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

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

Subject: Poll Says Bush Viewed as Honest

Subject: Let's give a medal for Bush's pretzel wound

Aw, what's a little VietNam war wound, compared to the valor Bush showed when he overcame that great big pretzel wound? And, where is Bush's medal for such valor!!

A sarcastic BuzzFlash reader

Subject: "If any questions why we died

... Rudyard Kipling wrote of his son's death in World War I: "If any questions why we died, tell them because are fathers lied."

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Whore Night

It looks like Monday night was "Whore Night" at the RNC. Men like McCain and Giuliani, who should know that Bush is unfit to hold any office, much less the presidency, shilling for him in order to further their own ambitions.

I have been writing to McCain, telling him that he is totally devoid of decency, honor, integrity and courage, for helping Bush when he KNOWS better than anyone else that Bush doesn't have the intelligence, experience, knowledge, or character to be "president" of any other than a fraternity. In the past, McCain has always responded to my letters, for instance, to letters criticizing his support for Bush's horrible judicial nominees. His failure to respond to the letters criticizing his support for the abomination polluting the White House might suggest that they touch a sore spot with him.

Maybe we should inundate McCain with letters attacking his support of Bush, and see if the man has any conscience whatsoever, that isn't completely blocked by blind ambition.

Joann Olbrich

Subject: 41

Buzz,

Poppy's performance in defense of his indefensible son is abominable. He steps out from obscurity to lend credence to the now utterly discredited Rove Boats Liars. Gee, is it love or political desperation? That must be what GOP calls "family values": we will support our own, damn the truth, damn the consequences.

And how dare he lecture us in this twisted and self-serving manner:

In an apparent digression from his prepared remarks, he defended his son against the criticisms of protesters outside the convention. He said that " good Americans" could disagree on how to fight terrorism, but he added that "personal attacks against the commander in chief go far beyond the pale." He condemned "the senseless talk we hear from some marching around here now."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/politics/campaign/31swift.html

Guess what, 41: That "senseless talk" is democracy in action -- and yes, indeed, it has everything to do with our disagreements with this "war on terrorism," as well as hundreds of other hurtful, illegal and immoral decisions of your son. Fighting against the president whose actions exacerbate dangers facing the whole world, not to mention our own country, is not only our democratic privilege, but also our duty.

We, good Americans, do not want an immoral, self-serving, dishonest and incompetent leader. Nothing personal, mind you.

A Buzzer.

Subject: Letter to the Editor - Arnold Speaks of an Alternate Reality

Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a good sounding speech but he seems to be talking about a different reality than the one I remember. He says that we have a strong economy now in spite of the recession we inherited (from Clinton). It reminds me of a sci-fi movie where there's a alternate universe where everything is the opposite of what's happening here. In the reality I remember we had the biggest surplus in the history of the world and now we have the biggest deficit in the history of the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing California a disservice to go to New York and endorse Bush because the economic future of this state and the rest of the country is to turn this economy around and get back to fiscal responsibility and basic sanity. Bush has gutted America and we need to get rid of him before it's to late to turn things around. If Bush is reselected Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to pay a personal price because he's going to have to keep the California economy going while Bush continues to destroy the national economy. I was hoping Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to join the real world - but I was wrong. In spite of his big immigrant story, he's a Republican first and an American second.

Marc Perkel
San Francisco, CA.

DID I JUST HEAR ARNOLD EXPRESS ADMIRATION FOR RICHARD NIXON? DOES HE KNOW THE STORY BEHIND THAT CROOK? :):)

SS

[BuzzFlash Note: Yep.]

Subject: Poppa Bush

I saw the comment of Poppa Bush, in favoring the swift boats people. He also rementioned his comment against Pres. Bill Clinton, saying "I bit the bullet, while Mr. Clinton bit his nails. It would be nice if some one ask him about his son being AWOL, and what he thinks about his son biting his nails, while Mr.Kerry "bit the bullet".

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Chris Matthews

did anyone notice? tonight on hard ball andrea mitchell told chris mathews that a high ranking official with the white house told her that "giuliani did exactly what he was ASSIGNED to do, his ASSIGNMENT WAS TO SLICE KERRY UP AND HE DID THAT."

so i would like to know why aren't the democrats assigning people to slice bush up. good god, the democrat convention was just a love fest! how about some balls! go after bush like they go after kerry! all these people claim to be a good friend of kerry's. jesus, give me a rattlesnake for a friend!

the massey family
south carolina

Subject: Nader in the Raw . . . Need I Say More ?

BuzzFlash,

I signed this petition . . . I think it is fair for Nader to put his mouth where his money came from. I will say that this week I did get a letter from Nader and Camejo asking for money with a self-stamped envelop inside. So, I decided to spend some of that Republican money, along with a note regarding my feelings about him.

Let Nader Speak to His Right Wing Supporters
http://www.thenaderfactor.com/petition7/

I found some exhilaration in signing this petition. :) In today's Bush world, a person has to take a little pleasure wherever they can find it. :)

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Subject: Purple Heart Bandaids

Dear BuzzFlash,

Incredible. Purple Heart Bandaids. Message from the RNC: Let's make sure we disrespect those who have faced combat in service to their country.

Will Republican hypocrisy ever find it's bottom? Not today. They've found whole new levels to sink to.

Is there anything more revealing than a bunch of Republican delegates wearing purple heart bandaids to disrespect veterans?

Oh, how I wish that some real news person somewhere would ask every RNC delegate with a bandaid on about their military combat experiences, and what wounds they sustained.

Here's the website of Morton Blackwell, http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/01ABOUTUS/02MCBlackwell.htm. Check out his bio. He's the proud Republican who has spent his life serving...the Republican Party. He has founded one of those right-wing "institutes". He also started the Purple Heart Bandaids as a way to disrespect John Kerry and every other combat veteran who has sustained wounds.

Oddly enough, I searched through his on-line bio and I can't find anything about Mr. Blackwell's military service. I'm sure it's just an innocent omission. A big, brave man like him MUST have served, right?

Call him up, ask him. If he didn't serve, ask him how many deferments he got.

Maybe he can beat Dick(less) Cheney's record of 5. Or John(annointmebaby) Ashcroft's 6!

Yuch,

Ruth Lopez
Orlando, FL

Subject: War on Terror

I'm not sure how to score this one. Do you think Bush's about face on whether the war on terror can be won should be designated a flip-flop, a new nuance, or just another incredibly stupid statement from America's No. 1 dumbass?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Missing Time

Regarding the CFHFP and the 'missing time'

Found it. It was called Project P.U.L.L. He was counseling Black youth in Houston's 3rd ward. The author of the preface to the book is non other than Greg Palast. It is speculated that Georgie was court ordered to do this. His father was a"benevolent supporter" and honorary chairman. Palast phoned Houstons' Martin Luther King, Jr , Community Center for illegal drug use and spoke to a Madge Bush (its director for 31 years). Apparently George did not perform community service there, but when asked if she had knowledge of where else he "may" have performed service, she said "no comment, Bush was Gov of Texas" and hung up. This lady, incidentally, was also a Democrat, and served as a Texas state precinct judge. He also spoke with a former Yale classmate, who knew about both the arrest and the community service, but would provide no further info.

It's "Fortunate Son", by J.H. Hatfield

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: The Moron

Hello BuzzFlash:

Last week I read that George W. Bush described the outcome of the initial attack on Iraq as a “catastrophic success”.

Hey, what do I know, I wasn’t educated in an Ivy League school and I didn’t spend my summers in Kennebunkport. I’m just a commoner but I do know that a catastrophe is defined as a: disaster, calamity, tragedy, upheaval, devastation or ruin. And that success is defined as an: achievement, accomplishment, victory or triumph.

What we have is George W. Bush explaining what’s happened in Iraq by using an oxymoron. So does that mean that when he attacks Iran he’ll call that action a “disastrous accomplishment”?

God please protect us from this oxyMORON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carolyn in Tennessee

Subject: How low can they go?

Hey Buzz:

Once again demonstrating that money cannot buy class, the Republicans mock John Kerry by sporting purple-heart-emblazoned bandaids at the GOP convention. What a smack in the face of all veterans (Hey, you with the purple heart medal, I don't think got "hurt enough" fighting for our country). Disgusting.

A devoted BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Rove Removal Inc. Strikes Again?

Hello-

Here in CA a group is calling for the resignation of Kevin Shelley, California Secretary of State. I had sent in some links regarding this topic a couple of weeks ago with my predictions and saw on the local news last that a group was requesting his resignation. According to the group they need to put in a responsible person who will protect elections here in California. I did a quick search and here's the petition site. http://www.shelleymustresign.com/

Wonder who they would want to put in his place? Perhaps someone who would not require a paper trail, who does not believe in voter outreach, who would purge the rolls thoroughly. Perhaps it's punishment for not certifying the recall election quickly enough. Every one here always seems to think Ca. is safe... If that's true, can someone explain how Arnold got into office?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Swift Boat Vet vs. Swift Boat Vet

Hi BuzzFlash,

As you know these Swift Boaters have had a tough time keeping their stories straight...here's a review of stories where they have contradicted themselves or each other:

http://swiftvets.eriposte.com/sbv_v_sbv.htm

Regards,

TR

Subject: Did you see this?

Hi BuzzFlash,

Did you see this:

Bush Pledged Nice Politics In 2000
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/31/eveningnews/main639848.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/eveningnews/main3420.shtml

"The president has been a divider, not a unifier," says Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute. "The division is entirely partisan. There is no trust. No willingness to work together at all, and the president has encouraged that."

Thank you.

Peg

Subject: Republicans

I heard several Republican delegates interviewed this morning on Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" radio show on Pacifica Radio. It is alarming to know the lack of information these delegates have about their candidate, George Bush. They know nothing about the issues, have not seen Fahrenheit 911 and when asked why, they said that it's because Michael Moore's film is "full of lies". When asked, "what lies?", they were unable to respond and were typically evasive...like snakes slithering around the issues.

Another issue discussed on the show was the upcoming movie, "Bush's Brain". An in-depth discussion revealed that Karl Rove has consistently attacked the strengths of opponents. It's ballsy and brazen and so hard to believe that Karl Rove has the nerve to distort a person's military record (John McCain, John Kerry) of herosim and courage and that the mid-western monkey mind believes his BS. He hired veterans to testify against John McCain and started a whisper campaign about McCain being crazy, and fathering a black child with a prostitute. It's bizarre to have listened to McCain's speech last night, praising George Bush after all that George Bush did to destroy McCain. Where is John McCain's honor?

Where are the ETHICS? It looks like Bush is ahead now, but of course, who can believe the polls? Are those of us who are voting for Kerry fighting an uphill, unbeatable battle against the unethical liars of the "party of God"? We are battling for the minds of people who are not interested in exploring the issues, but who want to be comforted by the false promise of their hero, "W", to protect them from "the enemy". The midwestern intellect is non-existent; their unwillingness to read and investigate the issues, is frightening. The notion that Bush protects families because he is pro-life is ludicrous since he has not been able to do anything about the legality of abortion.

Where is the mainstream media? What is the payoff for them to look the other way? For myself, I write to them expressing my disdain for the superficial sound-byte coverage of the issues that confront us.

Jody Hoelle
Redlands,CA

Subject: Bush's Bait and Switch

Bush Tries Bait-&-Switch On Americans

The rank dishonesty of Bush and his minions to campaign as a " centrist" demonstrates his contempt and disdain for the average American voter.

In 2000, whether one believes Mr. Bush won the electoral vote "fair and square," or that he "stole the election," one thing that is not debatable is that he received no "mandate" from voters that year. Even had it been Bush, and not Gore, who had won the popular vote by over half-a-million, given the size of 10s of millions of total votes cast, such a margin would not have been an endorsement of a hard-right-wing agenda. Yet, that agenda is exactly what Bush has sought to implement from the "get go."

From appointing John Ashcroft (whom the people of Missouri rejected for another term as one of their U.S. Senators) as Attorney General, to snubbing the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming (Gore would have accepted it, conditioned on safeguarding U.S. jobs), to exploding the national debt with massive tax cuts skewed unabashedly towards the nation's wealthiest, to enthusiastically fanning the flames of "gay marriage" in an unabashed attempt to wedge and inflame the American electorate, to beating the drum of war in Iraq -- based on a musical score that had no basis in reality, George W. Bush has governed from the neo-conservative right fringe of the Republican Party to a degree not even contemplated by many in his Party.

For Bush to now try to "put lipstick on the pig" of his ideology, or of that ideology which pulls the strings of his decision-making, acknowledges that he -- and his strategists -- know that Americans are not enamored with the political philosophy of the Ashcrofts, Cheneys, Pearls, Wolfowitzes, Rumsfelds, DeLays and Falwells that whisper in Mr. Bush's ear. This also acknowledges that Bush and his campaign team think so little of the American people that they can run a falsehood-based campaign, fool our nation's citizenry, then go back to business-as-usual once they re-gain the keys to the Oval Office.

A question for Americans is whether such "bait and switch" dishonesty is the kind of way they want to be treated by a man who once again asks to be trusted with the reins of ultimate power.

Richard R. Newton
Birmingham, Alabama

Subject: Bush Flip-Flop

Gee, what could be more flippy-floppy than declaring the "war on terra" not winnable one day, and winnable the next?

Love it, but will the press call him a flip-flopper? Naaaah!

Go BuzzFlash!

Just a comment from the peanut gallery North Of Forty-nine.

-k

Subject: MSNBC's New Word For Flip-Flop

Currently on the MSNBC website they use the word “recasts”to describe Bush’s flip-flop answer to the question about winning the war on terror. My! Such strong language!

From MSNBC.com:

•Bush recasts anti-terror views
•GOP gays are unhappy with Bush
•Schwarzenegger to laud Bush
•Fineman: Kerry staff shake-up?
•Read the Republican platform (.pdf

Jeff in GA

Subject: The Coffins

Dear BuzzFlash,

One of your readers wrote about the draped coffins in the protest march. I agree they should be used in all marches. It was very profound and chilling to see in the march. I would love to see a Kerry ad showing a draped coffin with a sign: Is your loved one next?

It would also make a great bumper sticker!

Carolina

Subject: Possible FL election fix

Why can't FL or any state with questionable electronic or punch type ballots just print up enough absentee ballots and have them available for voters that don't trust the machines or for all voters if it can be shown that the electronic voting doesn't provide trustable recount. I assume all states have an absentee ballot ready to go, maybe even versions in Braille, and some automated way to count them. With modern copying machines it shouldn't be too hard to make enough copies. Seems like the fastest and cheapest fix that would be ready in time for november.

Mike

Subject: Karl Rove's "Whisper Campaigns" are never-ending

Dear BuzzFlash,

Tonight I spotted what I believe are two instances of "Whisper Campaigns" that I believe are being instigated by Karl Rove.

Whisper Campaign #1: Families of soldiers killed in Iraq all support President Bush

The first one, is easily deduced from an article linked from your site:

"First George W. Bush said he miscalculated the war in Iraq, then he called it a catastrophic success and blamed the military. ... "Now he says we can't win the war on terror. Is that what Karl Rove means when he calls for steady leadership?" 9/1

This article states that Pres. Bush has been "quietly meeting with families of troops killed in Iraq". The article goes on to quote Karl Rove, who says,

" The spirit of these people who have experienced loss is beyond expectation, is unbelievable," Rove said Monday of families across the country who have asked for meetings with Bush to talk about the war.

"Now, you occasionally get people who say 'I'm mad,"' Rove said. "But most of the time, they want reassurance from the president of the United States that their loved one will not have died in vain," urging the president to "stay the course, finish the mission, don't let my son or daughter be dishonored by coming up short."

.....

Rove said Bush meets with families of soldiers who were killed in Iraq "virtually everywhere he goes." At one recent stop, outside Green Bay, Wis., the parents of a slain 18-year-old soldier asked to meet with Bush on behalf of four other families who had a relative die in Iraq.

Their message?

"'We're praying for you and we're going to give you a medal that represents our gratitude for your leadership of our country and for what you did for our son,"' recounted Rove, who described the meetings as "unbelievably emotional events."

You can read this entire article from beginning to end, but no where do you have any corroborating evidence that any of these meetings every took place, other than if you are willing to believe Karl Rove -- he's the only source quoted in the entire article about these meetings between Pres. Bush and families that are supposedly taking place "virtually everywhere he goes".

My challenge to Karl Rove is to call him on this: If Bush is really and truly meeting with families of soldiers killed in Iraq "virtually everywhere he goes" [Karl Rove's direct quote from article] then who exactly are these families? How many times has he meet with families? I understand the families have a right to privacy, but ask the campaign's reporters if Pres. Bush's schedule would even allow for him to meet that many times with families of soldiers killed in Iraq. And if he's met with families so much, why is this the first time anybody's heard about it? Surely one of the families has the courage of their convictions to want to go public with their support for the President?

And is it just me, or does anyone else find the quote: "The spirit of these people who have experienced loss is beyond expectation, is unbelievable" creepy? Is Karl telling us even he's amazed he's been able to so completely dupe the American citizen into giving up their children to his political ends, because it's "beyond expectation"? What, exactly were his expectations when faced with the families whose lives his policies have so thoroughly shattered? Personally, I'd be thoroughly ashamed, but Karl find the families support of President Bush "beyond expectation".

Whisper Campaign #2: It's All Over

Emanating from Hollywood, I got a call from an old friend, who tells me the word is out that Kerry has responded too weakly, and the "It's All Over -- Just forget about getting Bush out." "Bush is a shoo-in for four more years." I was infuriated and told her to stop the negative energy and make sure to get out & vote for Kerry. I asked her where she heard all this garbage and she said it was just the talk around the water cooler.

Okay, this whisper campaign I can't tie to Karl Rove directly, but it sure has the Mark of Rove all over it,

From a faithful reader in Austin, Texas

[BuzzFlash Note: Kerry is beating Bush in the swing states in this August NPR poll (PDF), so we don't know why some folks are freaking out. Everyone should read Ruy Texeira's debunking of the recent L.A. Times poll and forward it to anyone who shows signs of pessimism. We only have two more months; Bush has nothing to run on; and Kerry will win. It's just that simple. Oh, and help MoveOn get out the vote -- Democrats do better in elections when more people vote.]