letters to george

“I know you, W. I know where you have been. You are the rich kid who avoided the draft. My friends, too poor to earn a deferment, found themselves in the 13 months of hell that was Vietnam. Yeah, you did the drugs, the drink, turned, in your own words, your mother’s hair grey – real ace baby-boomer stuff. I can still see guys like you cruising in your red Ford Mustangs while I was out marching or handing out leaflets, or struggling to pay my way through university while waiting tables into the early hours.”

the guardian has collected 60 open letters to the president on the occasion of his state visit to london.

November 18, 2003 – 2:14 pm | By Thomas | Posted in Politics | Comments (16)
  • Jo

    Clark if you click on that link there is a button for Clark 2004 Meetup December First in our area. I MEAN LITERALLY IN OUR AREA. I agree with Michael Moore after considering a passage read to me from his new book by Zip. Clark is the only man who can have a chance beating Bush as a Democrat. Mainly because he’s uber conservative. Besides Dean fucked up the black vote. SO….Come play with us.

  • Kathryn

    I still like John Edwards. Since I’m in NH, I’ve had a chance to see, hear, or meet with most of them. Edwards is still my favorite. Are you guys even hearing about him down there?

  • Nikki

    I’m not giving up on Dean yet. And Kathryn, Edwards comes off as a bit milquetoast, strained, a little too dependent on “My parents worked in a mill.” He’s probably a nice guy, but . . . I can’t see him winning. I support Dean for a variety of reasons – and one of them is that, cliche or not, he is changing politics. The blog lists just over 500K people signed up who support the campaign, and who knows how many lurkers. Sure, he put his foot in his mouth, but what he was trying to say around his toes is that there are issues that are always addressed in racial terms that should be addressed in socio-economic terms, and that the Republicans use those issues to divide people. It’s a vaild, good point to which people should pay attention.

  • Kayt

    Some of the quotes in these are amazing. My personal favorite:

    “What we hated was the way you failed to understand the inheritance of the west. It was not a birthright of absolute superiority, but it was the best thing we had; it was something that went, as Mr Blair put it, to the “heart of our credibility as a nation”. And this credibility, for which so many millions died – you have let it run through your hands. And in doing so, you allowed a British prime minister to be morally finessed by Jacques Chirac… Dear God, that it should come to that.”

  • JO

    Democrats depend on the minority vote. Dean lost that. Because of this he is not a good choice to beat Bush. So again the Meetup for Clarks Campaign is December 1st. This is not a who anyone supports vote this is getting BUSH out of office time. Once we get that insane fucker out then we can worry about who we really like when no ones trying to get us killed. :)

  • Nikki

    ::shrug:: I don’t think that’s conclusively true, considering black congress-people are endorsing him, and he’s got four unions endorsing him to date. But, we’ll see.

  • JO
  • Nikki

    And the point? I’m sure Clark is quite the comedian. He was certainly a damn fine general and he usually makes a decently good public impression when someone doesn’t make it painfully obvious that this isn’t his usual game (not a bad thing, mind you) or that he isn’t quite up on the domestic side of policy (still very important). No one’s won the race yet, and no one besides Graham has really lost yet, either.

  • JO

    Apparently I am not the only person who knows that one racial slip up can screw up a democrat. Kerry is at 18%, CLARK at 16%, Some guy I have never heard of, then DEAN at 8% and lastly Liberman at 6%. *shrugs. AND UM.. The only thing has has been speaking of his stance on the homefront.. so..No one has won the race yet but the above was the tally from a poll takin where all the primary votes are taken (Ohio, New Hampshire, my bathroom break and the final tally) for who we will end up voting for. So again I stress I DO NOT WANT A MAN WHO PUTS HIS FOOR IN HIS MOUTH when he is trying to speak. Again as someone who was for Dean.. I am now for Clark and apparently so are alot of people.

  • Nikki

    As reliable as I’m sure hearsay is, I’d rather see the figures and error rates for myself. As I’ve said: no one’s lost and no one’s won, just yet. Dean can learn to be a better speaker, but Clark may not be able to overcome the “political” attacks of his former colleagues. Kerry looks like death, Gephardt seems more like a has-been every day, and Kucinich can’t capture most of the normal-people’s votes. It ain’t over til it’s over, and next November is still a long way away. I prefer Dean; you prefer Clarke; and that’s just as well for us both, I’d daresay.

  • Janetta

    We’ll be waiting longer for a candidate who doesn’t put his foot (foor?) in his mouth than single girls will be waiting to find “the perfect man.” We’ve got the “strategery” man in office right now and we have to get him out. Dean may or may not take the nomination. But if it’s Dean’s name on the ballot, don’t be so venomously against him that you don’t vote for him next November. We **have** to rally behind the “Anyone but Bush in ’04″ banner next year. Regardless of who gets the nomination, enough people stood up behind Dean and said, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!!” that the candidate who wins will have to implement some of Dean’s vitriol into his (sorry, Carol Mosely Brown) platform.

  • Nikki

    Janetta, precisely.

  • JO

    Actually I think no one should be totally for him when we can make a difference now on WHO will be on the Ballot. Statistically at this point . IT WILL NOT BE HIM. So defending him is kinda silly. I like Clark but it doesn’t look like him either. People seem to really like Kerry. Chances are it will be Kerry on the ballot if everyone waits. GEORGIA has an open primary on March 2nd, 2004. An open Primary means you do not have to be registered for either party to vote in this primary. The primaries effect who will be on the ballot. If either of you are in any way so poltically inclined you will be there to vote.
    Namaste.

  • J. Robert

    I don’t think Dean putting his foot in his mouth should even be considered a disability at this point in time. We have a President in office who can tie his shoes with his teeth because his feet spend so much time there.
    On the other hand, Clark is weak on domestic issues, but so is Bush. What has he really done other than let corporate Amerika get away with robbery and then give them tax breaks and war profits for it. So long as any candidate is not afraid to stand up and call it like it is, then he should be fine.
    For me though, I will stick by Dean until he actually loses since I think Clark has too many short falls that matter.

  • JO

    Kerry, Clark, Edwards, and Gephart are way ahead of Dean. So everyone needs to get over Dean. Just because he “rocked” the vote with MTV does not make him vote worthy. The reason why Clark is a good choice is because he has the power to draw in Republicans who don’t want to vote again for Bush. Again I repeat if all of this matters to anyone so strongly take part in your local primaries if you can.

  • JO

    After a few moments of deciding wether or not I can ignore the statement “Clark is weak on domestic issues”-I have decided I can not. See. Several people keep using this as a defense for Dean against Clark. It is impossible for me to believe people who are for Dean actually have taken the time to research other canidates. If they had..and I am not trying to dig on anyone.. It’s just had the same people who use this defense gone to the other canidates web sites and researched what are biased media has to say then researched what are independent media has to say.. I think people would quit using the “weak on domestic issues” argument. I get confused- I have to go and research again. “Maybe I was mistaken,” I think to myself. NO.. I am not mistaken. On Clark’s main page that’s all it talks about is domestic issues. *shrugs oh well.