The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.

Subject: Heads up on the next attack from the Rove Slime Machine

Subject: Repugs get free ride in the city they hate

Not only do NYers have to pay $76 million in taxes to pay for convention security but the city and state will reap no direct benefit from their stay. A tax-free week has suspiciously been scheduled to coincide with the GOP convention. It's a double F*You to New York as Repugs say, "We'll have our party in your town whether you like it or not, AND you're going to pay for it!"

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/salestax.html

These leeches are disgusting!

Ari

Subject: I didn't see this on the site

Part of Lloyd Grove's Lowdown column in the NY DAILY NEWS Monday (August 30) includes the following:

LOOSE-TONGUED SPEAKER? Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - having already enraged some New Yorkers with his remarks about local office-holders' "unseemly scramble" for federal money after 9/11 - yesterday opened a second front. On "Fox News Sunday," the Illinois Republican insinuated that billionaire financier George Soros, who's funding an independent media campaign to dislodge President Bush, is getting his big bucks from shady sources. "You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money. I don't know where - if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from," Hastert mused. An astonished Chris Wallace asked: "Excuse me?" The Speaker went on: "Well, that's what he's been for a number years - George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he's got a lot of ancillary interests out there." Wallace: "You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?" Hastert: "I'm saying I don't know where groups - could be people who support this type of thing. I'm saying we don't know."

Hastert blasts liberal 527 backer Soros (UPI/Washington Times)

More character assassination from the GOP. This borders on libel. Thanks.

Roy

There are so many great letters sent to BuzzFlash, all with one thing in common, they all preach to the choir. Anyone who sends a letter to this site without sending the same letter to their local paper(s) is not doing all they can to defeat Bush. Be sure to clean up any profanity before sending to papers. Now's the time to pour it on.

Richard Ross
Fairfield, CT

Subject: CNBC

Amazing- I happened to see CNBC this afternoon for a minute or two while checking the market, and I heard one of their pundits opine that Kerry did not get the bounce he had hoped and which was pretty much a given coming out of the convention in Boston. Excuse me? What were those massive crowds - 20 to 25 thousand at cities where Kerry appeared. Lawrence, KS? The Heart of a Red State and a thousand or so late at night, then later, thousands came out when the Edwardses went back to appear after the stop was missed. Maybe he's right - that wasn't a bounce that was a tidal wave!

Peggy in TX

Subject: American Legion & George Bush

An Open Letter To American Legion National Convention, Nashville, Tennessee

Gentlemen:

I served on active duty in the USAF from 1961-1965.   As an airman on Guam, I worked in a communications related field in direct support of air and security operations over and in Vietnam.   Many of my childhood friends served, some going to Vietnam and not returning home.

Several of my friends are members of the American Legion.   I have reached the point in my life that I would like to share some companionship with men that volunteered as I did and for that reason, I'm considering asking for membership in the American Legion.

On Tuesday, August 31st, you will have as a speaker at your national convention in Nashville, Tennessee, George Bush.

Gentlemen.   Let's be blunt.   This man does not in any way, represent the type of man that I am or that I would hope the men and women of the American Legion represents.   He is an AWOL draft dodger that used every trick available to him to avoid truthful service in the United States Military.   It makes me sick to my stomach to know that some veterans have been turned into lying monsters; all in the name of politics to support this person.   He is not a Veteran!

John Kerry is to speak to your convention on Thursday, September 1st.   He is a man that I would be proud to serve with if he would have me.

Mike Post
Peachtree City, Georgia

Subject: Re: Today's Top 5 Headlines on BuzzFlash.com

I don't care who the Republicans exploit on that stage...trying to convince the American people that they are compassionate is a joke. They cannot change the perception about what their party is made of. Guys that make up 27% that are millionaires, and probably 10% billionaires, and no one making under 350,000 a year. Right wing rules the Republicans, not these guys they have on display.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: The American Spirit Is Alive!

Dear Buzz,

Whatever happens in November, the beautiful patriots who marched on Sunday showed the world that our hearts still beat for democracy, freedom, and justice!  What better place for Americans to reject fear, hatred, and war and to reclaim our country than at Ground Zero. Thank-you New York!

A Loyal Reader

Subject: Senator Iselin and President Bozo

Thank you for offering as a premium one of the greatest movies ever made, The Manchurian Candidate.   When you first started your movie reviews, I was going to recommend that you offer it, but never got around to it.  If you in the BuzzFlash audience have never seen it, or have not seen it for a long time, you really must pick up this DVD.   You will be amazed at how timely it still is over 40 years later.  The performances are consistently astonishing--particularly Frank Sinatra's moving depiction of a real American hero, Laurence Harvey's powerfully painful portrayal of a lost, tormented soul, and of course there is Angela Lansbury as the cruel, manipulative embodiment of pure evil.  There is a beautiful sense of dread that runs through the whole film--truly edge-of-the-seat stuff--as John Frankenheimer tells his tragic tale.

Oh, but what is really frightening is what I see as the parallels between the movie and what is happening today.  (And I am really surprised your reviewer didn't point them out.)  Senator Iselin, as played by the excellent character actor James Gregory, is a dangerous buffoon being used as a pawn in an insidious political endgame, employing McCarthyist tactics to slime his opponents, as his strings are pulled all the while by Lansbury and company.  And it is thoroughly apparent that this traitorous crew has the press completely under its thumb as it pursues its scheme for world domination.

Now, golly, who does that sound like?  (If only Frank Sinatra were still alive to foil their plans.)

Thanks for being true patriots.

Rico in Pittsburgh

Subject: Murdoch/Ailes

Could one of you talking heads please explain to me why on earth Fox News Channel refused to show the National Anthem at the DNC, but is showing it with fervor at the RNC?

Regards,

Tim Lester
New York, NY

Subject: Question

I was quite surprised to find a message on my answering machine from Bush (obviously he had the WRONG number) reminding me to be sure to request an absentee ballot for my vote this November. I found this quite telling.  Is this a common practice?

Lynda P.

[BuzzFlash Note: The Florida  and Ohio GOP are pushing this, we've heard... Florida Republican Voters Told to Use Absentee Ballots - A BuzzFlash Reader Contribution]

Subject: ?

why aren't the democrats running ads with that guy from tx saying he wrote the letter to keep bush out of vietnam?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: The emperor has no clothes

Dear BuzzFlash,

I've finally figured out what this Republican Convention is all about.  They are all dressing the emperor in no clothes.

Poor George Bush -- can't tell his head from his tush !

Elizabeth Dole:  He says what he means and he means what he says ...as she explains that what he means when he says we can't win the war against terrorism isn't what he said.  The Emperor's Party has no clothes and they are definitely dressing the emperor in them.

Keep the heat on, Buzzy.  Maybe they will think it is heaven.

Margaret Waid

Subject: card just lied to larry king

andrew card just lied to king. he told him after the second plane hit the towers he told bush we were under attack and bush did not want to scare the national press because they didn't know yet and he didn't want to scare the kids. helloooooooo, WE ALL SAW, INCLUDING THE NATIONAL PRESS, THAT SECOND PLANE HIT LIVE ON TV!   as for not scaring the kids, that is just too stupid to even comment on!

km

Subject: conscious choice

Hey, BuzzFlash! 

Thanks for all the great work you do...but you're wrong to say that no Republicans are speaking up -- indeed, there are many Republicans protesting in NYC and all over the country that feel just as the Republicans for Kerry-Edwards group in Dallas.  We do well to acknowledge that there are Republicans that recognize that bush is not supporting true Republican values and priorities.  Can't remember who described him as 'Christo-fascist,' but that's closer to the truth, and many Republicans are horrified.  Let's encourage their awareness!!! 

Thanks!

http://www.dallasforkerry.com/communities/republicans/

Janis Page

Subject: McCain on day of convention speech: Bush administration mishandled Iraq war, causing needless deaths

I doubt this will ever make it to print, but you can listen to McCain's ironic criticisms of Bush's performance as "commander in chief" delivered on the same day as McCain is to extol Bush in front of the Republican convention. About 3 minutes into this segment from today's ATC...

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3879377

McCain dismissed the tired "but the generals are not asking for any more troops" saw, saying that it is the responsibility of leaders further up the chain of command to determine whether strategy is successful and what adjustments need to be made. In the case of Iraq, he says many needless deaths have been caused by this failure, and that Abu Ghraib can also be laid at the feet of Bush's failed administration of the war.

NPR naturally misses the significance of the story, instead headlining it as yet another Swift Boat Vets denunciation by McCain (and incidentally McCain strongly implies that the SBVT idiots were not acting alone, saying that funding came from "somewhere else").

Doug B.

Subject: Bush: "Catastrophic Success"

It was late last night, and I was reading some news online. My wife was in the next room, when she heard me make a weird noise, like I was choking on a hairball or having a fit of apoplexy or something. "Are you OK? Are you getting sick?" she asked.

Almost.

What I was doing at that moment was trying to wrap my brain around Bush's latest comment on his Iraq policy, in which he termed it a "catastrophic success." Huh?!! Is this more incoherent idiocy or just another in the long line of malapropisms widely known as "Bushisms?"

Then it all kind of made sense, in a totally sick, "big-picture" sort of way.

For once, Bush wasn't lying or dissembling, but telling us the pure, naked, unvarnished truth. You just have to view it in the terms that VP candidate John Edwards put forward several months ago - the "Two Americas," of Us and Them.

In fact this can be used to explain the results of virtually every policy of the Bush administration, and even to sum up his entire presidency - as a "catastrophic success."

For the tens of thousands of Iraqi dead and the America that has sacrificed nearly 1000 of their sons and daughters, it has been an utter catastrophe.

For the America of Halliburton and myriad defense contractors, a lucrative success.

For the Americans dependent on Medicaid to find that their new drug benefits come with a provision that they can't buy from Canada and the government is prohibited from negotiating for the best price - a catastrophe.

For the America of Big Pharma and associated industries, a wild success, worth tens of billions.

For the America that pays the lion's share of taxes - the middle class, a catastrophe - trillions in deficits in place of surpluses.

For the America of country clubs and boardrooms, yet more success - trillions in tax cuts.

For the America of "Clear Skies" and "Healthy Forests" - an unmitigated catastrophe, as they are being destroyed by administration initiatives bearing the same names, just like the common practice of naming a new housing development for what they destroyed to build it.

For the America of polluters and natural resource extractive industries - a windfall success.

For the America of small business and their employees - a catastrophe as the economy tanked and barely recovered.

For the America of the Fortune 500 and multinationals - a roaring success as they outsourced and were deregulated.

For the America of minorities and Democrats - a catastrophe of disenfranchisement and voting machine fraud, leaving the Republicans holding all branches of government, and turning their backs on the poor and needy.

For the well-heeled campaign contributors to Bush - a successful return on investment.

For the America of Constitutional rights and a free press that that would uncover misdeeds in high places - a catastrophic failure of Congress and regulatory agencies.

For the America of the corporate press - a blind eye and the success of an ever-tightening grip on your right to know.

You see, whether it's a catastrophe or a success depends on which America you live in.

Bob Woods
Portland, OR
http://www.currentmiddleages.org/bobwoods/

Subject: Republican National Convention

Just a thought from north of the border, but I haven't seen so many evil looking reptiles in Madison Square Garden since the 1998 remake of Godzilla.

Bob McRae
Courtenay, BC

Subject: how sad

dear john kerry,

i'm watching john mccain give his speech right now and all i can think of is that story about the scorpion and the frog. in this story you are the frog and mccain is the scorpion. he will sting you to death, and why? because he is a republican, that is what they do. like the frog, your mistake was in trusting him! when i heard he asked that that ad with mccain telling bush he should be ashamed should be pulled and you jumped when he said frog, that scared me. i hope you can come back, but i'm not sure you can now. that is very sad  for our country.

katie johnson
tampa fl

Subject: The weasel is up to something

Just thought you all might like to know that my daughter got an auto-recorded call from GWB [Grand Weasel Bush] in her voice mail. Yep, there was George with a pre-recorded message telling So. Western Ohio residents that in days they would receive an application for an absentee voting ballot. He tells everyone to fill it out to receive their absentee ballot and vote for him in the '04 election. Does this mean that he doesn't trust Diebold either? What's he up to?

Cathy

Subject: Rove's "can't win the war" strategy

Did Bush's tongue slip when he said we can't win the war on terrorism? No. Karl Rove has just made a chess move that would make Bobby Fisher jealous. The move is risky, but the Dems are taking the bait. 

Rove is trying to capture swing voters that also believe we can't win the war on terrorism. Now that Clark and Edwards are talking tough about taking the war to the terrorists, the Dems are starting to sound like crusaders. Rove is brilliant and the Dems should recruit someone for their side with as much political acumen.

Mike Baxter

Subject: They need a bandaid for their brains

Although they continually set the bar as low as possible, the Republican Party has once more established that they have NO shame or concept of decency. Republicans have dishonored anyone who has ever received the purple heart by passing out "purple heart band-aids" at their convention and making sick jokes disparaging the medal and demeaning all those in the history of this nation who have ever received this medal for shedding blood in service to this nation.

These Barcalounger warriors who have never served because of their more pressing "other priorities" and who believe that a combat theater is a cineplex showing Rambo double features have some real chutzpah to denigrate those who have and been wounded in service to their country. Contrary to their warped belief and lack of military knowledge caused primarily by lack of personal experience, a mere band aid would have been grossly insufficient to cover the wound that caused John Kerry such grievous damage to his body that he still carries shrapnel around inside of him.

One does not get the Purple Heart for skipping Guard duty to work on a political campaign, having dental work or for splinters from a bar stool, else Georgie-boy might then have a few.

Delegate Wears 'Purple Heart' Bandages (Associated Press)

Dan D.

Subject: Purple Heart Bandages at RNC

How dare the Republicans who claim to respect and support the American Armed Forces trivialize the award of the Purple Heart by wearing a Purple Heart Bandaid at their convention?  They insult countless veterans who bled and died for this country, while blindly supporting a man who was AWOL.  How low can they possibly sink? 

Chrissy R.

Subject: Kerry was asking for it in his Convention speech (?)

Yesterday, I was told that Kerry was the one who made a big issue of his experiences in Viet Nam. That is why the Swift Boat Liars had to respond to him.

I went to his speech and downloaded it. It contains 5,146 words. The texts where he references his experience in Viet Nam: a total of 240 words - in five places, and not one of them is a major point in his speech.

Once they start to lie, they just cannot stop, can they?

Ronald E. Diener
Wendell, NC

Subject: Bait and Switch

The first night of the Republican National Convention laid out a basic strategy: Attack Kerry and continue to confuse and deceive the American people that terrorism, Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and the war we are waging in Iraq are the same.

Look at Giuliani's speech. He names George Bush six times but John Kerry eleven. So, you can see, it is more important to attack Kerry than to praise Bush. Now look at how many times he mentions Saddam Hussein, also 6 times but what about bin Laden... zero, not once but he invokes terror or terrorism FORTY FIVE times!

Terror terror terror terrorism Saddam terror terror Saddam terrorism terror....

And we wonder why people believe attacking Iraq was payback. It is because they are being intentionally deceived and we've caught them at it again.

Kerry and his surrogates must stand up now and force the lazy, corporate leaning media to address the blatant dishonesty of the administration. The truth is our strongest weapon and it must be told. After being attacked with so many lies, there is no reason John Kerry should not stand up and attack with the truth.

Les Vogt
Chicago

Subject: BLOOMBERG MAKES THEM CRINGE*******!

During his brief speech, the municipal host and Republican for the past three years, alluded to the fact that he and Gov. George Pataki had "laid the tombstone for the site of the Freedom Tower" in lower Manhattan. He clearly meant to say "cornerstone."

Mayor kicks off RNC with a flub (nynewsday.com)

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Front page of today's Stars and Stripes

BUSH:  TERROR WAR MUST BE FOUGHT EVEN IF UNWINNABLE

GOP convention delegates ratify Bush re-election platform 

How do you think the troops are feeling right now, the ones that are headed back for their 2nd one year tour of Iraq or Afghanistan? 

Michele W.

Subject: US deaths in Iraq

You have the URL below posted on your site.  My Vietnam friend (and I sent) sent one like it, printed in Stars and Stripes, to 40 newspapers in key states yesterday, asking them to start printing these stats on as nearly the daily basis as Stripes has been doing.  Maybe it will help to wake some Americans up.

A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq (Associated Press)

Michele W.

Subject: LIAR!!!!

Hey Buzz,

Made the big mistake today of listening to sean hannity (for about the 10 minutes I could stomach him).

As I tuned in, he was talking to that half-wit charlie daniels and must have called him a "great american" about five times in less than a minute. Great for what reason? Agreeing with hannity, I guess. Next he plugged an upcoming segment with newt gingrich and called him..............a great american!! Already a barf fest in about two minutes' time!

Next came the real jaw dropper. He started talking about the MTV Awards. He said that the Kerry daughters spoke and were Booed. "It was amazing," said hannity, "this is the MTV generation, folks," said the genius, insinuating this was bad news for Kerry. (Let's ignore the fact that there have now been about three MTV generations.)

"Roll the tape" he said to one of his flunkies. As the tape started to play it was the bush daughters speaking and not the Kerry daughters. sean gets flustered and sounds real nervous. "Wrong tape, play the other one," he scolds. The Kerry tape begins to play...."listen to this" he butts in. (At this point I don't really hear what the big deal is, what I heard sounded kinda like booing but it was hard to tell.) He kept butting in on the tape...."they're booing"..."that's the MTV generation"...."they're booing." He kept butting in so much it was hard to hear for sure what was happening. (Maybe that was the point?) That was about all I could take before I puked in my new car, so I shut the ass off.

Later that day.... I hear the REAL story. It seems that the MTV'ers booed BOTH sets of daughters. They apparently wanted NO part of any politics left or right, they just wanted their MTV! hannity had made it sound like it was only the Kerry daughters that were booed!!!  How does this jerk look in the mirror every day. hannity is a real steaming pile!!

Phil Rowland
South Pasadena, CA

Subject: washingtonpost.com: Media Notes (Howard Kurtz)

Hey --

Is Kristol smoking something or is this for real:

And in that hot rumor department, we turn to a site called Soxblog:

"Bill Kristol was just on FoxNews irresponsibly disseminating a rumor that he began the previous day on FoxNews Sunday with Brit Hume. Since I love the rumor and fervently wish for its accuracy, it is my pleasure, nay my responsibility, to continue its irresponsible dissemination."

Kristol, of course, is a McCain booster from way back. But does he know something?

"Reading the tea-leaves, Kristol has concluded that McCain might be poised to replace [Vice President] Cheney on the ticket. Here's the logic: After his convention speech tonight, McCain is flying out to New Mexico to hook up with the President and introduce him to the American Legion convention and then he's going to travel with the President to Nashville. Kristol wonders what could possibly occasion this flurry of McCain activity. He speculates that Bush and McCain could make an announcement together in New Mexico and then later in the week triumphantly wing their way back to New York. . . .

-- Jake

Forwarded by a BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Re: Today's Top 5 Headlines on BuzzFlash.com

They mock Kerry with 'purple heart' bandages. Where can I get some 'military ribbon' stickers so I can be like Bush and wear something I didn't earn?

Sonny S.

Subject: La plus ca change...

What do the Gallup numbers show? As Gallup's release on their latest poll succinctly puts it: "No Change in Presidential Race Despite Attack Ads.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: New Banner

Perhaps a new banner for the USS Lincoln: Miscalculation Accomplished

Turk Meister

Subject: Secret Service Block NPR Interview of Michael Moore

Sometime after 8 p.m. Central Time (I believe it was when a speaker was defending the Patriot Act), NPR's Mara Liaison attempted to interview Michael Moore at the GOP convention but was BLOCKED BY SECRET SERVICE AGENTS as well as convention staff.  What was the story with that?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/9546878.htm

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/local//index.php?ntid=9301&nt_adsect=edit

Sue Pastin
BuzzFlash supporter

Subject: Bush: War on Terror unwinnable

This Bush quote that many Democrats are pouncing on is really just a sound bite that can be later referenced and cited as evidence that Bush is not the crazed lunatic, messianic militarist at war with Evil HIMSELF that he at times portrays himself to be, no doubt for the benefit of appealing to the Pat Robertson wing.

One of Rove's strategies has been to have the candidate speak out of two holes, so that everyone can choose to hear what they want, while allowing Bush's proxies to spin his words in any direction. Recently Bush allowed that mistakes were made in Iraq. Beyond the obvious understatement here, this "candid" moment is probably intended to make Bush sound more reasonable. Perhaps in the same way that David Brooks is planted at the New York Times in order to make the neocons sound friendly and reasonable. They prefer to create chaos rather than policy. In chaos they see opportunity. Early on in term, before 9/11, Bush let on that what they were trying to do was create"chaos." This was obviously true from their all-out attack on environmental, welfare, civil rights, and tax policy. This administration's actions bear almost no connection with the policy statements that it makes, unless that connection is meant to be Orwellian irony. No Child Left Behind is but one sad example.

Democrats pounce on Bush for declaring 'war on terror' unwinnable (yahoo.com)

A BuzzFlash Reader

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG.