An Open Letter to Bush Supporters

[The Donkey]

Recent polling data shows that support for our president is at an all-time low. George Bush’s approval rating is hovering at the 37%-39% range. To many progressives, these figures represent an opportunity to say “I told you so!” to conservatives in their social circle.

While gloating can be fun (and is arguably warranted after five-plus years of taking it on the chin), I think that progressives should look at this as an opportunity to reach out to the 37% of those who still support this administration. After all, every one of us wants America to be a better place, and mere name-calling isn’t the most effective means to achieve that goal.

With that in mind, I’d like to address you, the remaining 37% -39% in a respectful way.

I know we have differences. Some of our beliefs will never be reconciled, and that’s okay. It’s also okay to be a Republican. But if you objectively look at the things that your party has done in your name over the last five years, you have every right to be appalled. The Republican Party used to stand for small and efficient government, fiscal and personal responsibility, and staying out of the affairs of other countries unless absolutely necessary. These are things that we can all accept, if not embrace. However, while your party still claims to be for these ideals, their actions have consistently been the opposite of their rhetoric.


A Rare Moment of Honesty

For example, government spending and bureaucracy have exploded in the last five years. Your party has increased federal spending by almost 40% since 2001. Because revenues have not kept pace with rampant government spending, we’ve been forced to borrow the money from other countries – most notably China. This mortgaging of our future will very likely have dire consequences on our “way of life” unless we reverse this trend as soon as possible.

I know you hate Bill Clinton (and I’ll be the first to admit that even though I liked him, he had his faults), but the simple fact is that the federal government was running a healthy surplus in the last couple of years of his presidency. There was even rampant discussion on how quickly we would end up erasing the federal debt altogether. That talk has all but vanished, as the deficit continues to balloon. Since George Bush became president, the share of the federal debt has grown by approximately $6,000 for every person living in this country – and it continues to grow every day!

After September 11, 2001, we correctly invaded Afghanistan to strike back at those who attacked us. Before we could finish the job, however, we pulled out a majority of resources in that effort to attack a country that was never a real threat to us. The leaders of your party used flimsy (and sometimes just plain fabricated) evidence to justify this effort. Three years, $200 billion and almost 2,000 American deaths later, we are no closer to capturing or killing the people directly behind the initial attack against us. Furthermore, our standing in the world community has sunk to an all-time low.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, your government waited far too long to react and help those most in need. Only later was it discovered that the director of FEMA was ill-equipped to handle the responsibility of his job. In fact, he really had no business holding his position in the first place, other than that he was a friend of a friend of the president.

Your House Majority leader is under multiple indictments for misuse of campaign money. Your Senate Majority Leader is under investigation for shady stock dealings. Members of the President’s and Vice President’s staff are likely to be indicted for knowingly outing a CIA operative, possibly weakening our national security – all for a political vendetta.

It must be hard for you to continue to be a cheerleader for a party that has clearly used you for its own gain, only to abandon you when it comes time to stand up for the things you embrace. I don’t expect you to necessarily come over to our side (although you’re always welcome), but we’d stand behind your efforts to take your own party back if you so choose. Your party has been hijacked by people who seem only to be interested in serving their own needs.

We’re going to continue to work hard on our side to try and get decent people into elected offices. We hope you do the same in good faith. Only when we get people from all stripes into public office whose only goal is to debate how to make America a better place will we ever get back on the path to an even, intelligent public discourse.

Yes, we all have our differences on how to best address things like crime, abortion, gay rights, fair taxation, etc. Let’s address these things like adults and at least determine where we have common ground! Name-calling and finger pointing can be fun, but in the end it accomplishes little more than to make us dislike each other, as well as to harden our opinions. Join us in the effort to rid the country of those who have exploited you for too long. Stay Republican if you must, but get some better representation for yourselves! We know you can do better than this. We’ll do what we can to do the same here on our end, in good faith.

Sincerely,

The Staff at The Blue Republic

[Ladyhawk]

1. Recommended. Thanks. :) n/t

[The Donkey]

2. Thanks

I hesitated posting it here after I wrote it, because it could be interpreted as being soft on conservatives. But I think that we can wittle that 37% down further by giving some of them a bit of dignity in their decision to abandon their leaders.

The rest are beyond saving.

[no name no slogan]

3. Not bad, even though I disagree on a couple points

1) Invading Afghanistan was NOT justified. The Taliban was co-operating with the US government up until the invasion-- in fact, they had agreed in principal to turn over bin Laden if the US provided proof of his involvement in 9/11. Of course this was completely whitewashed by the MSM who were pounding the drums of war and looking for "revenge" instead of "justice".

2) Bill Clinton was the best Republican president since Eisenhower. Look at his accomplishments: shrunk the size of government, cut welfare and entitlements, continued sinking billions into useless Pentagon spending, re-appointed Alan Greenspan and kept easy credit available while keeping wages low, etc. The man's fiscal policies made Nixon look like a liberal by comparison.

Otherwise, not bad.

[The Donkey]

4. All I said about Clinton was . . .

1. I liked him
2. He had his faults
3. We had surpluses in his administration, which have now disappeared.

Not really sure that I even mention any of the things you "disagreed" with.

[no name no slogan]

8. Not so much disagreement as opinion

Clinton was okay. He was a disappointment as a Democrat, considering the potential we had in 1992 (national healthcare, "peace dividend", civil rights), but he was a decent president nonetheless.

Considering what's come afterward, he was downright inspired.

[Cyrano]

5. Dear Donkey: Nice try, but,

you're talking to people who can't be reached. Aside from the religious fanatics who will back Bush (Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, et al) to the death, you're trying to reach people who have consumed too much Kool Aid.

I have acquaintances who are conservatives. Some of them are decent people in many areas of their lives, but when it comes to politics, they would sooner eat shit than vote for a Democrat. It's a blind spot that, it seems to me, is virtually impossible to overcome.

I've had horrible images of standing next to one of these people in a large "shower room," waiting for the gas to be dropped in, and saying, "I told you so."

Until the current administration came along, I couldn't understand how the average German went along with the unspeakable. Now, I finally understand.

[The Donkey]

6. I agree that we'll never get them all,

or even the majority of that 37% that's left, but I'm always optimistic that we can still drop that number down juuuuust a bit more.

In my view, it's always worth a shot - especially when the alternative is doing nothing.

[Lerkfish]

7. Bravo! frame this post. NT.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

9. What's the story behind the picture

of Bush and "the bird"? Is it manipulated, or did this happen? And when was it..anybody know?

[The Donkey]

10. I'm not exactly sure,

but I believe that the footage is accurate, although it was not filmed during any sort of live broadcast. I think that the clip is somewhat old, likely shot when he was Governor of Texas.

Of course - I've got no real proof backing me up - so I could possibly be wrong here.

[stevedeshazer]

11. It really happened, no fake.

He was still governor, I think it was 1998. They were setting him up for a teevee appearance, caught on the feed before he went on.

[hiabrill]

12. Hammering those points could....

..... bring down support for *** from 37% to probably 20% ... but no more...

The Religious fanatical Zealots will not budge an inch.

[The Donkey]

13. Even That Number Might Be Optimistic

But, I'm all for everything that makes it go down, even if by a few percentage points.

Anything we can do to get things outside of the "Diebold" margin of error is worthwhile in my book.

[Fly by night]

14. Excellent post. I also think you could have discussed ...

... something related to the need to trust our election process again. I have found here in Tennessee that folks of all political stripes resonate to the need for free, fair and verifiable elections; and are concerned about private companies counting our votes in secret using software that we are not even allowed to examine, regardless of their political party.

I know that election reform-related issues may not "fit" with the rest of your message, but it would sure be good to wedge it in there somewhere. Because my neighbors, no matter how Republican they are, have no desire to win on anything but a level playing field. Their mamas didn't raise cheats and thieves; and if they can't win a fight (of whatever type) fairly, they have no desire to win at all.

But, again, this is a great thread. Kicked and nominated.

[stevedeshazer]

15. That's really good to hear

I mean read.

Neighbors...one of mine is a Republican and she is concerned about voter fraud via Diebold, et al.

The issue cuts across all political lines.