we are here, we are here!
[long, rambling, tangential. you have been warned]
Of all the strange emails I've received in the past two days, the ones that irked me the most were from people who chastised me for being a New York Republican. Specifically, a New York metro area (which is how they get to include me, a Long Islander, in their diatribes) voter who was personally affected by 9/11.
Funny thing: In the three plus years since that dreadful day, I've written about it over 100 times. And every time, without fail, I would get an email or comment from someone accusing me of trying to "own" 9/11.
My, how the tables have turned. Suddenly, that day now belongs to Democrat New Yorkers who are the only people who can understand anything about terrorism. How dare Midwesterners vote with terrorism in mind? They weren't here on 9/11. They don't know. And how dare I, a New Yorker, a close friend of someone who died that day, an attendee of dozens of funerals and memorial services, vote Republican? The fingers point at me. I am a betrayer of the dead. I am stomping on the souls of my friends. I have not avenged them with my vote.
I'll use Ted Rall's column as an example of what's being said. You can really see it anywhere in New York; the Times had an article quoting disenfranchised "owners" of 9/11. CNN did man on the street interviews with weeping New Yorkers who were in shock that someone in another state had terrorism fears. But Ted does a nice job, as always, of piling on the hypocritical horseshit.
Of all the strange emails I've received in the past two days, the ones that irked me the most were from people who chastised me for being a New York Republican. Specifically, a New York metro area (which is how they get to include me, a Long Islander, in their diatribes) voter who was personally affected by 9/11.
Funny thing: In the three plus years since that dreadful day, I've written about it over 100 times. And every time, without fail, I would get an email or comment from someone accusing me of trying to "own" 9/11.
My, how the tables have turned. Suddenly, that day now belongs to Democrat New Yorkers who are the only people who can understand anything about terrorism. How dare Midwesterners vote with terrorism in mind? They weren't here on 9/11. They don't know. And how dare I, a New Yorker, a close friend of someone who died that day, an attendee of dozens of funerals and memorial services, vote Republican? The fingers point at me. I am a betrayer of the dead. I am stomping on the souls of my friends. I have not avenged them with my vote.
I'll use Ted Rall's column as an example of what's being said. You can really see it anywhere in New York; the Times had an article quoting disenfranchised "owners" of 9/11. CNN did man on the street interviews with weeping New Yorkers who were in shock that someone in another state had terrorism fears. But Ted does a nice job, as always, of piling on the hypocritical horseshit.
How interesting, Democrats watching the election results at a high-rise hotel in midtown Manhattan commented, that the rest of America thinks it understands terrorism better than we do. New York bore the brunt of 9/11 yet CNN's exit poll found that New Yorkers considered Iraq a bigger issue than terrorism when casting their votes for president. Midwesterners and southerners felt the opposite, motivated by fear of the unknown--literally, as they are neither likely targets of terrorism, nor did they feel or smell the horrors of that terrible day. Ranking terrorism their number one concern, they nevertheless supported an incumbent for whom the war on terrorism is nothing more than a marketing slogan.......Terrorism? Please, if you live in Mississippi or Colorado or Alaska, don't presume to talk about, much less cast your vote based upon, your "views" of Islamist terrorism. New Yorkers don't lecture you about hunting. Butt out of our business. Or at least have the grace to follow the lead of New York City voters if, contrary to history or logic, terrorism is your number one concern. [...] The day after a shady election handed to a maniacal buffoon, New Yorkers whose dead remain scandalously unavenged were in the streets. Civil strife, rage, the fight for decency and democracy--they were nowhere to be found.The arrogance of the left in all its shining light. Since when is terrorism only an issue to those who have suffered from it? Do you have to live through a terrible thing in order to fear that terrible thing? Is it necessary to have the acrid smell of death cling to your clothes in order to want to fight the very thing that caused it? Have you ever read these stories? They are the voices of 9/11; over one hundred people - most of them not New Yorkers - who did not need to be standing at the foot of the towers in order to understand what terrorism is and what it does to a country. The people in the Midwest are Americans. Terrorism perpetrated on American soil or interests - whether it be in New York or Yemen, greatly affects all Americans. Terrorism? Please, if you live in Mississippi or Colorado or Alaska, don't presume to talk about, much less cast your vote based upon, your "views" of Islamist terrorism. New Yorkers don't lecture you about hunting. Butt out of our business. And they call us ignorant? Here he compares hunting to a terrorist attack that kills thousands. Tell us, Ted. How does elk hunting compare to people hunting? It doesn't. Two towers crumbling to the ground in New York profoundly affects an entire country and all if its people. A deer falling dead in the woods of Colorado? Need I go on? And this is what I keep hearing from my fellow New Yorkers. The people outside of New York and D.C. who voted with the war on terror in mind are idiots and fools who were brainwashed by a chimpanzee and his mind-melding sidekick. Apparently, only Democrats have the power to withstand the forces of Karl Rove and his subliminal messages. Only Democrats are smart enough to see through Bush's mask and recognize the devil that lurks beneath. Only people who voted for Kerry are really smart enough to deserve a vote. The rest of us - especially New Yorkers who voted for Bush - are Stepford simpletons who fell victim to a slick ad campaign,. We are hordes of zombies, and only the blue state heroes can save us from eating our own. I'm furious at a lot of things today. Now that I've had time to digest all the emails and comments, time to read all the articles and listen to all the whinging, I'm taken aback by how aggressively the Anybody But Bush coalition is pursuing the "You are Dumb" retort. But why should I be surprised? Look at some of the agendas of the left and their cohorts and you'll see that message has been in play all along. From animal activists to the tree huggers, to the P.C. police, they've been talking down to us in the morally superior way for ages now. The results of this election has just opened the Pandora's box of insults a bit wider. That cool breeze you feel is the rush of a thousand ad hominem attacks rushing by you as they whip their way around the country. Every little breeze seems to whisper sleaze. Besides, which is it guys? Did Bush win by "unleashing an army of fundamentalist Christians across the red heartland" or did he win because the stupid people that don't live in New York think they have a right to want to fight the war on terror? Was it the theo-zombies or the terror zombies that did you in? Getting back to the dumb Republican New Yorkers and their out of state counterparts (self included), here's the kicker from Ted: The day after a shady election handed to a maniacal buffoon, New Yorkers whose dead remain scandalously unavenged were in the streets. Civil strife, rage, the fight for decency and democracy--they were nowhere to be found. Unavenged? Would voting in Kerry - I'm sorry, voting out Bush - somehow avenge those deaths? Kerry's kinder, gentler war on terror, his mysterious plan to battle terrorism, his law enforcement ways of dealing with terrorists - just how would they "avenge" the dead? Even if bin Laden were shackled up behind bars, bunk mating with Saddam, the dead would not be avenged. The war on terror has a long way to go and I voted for Bush precisely for that reason, because I trust him in this war more than Kerry. And you know what? I know plenty of family and friends of 9/11 victims who did just the same. I know firefighters who did just the same. Long Island may look blue all over, but, like the denizens of Whoville, we are here. 589,000 of us. We are not idiots. We are your teachers. We are your lawyers. We fix your cars and tend to your sick children. We own businesses and we pump your gas. We are the neighbors who smile and wave at you or lend you tools. We are the people you play cards with, the people who drive your children to school. And now, we are stupid. We are idiots. Just because we don't think like you or vote like you. Can we still be trusted to deal the next hand at poker night or fill your car with unleaded? Will you still talk to us about baseball and football or sit next to us at the next PTA meeting? Or do we all have a case of the stupid cooties and now is your time to make the run from us, separate yourselves from the idiots who don't think like you? Don't be afraid to sit next to me at the movie theater. I promise I won't cram my religious manifesto down your throat. Because, well, I don't have one. Don't look at me like that, it's true. But how, you say, how can a person who does not practice a Christian like religion vote for Bush? You must be dumber than I thought! Well, this election was personal for me. I acted selfishly and took into major consideration what was most important to me, alone, as an American. It wasn't gay rights, of which I am a supporter. It wasn't abortion. It wasn't the definition of family. No, it was that ugly little word, war, partnered with its ugly big brother, terrorism. I did not act in the best interest of my gay friends. I did not act in the best interest of Planned Parenthood. I acted in my own, selfish interest and I do believe - and the results show - that I'm not the only one with that very interest at heart. This is probably the last time I will write about my reasons for voting the way I did. I owe you no more an explanation than you owe me. I don't have to respond to, especially, the emails that read like an exam, with numbered questions that I am "required" to answer. Yes, I am serious. My basic reply is to answer their questions with a question of my own: Dear sir, why do you think this is any of your business? Someone calls me an idiot and then they have the balls to ask me to take a forty question exam to prove to them I'm not stupid? Don't think so. Stupidity would lie in actually taking two hours out of my life to respond to a condescending, bitter emailer. For the record, I don't think that my fellow Americans who voted for Kerry are stupid. I think we just have different issues, place different value on different things and see the world in quite a different way. The Ted Ralls among us think that anyone not in New York can't understand Islamist terrorism. What an elitist thing to believe. What a load of self-important crap. I stand here looking at an inbox stuffed with emails from people who think that I am spitting on the graves of every person who died on 9/11 by supporting Bush. That, as a New Yorker, I should know better. I stand looking at a slew of articles that quote New Yorkers screaming at Midwesterners that they have no right to consider the war on terror an important issue. So, tables turn. Suddenly, 9/11 "belongs" to the New York Democrats. I shouldn't be surprised. After all, Ted himself thinks that almost everyone who died that day was a Democrat. Just because a state is blue on a map, Ted, does not mean that we, the red zombies, are not here. We are. We exist. And for the next four years Horton the elephant is watching over us. Update: To all those telling me Ted Rall doesn't matter, read again what I wrote. It's not just Rall saying these things. It's been all over the NYT, it's been on CNN, this is what the New York "elite" are shouting.
Comments
Brilliant! Being a Red TheoTerror Zombie, I am proud to say that I don't eat the brains of the living or the Blue as, well, I have enough of my own and Blue brains just taste all waxy and unused.
Posted by: Gabe | November 5, 2004 08:33 AM
People died in Pennsylvania and Virginia as well. New York does not have a monopoly on death and destruction, and to tell people who were not there when the Twin Towers fell do not have fears of terrorism is arrogance of the highest degree. The people who died came from across the nation and world; they are all of our children, and the nation will not forget.
Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper
Posted by: Elizabeth | November 5, 2004 08:48 AM
Michele,
In the year or so that I've been reading your blog that has to be the best piece you've ever written. It speaks for so many of us out here in the "red state wasteland" who are now being asked to explain our voting positions, as if somehow we "owe" an explanation to the appeasers among us. I for one don't hold much hope of a great "reunification" that is being demanded by all the people who worked overtime to create the rift in the first damned place. I merely tell my election-losing friends that if they'd like to come aboard for the fight, now is the time to do so, otherwise get the hell out of our way and let us and our President make the "unpopular" decisions required to keep us all safe. I'm pretty much scraping at the bottom level of my tolerance for those who would critisize me for my proactive choices in the WOT, while they maintain a passive posture coupled with wishful thinking. And they call us stupid. Simply put, the country has made a decision to move forward in our struggle to rid the world of terrorist shitbags, and we're not about to let international opinion, the UN or the more gutless members of our country to get in our way.
Posted by: Flamen Dialis | November 5, 2004 08:50 AM
Yah know, you really shouldn't read Ted Rall. He's a wacko and deserves to be ignored, not reacted to.
He does have one point. My wife and I live near Trenton NJ and both grew up in North Jersey. Both of us felt pain the first time we drove up the Turnpike and saw the hole in the NYC skyline. We didn't see the buildings burn/fall, but we did see the smoke. (Thankfully, the wind blew the other way that week and we didn't have to smell it.)
What's funny is that we both have relatives in Missouri - mine near Kansas City and hers near St. Louis. After talking to them, we can both say that our mid-western relatives are more concerned/afraid/panicked about terrorism than we are. I've heard similar discussions from friends and co-workers - the level of fear 3 years later seems to be stronger the farther you live from NYC/DC/Penn.
I'm not critical of midwesterners at all - I was born in St. Louis and lived there until age 9. I'm prouder of my midwestern background than I am of my time in NJ.
No opinion here - just an interesting observation.
Posted by: Mark | November 5, 2004 08:52 AM
"Unavenged? Would voting in Kerry - I'm sorry, voting out Bush - somehow avenge those deaths?"
Exactly and precisely. Why? Because it's all Bush's fault!
9/11 is Bush's fault. He did it. Therefore voting him out would have been an act of vengeance. That's the unspoken message of these folks you cite.
Nice, huh? But we're the morons, we're the depraved. Uh-huh. Sure.
There will be another election after this one, and I will not forget.
Posted by: DSmith | November 5, 2004 08:52 AM
Two words, Ted: "Oklahoma City."
Believe me, I know what it's like to look into the face of terrorism, and I didn't even have to drive to the East Coast to do it.
Posted by: CGHill | November 5, 2004 08:53 AM
Amen!
Has it never occurred to Ted Rall that those of us in the red states (which are red from the blood of innocents, apparently) may ALSO have lost loved ones in 9/11? You don't have to live in NYC to know or be related to someone in NYC.
And aren't the Blues always saying that we live in a "global" society? That the world's hurts are OUR hurts? But an act of terror that affects my fellow Americans in NYC is theirs alone to avenge -- I'm to stay here in Arkansas and keep my mouth shut?
I'm all for "bridging the gap", but reading articles like that make me want to tell the Blues to suck on it for the next four years. Suck. on. it.
But I won't. Because I'm tolerant, yo.
Posted by: Lisa | November 5, 2004 08:55 AM
Outstanding Michele. Just outstanding.
Posted by: Garrett | November 5, 2004 08:58 AM
Sweartafuck, you need a stupidity filter on your email. How you haven't gone on a five state killing spree yet simply baffles me.
Posted by: Sekimori | November 5, 2004 09:04 AM
How the Dems can ensure Eight More Years of the GOP:
www.zombietime.com/sf_rally_november_3_2004/
My favorite sign: "F**K Middle America"
Posted by: Karl Rove | November 5, 2004 09:09 AM
When you speak of selfishness, I think you're getting to the heart of the matter.
The truth is, most Americans haven't had to sacrifice shit in the war on terror. They're not fighting the war. At most, they're spending an extra 15 minutes at the airport or a few extra bucks to fill their gas tanks.
That's shameful really. What united Americans during WWII was shared sacrifice and everyone doing their part.
For those who are the right age, able bodied and support the war, I say, "Suit up or shut up." There are recruiting offices all over America.
Posted by: Roxanne | November 5, 2004 09:12 AM
>>For those who are the right age, able bodied and support the war, I say, "Suit up or shut up." There are recruiting offices all over America.<<
And they're doing the very thing, Roxanne. In DROVES. If you ever run into a miltary recruiter, just stop him and ask him. Numbers are up. There are plenty of young people still left in this country who believe in something bigger than themselves and believe me, they're thankful that W remains in office as Commander in Chief to provide the right direction. I'm curious - how old do you happen to be? Would you serve your country? Do you personally know anyone who does?
Posted by: Flamen Dialis | November 5, 2004 09:20 AM
Roxanne: So you support the draft? or Military Rule? I say go with that platform in 2008! Dems for The Draft! Dems for Military Rule!
We will thank you for Eight More Years!
Keep up the awsome work!
Posted by: Karl Rove | November 5, 2004 09:24 AM
One thought that has been in discussion in my house - since 9/11 ... is that when the planes hit, the whole country wept. People here in Detroit DROVE to NYC to try to help. My husband's own company sent one of their tractor trailers (filled with stuff) to help out. I wonder if NYCers (the Ted Ralls) can understand the compassion that all us stupid red-necks can feel for other Americans. My husband has wondered, on many occasions, if it had been Detroit's Rennaissance Center that had been hit, would NYC have cared? Would Maureen Down, or Ted Rall, given two shits?
Posted by: Carin | November 5, 2004 09:27 AM
I'm in my 40s, however ...
I worked overseas for the DoD for three years, so I am well-acquainted with the military community. My 18 year old niece just started air force boot camp, my sister is in the coast guard, my father served in the Navy, and both grandfathers spent 3 years of their lives as Marines, kicking Hitler's ass.
None of them are/were Republicans. None of them who are still alive voted for Bush. So, you can all add that to your list of stereotypes that don't really fit.
Posted by: Rox | November 5, 2004 09:31 AM
Going to bed early did you well, Michele. Excellent essay.
And again, I stand and applaud your courage in wading into the depths of Rallmania to expose this meme. Not that it's confined to even to NYDems ... some Brits get in on the "dumb" meme, too.
I've been posting about the other post-GW meme coming from angry, spinning Dems ...illustrated by today's Paul Krugman article that I fisk here. Dems think they didn't articulate their message well enough for us dumbbunnies to get it ... they refuse to examine their message.
Good lord, this is now a matter of religious dogma to Dems -- it was brought home even more as my husband arrived home almost seething because he needed to cut his phonecall to Edward, his ten y/o son (who lives with his very leftist mom in Oregon), short when Edward started ranting about "redneck Republicans." Ten.years.old.
Posted by: Darleen | November 5, 2004 09:31 AM
Sorry you have been getting those nasty e-mails. You must be hitting a raw nerve. Do what I do - don't read them. People hate me because I voted republican AND work at Wal-Mart. My job does not define who I am and neither does my political party. In fact, people who try to judge me by such "outward" signs are people I don't care to get to know. You are very brave and I would like to sit down and chat with you one day. Take care - get some sleep and stop reading those nasty e-mails!
Posted by: Dorothy | November 5, 2004 09:39 AM
Sorry you have been getting those nasty e-mails. You must be hitting a raw nerve. Do what I do - don't read them. People hate me because I voted republican AND work at Wal-Mart. My job does not define who I am and neither does my political party. In fact, people who try to judge me by such "outward" signs are people I don't care to get to know. You are very brave and I would like to sit down and chat with you one day. Take care - get some sleep and stop reading those nasty e-mails!
Posted by: Dorothy | November 5, 2004 09:40 AM
>>None of them are/were Republicans. None of them who are still alive voted for Bush. So, you can all add that to your list of stereotypes that don't really fit.<<
Stereotypes? I was merely asking a couple of questions. What sort of message did you give your neice upon her departure for basic training? Were you supportive of her efforts, or did you remind her that she was going to be sent to the middle east by a maniacal dictator to "die for oil"?
Posted by: Flamen Dialis | November 5, 2004 09:41 AM
You know, Michele, I removed my popular Ted Rall Is Full Of Crap site and the accompanying archive because I just got tired of mocking the loon. He's self-mocking, insane (commenting at length as Annoying Bastard while dismissing me in e-mail at the same time), requiring no additional effort to demonstrate that he's full of crap. And those who don't realize he's full of crap prima facia are not worth wasting effort on convincing that he's full of crap, let alone worth wasting the cost of a bullet to put them out of their misery.
The reason why we in the heartland give two sh*ts about the potential for New York or DC terrorism is because for some ungoldly reason, our state and local authorities over the past century have given up most of their right to self rule in exchange for a tangle of inefficient federal regulation and a centralization of capital markets. If New York or DC gets a boo-boo, we have been trained to stop and stand agape at the event instead of shrugging and saying "Well, that sucks for them. Back to work here."
So, yeah, we give a damn about the impact of terrorism on y'all down here. We've been shackled to your fate. All of the eggs are in one basket, so to speak, and we are GUARDING THAT BASKET. Even the cracked and rotten ones for some sick reason.
And if some Manhattanites and Commiefornias are too dumb to realize that they're in Islamism's crosshairs, then I guess we have to be aware FOR them.
Earlier comment: "If it had been Detroit's Rennaissance Center that had been hit, would NYC have cared? Would Maureen Dowd, or Ted Rall, given two shits?"
Answer: No, they wouldn't, and I have examples. When Houston shut down from floods over three years ago, it garnered less attention than Philadelphia's minor floods from the same rolling system a few days later. And during all three hurricanes that hit Florida this season, the reaction was not "What can we do to help them?" but "Gee, they're getting an awful lot of federal aid. Maybe it is because the President is the Governor's brother?" or "Serves them right for lousing up our election in 2000."
Posted by: Laurence Simon | November 5, 2004 09:41 AM
Ted's rant doesn't even make any sense to me. I guess I am dumb but, I saved a bundle on my car insurance!
Posted by: Babs | November 5, 2004 09:48 AM
Akin to the pointlessness of responding to e-bile, taking affront to the stink this addled leftie exudes is a waste of precious synapses.
Posted by: Miles Wilson | November 5, 2004 09:50 AM
Flamen, take the conversation to email if you want to discuss that with Roxanne. Much as I like you both, and as much as it's a good subject to discuss, I'm not in the mood for threadjacks today.
Posted by: michele | November 5, 2004 09:51 AM
Sorry about the emails - a few may be from people I sent to your blog.
I explained why I voted for Bush (I'm a New Yorker) and I said there were other NYers, in the metro area, who were directly affected by the attacks who also voted for Bush. And I directed them to your post "The Morning After".
I know these people personally, and perhaps they don't realize that they've been calling me stupid, evil, mentally ill and other things. Perhaps they do know that, and they're enjoying their feelings of superiority, as they have no real political victory to point to. I tried to give some advice about how to get a win in the future (http://www.livejournal.com/users/meep/877782.html), and one decided to take that advice, and others decided to crap on it.
Well, whatever. I've done my duty. I've tried. I know that advice is usually unheeded, especially there's something in there you don't want to hear (like, you don't really know how most Americans think, or what they want.)
Anyway, thanks for speaking for some of us. I whole-heartedly agree with your post here.
Posted by: meep | November 5, 2004 09:52 AM
Also, Karl Rove up there is the same person who left the now deleted MooreFan comment. Make up your mind, troll!
Posted by: michele | November 5, 2004 09:53 AM
I am very happy that Bush won, but I have felt down a few times in the last couple of days that Republicans that live in NY State could not deliver the state for Bush. Broome County, where I live in upstate, went to Kerry be 2,000 votes. My goal for the next election is to turn NY to a red state.
Posted by: brew | November 5, 2004 09:55 AM
Who is paying for this War? Whose children are fighting and dying to protect this country. Yes we flyover people understand the issues and we put our money (and our votes) where our mouths are
Posted by: augustr | November 5, 2004 09:55 AM
The blunt, practical, and harsh response would be "If you think terrorism is a local issue, fine then, you pay for it. Put the NYPD in charge of US counterterrorism, the FBI/CIA/NSA can do other things." Sounds stupid, doesn't it? Me, I like to think we're all in this together. And silly me, I think all Americans should have a say in matters of national defense.
Oh, and one very important thing. If you want to make hay over NY voting for Kerry 58% to 40%, you just might want to consider the results from 2000. If this page is right it was 60.2%/35.2% in 2000. Now how did Bush gain nearly 5%? Anyone got any ideas? Anyone? Bueller? Maybe a bunch of yokels moved to NY. (And how did Kerry lose 2%? Does he really have less charisma than Gore?)
Posted by: dorkafork | November 5, 2004 09:56 AM
Our state (New York) is a strange one. It votes for a Republican Governor and Republican Mayor (in NYC) but when it comes to the National Level votes Democratic.
Posted by: Drew | November 5, 2004 09:59 AM
"And now, we are stupid. We are idiots. Just because we don't think like you or vote like you."
Sigh Yeah, I got pretty cranky about this myself, yesterday. I've had it up to HERE with that mentality. I cannot even imagine how it must be for you -- because I know you get avalanched with far more mail and comments than I do. Can't say I'm envious about that either, nope.
And I'll tell you, if the Democratic Party doesn't get a handle on the 'we're morally and intellectually superior, plus we wear cool clothes and like France' faction of their party, they are going to become more and more irrelevant. Especially when those are the people routinely being handed the bully pulpit. Most Americans that I know -- no matter what side of the aisle they're on -- find the Tim 'Chill Wind' Robbins crowd to be embarrassingly patronizing.
Posted by: Jen | November 5, 2004 10:02 AM
My sentiments toward the Clintonian gilded age were best expressed in Richard II: Then thus I turn me from my country's light,
To dwell in solemn shades of endless night.
The erudite NYer's: F*ck middle America.
Deer season opens in 2 weeks - yeehah!
Posted by: Miles | November 5, 2004 10:04 AM
Damn, Michele! Wow, you just cut loose and let it rip! Perfect! Geez, I wish I could ahve said it with as much power and clarity as you did. Now, I don't have to; I can just point people here.
Keep up the good work, Lady! (Oh, and thanks for the TCP chat set-up on election night. Although it meant I got, what, about 3 hours of sleep, 'cause I couldn't break away from the group there!)
Posted by: EvilJuan | November 5, 2004 10:11 AM
Actaully Karl Rove is a big Michael Moore fan. I just love him!!!!
Posted by: Karl | November 5, 2004 10:13 AM
I told you watching the left implode after the election would be interesting.
Posted by: Headzero | November 5, 2004 10:16 AM
Amen, amen, amen, I've been boiling at those people in the NYT who think that Republicans like me who were there on 9/11 don't exist, that those of us in NY who support Bush's approach to the War on Terror are the ones who don't take the issue seriously. I wonder who won the NYPD vote. I wonder who won the NYFD vote. Given that both of their unions endorsed Bush. Ever heard of Rudy Giuliani? Bernard Kerik? Tom von Essen? Tell them they don't know what it's like to be targeted by terrorists. (Never mind that nearly the whole hated right-wing media establishment, from the WSJ to Rush to NR to Fox is all based in NY).
Bush lost NY by 25 in 2000; he lost it by 18 this time. Bush lost NJ by 16 last time, 6 this time. Bush lost CT by 18 last time, 7 this time. The man gained a lot of votes in this area. No, he didn't reach everyone. But nobody in the area voted for Bush? Puh-leeeze.
Posted by: Crank | November 5, 2004 10:20 AM
I am from Chicago. I visit Manhattan on business for one week every other month. The New Yorkers I work with are people just like you. They are successful hard working people who do not resemble Ted Rall elitist types whatsoever.
I am so inspired by your post. You have the gift of communication and took the words out of my mind in a way I never could.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Posted by: Zippy | November 5, 2004 10:27 AM
I am more than willing to cut my like-minded Kerry supporters (sorry, anti-Bush folk) some slack and give them a few days to vent. It's hard to believe so strongly that you are right and find out that there are millions of idiots out there who have the gall to disagree with you.
For example, you and I agree on just about everything except how Bush has handled the response to al-Qaeda (and, of course, your insane support of that loser baseball team). So, but for that one issue--which you see as trumping all others and I don't--my candidate lost to a "complete moron." It's frustrating and baffling to people, and they act like pouty children who didn't get their way (yes, this is an oversimplification, and yes I pouted and stomped my feet and cried, too).
Intelligent people will get over it soon. The rest you need to ignore. Seki's stupidity filter would come in handy.
However, this "slack" does not give people the right to be abusive to you. And anyone who thinks that threatening you or your children is anything other than criminal will get my liberal foot up their ass.
Posted by: Solonor | November 5, 2004 10:30 AM
Followup on Dorkafork's point, here are the NY numbers so far (probably with some absentee votes still to be counted):
2000: Gore 4,107,697, Bush 2.403,374
2004: Kerry 3,971,059, Bush 2,782,457
Yes, there are 2.7 million New Yorkers who voted for Bush, including at least 379,000 who didn't in 2000. While Kerry appears to have gotten fewer votes in NY than Al Gore did.
How do you think that happened?
Posted by: Crank | November 5, 2004 10:31 AM
You do your best pieces after someone pisses you off. It is better to be pissed off than pissed on. Find a bottle of refreshment that is aged older than you; pour two fingers worth; enjoy. You have earned it.
Posted by: mark | November 5, 2004 10:43 AM
New York, like San Francisco and the other chic urban centers. is full of people who came from the Red states because they wanted to play with the big boys. To quote the song, "If you can make there (NY), you can make it anywhere." So great. They're all gathered in these small geographical around the fringes of the country and have nothing but contempt for the yokels they left behind.
Like Pauline Kael, former New Yorker magazine film critic, who said she didn't know how Nixon won, she didn't know anyone who voted for him, these people talk only to each other.
Before the blogosphere, their arrogance wasn't exposed. The media and their auxiliary forces in the "arts" and academe controlled information and we were told only what they wanted us to know.
Them days are over and it'll be a lot of fun watching the melt down as the first faint inklings of what the future will look like starts to dawn on them. Not only don't we give a flying fig what the elite eurotrash think of us, we don't care what our own elite eurotrash wannabes think either.
Live with it
Posted by: erp | November 5, 2004 10:46 AM
the take-home point I get from Rall's (and other's) comments is "wah wah wah, our votes should count for more than theirs"
some pigs are more equal than others, I guess.
or maybe they want to make red-staters each count 3/5 of a person.
The main reason I voted for Bush is because I think he's less likely to appease terrorists than Kerry. I don't want a Beslan happening on U.S. soil.
The secondary reason is I more or less know where Bush stands - with Kerry, it seemed so finger-in-the-wind.
If that makes me stupid, fine. I'm stupid, then. If to be smart I have to loathe people in the "flyover" states for voting their conscience, always cast a D ballot, and have to look at what Hollywood excretes as the pinnacle of human culture, then I don't want to be smart.
Posted by: ricki | November 5, 2004 11:01 AM
Keep up the good work, and don't let the buggers get you down. They are still confused, disoriented, and unable to accept the idea that their aristocrat was roundly rejected.
We here in Florida love you.
Posted by: Fred | November 5, 2004 11:07 AM
>> New Yorkers don't lecture you about hunting.
Actually, they do. What do you think "no one uses ... to go hunting" is?
New Yorkers are busy-bodies. They lecture everyone about everything.
Posted by: Andy Freeman | November 5, 2004 11:10 AM
Superb post, Michele. I think Rall is, for you, like some form of innoculation; inject the subject with a weak, partially-formed, pathetic virus, and watch the host grow stronger and produce antibodies. Bwahahahaha!
Anyway, the lefties contempt of Flyover Country is ludicrous and, as this election has shown, counter-productive for them. We outside of the 202 area code aren't affected by terrorism? Well, I guess those attacks that took a trillion dollars out of our economy were not related to me getting laid off shortly thereafter (Just before Thanksgiving--thanks, Boss!). And, of course, only native New Yorkers were in those towers when the planes hit--no tourists, visiting business people, and nobody with relatives in other states.
Michael Mooreon said there is no terrorist threat; now Rall says there is, but only in heavily Democratic precincts. You know, I have a hard time picturing the remaining Al Qaeda leaders poring over that USA Today map, sticking pins in the Blue counties and cackling with glee.
Posted by: Belize042 | November 5, 2004 11:11 AM
As a midwesterner (who's been living in the northeast for the last year) I'm deeply offended by the whole thing. Just because I disagree with the majority of lefties doesn't make me stupid, it just means we disagree.
Posted by: Sunidesus | November 5, 2004 11:13 AM
Excellent piece, Michelle. Although I live in Alabama now, on 9/11 I lived near Newark and worked in Jersey City. I saw the towers burn, I stood in the haze of smoke across the river at Exchange Place and cried. I worked with cops who spent dozens of hours working at the WTC site; I heard about what they saw. I went to memorials, and saw walls of photos of people who would never come home. Jersey City was where the 1993 WTC bombers came from, and supporters of the 9/11 terrorists live there still. As an employee of the JC police department, I went to work behind concrete barriers and wondered if a car bomb would shatter the front of my building some day. I would have voted for Bush even if 9/11 hadn't happened, but New Yorkers can't say I don't understand terrorism as much as they do.
I would also like to emphasize, as others have mentioned, that the majority of Americans fighting to prevent another 9/11 in New York, DC, Pennsy or anywhere else on American soil are mostly from red America. Their sacrifice makes it possible for NYC liberals to gather over foie gras and sneer at the simpletons in flyover country. The blood of red America has given them the freedom to spit on red America. Nice bunch of people.
You do good work, Michelle. I'm glad your voice is strong.
Posted by: susanna | November 5, 2004 11:14 AM
Why do you have to get me so upset so early in the morning?
This is the fucking icing on the cake. For a long time, I was very much about "if you weren't here, you can't know what it was like." Now that the entire red country has shown me that they do know, and they do care, it validates more than ever my faith (no pun intended) in this country as one unified nation. Even if some guy sitting in the middle of the great plains realizes he will never be a target of terrorist attacks, he thinks enough of the danger to his fellow countrymen to cast a vote for them. While you and I an all the other "dumb" NYC Republicans voted selfishly, these people did not. How can one not applaud them?
I'm personally offended by the way in which 9/11 is being contorted by these people. I was there. I was very near there. I do not want to be there again, nor do I want any other person in this country to be there, ever. Even my worst enemy. Even Ted Rall. GWB has prevented additional attacks for over three years, has mounted successful campaigns against those that would try again. For that and that alone he deserved to win.
One final question, WTF is he talking about when he says "shady" election?! I had certainly hoped we'd passed that point this time around. It's not shady just because Kerry lost. And if it's the old "anti-gay marriage referendums were there to bring out the conservatives" explain how Ohio passed theirs by a great margin, but Bush won the state by quite a narrow margin.
OK, sorry, babbling. SO PISSED OFF.
Posted by: Faith | November 5, 2004 11:26 AM
I wish I could have a book of your writings... they're always so astute, especially when you're mad.
To be honest, I'm used to condescension and contempt from coastal dwellers (after all, I live in Iowa... I highly doubt that most New Yorkers would be able to find it on a map, or are even aware that such a state exists). That part doesn't bother me. What does bother me, however, is that if the Democratic party doesn't squelch (or continues to allow) this kind of thinking to be broadcast in its ranks and in its name, then it will cease to become a body of any national significance or effect. I would much rather have a sane Democratic party with reasonable ideas, just so we can have a choice in our elections. With the D-party as it currently is, it leaves us with no choice but to vote R.
Posted by: John S. | November 5, 2004 11:36 AM
So I suppose it was wrong for the continental US (that includes New Yorkers Ted) to rally behind Roosevelt in his war against Imperial Japan. I mean, it's not like they were actually "attacked" or smelled "the horrors of that terrible day" at Pearl Harbor. And it was not like they were "likely targets".
Gee Ted, I guess I'll just have to wait until some crazed lunatic blows a few city blocks of downtown Charlotte to hell before I can comment about islamic terrorism or consider it an issue when I vote.
FOAD
Posted by: John | November 5, 2004 11:40 AM
michele, if one of your lines sums the whole thing up it's got to be:
"Only people who voted for Kerry are really smart enough to deserve a vote."
Captures the whole leftist elitist thinking in a nutshell. This kind of thinking is what turns off the center.
Posted by: Ray | November 5, 2004 11:46 AM
I'd be interested to know the percentage of these "back-wood hicks" from flyover country that are currently in uniform protecting this asshat's right to type this elitist bullshit, compared to the cultured city folk that would have the testicular fortitude to protect their own precious city.
Hey Rall... Suck it.
Signed
Sundevil
Posted by: Tomcat | November 5, 2004 11:58 AM
And one more thing, I think it's perfectly logical that those outside NY/DC/big target cities would be more worried about terrorism than those who live in them. From my own personal experience, when you're living with what you know is the threat on a daily basis, you need to get your mind in a certain state in order to get through life. I've got all kinds of rationalizations, coping mechanisms, stockpiles of water, surgical masks, light sticks, batteries, valium, and all other kinds of mental and physical coping tools that let me live in the biggest target on the US map. I might be afraid of more attacks, but I actually feel, rightly or wrongly, prepared for most anything that might happen. If you're not living your every day like this, you haven't built up these kinds of internal defenses, hence you are more likely to be afraid, scared, concerned.
What we know is much less frightening than what we don't know.
OK, stopping. Really. I mean it this time.
Posted by: Faith | November 5, 2004 11:59 AM
Come on, Ted's a complete idiot. You know it, I know it and I'm sure a good bit of the left knows it. You can't lump the entire left in with that fucking martian!
Posted by: Jason Stare | November 5, 2004 12:03 PM
Here! Here! Well Said Michelle! I was sitting with a friend election night who said "I really don't understand how people could vote for Bush". As I tend to keep my views to myself (I live in very liberal Saint Paul, MN), he didn't know my view. So when I responded "Well, we vote for Bush because we believe we are at war." He looked startled, but to his credit he recovered and we had a civil discussion after that. There are reasonable people on the left. But they sure aren't the majority in the public discourse. How do we find them?
Posted by: JAB | November 5, 2004 12:19 PM
Terrorism? Please, if you live in Mississippi or Colorado or Alaska, don't presume to talk about, much less cast your vote based upon, your "views" of Islamist terrorism. New Yorkers don't lecture you about hunting. Butt out of our business.
Hurricanes? Please, if you live in New York or Califonia or Illinois, don't presume to talk about, much less cast any votes based upon, your "sympathy" of people whos homes got destroyed. Floridians don't lecture you about buildings being destroyed. Butt out of our business.
Will you look at THAT! I CAN match Rall's level of intelligence!
Seriously, living in a state that averages a Federal Disaster proclamation or two every year, I am proud to live in a nation that doesn't just think about their own personal needs and wants. Flyover country has been looked down upon by the elitists in NY and California for years. Yet it wasn't the Red states declaring "They deserved it" when the Twin Towers fell.
Posted by: a different Bill | November 5, 2004 12:21 PM
People who died at the Twin Towers, in Pennsylvania, and at Pentagon had family and friends who live all over the United States, in small and large towns, out in the boonies or by the beach. Who is to say that these family and friends are not affected by what happened in New York?
Posted by: Lola | November 5, 2004 12:45 PM
Excellent post Michelle.
As a fellow NYer I wholeheartedly agree.
Posted by: DanNY | November 5, 2004 12:57 PM
Very nice, Michele. I agree with ricki, except that I would offer the summary of the article to be a bit more concise:
Whaaaaah.
That kind of does it.
Posted by: chess h | November 5, 2004 12:59 PM
Terrorism doesn't affect non-New Yorkers, huh? I guess Ted Rall was born after April 19, 1995.
Posted by: Brandon | November 5, 2004 01:04 PM
This Rall loss strikes me as someone who realizes that he is outnumbered and instead of having the courage to stay his course and fight with honor for what he believes, he mirrors the terrorist themselves by spewing his vile hate.
As I'm sure everyone knows "the more intellectual they think they are, the harder they fall"
Try, my more dim-witted brothers and sisters from Big Buck country, to take pity on those burdened with nuance. Let us try to understand those that when attacked will make the case to blame their fellow countrymen while the rubes from the midwest would prefer to pull every terrorist's heart out through his asshole.
The child cries and stamps his feet when he doesn't get his way. But at night he gets tired and goes to sleep and then he wakes up - still one of our children. Let's send these children to their room and let them cry themselves to sleep.
Posted by: Alppuccino | November 5, 2004 01:09 PM
Exqueeze me, Ted Rall. I seem to recall an organized islamofacist effort on 9/11 that threatened the Capital of my country; one hijacked plane flew into the pentagon, one likely headed for the capitol building cratered out a field in Pennsylvania. It was an attack on the Nation.
Watching my country attacked and my countrymen and visitors to my country die that day wasn't "personal" enough for you, fine.
Any one of my family or friends could have been on a hijacked plane ( I myself was getting a few last minute things for a spontaneous trip to DC that day - the weather was so very fine- to take my homeschooler on his first tour of the Capitol building, when my DH, called to tell me tell me the second plane had hit the trade center.
Stay out of "your" business, my fine white ass.
Posted by: SarahW | November 5, 2004 01:20 PM
Excellent work, Michele.
I wish the bitter-enders would make up their minds, though.
From the Frontpage.com folks (March 15, 2002), here's a Michael Moore Golden Oldie:
Particularly gruesome has been Moore’s character assassination of President Bush. The day after September 11, for instance he wrote: "Many families have been devastated tonight. This just is not right. They did not deserve to die. If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, DC, and the planes' destination of California -- these were places that voted AGAINST Bush!”
Posted by: mrp | November 5, 2004 01:24 PM
Amen.
Posted by: Michele | November 5, 2004 01:33 PM
i couldn't agree more michelle. i touch on a related point here, but nowhere nears as elegantly as you do.
i work a few blocks from the wtc. i walked to the ferry through ash that day. i smelled it the next morning at home, 20 miles away but horribly downwind, smelled it every day at work for the next few months until the fire was finally extinquished in december. i lost several friends, went to many more funerals. and i voted for bush. and i would again in a heartbeat.
guess i'm too stupid, huh?
Posted by: Mr. Bingley | November 5, 2004 01:34 PM
Brilliant, simply brilliant.
However, I fear there's far too much logic and rational thinking here for any liberal.
Posted by: JD | November 5, 2004 01:42 PM
And I thought we'd left "Bitch-slap Ted Rall Friday" behind. I'm kind of glad we didn't, although I hate that you actually have to link to the douche bag while kicking his ass.
Posted by: physics geek | November 5, 2004 01:43 PM
Michelle, I work in downtown DC and from the roof of my building on the morning of 9/11 I saw the smoke rising from the Pentagon just a short distance away. As we heard the confused reports of possible other airliners unaccounted for, I thought of my children who attended school on the grounds of the National Cathedral, a giant building on the highest ground in Washington, an easy target for a jetliner, and feared the Cathedral would be next (the school immediately evacuated the kids). Cars filled all the downtown streets, making the city a huge traffic jam, as people left their offices. And as I looked at the clogged streets and listened on the radio for updates on airliners, I thought: ten years ago, in 1991 when Russia outlawed the Communist party, the Cold War ended; and now a new war has begun. We've enjoyed ten years of peace; now its over. And I thought: eight years of Clinton/Democrat inattention let this new threat grow. Bush was only in office 8 months before 9/11 happened; Bin Laden's planning went back far before Jan. 20, 2001. And which city remains the prime target today? Washington, that's what. Right where I am as I write these words. Am I a Bush supporter? You bet I am. Ending this new war requires an administration that is willing to use force and that the enemy knows is willing to use force that overwhelms their force. The Democrat writers you cited need to explain what conditions will cause them to support the use of force. During the campaign they never did it, and so I never trusted the candidate they backed would have the political support from his base to use force when it ought to be used. All the talk about intelligence and elite understanding is beside the point, until these elites state a persuasive stand on the conditions that will lead them to back the use of force. If they don't have sound judgment to know when to use force, they don't have sound judgment to know which candidate to choose.
Posted by: sissoed | November 5, 2004 02:04 PM
I live in the Washington, DC, area, with a brother-in-law who was in the Pentagon the day it was hit (I wonder if Ted & his cohorts think that "allows" me to have an opinion on terrorism?), & I voted for Bush. To sidetrack onto stereotypes--I'm a Republican who lives in Prince Georges County, MD--one of the few whites who do. I always love the way my pseudo-liberal devout Democrat white friends (who live in their pristine-white Virginia neighborhoods) always look shocked when I tell them where I live & comment "but it's so dangerous!" (That's liberal-speak for "you actually come in contact with minorities?!" My Mom lives in Miami. She's the wife of a retired Penn State professor. She gets the same comments when inviting her liberal-college-professor-wives friends to come & visit her. "Too dangerous." Inotherwords, they might get minority cooties.)
Anyway, I'm much amused/entertained by reading the disgruntled media & various "liberal" boards (that is, the ones that haven't blocked themselves up). Yes, it's along the lines of what Ted is spewing. And you know what? All I can think is that THIS is the best these supposedly highly-educated--as opposed to us dumb-fucks--people can come up with?! Anyone who's ever been around a 5-year-old knows that's the ultimate resort when the kid loses an argument with another kid--"YEAH, WELL YOU'RE STUPID!!!!" How really sad. The Democratic party used to be a great party. My parents (the college professor & an English teacher--but dumb apparently) were Democrats when they married. Mom had become a Democrat after watching Adlai Stevenson campaign against Eisenhower. He--& his party--conducted himself with such dignity, even after losing, that she wanted to align herself with that party in the future. What a comedown, to go from "Ask what you can do for your country" to such cleverisms as "Bush=Hitler" & "Fuck Jesusland." How truly truly sad, for that party & ultimately for the country. Every country needs at least 2 viable parties. The Democratic party is not only the minority party, it's in real danger of marginalizing itself out of even that status. Look at the election map--the blue states are a small fringe around the edge of the country. How fitting. If Democrats continue to let such beacons of light as Ted & Michael--who really have been the public face of the party--spew hate & venom & convince themselves that the rest of us are just too stupid to listen to, in 4-8 years even that blue will have faded off the map.
The party can't sink much lower. Here's hoping that perhaps some of the moderate, rational members of that party can start to ask themselves what they did wrong. Since there's really nothing to lose, it would be exciting to see them come up with some actual policies that many of us who really weren't crazy about Bush would like to have seen. How about realistic solutions to: affordable daycare for working moms; flat tax, no exceptions (risky, but what do they have to lose?); letting the almost 100% minority students who currently go to shithole public schools in DC & other big cities have the opportunity to attend schools like Sidwell Friends just like Chelsea (think Rangel would ever have the balls to propose legislation requiring parents who send their kids to expensive private schools to pay an equal amount to the public shool their kid should have attended, or would that be too awful for his Hollywood pseudo-liberal supporters to contemplate?); having companies who are setting up schools in India to train students there in various skills so they can become future outsources set up similar training in inner-city schools here--ditto for those companies who are currently bringing in workers on foreign visas; focusing on improving the math & science education U.S. kids are falling ever-further behind on? I'm not talking the mysterious "plans" Kerry & the Democrats currently claim they have. I'm talking specific, realistic plans that understand business is not the enemy but the providers of those jobs they keep bitching Bush lost. Along with the realization that we live in a nasty world full of people who want to turn us into another Afghanistan--show us what you'd actually DO to stop those loonies from coming here. I heard 4 years of "Bush sucks." Hey, I know he sucks. Tell me what YOU would do. A lot of others felt the same way. We know what Bush is doing, even if we're not always crazy about it. But 59 million of us didn't hear an alternative.
And here's a suggestion to the moveon-org-ers & ANSWER-ers, etc. Instead of pointless demonstrations in the streets, smashing glass & making a mess, how about something more intelligent? Do you really think Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Halliburton/evilJews are going to come clean up the mess? Do you think they even give a shit? No, you're just adding work to some poor minimum-wage immigrant who works 3 jobs & now has to clean up after your daddy's-paying-my-college-tuition privileged white ass, & adding to the tax burden of the predominantly minority residents in DC & other cities. How about organizing action days, once every 2 or 3 months? Come in to a city & clean up a park, renovate some old computers & donate them to schools, show a kid or a single mom how to use Word & Excel so they have some marketable skills, build a playground in a housing project. It's not as cool as spending a weekend trashing stuff with your buddies, & you may actually have to, you know, come in contact with a real minority, but talk about influencing voters for the future! (Hands from anyone who thinks the pseudo-liberals at moveon.org or ANSWER would ever actually do something like that.)
Bill Clinton had a signing here this summer, at the bookstore in the building where I work. The DNC had dozens of earnest little college volunteer interns campaiging their hearts out. Mind you, these were official DNC-sanctioned (& presumably -trained) volunteers. Their mantra while passing out literature? "Vote Bush out." Not, "Here's what we can do" or "Vote for Kerry because he'll do xxx." It was "Vote Bush out." When a political party has let Michael Moore & Ted Rall coopt--& ultimately drive--its message, that's a party in serious trouble. For those of you who donated to the DNC, I hope Moore's Best Picture is worth it--because that's all you're going to get out of it. You donated your time, money, & ultimately vote to the most expensive self-aggrandisement & Oscar campaign in history.
But, as a former Democrat & now ever-strengthening Republican, I sincerely hope you can wrest your party back from Michael & Ted & their self-glorification shenanigans. You've got 4 years. The Republicans control the whole shooting match right now, so they indeed do not have anyone to blame. You don't like what they're doing? Well now's the time to come up with your realistic, workable, not sooper-sekret, alternatives. You can continue to harp away in the NY Times & on your poisonous boards about all us stoopid people--or you can actually do something.
Posted by: Kittymama | November 5, 2004 02:04 PM
Dorothy wrote:
People hate me because I voted republican AND work at Wal-Mart. My job does not define who I am and neither does my political party.
This reaction occurs because the Left (and to a lesser extent, the Right as well) need you to vote for them based not on who you are - your personal beliefs, values and thoughts - but on what you are - your race, your gender, your job, etc. As someone who works at Wal-Mart, you owe the Democrats your vote because they axiomatically have your best interests at heart, such as government-supplied "free" health care, legally
required"protected" union membership, a higher minimum wage, and so on. If you don't agree those are your best interests, well, you're one of those people who work at Wal-Mart - how bright can you be? Best to leave the thinking to your betters, be quiet, and vote the way you've been told to. If you vote based on who you are rather than what, then the Democratic party will actually have to do something to win your vote rather than just assuming it is in their column.Posted by: Tom Ault | November 5, 2004 02:26 PM
I'm willing to consider Solonor's POV (and admittedly I ain't getting the hate mail), it could be the bewilderment and lack of reason that accompanies early grief. We will know in a week or so. I'd add it doesn't sound too different from their pre-election rhetoric, so call me a skeptic.
But if the left refuses to comprehend that calling their opponents "stupid", and "Nazis", and the rest of that long list of arrogant insults, then they will keep losing.
President Clinton, the most recent and best example of comprehending that line of reason, demonstrated that he knew better.
Posted by: Dave in Texas | November 5, 2004 02:29 PM
Hey dude, where's my Democratic Party?
A letter to Michael Moore:
Dear Sir,
I thank your movie F9/11 for helping me change my mind in this election. Going back to my first vote in 1980, I have voted Democrat in every election . In 2000, I voted for Gore.
In 2004, I voted for Bush.
The relentless hectoring from your film and your books helped solidify my view that the Democrats have become increasingly Eurpoean in outlook, and therefore, anti-American.
So thanks, Michael.
Kevin
Posted by: Pogo | November 5, 2004 02:29 PM
Tom Ault, agreed.
For what it's worth, the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) have never successfully negotiated a contract with a large (100+ stores) retail grocery chain.
Posted by: Dave in Texas | November 5, 2004 02:34 PM