Stop publishing letters criticizing Bush

[Marnieworld]

That is the actual title of a LTTE in my local paper. I just thought that you'd all like to know that we are childish and we should just shut up or we are traitors. Silly me, I thought that I was allowed to have an opinion but now I know that I if I disagree with this guy I'm supposed to remain silent.


http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/letters/all-witmeraug17,0,6668952.story

Stop publishing letters criticizing Bush


In recent days, while reading letters to the editor, I noticed a strange pattern developing. Without fail, every single day there was a letter about the president, and not just any letter — letters from disgruntled Democrats and liberals alike with nothing better to do than show their blatant, childish disapproval for the president.

Topics ranged from blaming the president for high gas prices, to an age-old very infinitesimal topic to even bring up: to actually complain that the president has decided to go on vacation. God forbid the person who runs the country should have a little rest, and time to himself and his family.

I speak for the unheard thousands of people in the Lehigh Valley: Please give it a rest and leave the space in letters to the editor for more important issues.

Joshua Witmer

Allentown

[GOPisEvil]

1. Hahahaha...yeah, that first amendment thing, stuff it.

I guess if one hides from the truth, it's not really there. Works for Bush...

[bryant69]

2. Freedom of Speech, Republican style

You are allowed to express your love and support for President Bush freely. If you have another opinion, you are free to shut the f*** up.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Missy M]

3. I wonder what the more important issues are..

I wish he would have defined them.

[Nickster]

4. Silly, P.Diddy changed his name, Madonna hurt herself riding c'mon now.

[Missy M]

9. I guess I should keep up with the important news from...

now on.

[Nickster]

23. It's kinda funny, started discussing this exact thing with my wife the las

t couple of days. We both watch the morning news with coffee before work. I just throw my hands up, it's just basically entertainment. I told her about the crosses being run down and she said it would probably be on the news. Of course this morning, "P.Diddy changes his name, stay tuned to see what he is calling himself now...." Guess it's time to start tivo'ing NewsHour off of PBS and just watch that in the morning.

[tuvor]

5. Shut up, be happy.

Got it?

[K-W]

6. "I speak for the unheard thousands of people" At least he's humble. EOM

[SalmonChantedEvening]

14. The unheard thousands are the voices in his head ;) n/t

[DawnneOBTS]

7. Hey Joshua...

Thank goodness your city, county, and state did not vote for the bastard. If you don't like it, why don't you move to Texas?

[Justyce]

16. No thanks

I live in a blue county in Texas, and we don't want him :)

[elehhhhna]

8. "leave the space in letters to the editor for more important issues"

Asshat. He needs to enlist asap.

[Swamp Rat]

10. STOP KILLING AMERICAN TROOPS!!!

STOP ATTACKING GRIEVING MOTHERS



OFFENSE!

:kick:

[AlCzervik]

11. Check this one out, it's from my local paper today about the boy scouts

and Bush.

President Bush's indifference
Re "President Bush consoles beleaguered Boy Scouts," Aug. 1: Long ago, I had a friend who had been a member of the Hitler Youth organization in Germany before World War II. President Bush's visit to the Boy Scout Jamboree reminded me of an incident he told me about.
Thousands of young boys came together for a speech by Hitler. They waited, standing at attention for hours. Many of the boys collapsed from the strain. The next day photos in the German papers showed the young boys wildly cheering the dictator.

Dictators have little regard for the people they rule. Their primary concern is their own agenda. They often talk before captive audiences willing to submit to any indignity without comment.

Bush appears different from most leaders of democracies. He apparently gave no thought to the agony of thousands of young boys waiting hours upon hours on hot days until it was safe and convenient for him to show up.

I hope an investigative reporter does an in-depth study of this incident and comes to some conclusion as to who is responsible and if this incident represents a common theme in the administration.


- Leo Farr, Sacramento

Oh dear, the wingnuts will be in a lather over this letter.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13428241p-14269491c.html

[TwilightZone]

12. "disgruntled Democrats and liberals alike"

Hmm, methinks that some of us are both.

Apparently, he has "nothing better to do" than whine about our poor president needing time off with his family.

Speaking of childish....

[johnnie]

13. Hey Joshua

:nopity:

"Please give it a rest and leave the space in letters to the editor for more important issues."

I wonder what are "important issues" to this idiot. I guess his asinine letter whining about other people he doesn't agree with is the REALLY important letter that should go in a newspaper.

[Mairead]

15. Think how terrified Witmer must be, to write something like that

What a way to have to live.

[deutsey]

17. In other words, as Rush and O'Reilly say: "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

:puke:

[emdee]

18. Why is it always that Bush is being "criticized"?....

rather than simply discussing the truth? I notice that this woman didn't actually address the Downing Street Memo, gas prices, the deficit, or any other issue. The answer to it all is that "Bush is being criticized."

After my last Letter to the Editor, I was told that I "just don't like Reps" - well, next April I'll celebrate my 20th anniversary with one (he voted for Kerry, though, because he sees through this administration and he's beginning to come around on many issues). This person that "criticized" me didn't address any of the issues of my letter - the whole reason is that I "dislike Republicans."

They can't even pretend to discuss actual issues. Just think up more names to call those who believe we've been lied to for five years.
emdee

[halobeam]

19. This person....Joshua Witmer, Allentown PA is

not a true American....

excerpt from billyjack.com: quotes that make you go "yeah!"

Thomas Jefferson was equally adamant against those whose tyrannical bent was to oppress the freedom of dissenters to criticize, even attack, the government:



“I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

note: And that includes the tyranny of the pro-war/pro-Bush fanatics for indulging in an all out campaign to smear, vilify, and label as traitors anyone who disagrees with Bush’s policy on Iraq, with a special emphasis on intimidating celebrities into silence – the creation of a dictatorship by the majority.

[MrBenchley]

20. Here's my LTTE in response

(I'm in their readership area)

Could there be a more fundamentally unAmerican sentiment than that expressed by Joshua Witmer of Allentown? Everyone else’s freedom of speech should be curtailed just because he does not enjoy seeing one particular incompetent and corrupt politican criticized for any reason by anyone.
And of course, because no one else agrees out loud with him, he claims to speak for thousands.

[BikeWriter]

25. In the jugular as always, Mr. Benchley! :-)

[MrBenchley]

31. Thanks!

Gotta keep punching until the bell.....

[McCamy Taylor]

21. Joshua Witmer = GOP Committee

[CBHagman]

22. "Nothing better to do"? "More important issues"?

Over 100,000 dead in Iraq. That's not an important issue?

A foreign policy that has left the world more unstable and more dangerous. That's not an important issue?

What about the growing gap between rich and poor, the shifting of the tax burden onto the poor and middle class, the high deficits and debt, the destruction of America's reputation in the world, and myriad other things?

By the way, who does Joshua Witmer think he is to declare that critics of Bush have "nothing better to do" or that he, Witmer, can speak for thousands? How exactly does he know?

I can't wait to see the replies to this drivel.

[HughBeaumont]

24. Boo Fucking Hoo, Jawsh.

Yeah, that there Bill of Rights is SUCH a bitch, ain't it?

When you find it in your brain to quit supporting a "leader" who's had everything handed to him, surrounds himself with "yes" men, enacts economic policy that shits on the little guy without care, sends men and women off to die for wars he starts with a lie and is shrouded by a cloak of infallibility (even though the rest of us know better), then we'll talk. Until then, please give your insufferable support of these bloodthirsty voevods a rest. It's making all of us sick, pal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Similar things happened with Nixon

they are feeling the heat

[Crankie Avalon]

27. That "strange pattern" of letters ought to tell him a little something...

...about what his fellow Americans are thinking. Currently, two-thirds of them oppose Bush's mishandling of Iraq, and over half oppose his mishandling of his job overall.

Maybe in Josh Witmer's private residence Bush is still popular, but in the outside world things are apparently very different. He should do all parties involved a favor and keep to himself if he doesn't want to know what others are thinking.

He "speaks for thousands"? He speaks for no one but himself, and his voice is becoming further and further out of step with the march of opinion in America.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

28. Could the 'strange pattern' be due to the fact that most everyone is sick

and tired of shrubco? Hmmm???


NAAAAAHHHHH!

[xmannet]

29. Does Josh have a point?

What is the true goal?

Is it to lambaste W? If so, ignore what Josh has said and continue to march. In fact add him to the list of targets!

Or is the goal to win elections?

Criticizing Bush about being on vacation is stupid. Save that for the likes of the Daily Show (at least they make others laugh when they do so). Since the invention of the telephone no president can actually go on vacation while in office. Trying to convince people otherwise just makes one look dishonest. How many of us non-presidents are on-call 24/7?

IMHO any type of activism should show respect for the opponent, but present different ideas logically. Go ahead advance the liberal or democrat agenda; but, show respect for the reader and W. Besides if you can’t out-write the likes of Josh then it would be better to keep your mouth shut.

Here is another one that gets me: pointing out the casualty figures in the Iraq war. Doing so shows an incredible lack of historical perspective. During the battle of Stalingrad the Russians lost an entire guards division in the tractor works. Five thousand men lost in a single day, in a single building; yet they persevered.

When one argues: “2,000 American dead is too many, impeach Bush”. The message that is sent is that the nation does not have courage to wage war on terrorism. I am sure all would agree that sending such a message is a losing proposition. It would be better to make the case, and I don’t think it has been made, that the Iraq war is not about terrorism. John Q. Public, IMHO, still believes that Iraq == terrorism. Change minds about that and we are on the right path.

[Crankie Avalon]

32. Thanks for the advice...

...but with "friends" like you, a body wouldn't need any enemies.

By the way, in Stalingrad the Russians were literally fighting on their own soil for their freedom from a foreign invader. That's certainly not our situation in Iraq. It's a downright idiotic comparison to try to make.

Whatever it is we are fighting for in Iraq isn't worth even one life, let alone 2,000. It had nothing to do with terrorism, as has been made abundently clear since, regardless of what FOX told you.

[stevietheman]

33. It's about a *record* amount of vacation...

and Bush has 3 1/2 years to go, unless he's removed from power.

When the casualties are mounting in Iraq, making hay of a "Vacation President" does have some resonance in terms of explaining even further how this president is about as far from being compassionate as can be. Then, combined with him stating he wants to get on with his life and not saying anything about the mowed down crosses amplifies the message.

Yeah, I say, keep trumpeting the record vacation time. It's the baseline for more advanced criticism.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. HMM interesting

I guess you missed the fact that the Russians were fighting on their own soil. You also miss the fact that many of those troops at Stalingrad had truly a faustian choice, go forth and get mauled by the Germans, or retreat and get mauled by the Komisar... but they were fighting on their own soil, at times with one trooper carrying the rifle and the second carrying the ammo.

Moreover, this is not about Impeach Bush over 2000 troops dead, it is about bush LYING TO CONGRESS and the American People over the reasons to go to war... that is the Impeachable offense and your lack of comprehension tells us much where you are coming from. Enjoy your stay... as long as it lasts, and at least you can write and make your points.

[gauguin57]

30. Shut up and take your soma.

We'll stimulate your adrenals for a few minutes a month, but other than that, just take your soma and sit down and be quiet and watch your reality programming until you are in a catatonic state.

What has happened to our country?

(Sorry -- I was just re-reading select bits of "Brave New World" in Borders the other night!)

[MisterP]

34. Glauben, Folgen, Kämpfen!

[samsingh]

36. can Joshua get the repugs off hate radio?

[demgurl]

37. If they don't like freedom of the press....

why don't they move somewhere that does not have any....oops, never mind.

demgurl