Reply #36: Uh, hate to say this, but it's partially OUR fault, too. [View All]

These people, as with our reps in Congress and the Senate, were BARRAGED with angry emails, letters, faxes, and phone calls, either generated by, or encouraged by, the right wing machinery that is already well-ensconced out there. KKKarl Rove had only to pick up the phone to people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Ralph Reed, the folks at the Heritage Foundation and the Cato and American Enterprise Institutes and other such "think tanks," and the wheels began to turn.

Remember the astroturfing of many of our newspapers? How many dittoheads and freepers were martialed to action?

Think back farther. Remember that angry mob pounding on the doors of the Florida office where the folks inside were trying to count the votes? These thugs intimidated them. And who were these thugs? Every last one of them was an congressional staffer for some republi-CON. Somewhere on the net is proof of that, a photo with names attached.

Guys, they're correct about one thing. This Is War. They aren't afraid to fight hard and dirty. Why are we?

Back then, when Dan Rather was complaining to the BBC while being interviewed overseas about being "necklaced" if he said anything oppositional to the regime, DID ANYBODY HERE TRY TO CONTACT THE CBS EVENING NEWS AND URGE THEM TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER?

When Helen Thomas was shunned and moved to the back of the room for asking too many pesky questions at White House news conferences, DID ANYBODY HERE TRY TO CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS AND COMPLAIN? OR WRITE TO THE WASHINGTON POST TO COMPLAIN? OR EVEN WRITE TO HELEN THOMAS AND GIVE HER SUPPORT? She's even mentioned many times, including email responses to me when I've written to her, that she sure gets a lot of hate mail. ARE WE DOING ANYTHING - ANYTHING AT ALL - to push from the other side??????

HAS ANYBODY HERE WRITTEN TO WOLF BLITZER OR CHRIS MATTHEWS OR JUDY WOODRUFF OR PAUL KRUGMAN OR ANY OF THESE PEOPLE TO COMPLAIN, OR URGE THEM TO START TELLING THE TRUTH - OR IN KRUGMAN'S CASE, TO SAY THANKS AND GIVE HIM SUPPORT? ANYBODY?

Everybody's too busy. Everybody just wants to sit and complain. Everybody assumes it won't do any good. Everybody just wants to wring their hands and whine about how awful it is. HAS ANYONE HERE BOTHERED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? ANYBODY EVER WRITE TO THE ARMY TIMES OR STARS AND STRIPES?? OR BOB HERBERT OF THE NYTIMES? OR JOE CONASON? OR GEORGE WILL OR HOWIE KURTZ? OR LOU DOBBS? ANYBODY?

I read here, once, that some valiant soul complained to the New York Times about how they were lowballing their crowd estimates, repeatedly, back when many of us were out protesting against the build-up to the war. Whoever this was ALSO CC'ed the complaint letter to the Washington Post and a few other publications, plus a journalists' advocacy group - which I think is listed somewhere in www.takebackthemedia.com. Soon afterwards, the crowd estimates started to get a little more realistic.

Anybody write to their local paper and out an earlier letter that looked like it was astroturf? Some people do. It's CRITICAL THAT WE ALL DO! Please, folks! We can't just assume somebody else is always gonna do it. Nor can we just assume that our one little voice makes no difference. If we have even HALF the people listed among the 41,000 members of THIS WEBSITE ALONE, writing in, that's about 20,000 complaints that come in, en masse, from all over the country, and that big group of complaints will have clout. That's how MoveOn.org has made waves - with big numbers - and how Howard Dean's campaign got off the ground so fast.

I try to call my congresspeople at least twice or three times a week, sometimes daily, PLUS somebody ELSE'S congresspeople also, to register my views. I put the TOLL FREE information in my sig line so it's there every time I post, in case somebody's lost that freebie number. WE HAVE TO KEEP HAMMERING! It's NOT ENOUGH to just sit here, posting complaints to the choir.

Sorry to nag, but sometimes I get really frustrated, reading these things. And for every complaint, I wonder if the complainer has bothered to REGISTER that complaint somewhere, more formally, with someone else who counts. Guys, WE HAVE TO!!! OTHERWISE THE TAKEOVER IS COMPLETE.