Dear American Left:

[cegerer]

http://right-thoughts.us/index.php/weblog/an_open_letter_to_the_open_letter_writers_of_the_l eft/

Dear American Left,

I know why Bush won. I know why you lost. No, not just lost…were rejected. I know exactly why, and we’ll get to that in a minute. First, though, just let me say this: If you think that spewing hate and invective on me now is going to make your life improve in any way whatsoever, you are a bigger group of fools than anyone imagined. If you think calling me more names is going to get you what you want in this country, you are not just acting foolish, you are delusional and maybe your hatred is more than just a little self-oriented. The reason I say “I” here instead of “we” or “The GOP” is because I want you to understand something so basic, so fundamental that I am ashamed for you that I have to spell it out.

I am the Republican Party.

Oh, I may not be a majority of the party yet. I am strongly in favor of gay marriage and completely against most of the pro-life points of view (for reasons that transcend the circular discussion of when life begins). This makes me an outsider for the moment, not part of the mainstream of the GOP.

But my numbers are growing. And my age is a factor. You see, the old guard of the Republican party is quite literally dying, and we, the younger members, are moving up. It won’t be long before we are a majority influence and can turn the party back toward preserving the ideals of smaller government, less interference in both business and private life. I believe it is possible to embrace both traditional and progressive values. I do it every day. I believe that it is possible to hold our military up as the primary reason the federal government exists and still manage to protect the rights of two people who wish to legally share their lives, and I will work within my party to make that happen.

I am the Republican Party. Or more appropriately, I am the future of the Republican Party. And if you think keeping me on your side is worth anything, you might want to re-think the idea of calling me a bigot or a Nazi or spewing hatred at me. Your ideals were soundly rejected, and if you stopped whining long enough to ask, some of us can tell you why. Part of why you don’t know is the fact that you haven’t stopped whining in the last four years. The steady stream of hate, lies and vitriol from the American left has hardened the American right in ways you can’t begin to imagine. You tempered us. You forged us in the fire of your hate, and you made us stronger than we every could have without your steady litany of bile and complaint.

I’ll give you a perfect, shining example of why you lost. His name is Michael Moore.

Before Moore burst forth with his theories of 9/11 conspiracies, “seven minutes,” blood for oil, Taliban pipelines etc., very little actual criticism was levied at Bush beyond the misguided notion that something errant happened in Florida. If Moore did not exist, I believe that cooler heads would have realized that a never-ending flow of recounts all proved one thing: Bush won. Period. And we would have moved forward. 9/11 would still have happened and we might have had a chance at keeping some of that unity we all felt, but along came Moore, and in tow came the most extreme elements of the American left. Bolstered by the Hollywood liberal, the MoveOn/Democratic Underground lunatic, the darkest fringes of radical American liberalism were given credence simply by being a market share. Fine…free markets are great. Moore has a message, you provided an audience, money was exchanged.

But then you started taking those messages into the political arena as though they had validity. And most of America looked at you like you just grew a third eye right in front of them. And still you persisted, getting more and more hateful, telling more lies, spinning out-of-context elements and juxtaposing any and every situation in order to try to hammer home your talking points. No matter what the discussion, you brought it back to one of Moore’s talking points. If the topic did not fit your need, you forced it, or just ignored it altogether and ranted away.

You never stopped for a minute to consider the fact that you might be wrong. And yet that very behavior is one of the greatest criticisms of Bush by the new radical left. Ironic, I think.

You took this new radicalism so far that your candidate for President, a man who is guided by polls, took a look around and said “Oh, I get it. There is energy around this new radical hate of the President. I will base my message not only around my questionable service, but around this new radical hatred, even if most of it is baseless or contradicts what I said just six or twelve months ago.”

Make no mistake, people, two things lost you this election. First it was your incessant need to spew vile invective at anyone who did not think like you, and secondly, like Nader in 2000, you have one man to thank, and his name is Michael Moore.

As proof of the lack of class, take a look at his site today. As of this writing, that filthy excuse for a human being has replaced all his crowing and self-righteousness with a photo of Bush made up of the first 1000 soldiers that died in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know, from VERY personal letters that I will be sharing with everyone soon, that at minimum, 75% of the people pictured in this photo hate Moore. They cannot stand him and would be deeply offended and disgusted at being used in such a manner.

I see that he doesn’t care, and to be honest, I bet you don’t either. And that’s another reason why you lost. You ignored the voices of those who would die to protect you.

Let me say that again in a different way. There are a few million men and women who have volunteered to give thier very lives to protect you. Can you even grasp the enormity of that concept? After 9/11, knowing there was going to be a military response, hundreds of thousands of people volunteered to join the military to defend you. TO protect you. To take whatever action they could to try to prevent your death in another terrorist attack. They are willing to die for you, and you ignored them. You treated them like mindless pawns. You used them and then tried to elect a man that has betrayed them time and time again.

Do you have any idea how that must feel?

Regardless of your position on Iraq, whether it was warranted or not, they have a position, and that position is overwhelmingly in support of Bush, the idea of the war, the execution of the war and the goal to stay until the work is finished. And you ignored them. Worse, you ridiculed them. You called them “kids” and “children.” You painted them as bloodthirsty savages hell-bent on murder and sadism when you heard that a small number of individuals did some pretty nasty things to some prisoners. They never forgot that, you know.

And that brings it back to the hate and bile that poured forth from the left. The hate and bile that is still pouring out today, perhaps at an even greater rate.

I spent all night last night blogging the election…reading websites, tracking data, reading other blogs, talking about it, watching TV, etc. This morning, while I was still awake after the long run, I was both smug with the win and giddy with relief that we avoided electing a man I have come to despise, and I threw it right in the face of some people on another website. To that person; If you’re reading this, I apologize for my tone. Not my content. You still have some lessons you need to learn, and if you want to move out of the country because of this…more power to you. I don’t believe you will. But that doesn’t excuse the way I spoke to you, and for that I apologize.

Something that person (and the rest of you to whom this letter is addressed) is going to have to learn is that telling me I’m stupid, a racist, a bigot, or whatever else you may come up with is going to result in exactly one thing; further marginalizing you as a political power in America. What you need is me as your ally. Your inside man. Someone who will fight you on a lot of issues, but will also fight for you on others. Why?

Because I am the Republican Party. And right now, we control the game. If you want to play, you need to re-think this idea that throwing tantrums will get you on the field.

Talk to me. Treat me with respect. And you just might find yourself with the most powerful ally you can imagine: someone who shares a vision of a more free, more perfect America.

[cowtown]

Originally posted by cegerer
http://right-thoughts.us/index.php/weblog/an_open_letter_to_the_open_letter_writers_of_the_l eft/

.... telling me I’m stupid, a racist, a bigot, or whatever else you may come up with is going to result in exactly one thing; further marginalizing you as a political power in America.

This is exactly how I feel. There is a certain tights-wearing superhero who posts around here who fell victim to this exact mindset. Hell, the rest of my (quite liberal) family fell victim to this - the "Bush is stupid, and you must be stupid if you vote for him" syndrome.

[bryanthompson]

No kidding, i'm tired of being called a backwards hick because i believe in god and live in the middle of nowhere.

[MikeCT]

How about we drop this left and right garabage and work together as Americans to come up with the best possible solutions to our mutual concerns. After reading through many posts on this board all it sounds like to me is a couple of kids playing cowboy and indian. I got you. No, I got you. I got you first. No, I got you first. on and on. As for the name calling each side has done it's fair share.

[turbo6bar]

I remember the first weeks of being sucked into the abyss (a.k.a. Pelican Parts OT Discussions Forum). This was the first time I'd seen one call Bush a moron. I was truly offended. My skin is a lot thicker now.

[giarcg]

Well done cegerer....very well done.

[Clowd]

Well, whoever wrote that does deserve some respect.. the fact he supports gay marriage and abortion is a huge step in the right direction...

But the whole soliders giving their lives to protect us is bull****. Iraq was never a threat to us.. that entire section of his argument is full of ****.

MikeCT has got the right idea, but I, and many others I'm sure, just cannot work together with these.... "people"

[Overpaid Slacker]

Clowd -
Not to bait you... do you honestly believe that you cannot work with anyone who has beliefs contrary to your own on what you consider to be fundamental issues?

Do you believe such people are sub-human, as the scare quotes around people suggest?

JP

[Rot 911]

I am pro choice, not bothered in the least by gay marriage, I don't want anyone to go hungry, but the Republican party is much closer to my viewpoints than the Democrat party especially when it comes to how my money is spent and how to run the war in Iraq. I see the Democrat party as the party of fringe elements and Hollywood.

[Moses]

Originally posted by Kurt V
I am pro choice, not bothered in the least by gay marriage, I don't want anyone to go hungry, but the Republican party is much closer to my viewpoints than the Democrat party especially when it comes to how my money is spent and how to run the war in Iraq. I see the Democrat party as the party of fringe elements and Hollywood.

I'm guessing that describes more than a few of us.

[ErVikingo]

Curt, my hat is off to you. Thanks.

[Clowd]

Originally posted by Overpaid Slacker
Clowd -
Not to bait you... do you honestly believe that you cannot work with anyone who has beliefs contrary to your own on what you consider to be fundamental issues?

Do you believe such people are sub-human, as the scare quotes around people suggest?

JP

Obviously not all the time.. not even most of the time.. but there are people around that are just so completely STUPID that I don't even want to be associated with them. The kind of people who for some reason despise gay marriage, think abortion is an extremely awful thing, and think we should invade anybody who doesn't like us(which is now most of the planet)

These people are extremely ignorant and may as well be sub-human.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by Clowd
These people are extremely ignorant and may as well be sub-human.

Wow! Cool! Just like the dudes in your new video game, eh?

Randy

[Overpaid Slacker]

Clowd - Thanks for the honest answer. My obs, FWIW, is that if all it takes for you to completely write off someone, so that nothing he/she says on any topic is worth listening to, is for them to disagree with your opinion "for some reason" (which you're evidently not willing to listen to) it will be difficult for you to promote, espouse or embody mending fences.

I'm not disagreeing with your positions on gay marriage, abortion or military pre-emption, I'm simply stating that were I (or anybody) to disagree, you'd brand them forever stupid and tune their subhuman a$$ out on every topic.

I mean all of this in a dispassionate, non-inflammatory sense. That type of intolerance - the p/o/v you just espoused - is exactly what Republicans and Conservatives are frequently and bombastically accused of, but in my experience, it is more severe and pervasive from the Left.

It is what it is.

JP

[ErVikingo]

Even those of us who don't opppose 'abortion rights' think that abortion is an awful thing.

Can't believe you'd be so passionate about denouncing purported 'abuses' but think that abortion is OK.

Don't kill those who don't like us and threaten our lives but, lets go kill the defenseless babies/embryos or whatever you want to call them.

[MikeCT]

Originally posted by Clowd
think abortion is an extremely awful thing

I think abortion is an awful thing but I'm pro-choice.

[Clowd]

Originally posted by rcecale
Wow! Cool! Just like the dudes in your new video game, eh?

Randy

Yeah, just like that.

Overpaid Slacker, I listen to their opinion and it just doesn't make any sense.. And no, it doesn't mean they are automatically tuned out.. they could(and usually do) have opinions on other things that make sense.. It's just hard for me to associate with people that... dumb.

I'm not talking about the actual Abortion proccess, I'm talking about how it can be a neccesary thing in a woman's life.. and how it's disgusting that people want to take that right away, especially because it won't go away even if it's illegal, it will just become more unsafe.

Also, you can't kill something that isn't alive yet.

[island911]

Originally posted by Overpaid Slacker
Clowd - . . .. . it will be difficult for you to promote, espouse or embody mending fences.

. .. It is what it is.

JP

zzzzzzZZZIP!

It is . . .would be, a haircut, which you just gave a clowd.

[Burnin' oil]

Clowd,

How do you define intelligence? Do you consider yourself intelligent? Do you consider those that oppose gay marriage and abortion to be unintelligent?

[Tishabet]

Originally posted by Clowd

These people are extremely ignorant and may as well be sub-human.

Dude, you've got some growing up to do.