GUYS – an appeal – PLEASE CONSIDER TRYING THIS ONE:
STRATEGY SESSION: for when you call your Congressperson/Senator, who may have voted for the IWR, and, having done so, may be too fearful or ashamed to admit he or she made a mistake... MAYBE all they're looking for is a graceful way out...
(See this thread: "The Other Bomb Drops"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... )
Please consider planting this seed.
Please hear me out -
ALL they have to say is TEN WORDS: "Because I TRUSTED my president. And he LIED to me."
Two little sentences. Five words per sentence. That's ALL any of them have to say, if they voted for the IWR, if they bought into the fear and loathing and ghost stories being told by bush and his friends to scare people after 9/11, if they thought they were really trying to do what was correct for our country and to be patriotic and to "support our president" and give him every benefit of every doubt. They were being pressured BIGTIME to do this because of the climate at the time - straight after 9/11 - a climate of extreme fear that these lice exploited to achieve the goals they wanted. This is really not that complicated, and it's a very clear-cut and simple way to save face as well - which is important when you consider that vanity and shame may be what's really preventing any of this from moving forward at all. ALL THE DEMOCRATS AND ANYONE ELSE WHO FELL FOR IT HAVE TO SAY IS - "Because I TRUSTED my president. And he LIED to me."
It has the added benefit of being THE TRUTH. For a change.
Really. Could I be so bold as to ask people here on DU - when you call your reps, assuming they voted for the IWR or somehow otherwise enabled all this (or they know, do business with, or try to work with those who did), would you at least consider offering those ten words to their staffers? Offer it as a way out. Offer it as a face-saving statement for when these questions come up. YES, let's be frank here, it's passing the buck. It's an excuse. But it happens to be a legitimate excuse - since it's exactly what happened, AND it's passing the buck to the exact place where the buck is supposed to stop: at the Oval Office.
Perhaps you're represented by someone who really is trying to do good things, but has no face-saving way to step back into the light, and no way around the horrifying shame it means they have to face, in admitting they made such a stupid, grievous, negligent, thoughtless, impulsive, fear-motivated mortal sin of a mistake.
NOBODY likes to admit they've been had. NOBODY likes to admit they were suckered. NOBODY likes to face the fact that they've been played - played for patsies. NOBODY wants that for themselves. It takes bigger men and women than we've got representing us just now - to admit that freely and confess that openly. It's just a suspicion of mine, but it's bolstered by the reactions I've gotten from staffers of various congresspeople and senators (including but not limited to my own) when I present that ten-word solution. They react as though they've never thought of that before, and "...when you stop to think about it, hey - you know something? That actually makes sense. Hmmm... Gee. I never thought of it that way, but it's, well, it's - true... Gee, when you put it THAT way..."
I suspect strongly that if the proper, face-saving, and deftly-worded mea culpa is presented to them, like a talking point, SOME OF 'EM might actually use it, or start getting their minds around it, and maybe actually entertaining the thought. Maybe this might be enough to push some of the wavering ones over - those whose consciences have started to bother them over what's happened, and who would LOVE a face-saving way out, something to say that will tell the truth, explain where they were at that time and what they were trying IN GOOD FAITH to do ('cause - remember back then, when the big drumbeat was that "we HAVE TO support OUR PRESIDENT!!!!!"). And if such a way out, that also happens to be THE TRUTH, is presented to them, it just might be the key domino that starts the whole row falling. It's a tool to use to start getting them out of trouble, and absolving them of some of the blame and the guilt and the shame.
Truly, nobody can be faulted for trying to play along with a pResident who, at the time, many of them didn't have a lot of reasons to distrust. It was still fairly early in the game. We'd just been attacked. We were out-of-our-minds with emotion and fear and anger and outrage and wanting to lash out against somebody, anybody, and make somebody pay. We were in raw-emotion mode, when there hadn't been time enough to gain any perspective, and there was nothing but pure reactive-mode, non-rational, instinct stuff all over the place back then. SOMEBODY HAD TO DO SOMETHING. So this was what was presented to them, and it was presented to them in such a way that it sounded so legit. They were exploited and they gave this schmuck the benefit of the doubt without realizing at the time that he didn't deserve it. They were railroaded. Now, what they need to do is STATE CLEARLY THAT THEY WERE RAILROADED.
I think there are some who would do the proper thing now if only they had one last little nudge: of a really good and useful tool that's being plopped in their lap like a lifeline. For those who might stammer - "Good Lord, I don't even know what to say... I wouldn't even know what to say..." - YOU can say: "HERE! HERE'S what you can say. HERE'S something to say! It explains the state you were in at the time you made these decisions, and why you did so, and it's the truth. It's what happened with EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD who decided to support this war, even those with misgivings about it, who felt our hand was forced and that, well, we HAD to do something, and these are tough times and as Americans, we HAVE TO support our pResident. If he thinks that's what we have to do, then we have to get behind him and trust him.
So they can say - "Well, we trusted him alright. He gave us every reason to trust him. We believed sincerely that it was our patriotic duty to do so, and he and all his pals told us this. We did it his way. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. And he led us down the garden path. All those reasons were lies. So yes, we fell for it. And it was a lie. And we were screwed." So what they get to say, basically, is that the real offender here is NOT themselves, but the guy who LIED THEM INTO THIS. It allows them to put the blame where it's supposed to be. On bush.
TEN WORDS. All it takes. TEN WORDS.
I'm just trying to think strategically here. Face-saving is EVERYTHING with some people. Yes, it's expedient. Yes, it's not the purest motivation. But if it works, and it helps guide even a few people back into the light, what's the harm? What have we got to lose? It might be JUST the key to push a few of the waverers over, and out of the Dark Side. If only they had the words to say...
Just a thought, anyway...
GUYS – an appeal – PLEASE CONSIDER TRYING THIS ONE:
STRATEGY SESSION: for when you call your Congressperson/Senator, who may have voted for the IWR, and, having done so, may be too fearful or ashamed to admit he or she made a mistake... MAYBE all they're looking for is a graceful way out...
(See this thread: "The Other Bomb Drops"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... )
Please consider planting this seed.
Please hear me out -
ALL they have to say is TEN WORDS: "Because I TRUSTED my president. And he LIED to me."
Two little sentences. Five words per sentence. That's ALL any of them have to say, if they voted for the IWR, if they bought into the fear and loathing and ghost stories being told by bush and his friends to scare people after 9/11, if they thought they were really trying to do what was correct for our country and to be patriotic and to "support our president" and give him every benefit of every doubt. They were being pressured BIGTIME to do this because of the climate at the time - straight after 9/11 - a climate of extreme fear that these lice exploited to achieve the goals they wanted. This is really not that complicated, and it's a very clear-cut and simple way to save face as well - which is important when you consider that vanity and shame may be what's really preventing any of this from moving forward at all. ALL THE DEMOCRATS AND ANYONE ELSE WHO FELL FOR IT HAVE TO SAY IS - "Because I TRUSTED my president. And he LIED to me."
It has the added benefit of being THE TRUTH. For a change.
Really. Could I be so bold as to ask people here on DU - when you call your reps, assuming they voted for the IWR or somehow otherwise enabled all this (or they know, do business with, or try to work with those who did), would you at least consider offering those ten words to their staffers? Offer it as a way out. Offer it as a face-saving statement for when these questions come up. YES, let's be frank here, it's passing the buck. It's an excuse. But it happens to be a legitimate excuse - since it's exactly what happened, AND it's passing the buck to the exact place where the buck is supposed to stop: at the Oval Office.
Perhaps you're represented by someone who really is trying to do good things, but has no face-saving way to step back into the light, and no way around the horrifying shame it means they have to face, in admitting they made such a stupid, grievous, negligent, thoughtless, impulsive, fear-motivated mortal sin of a mistake.
NOBODY likes to admit they've been had. NOBODY likes to admit they were suckered. NOBODY likes to face the fact that they've been played - played for patsies. NOBODY wants that for themselves. It takes bigger men and women than we've got representing us just now - to admit that freely and confess that openly. It's just a suspicion of mine, but it's bolstered by the reactions I've gotten from staffers of various congresspeople and senators (including but not limited to my own) when I present that ten-word solution. They react as though they've never thought of that before, and "...when you stop to think about it, hey - you know something? That actually makes sense. Hmmm... Gee. I never thought of it that way, but it's, well, it's - true... Gee, when you put it THAT way..."
I suspect strongly that if the proper, face-saving, and deftly-worded mea culpa is presented to them, like a talking point, SOME OF 'EM might actually use it, or start getting their minds around it, and maybe actually entertaining the thought. Maybe this might be enough to push some of the wavering ones over - those whose consciences have started to bother them over what's happened, and who would LOVE a face-saving way out, something to say that will tell the truth, explain where they were at that time and what they were trying IN GOOD FAITH to do ('cause - remember back then, when the big drumbeat was that "we HAVE TO support OUR PRESIDENT!!!!!"). And if such a way out, that also happens to be THE TRUTH, is presented to them, it just might be the key domino that starts the whole row falling. It's a tool to use to start getting them out of trouble, and absolving them of some of the blame and the guilt and the shame.
Truly, nobody can be faulted for trying to play along with a pResident who, at the time, many of them didn't have a lot of reasons to distrust. It was still fairly early in the game. We'd just been attacked. We were out-of-our-minds with emotion and fear and anger and outrage and wanting to lash out against somebody, anybody, and make somebody pay. We were in raw-emotion mode, when there hadn't been time enough to gain any perspective, and there was nothing but pure reactive-mode, non-rational, instinct stuff all over the place back then. SOMEBODY HAD TO DO SOMETHING. So this was what was presented to them, and it was presented to them in such a way that it sounded so legit. They were exploited and they gave this schmuck the benefit of the doubt without realizing at the time that he didn't deserve it. They were railroaded. Now, what they need to do is STATE CLEARLY THAT THEY WERE RAILROADED.
I think there are some who would do the proper thing now if only they had one last little nudge: of a really good and useful tool that's being plopped in their lap like a lifeline. For those who might stammer - "Good Lord, I don't even know what to say... I wouldn't even know what to say..." - YOU can say: "HERE! HERE'S what you can say. HERE'S something to say! It explains the state you were in at the time you made these decisions, and why you did so, and it's the truth. It's what happened with EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD who decided to support this war, even those with misgivings about it, who felt our hand was forced and that, well, we HAD to do something, and these are tough times and as Americans, we HAVE TO support our pResident. If he thinks that's what we have to do, then we have to get behind him and trust him.
So they can say - "Well, we trusted him alright. He gave us every reason to trust him. We believed sincerely that it was our patriotic duty to do so, and he and all his pals told us this. We did it his way. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. And he led us down the garden path. All those reasons were lies. So yes, we fell for it. And it was a lie. And we were screwed." So what they get to say, basically, is that the real offender here is NOT themselves, but the guy who LIED THEM INTO THIS. It allows them to put the blame where it's supposed to be. On bush.
TEN WORDS. All it takes. TEN WORDS.
I'm just trying to think strategically here. Face-saving is EVERYTHING with some people. Yes, it's expedient. Yes, it's not the purest motivation. But if it works, and it helps guide even a few people back into the light, what's the harm? What have we got to lose? It might be JUST the key to push a few of the waverers over, and out of the Dark Side. If only they had the words to say...
Just a thought, anyway...
Yes, I posted in GD-Politics, too. I earnestly hope people here will consider this...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1828318#1828321
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