OT: For U.S. Citizens: Emailing the President

[Jerry Freeman]

You're on a roll, Jim.

What comes to mind is, "I'd like to see more of this kind of writing. Really entertaining and thought provoking. I wonder if I could get ahold of a whatever else this Stone's published."

Something similar happened to Queen Victoria.

She read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, liked them and asked to see everthing the author had written. Turns out, most everything else the man wrote was about mathematics, logic and the like -- very dry stuff and not funny at all -- since Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a mathemetician and logician by profession.

I wonder what Queen Victoria would think of "Why There are No People"?

Best wishes,
Jerry

[The Weekenders]

Jim=Oliver. Spooooooooooooooooooooooky!!!

[Lorenzo]

You're on a roll, Jim. "..I wonder if I could get ahold of a whatever else this Stone's published."

Jer...you might try "Rolling Stone" magazine.

[jim stone]

From the Office of the Vice President

Dear Mr. van Gulag,

The president has been busy hosting Tony Blair, and so
he has asked me to respond in his stead to your e mail message.
Both the president and I agree that your affections
are misplaced. Mr. van Gulag, I ask you:
what future has a union between a woman who
lives to increase oil revenues and a man who wishes
to overthrow the state?

Consider, too, that Ms. Rice
is spoken for, married in fact--though I appreciate that
this means little to a godless Communist like
yourself. Have you considered all
the available female former KGB operatives
with steel-rimmed glasses and steel-capped teeth?

The president appreciates your donating your entire life savings to his
reelection campaign. However $3.47 won't take us very
far, I'm afraid. Please don't expect radical changes
in policy. Running dogs of imperialism generally
contribute more to our coffers, so if you want
to have more clout, you might consider becoming
one of them yourself. Of course, then you
will agree with us.

As your message seems to have been forwarded
from the chiffandfipple message board, quite
popular here in the Executive Branch, will you
kindly give my thanks to Mr. Wisely for the
whistles? Lynne can't put the Feadog down.

Sincerely, Dick Cheney

P.S. We are modifying the automated message system
to include a 'cupid-with-a-bow' icon, for people with
crushes on members of the administration.

[Nanohedron]

[Dale]

For the record, I don't associate this email-the-whitehouse thing with President Bush. I don't think he had anything to do with it. In fact, I don't associate much of anything about the Bush Administration with President Bush. Except the name. And the shortage of press conferences. And President Bush's abilities in articulating his views.

Dale

[Nanohedron]

For the record, I don't associate this email-the-whitehouse thing with President Bush. I don't think he had anything to do with it. In fact, I don't associate much of anything about the Bush Administration with President Bush. Except the name. And the shortage of press conferences. And President Bush's abilities in articulating his views.

Dale

...brought to you by D. Wisely, Undisputed agent-provocateur.

Darn. There I go with that French stuff again.

[madguy]

As his father was, Georgie is totally out of touch with the "average" American, not to mention the majority of the civilized world

~Larry

It was only a metter of time before the thread deteriorated into Bush-bashing. The White House e-mail system is unwieldy but to project that onto the president personally is a stretch.

How is what I wrote Bush-bashing? It's simply stating my belief and what has happened, if you only were aware of what's going on! Georgie is. after all, totally out of touch with the "modern" world. After all, it was he who said in a speech in Tennessee, "Fool me once.....(long, uncomfortable pause), we won't get fooled again."

Who was it that never inhaled?

~Larry

[Kim in Tulsa]

My seven year old son has written the president a couple of times...has never had any trouble.

But then again, his letters were formal, written in cursive. On paper.

He learned it last year, as part of his 3rd grade curriculum.

K

[madguy]

A sad thing it is that the art of letter writing has become archaic. Blame it on email I suppose. Have we all just gotten impersonal and lazy?

Good on your son!!

~Larry

[Chuck_Clark]

Forty years ago, I believe it was the Chad Mitchell Trio that formalized my attitude about writing to politicos.

"Each {insert office here} has got two ends; a sitting and a thinking end. And since his whole success depends upon his seat - why bother, friend?"

The few times I've failed of my resolve and tried it in the intervening years have proven to my satisfaction that even when they do bother to reply, their reply isn't worth the paper its printed upon. In the case of the current regime, especially, I strongly believe that the only way to get their respect and attention is to accompany the letter with a million-dollar check.

[edited to fix my appalling typos]

[jim stone]

As his father was, Georgie is totally out of touch with the "average" American, not to mention the majority of the civilized world [icon_lol_144.gif]

Forgive me, I'm going to take you seriously.

About three weeks ago George Bush met with Sharon
and Abbas in Egypt, to save the seriously imperilled
roadmap to peace--he actually succeeded, at least
for now. He has put himself on the line
personally. The average American,
and the majority or the 'civilized world,'
badly wants a peaceful solution to the
Israel-Palestinain issue, and an end to that bloodshed.
The roadmap, which the president strongly
supports, is widely recognized as the best
hope of this.

Therefore the president is not 'totally out of
touch with the 'average' American or the majority
of the civilized world.'

You mention a faux pas Bush made in a speech in Tennessee.
Here's how the game is played. These fellows are
working their butts off, they are constantly giving
speeches, sometimes they will be exhausted,
sometimes they will be sick, sometimes they
are misled (as Dan Quale was with a mispelled
test sheet for a spelling bee). Sooner or later there
will be a faux pas. Then one jumps on it as proof
of intellectual incompetence, prints up thousands of
mocking teashirts, and tries to get the 'he's stupid'
bandwagon rolling. In this it is crucial to ignore
the inevitable mistakes and absurdities uttered by the
people on your side--e.g. when Al Gore asserts,
'The leopard can't change its stripes' it must be
ignored.

Left wing criticism of the right sometimes has
a special elitist nastiness, because the idea is that
Quale, Bush, Reagan, etc aren't just misguided,
they're genetically challenged. It's really personal.
Bush, if he saw the light and became a liberal, would be
a stupid liberal. One of the several motivations of the left is
intellectual arrogance. One of the nice things
about being a conservative is that I don't have
to believe the people who disagree with me
are my intellectual inferiors. Best

[Jerry Freeman]

Hi, Jim.

I agree with your comments about the Roadmap for Peace. I'm encouraged by the developments so far and by the fact that Mr. Bush has gotten personally involved. When he decides to do so, he is good at finding ways to get things done, and his influence on the Mideast process may be crucial.

I also agree that there's a tendency among liberals towards a sort of intellectual condescention in the direction of conservatives. On the other hand, in my opinion, there's a symmetrical condescention on the part of conservatives, many of whom appear to consider liberals as their moral inferiors.

Anyway, in my opinion, both sides can be equally noxious, and I'm often saddened by the fact that politics is so divisive an influence in our culture.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[madguy]

I'll likely make myself terribly unpopular here, but I think our countrys'continuous support of Israel and their rulers is totally misguided. To me, Israel is one of the most terroristic countries around. They staked a claim to land they say is theirs, when in fact, they have no land to lay a claim to. I suppose the US feels indebted to all the people of Jewish (read that Israeli) descent and thus think we should prop up their outlandish government and views. All of our presidents' and governments' attempts at attaining a Middle East peace accord are nothing but a waste of time. The Israelis and the Palestinaians, who have a true and justified claim to the land in question, will never coincide in peace.

Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong! I'm always willing to accept another view.

~Larry

[The Weekenders]

Thanks for comments, Jim. The "Bush is a dummy" bit has gotten really old. What special knowledge do his detractors have, I ask, that they are so sure of themselves? They used to call George Washington "Ol' Muttonhead" during his days as President and accused him of falling asleep during other's speeches.

I sometimes feel that I am one of the few who have figured out that glib talk-a-lots like Robert Reich or Bill Clinton do not necessarily have any better answers for real problems, though they attract the favor of those who consider themselves "thinking" people. We are awash in a sea of cognoscenti who argue themselves into deep holes, which begs the need for "experts" to save us, not simpletons like Bush, in their view.

Leadership and glibness are two different things. I consider Bush very canny, a skill he needs to be effective. And the darkly cynical power leaders of the left are foaming at the mouth to diminish him in any way possible because of his successes and the upcoming elections. This includes the dummy bit.

But in carrying out his policies, he, like all leaders of both parties, has to walk with the stench of the manure cast at him on his shoes. Sometimes, I think its more important to evaluate who is casting it, than the leader him/ or herself.

During Bush Sr.'s days leading up to Desert Storm, I remember this overwhelming pressure to begin the invasion. Our local talkshow guy characterized it by asking "When's the Ground War Going to Start" as a gagline.

But as events unfolded, I realized that Bush Sr. had taken every precaution to save as many American lives as possible, as well as include the personnel of so many other countries in the operation, which must have been very unwieldy. He was also giving Saddam lots of time to withdraw (and/or plant lots of mines etc). I was not fond of Bush Sr. but I think he took a wise course amidst all the weenie pressure to hurry up and start shooting.

This Prez finest hours were probably letting the military guys execute the invasion, unlike the MacNamara-Johnson meddling in Vietnam. Obviously, the execution of post-war governance has been pretty bad. But always remember that Germany and Japan occupations had both snipers and one very important difference: arms were to be surrendered on pain of death in those places. Unlike Iraq, where we have asked for arms surrender but allowed some to remain armed in the midst of looting and terror mischief. But this is where supposed diplomacy takes over and you can see how much harder it is. That said, I don't think a glib expert will be any better at our transition there. Bush gambled on Garner, he's gone. I don't know about Bremer but it seems he's like closer to the expert type...