworn to protect.
Now, I'd like you both to go do that thing Cheney told Leahy to do.
Yours without much faith,
Archie Levine
posted by Archie Levine at 6:22 PM
3 Comments:
It's amazing how all the usual suspects that felt Saddam Hussien needed to be taken down went against everything they said when Clinton was in office:
Bill Clinton
Nancy Pelozi
Sandy Berger
Were they right then and wrong now?
Are they for the war or against it or are they just going with what is popular at the time? Now we see all the hype was just yet another ploy because the vote to pull out just further proves their lies. Unfortunately what this war turned out to be was unforseen and we must stay and continue the fight. I agree let's not cut and run but where's the plan? Let's get the democrats opinion on a plan. After all 80% of them were for the war in the first place.
VET
VET, I hate to say it, but you seem to be an empty head filled with propaganda.
Nobody "voted for the war" they foolishly voted to authorize "war powers" in order to give the President the ability to ensure that his threats had teeth when trying to force Saddam to prove he did not have what it turns out he actually did not have.
Second, this vote doesn't prove a damned thing, other than the Republicans you love so much are a bunch of dirty tricksters who are not above pulling a ridiculous political stunt to quash debate on a serious issue...that of continuing this war without a plan to end it years after the President has already said the mission was accomplished.
How would you feel if Democrats had put a resolution up for a vote that they knew they did not support, and planned to vote down with the sole purpose of forcing the Republicans to provide a political tool. Murtha made his resolution to create honest debate. Your people made yours in order to prevent it. That doesn't sound like a love of democracy to me, it seems like the act of people who are afraid of democracy when they know that 63% of the American People now think that the war is a mistake.
Furthermore, it is ridiculous to keep saying that people in the Clinton Administration thought there was a threat...we knew less then, the inspections were still going on in order to find proof of that threat, and early in the Clinton Administration the chemical weapons Bush's dad had sold them had not yet reached the end of their shelf life.
The lies being proved are your own, but you are too blind and stupid to understand that.
Again, I blame you and people like you far more than Bush for the destruction of this nation and the danger to the world that poses...because he could never do what he's doing without your help.
So stop it, please.
Yes Vet, you are a willfully ignorant man and you do great damage to the idea of what democracy is supposed to be and serve - in your refusal to examine the facts, you create and sustain a lie, and a lie that kills many other men and women in uniform.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
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