ROUGH Letter of support to Reid et al.

[WilliamPitt]

This is NOT the final version. Seeking input, additions, subtractions, etc.

Oh, and I think as far as a petiton goes, we should have the DU thread for the final letter be the petition. It is a letter of support from DU, so the thread is appropriate, and it'll keep the petition from getting freeped. Thoughts?

===

Senator Harry Reid
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Tuesday 01 November 2005

We, the undersigned members of the online community DemocraticUnderground.com, write today to offer our heartfelt thanks and enthusiastic support for the actions you took on the floor of the Senate today. It was, to say the very least, an extraordinary day both for the Senate and for our nation.

Courage, it seems, is hard to come by in politics these days. The members of this community were, to put it mildly, deeply disappointed by the decision of so many Democrats to support Mr. Bush's march to war back in 2003.

What we see now - the outing of a deep-cover CIA agent, the indictment of a high-ranking Bush official because of that act, the horrid reality of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the billions of taxpayer dollars poured into this mess, the deaths of 2,027 American soldiers, the grevious injuries suffered by tens of thousands more American soldiers, and the deaths of untold numbers of Iraqi innocents - came in no small part because the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it. This was a bitter pill to swallow, and we have since reaped the whirlwind because of it.

Yet today, the courage we activists have sought so desperately from the Democrats made itself thunderously evident in your actions. For us, it feels like the dawn breaking after a long, cold, hard winter.

We, the undersigned, stand with you. We applaud your courage. We offer both our moral support as well as any hands-on work we can do to help you in your efforts. Today, DemocraticUnderground is proud to know you, and proud to stand with you. Today, we hope. Tomorrow, we work.

WilliamPitt
DU Member since 2001

[tsuki]

1. Can we put something in about gutting the VA at a time we need

it? My personal hobby horse.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Thanks Will. I think you handled the third paragraph very well. You laid

it all out, but didn't leave it as a "shame on you" message, but went back to being supportive.

Neither kiss-ass nor totally angry. A good balance.

[LaurenG]

3. Sweet... and to the point, where do I sign? nt

[ChickMagic]

4. Woo hoo!

:applause:

Who was the guy reponsible for purchasing that was frogmarched out? He needs to be included in the rogues gallery.

[Sydnie]

10. I would agree with that

Make sure that they know that we know that they know it doesn't stop there. :::sigh::: what a sentence! LOL

[SeattleGirl]

19. Sydnie, you've spent too much time at the

"Donald Rumsfeld School of Linguistics"! :rofl:

[Sydnie]

29. Well, as he said in his press conference today

"I'll be glad to say it again. Prompt Me ... just prompt me." Picture hands begging the press to press him on the point.

You're right though.

I should go help my middle schooler with her english homework as a refresher!


:rofl:

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Excellent letter...

I'll be pleased to sign.

[CottonBear]

6. Excellent. Short and to the point. Thank you for drafting the letter! nt

[JJackFlash]

7. May I suggest

more on their "shadow goverment" (WHIG & OSP) and the repugnican practice of withholding requested documents? Reid's action is about their governance, and not explicitly the war.

Thanks WP!

[Richard Steele]

16. Yes, perhaps some mention of the ARROGANT refusal to obey rules and laws?

Never seen an administration
which has been allowed to simply IGNORE
any law it finds inconvenient.

But great letter; I'll be happy to sign!

[lapfog_1]

8. I am not a Christian... but the bible has some good quotes

which might be appropriate:

"Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3-4)."

and

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)"

[nickyt]

24. The Truth is the engine that drives - FREEDOM - n/t

[jarnocan]

9. thanks

I thought he did very well. www.worldcantwait.org NOV 2nd!!!! BTW. I also think we should remind our media of our election fraud issues on this sad anniversary.

[Arkana]

11. Where do I sign?

Excellent letter!

[kohodog]

12. Final sentences, for your consideration:

Today you gave us hope. Tomorrow we work with you to secure our children's hope.

[DemExpat]

20. Something like this would be effective IMO.

I want to sign this letter too, Will!

And keep it basically as is IMO - not too long. :D

:kick:

DemEx

[Tennessee Gal]

13. I agree with including more about their governing tactics.

That is at the root of our problems right now. Republicans think they can bully everyone and do whatever they want without repercussions.

Here is the message I sent Reid. Use any of it you wish.

Dear Senator Reid:

Today you put some of the pride back in being a Democrat when you moved to take the Senate into a closed session. You were right to take such action as that appears the only option left to Democrats to force the Republican majority to fulfill their duties to the American people.

It is time that Democrats seized every opportunity to define the national debate, to aim it at the corruption inherent in current Republican office holders, including the President and Vice President.

I am quite certain that Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald will do all he can to get to the bottom of exposing the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. He is quite impressive and appears to possess great integrity. The actions you and the other Democrats in the Senate took today will only serve to reinforce his investigation.

Thank you so much for your courage and please continue to exhibit such strength of character.

[sandnsea]

14. Democrats did not support a march to war

No matter how many times that line comes back to bit Dems in the ass, you just can't help but keep pushing the bullshit line.

Truth. It's not just the Bushies that need to be deal with it.

Nice idea, but I'll have to opt out of the letter.

[cynatnite]

15. Well done, Will! Tell me where to sign! n/t

[mzmolly]

17. Will, you have got to address the fact that Dems were lied to. They

"lined up" behind a false premise of nukes in the hands of Saddam and Iraqi's being responsible for 911.

I think the letter is great, but needs a bit of diplomacy. We have to give the Dems the benefit of the doubt, and consider the very real possibility that they BELIEVED Bush/Powell and others who lied to America/The World. Dems and Americans have learned a lesson, a bit too late, but they have learned.

Thanks for taking the reins on this.

[DemExpat]

22. Yes, I would like this part tweaked a little here on this too....

:hi:

DemEx

[mzmolly]

30. Thanks. It's not a time for "I told you so's" it's a time to say thanks

KEEP IT UP! With of course a note about PNAC.

[WilliamPitt]

33. My problem there

is that if I had the goddam data in hand in August 2002, how were they duped?

[mzmolly]

38. That's many peoples problem. But

they work with one another in Washington. It's far more difficult for people who work together to think of one another as being this sinister. They are also quite insulated unfortunately. And, they were frightened into compliance via 911.

We can accept the fact that WE knew, and many of them did not, can't we? They are finally coming to realize that this WH is as dark as we always knew it was. But, they obviously were not aware when they voted on the resolution. To suggest that they were implies that they knew we'd never find weapons and we'd have Americans and innocent civilians dying in spite of it. It also suggests that they knew they'd have to answer for their votes someday. I don't believe that's the case, personally.

I liked Reid's response to this question today:

(paraphrased) Q - "would you have voted to authorize the war if you'd known what you know today" Reids reply "this president wouldn't dared have asked us to vote on this war with the information we know to be true today."

Anyhow, how bout something like this ?? many of us felt that Bush was being dishonest in his presentation for war all along, and we were very discouraged that some Democrats believed the claims despite evidence to that countered the case for war. Insert blip about PNAC, Joe Wilson, Scott Ritter, Hans Blix etc ...

:shrug:

Thanks again WP.

[cry baby]

18. I'd be honored to sign something like that. nt

[Scout1071]

21. You are brave man to ask for input.

Everyone has a different writing style. I think it sounds great and I look forward to signing it.

Thanks for spearheading this letter.

[OKNancy]

23. My suggestions

We, the undersigned members of the online community DemocraticUnderground.com, write today to offer our heartfelt thanks and enthusiastic support for the actions you took on the floor of the Senate today. It was(, to say the very least,) an extraordinary day both for the Senate and for our nation.

Courage(, it seems,)is hard to come by in politics these days. The members of this community were, to put it mildly, deeply disappointed by the decision of so many Democrats to support Mr. Bush's march to war back in 2003.

What we see now - the outing of a deep-cover CIA agent, the indictment of a high-ranking Bush official because of that act, the horrid reality of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the billions of taxpayer dollars poured into this mess, the deaths of 2,027 American soldiers, the grievous injuries suffered by tens of thousands more American soldiers, and the deaths of untold numbers of Iraqi innocents - came in no small part because the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it. This was a bitter pill to swallow, and we have since reaped the whirlwind because of it.

Yet today, the courage we activists have sought so desperately from the Democrats made itself thunderously evident in your actions. For us, it feels like the dawn breaking after a long, cold, hard winter.

We, the undersigned, stand with you. We applaud your courage. We offer both our moral support as well as any hands-on work we can do to help you in your efforts. Today, DemocraticUnderground is (proud to know you, and) proud to stand with you. Today, we hope. Tomorrow, we work.

----take out the three phrases in parentheses, changed spelling of grievous----

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. Hey, you and I noticed the same issue

I agree that some of the interjections disturb the rhythm of the sentences.

[countingbluecars]

25. Sounds great to me.

Thanks.

[Armstead]

26. One small suggestion

Change this paragraph to something like, to make the core point clearer:

"What we see now came in no small part because the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it. This was a bitter pill to swallow, and we have since reaped the whirlwind because of it -- the outing of a deep-cover CIA agent, the indictment of a high-ranking Bush official because of that act, the horrid reality of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the billions of taxpayer dollars poured into this mess, the deaths of 2,027 American soldiers, the grevious injuries suffered by tens of thousands more American soldiers, and the deaths of untold numbers of Iraqi innocents.

[longship]

27. Excellent.

Please don't feel obligated to add anything. If anything, you could skinny down the third paragraph a bit. We don't want it become a catch-all for every single issue on the planet. Maybe a more generic statement would suffice. Other than that, it reads very well and could certainly be sent just the way it is.

These guys need the congratulations. They also need the down side. The way you've framed it balances the two nicely.

I'd be quite happy to sign on to this and I imagine that many other people here will too.

[callous taoboy]

28. Well put, Will. Thanks.

[Lex]

31. Sounds good. Short and to the point.

Gets everything in there succinctly.

Excellent, Will.

[KoKo]

32. It's nice....

I'll sign it...

but, I think this is kind of flakey...:shrug: Like...we are supposed to pretend we didn't give up our valuable time to protest again and again and again (as we gave up our TIM AND LIVES TO FIGHT AGAINST THIS INVASIO...this WAR) because WE had the ability with help to parse out that this whole thing was a LIE based on False Intelligence put forward by folks with and agenda i.e. PNAC/NEOCON's and that so many of us have worked so hard to expose that the 2000 and 2002 and 20004 ELECTIONS WERE STOLEN...and now we are supposed to SUCK UP and LOVE AND KISS REID's ASS because FINALLY they do a "CLOSED SESSION?" :nuke:

Okay...it's what Kerry/Edwards said to us. We are in Iraq and we need to find a way to move forward and deal with the issues at hand... :-(
And no matter how many faxes, e-mails, letters and phone calles John Edwards got...he gave the same shit back to us. "I supported the war...based on the the threat of WMD...yadda...yadda...yadda...:banghead:

Let's TRANSLATE FOR DEMS who supported the WAR (i.e. the Iraq Invasion and Occupation)...I supported it because either: I was terrified after Anthrax/9/11, I was honestly conflicted over the intelligence info and believed Dick Cheney and Condi Rice...(Mushroom Clouds, etc.) OR...and the TRUTH OF IT..."I covered my BUTT because I was up for Re-Election, Election or I was running for President of the USA!!!:nuke:

So...I'll sign the letter..as a loyal DU'er who is so glad they got off their DUFFS finally the "spineless wonders" but we NEED NEVER FORGET that WE WERE OUT HERE LONG BEFORE HARRY REID WOKE THE HELL UP!
:-)'s and PEACE!

[stillcool]

34. i like it...

and will write one of my very own to the local rag. Happy to see them stand-up but saddened to realize just how long they've been sitting down. I would think that as a community letter we keep it short and sweet, and perhaps as individuals we can post-card the whole frigging congress to death!

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. Dawn breaks after night, not winter (there are cold winter dawns...)

Also, you may want to revise these two sentences for rhythm:

Courage, it seems, is hard to come by in politics these days. The members of this community were, to put it mildly, deeply disappointed by the decision of so many Democrats to support Mr. Bush's march to war back in 2003.

The inclusion of the bolded portions in BOTH sentences gives the two together a bit of a staccato feel. I say cut the interjection in the second sentence. Deeply disappointed is enough. You don't have to put it mildly.

Otherwise, terrific work. I'll sign it.

[mzmolly]

40. How bout uhm, spring sprouts after winter?

Ok, no. :P

[kohodog]

41. LOL!

Or, " Brussel sprouts in the fall are green."

[mzmolly]

42. He he.

:)

[BigBearJohn]

36. Where do I sign?

[IkeWarnedUs]

39. could you please mention PNAC

I am so frustrated that NO ONE ever actually talks about the Project for the New American Century by name. Today when Rockefeller talked about the letter to President Clinton he never said it came from PNAC.