Michael Moore's letter to Bush

[Scarletwine]

I don't agree with all of it but....

Monday, March 17th, 2003

George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC

Dear Governor Bush:

So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you:

1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works!

2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q. Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs two dollars a gallon -- the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve.

3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them.

4. The Pope has said this war is wrong, that it is a SIN. The Pope! But even worse, the Dixie Chicks have now come out against you! How bad does it have to get before you realize that you are an army of one on this war? Of course, this is a war you personally won't have to fight. Just like when you went AWOL while the poor were shipped to Vietnam in your place.

5. Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either!

6. Finally, we love France. Yes, they have pulled some royal screw-ups. Yes, some of them can be pretty damn annoying. But have you forgotten we wouldn't even have this country known as America if it weren't for the French? That it was their help in the Revolutionary War that won it for us? That it was France who gave us our Statue of Liberty, a Frenchman who built the Chevrolet, and a pair of French brothers who invented the movies? And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting it right for once. You know, you really should have traveled more (like once) before you took over. Your ignorance of the world has not only made you look stupid, it has painted you into a corner you can't get out of.

Well, cheer up -- there IS good news. If you do go through with this war, more than likely it will be over soon because I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Iraqis willing to lay down their lives to protect Saddam Hussein. After you "win" the war, you will enjoy a huge bump in the popularity polls as everyone loves a winner -- and who doesn't like to see a good ass-whoopin' every now and then (especially when it 's some third world ass!). And just like with Afghanistan, we'll forget about what happens to a country after we bomb it 'cause that is just too complex! So try your best to ride this victory all the way to next year's election. Of course, that's still a long ways away, so we'll all get to have a good hardy-har-har while we watch the economy sink even further down the toilet!

But, hey, who knows -- maybe you'll find Osama a few days before the election! See, start thinking like THAT! Keep hope alive! Kill Iraqis -- they got our oil!!

Yours,

Michael Moore

 

[Klaus]

Thanks Scarletwine for providing that article.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

 

[cloudimani]

Well said that man!

Bush, you and your coalition of the killing can just sod off

 

[Dreadsox]

See this is what makes this country great!

Without freedom of speech.....I would not get to read opinions like this.....and I might actually pay money to see something this guy has produced/directed or written. I am now educated.

I too thank you for posting this.....ummmm.....Letter.

 

[Lilly]

this is not an article klaus, it's a letter from MICHAEL MOORE

2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you --

1. i think it's disgusting how he addressed it to "governor bush." regardless of how much you don't like a president, he is still president.


2. the majority of americans don't vote. nice try michael moore, but only half of 13% of eligable voters even voted, meaning that 6% of americans approved of bush to begin with.

 

[follower]

That was very good reading, thanks.

 

[Scarletwine]

1. i think it's disgusting how he addressed it to "governor bush." regardless of how much you don't like a president, he is still president.

Uh no he is a sitting President, but definitely not an elected one.
Many people believe the gov't was taken over by a political coup.

 

[Screaming Flower]

posting a letter from michael moore is the equivalent of posting a letter from rush limbaugh. i have no use for either of them. they are both so extreme and polarized that any hope for the middle ground is lost.

 

[Dreadsox]

Uh no he is a sitting President, but definitely not an elected one.
Many people believe the gov't was taken over by a political coup.

Wow.....Thank you for pushing me back to the right where I obviously belong.

One more thing...AL GORE lost his HOME STATE!!!!!!

How many people get elected to the Presidency and win losing their home state?

 

[kobayashi]

posting a letter from michael moore is the equivalent of posting a letter from rush limbaugh. i have no use for either of them. they are both so extreme and polarized that any hope for the middle ground is lost.

cant we just take the average and go with that?

 

[meegannie]

2. the majority of americans don't vote. nice try michael moore, but only half of 13% of eligable voters even voted, meaning that 6% of americans approved of bush to begin with.

So still the majority of Americans DIDN'T vote for Bush.

By the way, I loved Bowling for Columbine, but I think Michael Moore is WAY too one-sided and sensationalist and doesn't check his facts very well.

 

[hiphop]

See this is what makes this country great!

Without freedom of speech.....I would not get to read opinions like this...

Yes freedom of speech is great

And who cares for Michael Moore Some nice ideas in the last two paragraphs, but, in my opinion, too fun-making-cynical.

 

[womanfish]

Re: this is not an article klaus, it's a letter from MICHAEL MOORE

2. the majority of americans don't vote. nice try michael moore, but only half of 13% of eligable voters even voted, meaning that 6% of americans approved of bush to begin with.

Lilly - I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell are you trying to say here? Do you even know what you are trying to get across with this statement? As far as I can tell you think one of three things. That only 13% of eligible voters voted in 2000 for all candidates, or you think that only 6.5% of voters voted for all candidates, or you think that 6.5% voted for Bush. I'm really not sure.

Well, even if I somehow decifered what you were trying to say, it is WRONG.

There are 280 million people in America, 204 million of those are eligible voters. 102.5 million people voted in 2000 for all candidates, 101.5 million voted for Bush and Gore combined.

that's over 50% of all eligible voters.

50,999,897 voted for Gore - 48.38% of popular vote
50,456,002 voted for Bush - 47.87% of popular vote

These are the facts.

Oh, and I do like Michael Moore, I think he does great work even though it does lean way left for the most part. But a couple things that he forgot to mention about France -

- They are the number 1 country in trade with Iraq.
- They supplied Iraq with nulclear technology and equipment in the 1970's and 80's (handled by the then Prime Minister of foreign affairs Jacque Chirac)
- They are the country with the largest number of big money contracts for production of future oil facilities in Iraq.

Hmmmmm..... I wonder why they are so set on not using force for disarming Iraq and getting rid of the tyranical government that they have all the big money contracts signed with.

Oh and number 2 and 4 on the list of biggest traders with Iraq:

You guessed it Russia and China.

 

[Danospano]

My thoughts....

He said:
"The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction."

I say:
The majority of Americans, roughly 75%, didn't vote for Governor Bush. You can argue whether or not the citizens who didn't vote should count in this statistic, but even if you exclude them from the tally Bush still lost the majority of the votes. That is a fact.

He said:
"As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein?"

I say:
Hoo-ray....it's about time someone finally pointed out how bad this proves Bushie to be. Saddam is hated by the entire world, that's a given. But, to have Bush get rejected by even MORE nations is bad PR. Isn't it strange that Fox News hasn't taken this angle when speaking of Bushie? Isn't strange that their network's slogan is "We report, you decide"? It should be, "We decide, we report".

He said:
"Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either!"

I say:
Why isn't anyone addressing this subject on a national scale? For a country that experience this same concern during the Vietnam War, I'm startled to hear no mainstream media pose the question: Are Congressmen and Presidental children immune to fighting?

He said: (in reference to the French)
"And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting it right for once."

I say:
Nah, let's permenantly destroy our relationship with the French and talk about them behind their backs. Friends don't criticize friends! (Wait, you all know I'm being sarcastic, right?)

 

[womanfish]

Re: Re: Michael Moore's letter to Bush

My thoughts....

He said:
"The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction."

I say:
The majority of Americans, roughly 75%, didn't vote for Governor Bush. You can argue whether or not the citizens who didn't vote should count in this statistic, but even if you exclude them from the tally Bush still lost the majority of the votes. That is a fact.

He said:
"As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein?"

I say:
Hoo-ray....it's about time someone finally pointed out how bad this proves Bushie to be. Saddam is hated by the entire world, that's a given. But, to have Bush get rejected by even MORE nations is bad PR. Isn't it strange that Fox News hasn't taken this angle when speaking of Bushie? Isn't strange that their network's slogan is "We report, you decide"? It should be, "We decide, we report".

He said:
"Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either!"

I say:
Why isn't anyone addressing this subject on a national scale? For a country that experience this same concern during the Vietnam War, I'm startled to hear no mainstream media pose the question: Are Congressmen and Presidental children immune to fighting?

He said: (in reference to the French)
"And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting it right for once."

I say:
Nah, let's permenantly destroy our relationship with the French and talk about them behind their backs. Friends don't criticize friends! (Wait, you all know I'm being sarcastic, right?)

I agree with pretty much everything here. Bush did lose the popular vote. But I would much rather talk in terms of percentages of eligible voters that actually voted. To even include those that don't vote is ridiculous. I say, if you don't vote, you can't complain. So as I mentioned in my post, Gore beat Bush 48.38% to 47.87%.

But I do disagree with the statement about the French. Telling it straight with no b.s.???? I don't think so. I detailed the reasons for their "quest for peace" and it disturbs me just as much as Bush and Blair's reasons for using force.

 

[Lilly]

Re: Re: this is not an article klaus, it's a letter from MICHAEL MOORE

Lilly - I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell are you trying to say here? Do you even know what you are trying to get across with this statement? As far as I can tell you think one of three things. That only 13% of eligible voters voted in 2000 for all candidates, or you think that only 6.5% of voters voted for all candidates, or you think that 6.5% voted for Bush. I'm really not sure.

Well, even if I somehow decifered what you were trying to say, it is WRONG.

if you aren't trying to be rude, then please choose your language more carefully.

There are 280 million people in America, 204 million of those are eligible voters. 102.5 million people voted in 2000 for all candidates, 101.5 million voted for Bush and Gore combined.

102.5/280 = 0.3625.

there is a difference between americans and registered voters. people tend to forget that just because a majority of people between the ages of 18 and 99 voted for an elected candidate doesn't mean the american public gave a mandate for something.

point being: votes don't necessarily reflect what the public wants. moore's quote was: The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you . which - specifically speaking - is inaccurate for the aforementioned reasons.

 

[anitram]

Re: Re: Re: this is not an article klaus, it's a letter from MICHAEL MOORE

point being: votes don't necessarily reflect what the public wants. moore's quote was: The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you . which - specifically speaking - is inaccurate for the aforementioned reasons.

How is it inaccurate?

The majority of Americans did not elect him. If you are looking at Americans (ie. not just registered voters) - then it means you needed 140,000,001 people to vote for him, which they did not. Same could be said for Gore.

 

[Lilly]

nope, i didn't say it was inaccurate, just pointing out that it was not the majority of americans. just those that showed their vote.

just indicating there's a difference.

 

[anitram]

nope, i didn't say it was inaccurate

OK, well I thought that's exactly what you said, but I get you.

 

[sue4u2]

Had really long list of replys to this thread.. But, now, for some reason...just don't feel like going into it.

 

[U2Bama]

The United States of America has an electoral college system for the election of the office of President. Love it or hate it, this system is the current law and it was the law during the Presidential election of November 2000. Prior to the election, when media polls were predicting a Gore/Lieberman electoral victory over a Bush/Cheney popular vote victory. When asked to comment on this, then-First Lady and current Democratic Senator from New York Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if that scenario were to happen, Gore/Lieberman would rightfully be the victors as the electoral system is outlined int he Constitution.

There is a great deal of distance betweeen "Many people believe the gov't was taken over by a political coup" and "he is a sitting President, but definitely not an elected one." The more opinionated of those two statements is erroneously formatted as some type of fact, while the other is an observation of the opinions of "many people."

George W. Bush won the election by the rules and standards of the electoral system.

George W. Bush won the election by the rules and standards of the electoral system.

George W. Bush won the election by the rules and standards of the electoral system.

~U2Alabama

 

[gvox]

George W Bush will soon murder hundreds of thousands of people.

And anyone who re-elects him will be complicit in that bloodshed.

Ban/close that.

 

[Dreadsox]

George W Bush will soon murder hundreds of thousands of people.

And anyone who re-elects him will be complicit in that bloodshed.

Ban/close that.

What is your problem man? Take a break already! You are close to getting another thread closed!!!!!

 

[gvox]

Yeah yeah yeah, listen 'man'...

In a few short hours thousands of people are going to die, mostly because millions of people like us sat here at our computer terminals typing up lovely posts instead of getting out there and actually trying to stop this madness.

Myself included.

I feel sick to my stomach.

 

[gvox]

Actually can someone just be banned from one forum, like FYM?

If so, I think I'd like a banning from FYM (nowhere else mind you, the rest of Interference is pretty damn cool).

Its a big waste of my otherwise valuable time.

Thanks

 

[Lilly]

if you want to take that up, do so with a mod. don't post it here.

or practice self control.

 

[Sicy]

No problem I'll take care of it.