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"All I know is what I read in the newspapers." Will Rogers
Newspapers around the country are being deluged with Letters to the Editor expressing support for the Bush agenda. These letters are obviously an orchestrated campaign: they are identical, word for word, except where they are "edited for length".
In keeping with the frankly partisan theme of Failure Is Impossible, I list here only pro-Republican Astroturf. I deplore the fact that Democratic and liberal organizations are also not merely encouraging their supporters to write letters about specific issues, but actually providing boilerplate text. If you're going to send a letter, write it yourself. Sending Astroturf is cheating!
This campaign requires a twofold response.
When you write your own Letter to the Editor, choose a few crucial facts and focus on them. Try to keep the letter to about 150 words, the average acceptable length. Use your own wording. Be polite. And remember, spelling counts.
Need some inspiration for your letter? Visit the Voice of the People page.
(Important note: Many, many thanks to Tom Arthur and Cheri DeSalvo of Salon's Table Talk, who fight a neverending battle for truth, justice, and orginality in Letters to the Editor. They find the astroturf letters, I just list them here.)
The letter:
The proposal Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist sent to his Democrat colleagues this week could not have been a more fair compromise to end Democrat obstruction of President Bush's highly qualified judicial nominees.
Leader Frist's proposal would guarantee President Bush's nominees a fair up or down vote on the Senate floor while allowing all Senators an opportunity to have their say through a guaranteed 100 hours of debate. This is a reasonable resolution to the Democrats' unprecedented use of the filibuster against President Bush's nominees, and will ensure that the filibuster remains intact for use against legislation.
Democrats are obstructing President Bush's nominees because they know that these nominees will strictly interpret the law — not legislate from the bench. Democrats have even gone so far as to say they will "shut down" the Senate if they do not get their way on judicial nominations.
One of President Bush's nominees, Janice Rogers Brown, grew up as the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers and became the first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court. In 1998, Californians re-elected her with 76 percent of the vote and the majority of Senators support her nomination for a federal judgeship, but Democrats are standing in the way of her receiving an up or down vote on the Senate floor.
A fair up or down vote for highly qualified judicial nominees is too important for Republicans to stand by as Democrats sacrifice decades of Senate tradition for partisan gain.
The source: GOP.com
The letter:
New job figures and other recent economic data show that America’s economy is strong and getting stronger – and that the President’s jobs and growth plan is working. The Labor Department announced that employers added 288,000 new jobs in April. In total, over 1.1 million jobs have been added since August, with 8 consecutive months of gains.
America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the President’s policies are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation.
President Bush’s pro-growth agenda, strong education system, and policies to help American workers gain the skills to secure good jobs are the right ways to respond to the challenges of our growing and changing economy.
The President’s jobs and growth policies have put the economy on the road to recovery, but there is more work to be done. The President has outlined a six-point plan to create even more job opportunities for America’s workers and keep America the best place in the world to do business. The plan includes: enabling families and businesses to plan for the future with confidence by making tax reductions permanent; making health care costs more affordable and predictable; reducing the burden of lawsuits on our economy; ensuring an affordable, reliable energy supply; streamlining regulations and paperwork requirements; and opening new markets for American products and services.
The source: georgewbush.com
The letter:
On December 3, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to help to prevent catastrophic wildfires and strengthen America’s long-term forest health. The legislation, based on the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative, will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire to communities, help save the lives of firefighters and citizens, and protect threatened and endangered species.
As a nation, we have watched helplessly as parts of America were devastated by wildfires that displaced families, ruined communities and took lives. In the past two years alone, 147,049 fires burned nearly 11 million acres. The President understands the necessity to manage forest and rangelands to protect the land and prevent further destruction caused not only by fires, but also disease and infestation of insects.
By working with Congress, he achieved bipartisan support for a bill that will not only protect endangered species, but also protect our nations’ forests and nearby communities for generations to come. Uncontrolled growth, the result of years of unwise forest policy, has left our forests vulnerable to catastrophic fires. President Bush, with his Healthy Forest Initiative, introduced policies to encourage public participation in the review of the fuels reduction and forest restoration projects. Ultimately these projects will thin dense undergrowth and brush in priority locations that are chosen by federal, state, tribal and local officials.
As a result of President Bush’s focused and effective leadership on forest health, his vision has become law. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act 2003 will aid in safeguarding our pristine lands by implementing a more effective and timely process to protect communities, wildlife habitats, and municipal watersheds from catastrophic fires.
After all the empty talk in Washington about fixing important entitlements programs, something refreshing happened this week: the President delivered a remarkably sensible blueprint for fixing Medicare and dramatically improving the quality of health care for all seniors.
Choice is an important element of this proposal. Seniors would be given the same kinds of choices currently available to members of Congress, with traditional Medicare still an option, and they wouldn't be forced into HMOs. Also included is long overdue relief for runaway prescription drug costs, with a new discount card and an additional subsidy for poor seniors.
The partisan bickering in Washington over Medicare has gone on for too long, and it's time for Congress to come through for seniors this year. The President's plan, with its emphasis on giving Medicare the funding it needs and providing better benefits, seems like an excellent starting point.
(This letter has been reported as coming from gopteamleader.com. It is also on the web site of the Vermont Republican Party. If you spot it, please report it to me, and alert the newspaper editor who published it of its unoriginality.)
The letter:
Senate Democrats didn't listen to the American people in November. Seeking to maintain power and continue partisan politics, Democrats have again put special interests and partisanship ahead of our nation's interests and progress. One senator said the Democrats' tactics were "tantamount to an attempted coup." The Democrat's week-long refusal to turn over the leadership, because of a dispute over how to organize the new Senate, has delayed President Bush's efforts to create jobs and grow our economy by preventing the Senate from taking up his jobs and growth plan, as well as his nominee to lead his economic team.
The Democrats' activities have received little media attention. These tactics will only succeed if the American people who voted them out of the majority don't know about it.
Please report this outrageous behavior by the Democrats. People here deserve to know how their elected officials in Washington are acting.
(This letter has been traced to the Republican Party's web site, gopteamleader.com. Note in this screenshot of the web page that "GOP team leaders" are encouraged to submit identically worded letters to several newspapers at the same time — in violation of nearly every newspaper's editorial policy against publishing letters that have been published elsewhere.)
The letter:
When it comes to the economy, President Bush is demonstrating genuine leadership. The economic growth package he recently proposed takes us in the right direction by accelerating the successful tax cuts of 2001, providing marriage penalty relief and providing incentives for individuals and small businesses to save and invest.
Contrary to the class warfare rhetoric attacking the president's plan, the proposal helps everyone who pays taxes, especially the middle class. This year alone, 92 million taxpayers will receive an immediate tax cut averaging $1,083, and 46 million married couples will get back an average of $1,714. That's not pocket change for a family struggling through uncertain economic times. Combined with the initiatives to help the unemployed, this plan gets people back to work and helps every sector of our economy.
The letter:
OUR NATION is already moving in the right direction thanks to the historic majorities achieved by President Bush and Republicans at the polls on Nov. 5. At President Bush's urging, Congress took meaningful action by passing a Homeland Security bill, providing terrorism insurance, and confirming President Bush's qualified judicial nominees.
All of these initiatives had been stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate before the election, but are now moving forward because a majority of Americans supported Republicans on Election Day. Thanks to the voters' sound judgment, President Bush and Republicans have been making a real difference.
The letter:
AS WE BEGIN a New Year, I hope you reflect on the progress that President Bush's leadership has brought about in the last year. Thanks to his leadership, America has made our homeland safer, put more money into the hands of America's working families with tax relief and enacted historic education reform to make sure every child in America learns because our schools will be held accountable.
This progress came in spite of Democrat obstruction and delays. With Bush's leadership and the new leadership by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the compassionate conservative agenda is on track. I am excited about what the new Republican majorities will be able to accomplish in the year to come.
(I copied this letter and the list of newspapers from Declan McCullagh's Politech.)
The letter:
President Bush should be applauded for taking a courageous stand against Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime and its reckless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. As the President noted in his recent address to the nation, the riskiest option for dealing with Iraq is to do nothing. Inaction would only give Saddam Hussein time to complete his malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons and would embolden tyrants and terrorists everywhere.
Acting now to disarm Saddam Hussein, using military force if necessary, is the only way we will keep America safe from weapons of mass destruction that fall into the hands of freedom's enemies.
President Bush is right--our nation cannot let world events be dictated by brutal and lawless dictators.
The letter:
I am outraged at the partisan games that Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have been playing with President George W. Bush's judicial nominees. They have created a crisis in the federal courts by leaving these important positions vacant indefinitely....
President Bush nominated Miguel Estrada in May of 2001 along with 11 other qualified candidates for federal appeals court. The President has moved quickly to nominate well qualified judges in an effort to address the current crisis at the circuit court level. Just recently, Senate Democrats dismissed a nominee in committee who was well-qualified, according to the American Bar Association, and had the support of a majority of senators. Miguel Estrada may be next.
His confirmation is stalled in the U.S. Senate because Democrats are putting partisan politics before the stability of our court system. Miguel Estrada personifies the American dream.
At the age of 17, Mr. Estrada immigrated to the United States, taught himself English, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
If confirmed, Mr. Estrada would be the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. That, in turn, would leave him well-positioned to become the first Hispanic appointed to the Supreme Court.
As Dallas Morning News columnist Rubén Navarrette, Jr., wrote, "For those loyal Hispanic Democrats out there, this is your cue to ask why former President Clinton — in eight years — didn't make it a priority to break either barrier."
I am sick and tired of the Democrats playing partisan politics with the judicial branch of our government and they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
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