Marcie Stout's Letter to President Bush
Dear President Bush,
I am writing you this letter to explain to you, in simple terms from one
simple American to another, why you will not be receiving my vote in this
election.
I know, I know. It must be heart wrenching for you to be losing a
democratic woman?s vote in a swing state. I?m sure you will lose all of
about five seconds of sleep knowing I won?t vote for you. And that?s ok.
But at the very least, I feel compelled to let you know why you are
losing it.
You see, Mr. President, back in 2000 when I voted for you, you made me
one promise: you were going to restore honor and dignity to the White
House. After facing long months of hearing about President Clinton?s
Oval Office infidelity and the non-stop barrage of news covering the
impeachment process, I was ready for a leader that would have the honor
and decency to tell the truth to the American people, regardless of how
difficult it was. I was ready for a leader who would make me proud to
be an American. Mr. President, you haven?t fulfilled your promise. Not
only have you let me and my fellow Americans down, but you have done this
world a tremendous disservice.
In all fairness, I should tell you that there were select moments that
you did make me feel like I could trust you. When you stood on TV with
tears in your eyes and in the rubble of the towers, I felt your genuine
emotion for that moment. When you promised you would do whatever it took
to get the people who orchestrated that horrible event (Osama bin Laden
in case you forgot). When you went into Afghanistan to get Bin Laden
like you promised and remove the Taliban regime (which you knew was
sponsoring and/or facilitating terrorist training camps). After 9/11,
you acted swiftly and decisively and I believed in you.
Then came weeks, months and now years of not finding Osama bin Laden and
you changed your story and said "I don?t really care where he is." ARE
YOU KIDDING ME? How can you say you don?t really care where the world?s
most wanted and dangerous terrorist is? He claimed responsibility for
killing over 3,000 of our people and YOU DON?T CARE WHERE HE IS? It was
that moment ? the moment when you changed YOUR story (I think your
administration calls that "flip-flopping") that I knew you couldn?t be
trusted. Then came the quagmire of Iraq. This supplemented by your white
trash "bring em? on" Texas rhetoric taunting the terrorists when our
soldiers are being blasted apart with roadside bombs.
Now here we are less than 9 days away from what is being coined as the
most important election of our lifetime. You have spent the greater part
of this election attacking your opponent--you claim he is unfit for command
because he "changes his mind all the time political gain" and the 527 groups
you claim not to support attack him for his record in Vietnam.
Allow me to give you my
opinion on why I disagree with your assessment of John Kerry, why I think
you have failed miserably as Commander-in-Chief, and why on November 2nd,
John Kerry will be the new President of the United States.
The truth is, you attack John Kerry to divert the attention away from the
fact that you are a stubborn a#s (in all fairness to your party, I should
say elephant?s a#s) who won?t admit when he?s made a mistake.
You prey on the fears of Americans that change in government could cause
another terror attack.
So, what happens when you can?t be re-elected in 2008? Should we amend
the Constitution so you can STEAL every election until you die since you
are obviously the only person who can protect us from terrorists?
John Kerry is not a so-called "flip-flopper". You distort the fact that
he voted for the war then and now he?s against it. He and the other 400+
members of Congress only had ONE POSITION: they believed YOU! John Kerry
believed you when you said the threat was real. He voted to give you the
AUTHORITY to use force if necessary. He did not vote for you to ABUSE
THAT AUTHORITY and wage war WITHOUT A PLAN FOR PEACE and a TRUE COALITION to help us.
I know, I know. Darn me for forgetting to show my ever-lasting
appreciation for the handful of troops and peanuts other countries have
sent. And damn the French too. God knows they?ve NEVER helped us out
when we needed a hand before (see also: the chapter in your 8th grade
history book about the American Revolution). Darn me for not thanking
Poland and their 2400 troops (whom you so adamantly reminded John Kerry
of during the first debate).
But hey, I don?t blame you for not wanting to die in a useless war like
Vietnam. Only now you?re sending our sons, daughters, mothers and
fathers off to be wounded and/or killed in another one. Tell me, Mr.
President, how will you allow them to be treated when they get home?
Will they be "injured enough" mentally and physically to receive medical
care? Will you help their families make ends meet when they suffer from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and cannot function to work? Will our
VA?s be fully functional and well staffed to deal with the wounded
soldiers (8000 of them and climbing daily), many of who have lost limbs?
How can we trust you when you haven?t ever seen the horrors they?ve seen?
It doesn?t matter how you spin it, John Kerry has.
And how dare you lead the American people to believe that John Kerry
doesn?t care about our security and troop safety. In the debates, you
condemned him for voting against your $87-billion dollar misappropriated
MONEY PIT. You honestly expect us to believe that a man who has been
shot at in real life combat wouldn?t want other troops to have the body
armor and supplies they need? John Kerry voted against it the funding AS
IT WAS WRITTEN in that bill. Of course he wanted our troops to be
protected, but does that also mean that you get a $20 billion dollar
slush fund for no-bid contracts which was also lumped into that bill?
Our troops need to be protected and John Kerry knows that-- LEST YOU
FORGET WHO SENT THEM OVER TO IRAQ WITHOUT THE PROPER EQUIPMENT AND ARMOR TO BEGIN WITH?
You and Dick Cheney have stated that John Kerry has "consistently come
down on the wrong side of law enforcement and national security issues".
I know you?re hoping that the sheep of America won?t take the time to do
the research on your bulls---. Well, in less than 5 minutes on the US
Senate homepage, I found 2 pieces of legislation that John Kerry voted FOR
that you failed to mention:
Amendment to S429
To provide additional pay and benefits for active duty, guard, and
reserve forces, such as augmenting Imminent Danger Pay and Family
Separation allowance, and for modernization of equipment, weapons, and
technology needs of the National Guard and Reserves in recognition of
those currently involved in conflict Operations and the needs of their
family members left behind.
Amendment to S418
To raise the caps and provide direct first responder funding to
localities and for high threat areas through the Department of Homeland
Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness in 2003 and 2004, to restore
funding for the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Act
("Byrne Grant" program) and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant
Program, and to reduce the deficit, by reducing the size of newly
proposed tax cuts.
During the debates and throughout your presidency, you?ve espoused that
every child conceived has a right to be born into this world. Assuming
that?s true, what then can we offer them once they?re here? A stray
"smart bomb" that veers into their mosque or schoolhouse? Or perhaps you
just were talking about the right of American children to be born. What
then, do we have to offer our own children? A world where everyone hates
us? A world where we can do whatever we want, take what isn?t ours to
take and impose our will on every nation we possibly can all in the name
of "freedom"?
I know you claim we?re making progress in Iraq, Mr. President, but a
great deal of Americans don?t see it that way. And on November 2nd when
the majority of American people decide it?s time you head back to
Crawford to find another job, try not to be too hard on yourself. I
mean, lots of people lose their jobs. I?ve seen people get fired
for missing $10.00 out of their cash drawer at the local Dairy Queen.
You just happened to have lost millions of jobs, $130 billion dollars-
give or take $20 billion (and climbing, now to $225 billion) in Iraq and
roughly 15,000 innocent human lives (and climbing as noted above). Is this
what you call progress?
My vote goes to Kerry.
Sincerely,
Marcie Stout
Ames, IA