Got a nice note from one of the people who frequently call in to the 49er to say that Democrats are socialists, traitors, and deviants. You've seen her name many times there, and she often seems rather demented.The note she sent was in that vein, and I quote: "Dear Mr. Jamie O'Niel (sic) Yes, many Republicans can be jerks! But a majority of the democrat politicians are worst (sic) jerks (including you) and many including Billy Jeff Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi and others are traitors to their country and the American people!"
The return address sticker carried the slogan "Where God Is, Love Is," incidentally, though I didn't sense the presence of the deity in that note. Still, I'm sure the letter writer considers herself to be just brimming with love.
It's rather surprising how enamored the right wing zealots are of exclamation marks. I never get any mail from them that does not include at least a couple of exclamation marks. I think they want to let me know that they mean what they say, and they think an exclamation mark adds credibility to their bountiful insights into the complexities of American politics.It's also kind of illuminating to note just how careless about details the right wing writers tend to be. They always spell my name incorrectly, often getting both my first and my last name wrong, as this writer does. That doesn't matter, of course, except as an indication of how frequently right wingers fail to take note of the little details that
can, in the long run, create big problems. Like the little details the Bush administration overlooked when they went into Iraq, not really planning very carefully for the casualties or the chaos such an invasion would unleash.
So they're not good on details, those who blindly support this administration. That's how they can overlook little things like the whole pattern of lies they (and we) have been told for going on seven years now.
They can overlook the fact that the leader of their party is a gibbering idiot, and they can overlook the failure to send troops into battle with proper armament. They can overlook the long trail of statements that turned out to be utterly false about Iraq (that we would be greeted as liberators, for instance, when recent polls now show that 6 out of 10 Iraqis think it's ok to kill American occupiers).
They are fuzzy on lots of details, preferring to believe that Saddam Hussein was linked to Sept. 11 when there were no Iraqis on those planes. They overlook the constant parade of contradictions that come from Bush and the Republicans.
For example, here's what Bush had to say about bin Laden two days after the Sept. 11 attacks back in 2001. "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
However, after thinking about it, "the Decider" decided differently. In March of 2002, just six months later, Bush said: "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
But, for right wing believers like the woman who wrote me that little note, the details don't matter, even a little detail like discounting the significance of the most important terrorist in the world while conducting a "war on terror."
We mustn't bother the reactionaries with details. They like things simple. Democrats are traitors; Republicans are heroic fighters against terrorism, even when they're squandering our resources, weakening our military, and providing recruiting tools for terrorists all over the world. Let's just keep it all real simple. It's good guys VS. evil doers, and the evil doers include Americans who don't lend support to the disasters the Republicans have created, and the enormous mess they've made of things.
But the little old lady who wrote to me, a woman who shares the same name as the woman who gave birth to the Prince of Peace, was kind enough to send me a couple of bumper stickers. One of them reads: "Voting Democrat equals a Social Dictatorship." The other one reads "FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS VOTE DEMOCRATIC: IT'S TREASON STUPID."
She sent me these good wishes with a stamp issued by a "social dictatorship" that delivers the mail, and I'm pretty sure she paid for that stamp out of her Social Security check, but those are petty details, of course.
Does this letter writer remember that George W. Bush ran on the pledge that he was a uniter, not a divider? And has she failed to notice how divided the nation has been for so many years now because Bush and the Republicans have sought, instead, to use fear-mongering and divisive rhetoric to keep the nation divided at our peril. She fails to note how only a very small fraction of the nation is called on to sacrifice in this so-called "war on terror," while those in power grow ever-more-obscenely wealthy through war profiteering.
And the little old lady letter writer also fails to pay attention to the small detail of some 80 American deaths each month in Iraq, and $2 billion dollars down a rat hole each week in Iraq, and thousands of civilian deaths there, not to mention the smallest of all details - the fact that the cost of this war is being put on our children and grandchildren's charge card as we run up a huge debt for them to pay.
The woman who wrote to say that Democrats are traitors sent her thoughts on stationery embossed with the American flag. She thinks, no doubt, that makes her a patriot, but a detail like the sorry state of things under the stewardship of those she admires gets in the way of that notion.
