SmithAntics

I’m guessing that anyone reading this post has a friend, colleague, or family member who is pro-Bush. I ask you to please forward my letter to the Bush supporter(s) in your life.

Here's a direct link to this post.

Dear Bush Supporter:

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll join me in saving your country by defeating George W. Bush in November. I ask for a few minutes of your time. I'll be glad to extend the same courtesy to you if you'd like to respond. I'm angry that you're supporting Bush and that you seek four more years of what I believe to be the worst administration in this country's history. That anger is evident in the text below. I hope you'll read it anyway.

Swift Boat Liars

Let’s start with the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." This is the organization that is claiming that John Kerry lied about his service in Vietnam and is “unfit for command”?

They are full of crap.

Professional investigative journalism has blown these cranks out of the water for exactly what they are: a front for the Bush campaign funded by mega-rich Bush-connected Texas Republicans.

The latest and most definitive takedown of these liars is contained in the impeccably sourced article linked here.

If you do not wish to register for the New York Times, here are some clips from the aforementioned article (if you don't care about the Swift Boat Veterans, please skip to the next section):

After weeks of taking fire over veterans' accusations that he had lied about his Vietnam service record to win medals and build a political career, Senator John Kerry shot back yesterday, calling those statements categorically false and branding the people behind them tools of the Bush campaign.

His decision to take on the group directly was a measure of how the group that calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has catapulted itself to the forefront of the presidential campaign. It has advanced its cause in a book, in a television advertisement and on cable news and talk radio shows, all in an attempt to discredit Mr. Kerry's war record, a pillar of his campaign.

How the group came into existence is a story of how veterans with longstanding anger about Mr. Kerry's antiwar statements in the early 1970's allied themselves with Texas Republicans.

Mr. Kerry called them "a front for the Bush campaign" - a charge the campaign denied.

A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove.

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.

[snip]

Several of those now declaring Mr. Kerry "unfit" had lavished praise on him, some as recently as last year.

In an unpublished interview in March 2003 with Mr. Kerry's authorized biographer, Douglas Brinkley, provided by Mr. Brinkley to The New York Times, Roy F. Hoffmann, a retired rear admiral and a leader of the group, allowed that he had disagreed with Mr. Kerry's antiwar positions but said, "I am not going to say anything negative about him." He added, "He's a good man."

In a profile of the candidate that ran in The Boston Globe in June 2003, Mr. Hoffmann approvingly recalled the actions that led to Mr. Kerry's Silver Star: "It took guts, and I admire that."

George Elliott, one of the Vietnam veterans in the group, flew from his home in Delaware to Boston in 1996 to stand up for Mr. Kerry during a tough re-election fight, declaring at a news conference that the action that won Mr. Kerry a Silver Star was "an act of courage." At that same event, Adrian L. Lonsdale, another Vietnam veteran now speaking out against Mr. Kerry, supported him with a statement about the "bravado and courage of the young officers that ran the Swift boats."

"Senator Kerry was no exception," Mr. Lonsdale told the reporters and cameras assembled at the Charlestown Navy Yard. "He was among the finest of those Swift boat drivers."

Those comments echoed the official record. In an evaluation of Mr. Kerry in 1969, Mr. Elliott, who was one of his commanders, ranked him as "not exceeded" in 11 categories, including moral courage, judgment and decisiveness, and "one of the top few" - the second-highest distinction - in the remaining five. In written comments, he called Mr. Kerry "unsurpassed," "beyond reproach" and "the acknowledged leader in his peer group."

[snip]

The book outlining the veterans' charges, "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against Kerry," has also come under fire. It is published by Regnery, a conservative company that has published numerous books critical of Democrats, and written by Mr. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, who was identified on the book jacket as a Harvard Ph.D. and the author of many books and articles. But Mr. Corsi also acknowledged that he has been a contributor of anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic comments to a right-wing Web site. He said he regretted those comments.

The group's arguments have foundered on other contradictions. In the television commercial, Dr. Louis Letson looks into the camera and declares, "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury." Dr. Letson does not dispute the wound - a piece of shrapnel above Mr. Kerry's left elbow - but he and others in the group argue that it was minor and self-inflicted.

Yet Dr. Letson's name does not appear on any of the medical records for Mr. Kerry. Under "person administering treatment" for the injury, the form is signed by a medic, J. C. Carreon, who died several years ago. Dr. Letson said it was common for medics to treat sailors with the kind of injury that Mr. Kerry had and to fill out paperwork when doctors did the treatment.

Asked in an interview if there was any way to confirm he had treated Mr. Kerry, Dr. Letson said, "I guess you'll have to take my word for it."

Please do read the entire article, as it clearly demonstrates the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” are anything but truthful. Their charges are riddled with contradictions and flat-out lies.

Here’s the bottom line:

John Kerry volunteered to go where the bullets were flying. For his heroic service in Vietnam, he received the silver and bronze stars and three purple hearts from the United States Navy.

George W. Bush used family connections to get a cushy post in the Texas Air National Guard, a post he deserted for a year. His administration has yet to provide evidence to dispute this claim. They claim the records that prove he served were destroyed in a tragic microfilm accident. Don't believe me? Click here.

If you believe the Swift Boat Veterans are even remotely legitimate, I challenge you to read the entire article and then present to me your evidence that they are not a Republican-sponsored smear operation. My email address is stevendsmith1@juno.com.

The Media is not Liberal

This brings me to my next point. The Swift Boat liars, the Rush Limbaughs, the Sean Hannitys, the William Safires, the Bill O’Reillys, and the Ann Coulters of this world are not a part of the “debate.” We are under no obligation to listen to them in an effort to be "balanced" and to look at "both sides” of the issue.

These people are right-wing propagandist hacks who have been thoroughly discredited by scholarship and authentic professional journalism. Shame on you if you take these lying smear artists seriously. I know you made it out of grade school, and I know that at some point in your life you were taught the basic rudiments of critical thought and the most minimal standards of evidence.

Just because a person is on television or has a newspaper column doesn’t make them authoritative on the issues of which they speak or even remotely truthful. Quite to the contrary, the corporate media favors right-wing hackism. Bill O’Reilly, Paula Zhan, and Joe Scarborough didn’t get gleaming studios and prime-time slots on FOX, CNN, and MSNBC because they follow the rigorous evidentiary standards of journalism. They got that stuff because they tow the line of the corporate-owned conservative media that serves the most corporatized administration in history.

The idea that the mainstream media is liberal so defies logic and the evidence that it warrants nothing but laughter. The myth of the liberal media has been shattered by basic obervation and media criticism scholarship.

Remember scholarship? Remember what you learned in high school? In college?

Did your English or history teachers let you get away with sloppy, half-assed innuendo, distortions, and lies? Of course they didn’t. And you shouldn’t let your media get away with it either. Stop taking horseshit at face value. You’re smarter than that. I know you are.

Bush and Conservatism

Conservatism is a legitimate political philosophy. It absolutely has a place in American politics. Though I happen to disagree with most of the tenets of conservatism, I am perfectly willing to have a reasoned debate about the relative merits of conservatism and liberalism. Which brings me to my next point.

Bush is not a conservative.

Hell, he’s not even the president. Dick Cheney is the president. Let's be serious.

George W. Bush is game show host. He is the figurehead for a group of hard-core right-wing ideologues who have taken control of your government. My party failed to stop this from happening.

But back to conservatism.

What is conservative about turning record surpluses into record deficits and tanking the economy?

What is conservative about losing millions of jobs?

What is conservative about outsourcing millions of jobs overseas?

And please spare me the “9/11 changed everything” crap. Nine-eleven happened nearly three years ago.

Stop it.

The administration and its extremist allies have hijacked our grief over that enormous tragedy and shamefully exploited it for their own political purposes. Nine-eleven is the day that justifies everything for them. It is a cover for their disastrous policies.

And you know it.

(You're angry, or maybe you're laughing. Hang in there.)

Reaganite-Bushite trickle-down economics do not work. Supply-side is a fraud. It is a ruse played by ultra-rich politicians to shower tax breaks on their ultra-rich friends. The Republican party has one overarching goal: to move income upwards into the coffers of the tiniest, wealthiest minority. They shamelessly use a national tragedy cover this policy.

Surely you can recognize that. C'mon now. Let's get real.

The economy has sucked ass since Bush came into office. Is this Clinton's fault?

If memory serves, Clinton presided over the one of the greatest peace-time expansions of the U.S. economy in history. What happened to the historic surplus that the Clinton economy created? It was squandered by the fiscally reckless Republicans. That's what happened.

Be serious. Okay? Bush and the Republicans have been a disaster for the economy. Don't hang this on 9/11. As a great president (Clinton) once said: "That dog don't hunt."

If you are not rich, George W. Bush is not your friend. George W. Bush is not an ally of the middle class, as he dishonestly claims to be. Unless you’re making over 200K a year, Bush and his cronies don’t give a rat’s ass about you. In fact, his economic policies are designed to hurt you. Just ask any economist that is not on the adminisration payroll. Why in God’s name would you support someone who is acting against your economic interests? Why?

Because he pretends to clear brush and string barbed wire on his fake ranch?

Because he is portrayed as a "straight shooter"? (He's not, he's a documented serial liar).

Because he prays (or claims to)?

Because he plays dress-up on an aircraft carrier?

Because he claims he's God's quarterback?

Your smarter than this. Wise the hell up. Your kids are going to pay tomorrow for Bush’s handouts to his rich friends today.

Is this okay with you?

Iraq

Onto to the war on Iraq.

You know god damn well that this thing is a disaster. My God, what a mess. Our kids are dying over there and getting their limbs blown off for a flat out lie.

Holy crap, is this really happening?

Nearly 950 American troops dead and over 6,000 wounded.

6,000 wounded!

6,000 without arms.

Without legs.

Or eyes.

Nearly 1,000 dead.

Mostly poor kids.

We aren't allowed to see their coffins. Bush wants them invisible.

Nearly 7,000 shattered American families.

Are you okay with this?

Do you believe this is a just war?

Would you die for this cause?

I ask again.

Would you die for this cause?

I don’t think you would.

Let’s get real.

Dick Cheney and a secretive group of hawks in the Pentagon cooked the intelligence to lead this country into a war against a weak, tin-horn dictatorship that posed no threat to you or me, but happened to be sitting atop one of the richest oil stashes on the planet.

This war is part money grab, part flexing of American military power. Any serious person who has done the most cursory homework can see this. A twelve-year-old can figure this out. Again, the journalism, the scholarship, and the multiple testimonies from former senior administration officials and policy experts corroborate this. Do you think all these people are lying?

Do you think the Republicans who oppose the war are lying?

How much bullshit are you willing to take? Really, how much?

The corrupt thugs who are trespassing in your White House used the tragedy of 9/11 to make their decade-long dream of taking over Iraq a reality. This war is a cash bonanza for the administration and its cronies.

Are you going to tell me with a straight face that there is no connection between the lucrative no-bid Iraq contracts Halliburton has received and the fact that vice president Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995—2000?

Can you say “war-profiteering”?

Is there anything more politically immoral than war-profiteering? Think about this for a second. They sent kids to die so defense, oil, and construction companies can get richer.

Stop being so god damn stubborn. I know you hate liberals, but your country is in trouble. It's time to fix things.

This administration blew up Iraq so they could use your money to pay their friends to rebuild it and harvest its resources. Our kids are over there with targets on their backs and dying horrible, ripping deaths and suffering gruesome injuries so George Bush and Dick Cheney’s friends can get rich. Is this okay with you?

I really want to know. Is this okay with you?

Why the hell are we in Iraq? Seriously. Why?

Is bombing the crap out of the heart of the Arab world an effective way to wage a war against Arab terrorism?

Where are the weapons of mass destruction that were the pretext for this war?

Don't talk to me about "liberation." That's bullshit and you know it.

And no, the "whole world" did not think Sadaam had WMD or was a threat. That is a cheap-ass Jedi mind trick being pushed by the administration and its lapdogs in the mainstream media. Bush launched this war against the will of the international community and half the population of this country.

The invasion of Iraq was and is a White House operation. And now that it's a complete disaster, and all the "candy and flowers" the grateful Iraqis are tossing are blowing the shit out of our troops, these cowardly bastards are trying to get the world to share the responsibility for their mess.

No sale.

Bush lied and now we're in this mess. It's his war. Kids are dying.

Your money is sinking in Iraq, and there's no end in sight.

Where is the accountablity?

Clinton lied about a blowjob and you wanted him crucified. Why isn't Bush held to the same standard of truth?

Why are military moms hosting bake sales to raise money for body armor for their sons and daughters who are fighting Dick Cheney’s war on Iraq?

Why is Bush slashing combat pay and veterans benefits? I thought he was a friend to the troops. He wrapped himself in the American flag and told me so.

Is an effective war on terror one that tortures Iraqi citizens in Sadaam Hussein’s prisons? Is this consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ, who Bush claims is his guide? Is this consistent with American values?

Is this liberation?

What's happening in Afghanistan? An American tax-payer-funded disaster, that's what's happening. It's not on the news. Do some homework.

Where is Osama bin Laden? Remember him? He’s the guy that murdered 3,000 Americans on 9/11. When was the last time you heard George W. Bush utter his name?

And is it okay that John Ashcroft is trampling on your Constitution so he can spy on you?

Is that what America is about?

Have you read the basic elements of the PATRIOT Act? Or do you just take the word of your government that it's a "necessary tool" in the war on terror?

Have you read the Bill of Rights?

Is it okay that the Bush administration is trashing your environment—your water, your air, your national parks and treasures—so his cronies in the most polluting industries can get even richer? Is this good for our kids?

Is it okay that "Homeland Security" is largely a hoax, a PR stunt? Your police, fire, and other crucial first-responder services are getting screwed by Bush.

Let me know if your cool with this.

And do you really think that Dick Cheney is acting in this country’s best interest?

In your best interest?

C'mon.... Dick Cheney?

This guy is a villain straight out of a comic book. You can see this. I know you can. Open your eyes. Look at Dick Cheney's history of corruption, cronyism, and obsessive government secrecy.

It's not pretty.

Is your contempt for liberals and liberalism so deep that you are willing to let a group of oil-soaked extremist thugs take this country to hell?

Can you not recognize a rat when it’s right in front of you?

I think you can.

Give Kerry a Look

Read the Kerry/Edwards plan for America . These are good guys, good Americans. You’ll see. What have you got to lose? Just read the dang thing.

Your country is in danger. Help save it.

Defend America.

Defeat Bush.

Vote Kerry.

You can do this and still be a good conservative.

Thanks for reading.

Steve