A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

[dweller]

(from my email, here in full)
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,
Michael Moore


didn't see this posted, hope it's not a dupe
dp

[Robbie Michaels]

1. It's Legit

Here's the link

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=185

[WhiteTara]

15. thanks for the link Robbie

Welcome to DU :hi:

[ExclamationPoint]

2. By the newsweek poll,

I think we can tell what these republicans have replied to Michael with.

[sasquatch]

3. Nominated

[peacefreak]

4. Thank you, Michael Moore.

Once again, hammer meet nail. He hit it right on the head.

[CrispyQ]

5. I'm sending this to my boosh loving mother,

who has not bothered to respond to my email asking what she thinks of the NOLA diaster. Instead, she sends me trite, stupid 'funnies.' She use to have a heart, but I guess 10+ years of listening to Rush has turned her heart into a hard, cold stone. :cry:

[sando]

13. Mine too

I will one day have to ask my mother if she really truly feels that the New Deal that she benefited from should be turned back as the GOP has been fighting to do now for the past 30 years. As for Rush both she and my dad think he's tops. I really don't get how the generation that truly benefited from the New Deal has so forgotten already what unmitigated and uregulated business gave them in 1929.

[CrispyQ]

14. Hey! Welcome to DU, sando!

:hi:

Yes, my mother lives on social security & uses medicare extensively. She had $10,000 cataract surgery for a couple of hundred bucks, but continues to think liberals are evil & ruining this country.

If you'd like, I will pm you an article a DUer posted the other day, called "A Day in the Life of Joe Conservative." It's very good & humourous too! I'm going to send it to my mother, along with a couple of books. I suspect she will burn the books - just joking, she will probably sell them - but I'm going to send them anyway.

[sando]

19. Glad to to know you

Thanks for the welcome. I would be more than glad to read the article you mention. I also have to wonder how many of those who lost their lives voted for Bush in both elections or had relatives who did. Maybe just maybe I can get through to my parents that policies often affect who lives and who dies especially in this Brave New World Order that's been foisted on us.

[CrispyQ]

20. Tried to pm you,

but it says you do not have enough posts yet. Darn. I'll post it here.

=====
A day in the life of Joe Conservative:

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance -- now Joe gets it, too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries and government from polluting our air.

He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe pays his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until-some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

Joe is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that Joe's beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees. "After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

[sando]

22. Good one

:hi Thanks for posting it for me...that was a good one. My fear though is that seeing what has been the aftermath of Katrina and the looting and deregulation that has been done for the last 30 years none of us have anywhere near the protections we think we do anymore, thanks to the great Reagan and the barbarians that have followed his lead. May the average consevative finally wake up to what has been done to the US.

I actually had a conversation yesterday with my mother and asked her point blank if she benefited from the New Deal FDR provided the people of her generation and she of course agreed she had, and then I asked her if she truly thought those benefits should be rescinded. I think I saw a light bulb come on and she thought about it.

[WhiteTara]

16. I'm so grateful that my family are all

staunch democrats and bush haters. It makes conversations so much easier. During Vietnam, though, I have to say that they couldn't see my point in helping to bring down LBJ and fighting to end that war.
BTW, welcome to DU. This forum will make you feel better about being yourself. :hi:

[sando]

18. Thank you!!!

Hi and thanks for the welcome. Believe it or not I remember watching my dad vote for JFK. We don't talk politics or religion much as it makes for a very volatile family gathering. My dad is 83 and his older sister however is sure not a Bushite. She must have a better recollection of life in the US prior 1929 and the New Deal. Anyway I appreciate the welcome. I've been reading the boards here for quite sometime and have enjoyed the many links to the editorials and news from across the web that are posted here.

[asjr]

6. I love it. A man after my own heart.

[Twist_U_Up]

7. repunks letter back

boy thier quik

Answer to "Letter to the President "
> >> Only people who don't understand our governmental systems would
think
> >> this way. Unfortunately the Federal Government does not have the
legal
> >> right to
> >> take charge of the situation in a State Government. The Federal
> >> Government
> >> has to be asked by the State Government to provide aid and get
involved.
> >> The Federal Government was ready to take action but the State of
> >> Louisiana
> >> refused to let them get involved. The State also held back the Red
Cross
> >> from getting involved sooner. When other States, including
California
and
> >> Florida, have had natural disasters the States have moved swiftly
to
get
> >> the Federal Government involved immediately.
> >> The State of Louisiana has known for decades that their levee
systems
> >> were
> >> in need of reinforcement, but did nothing about it. There are
articles
in
> >> the
> >> New Orleans newspapers from 2002 and prior that warned of just
this
kind
> >> of disaster and nothing has been done.
> >> Don't be caught up in Michael Moore's liberal rhetoric. If you let
him
> >> and other liberals they would tell you George Bush is responsible
for
> >> aliens landing in New York

[Maraya1969]

10. Where did you find this? They need some education.

[Twist_U_Up]

11. on a gaming forumn

I frequent this is exactly how it was posted no link

[BlueJac]

8. I hate Bush as much as anyone...

but I, like Micheal Moore, am so unhappy with the people that voted for this sinner to lead the free world. He is a liar and a shame...yes he fills the top positions in the country with his incompetent fools and thinks he is doing a good job. I say go fuck off GW......The will be parades when you are out of the White House!!

:kick:

[Raster]

9. two qualifications for top level positions in the * White House:

1) raised $100,000 or more ("...others call you the haves and the have mores, I call you my base <chuckle>;" and/or
2) frat-boy drinkin' buddy.

[Democrats_win]

12. One of the best articles written! Well done MM.

[MODemocrat]

17. Michael Moore really brings it home

and right in the faces of the apologists of George W. Bush. I'm still confused how 38% of the people can still believe in him. What is it that he's done that is considered to them to be a good job. Certainly, he has done nothing for our people, and he's started a war he can't figure out how to end; he can't even appoint qualified people to be in charge of our natural disasters, and he's going to fill the courts with people just like himself. It would be so embarassing if I had to bear even a part of the responsibility of "electing" him to run this country.
:shrug:

[Xenotime]

21. Michael is the voice of clairty for this world.

[patcox2]

23. Michael helped get bush elected by supporting Nader.

Fuck him. This is exactly what Nader wanted; he said it right out, things have to get worse before they get better; this is what he wanted.