Letter to a winger

[last_texas_dem]

I've had a little extra time on my hands lately, and have reverted to my bad habit from several years back of writing letters to the editor.

Here is one I recently wrote in response to some conservative's wacko diatribe that was published in the letters section yesterday. My letter should hopefully appear in a few days.

I liked the original version better, but then I saw that the paper's word limit has been changed from 250 to 200 words, so I had to cut a little bit out. I think I still did a decent job of zinging the guy.





Here is his original letter:

>>>>Congress has more power than president

It is unbelievable how many people really don't know what the presidency is about. A lot of people are blaming Bush for everything that has gone bad in America. The president has very limited powers compared to our Congress. The fact is, Congress has more power. This keeps America from having a dictatorship.

They are the ones you need to throw the blame at, too. Liberals will disagree, but it is still a fact, whether you agree or not. And guess what? The majority of Congress are Democrats. But like most liberals, they seem to shy away from the truth. Before the election, Congress had a rating that was much less than the president, but yet people keep them in and put more in. Were they deceived?

Yes, this election did make history. Not like they have been saying though. Instead, we got our first black president, with the help of ACORN, which registered people more than once to vote. Deceived again.

So, in my opinion, for the next four years, we have no legal president. I am sure a few people will disagree, but investigate the facts and then you decide.>>>>






Here is my response:

>>>>Letter-writer Ken Green claims that presidents possess “very limited” powers compared to Congress. In asserting this, I can only assume that Green slept through most of the twentieth century and the large expansion of presidential powers that took place over its course.

Perhaps Green also snoozed through civics class, during which most of us learned that Congress’s approval rating is almost always “much less than the president{‘s},” regardless of the party in control. Americans generally hold low opinions of Congress alongside much higher opinions of their own representatives.

Green also seems to believe that a few cases of ACORN employees submitting duplicate ballot applications is tantamount to millions of citizens registering and being permitted to vote multiple times for Obama; at least, that is the only conceivable explanation for his asinine assertion that Obama is not a “legal president.” If Green has any evidence of this, outside of his overactive imagination, he is legally obligated to contact the FBI immediately. Somehow I don’t see that happening.

America is a free country and Green is certainly free to live under as many delusions as he so chooses, but perhaps he should “investigate the facts” himself before advising others to do so.>>>>





OK, considering the content of the letter I was responding to, perhaps it may seem like I was being a bit unfair and beating up on someone with one arm tied behind their back, but oh well...

[PBS Poll-435]

1. I like it!

What rag was it published in?

[last_texas_dem]

2. Thanks!

It's from the Beaumont Enterprise. His letter is the third one down on this page: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinion/letters/wednesday_letters__cable_tv_woes_protested__bush_administration_defended_01-06-2009.html

(I was tempted, but decided not to touch the letter arguing that Obama must be impeached, essentially because the progressive income tax is unconstitutional. Would the dude also retroactively pursue impeachment for every president going back to Wilson, for allowing such an "unconstitutional" travesty to stand?!?)

[OHDEM]

3. Bravo!

Your response seems perfectly fair to me and if he's going to not just be so ignorant, but choose to spew such ignorance out into the world, he deserves to be beat up. (With words, not fists - of course!)

[last_texas_dem]

4. Thank you

:hi:

Yeah, just when I started thinking that maybe I had been a little too harsh with him, I thought about the broad-brushed statements he made about liberals in his letter. Although what I wrote may be a little nasty towards him in particular, my letter doesn't contain any of the bigoted falsehoods about large groups of people that his does.