publish.portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/02/281004.shtml
Bush squeaked into Office, you were unrepentant about your decision to run for President in 2000. You have remained unrepentant ever since, and even today you are considering making another presidential bid next year. It was ridiculous for Gore Democrats to try to shift the blame for Gores loss from Gore himself to you! And even after Bush was selected, the logic of your presidential campaign was more convincing than ever: the Republican and the Democratic parties appeared to be essentially indistinguishable. But as time has passed, it is clear to us-as people who voted for you-that your campaign was a mistake, and its time for us to switch from being unrepentant Nader voters to being repentant ones. Tweedle dee is still tweedle dee, but tweedle dum has turned into a global tyrant. He has neglected the poor and the uninsured-while piling tax breaks on those who dont need them. He has undermined the ability of the United Nations to uphold the international rule of law. He has waged an illegal war, killing and wounding thousands of civilians and soldiers. His presidency has been so destructive that the premise of your campaign-that the two parties are controlled by the same special interests and are therefore identical-has been proven wrong. If Al Gore were our President, we can be sure that significant disasters would have been avoided, including the tax cuts for the rich, the near destruction of the United Nations, the Iraq War, and more. And even worse are the initiatives that the Bush Administration will likely roll out in the future. His advisors assert that tax breaks for the wealthy will be an annual Bush feature, slowly disassembling the federal government as we know it. With this Bush in office there is a greater potential for more war. Healthcare, education, international aid, and other unmet needs are being ignored. The Bush nightmare might have been avoided if over 25 million of us had not voted for you in the last election. While we do not blame you or ourselves for the Gore loss, it is irrefutable that Bush might not be in office if you had not been a candidate. It is for this reason that we repent and pledge to support the presidential candidate whos got the best chance of defeating George W. By doing so, you would join a growing number of citizens who voted for you but now believe that your campaign in 2000 was a mistake. Once Bush is out of office and tweedle dee or tweedle dum runs Washington again, we may write another open letter to you, pleading that you again run for President. It seemed to make great sense for you to run for President in 2000 and to try to attract 5 of the national vote, securing federal matching funds for the next election. This cash would have allowed you to air the important issues that the major parties are ignoring. But faced with the surreal reality that we confront in Washington today, we beseech you not to run next year and to call on all those who voted for you to join together in support of a candidate that has a real chance to defeat Bush.
I actually liked the fact that on some issues CLinton changed his mind - it meant that at least he was open. I want someone who at this moment in time is talking peace, repeal of NAFTA and the WTO, and who wants to try for universal healthcare. Healthcare on the other hand was the reason I voted for Clinton and the republican congress killed it. So it is clear to me that even if someone like Nadar or Kucinich was elected, without a congress willing to move on issues, they would be unable to do as they want either.
George Bender Democrats have sold us out over and over again, most recently in Salem when they voted for automatic cuts that killed the Oregon Health Plan. Democrats will not tolerate an independent or third party left in this country. They believe they are entitled to our votes no matter what they do. If they have their way the United States will never have a political left and we will spend the rest of our lives impotently fuming while they treat us the way Clinton and Gore did for eight years. Politics is about rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies. As of August 1st I will be off the Oregon Health Plan, thanks to the Democrats, so I have nothing left to lose.
Then the chair of the Repbulican party, Kevin Mannix, who apparently did not understand that he lost the race for governor, teamed up with out of state money to put the budget that the legislature came up with on the ballot. He would not even talk to citizens groups about why he was doing it. He has a whole list of things to cut to balance the budget and absolutely no power to do anything as he is not an elected offical. OHP is gone not because of the Democrats but because of a curious effort to undermine our elected officials which succeeded.
Repentant Democrat Voter Every democrat Ive ever voted for has sold me out on the issues I cared about. When the democrats grow a spine and start speaking a message other than Bush is the anti-christ and life will end if he is elected maybe Ill listen to them again. Until then theyre just another wing of corporate thugs trying to scare people into voting for them. And to you cowardly democrat supporters, life will go on if Bush gets selected. Shit, I doubt Bush will kill as many people as Clinton unless he goes nu-cu-lar. If the Democrats want my vote, give me something to vote for, not another Clinton who will sell out my ideals at the drop of the hat.
It is also irrefutable that if any of these are an issue, Ralph running is a non-issue. What Ralph does or doesnt do is also a non-issue if any such things should happen again. You do not blame him in retrospect, but as it is an issue, in forsight you will see him as a potential cause of Bush part II and will blame him if Bush wins? On a good day, it was insulting, on a bad day it was much worse, and on no day did it actually make any sense expect as a scam. It is for this reason that we repent and pledge to support the presidential candidate whos got the best chance of defeating George W.
I want to agree with you here, really I do, but I still wont want to reward the fear Bush tried to shove down my throat by letting it scare me into contributing to the overall decline of America in that manner. I am not getting propaganized into looking for terrorists behind every shrub when I walk the dog, nor am I not letting that bastard Bush change a thing about how I vote just because hes scum. Thats what this stuff is supposed to do is drag us down, and Im not going. My vote is still first and foremost about what Id really like to see, not which color of rope I want to be hung with because it appears to be a slightly more pleasing color than the other one. Besides, if nothing even nearly resembling a majority is going to take progressive thought from someone like Kucinich, whos been framed as such a long shot that hes actually taken to STATING that most obvious but elusive of truths in his commercials, Im electable - if you vote for me, duh!
George Bender Senate Democratic majority leader Kate Brown promised, at a public meeting in Portland last year, that she would vote against any cuts to the Oregon Health Plan. Then she, and the other Democratic state legislators, voted for a plan that cut OHP. In 2002 the state legislature passed a tax increase and referred it to the voters, who rejected it in January 2003. In 2003 Democrat and moderate Republican state legislators got together and passed a plan to increase taxes to avoid cuts in education, human services - including the Oregon Health Plan - and public safety. They did not refer it to the voters this time, but they had to know that conservatives would gather petition signatures and refer it to the voters, and that it would fail. Part of the deal was a list of automatic budget cuts in education, human services and public safety that would happen if the tax plan was referred to the voters and failed. One of the cuts will abolish the Oregon Health Plan standard program for low income adults. The Oregon Health Plan is an expanded version of the federal-state Medicaid program. As of August 1st the expanded part is dead, and OHP will revert to...
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