Yesterday I received an email, which was suppose to be funny. It implied that Obama wants to take your hard earned money and give it away. The following is the email, my response to him and all those on the cc list, a return email from a wingnut coworker, and my final response to him.
How far from the truth is this asshole?
Below is the original email that I received. Obviously some people thought it was funny. I didn't.
Subject: NOBAMA
"Yesterday on my way to lunch at Doe's, I passed one of the homeless guys in that area, with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." Once in the Doe's my waiter had on a "Obama 08" tee shirt.
When the bill came, I decided not to tip the waiter and explained to him while he had given me exceptional service, that his tee shirt made me feel he obviously believes in Senator Obama's plan to redistribute the wealth. I told him I was going to redistribute his tip to someone that I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. He stood there in disbelief and angrily stormed away.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $3 and told him to thank the waiter inside, as I had decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy looked at me in disbelief but seemed grateful.
As I got in my truck, I realized this rather unscientific redistribution experiment had left the homeless guy quite happy for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn. Well, I guess this redistribution of wealth is going to take a while to catch on with those doing the work....
So...I sent the following response to everyone on the CC list.
Redistribution of wealth ????
Another bad Republican phrase that totally distorts the meaning. McCain makes it sound as if Democrats want to take everyone's hard earned money and give it away. That's as far from the truth as you can get.
In the past 8 years income from the middle class has been redistributed from our pockets into the pockets of the wealthy. Did you enjoy those massive $600/$1200 rebate checks you got from the government? Well the rich did. They were getting checks large enough to buy new Luxury cars or homes with. Have you enjoyed this economy? Prices going up on everything and our 401ks going through the floor because Republicans figure the best way to make money is to shuffle money from one place to another without any regulations at all, not through job creation. Jobs are being lost because Republicans have decided that redistribution of American jobs to foreign countries is OK. On average, and with inflation, Americans make less now than they did in 2000.
The wealth of the middle class has increasing been redistributed from the middle class and given to the wealthy through tax give aways and other laws designed explicitly for that purpose, while the middle class has had to suffer. The Democratic plan for Redistribution has everything to do with fairness for the middle class and nothing to do with the type of monetary theft the wealthy have had perpetrated in their names.
The middle class are the back bone of our economy. This is where the wealth HAS to be distributed through decent jobs and laws that allow us to keep the money we make in order for our economy to grow, not through give aways. Obama's redistribution includes creating good jobs with good salaries and benefits that allow corporations to sell their products to US instead of shipping them overseas as China has to, because the workers can't even afford to buy the products they produce. If the Republicans have there way, that will be us soon.
Redistribution of Wealth ??? Damn right. Just looks around at your own situation or the people you know. Things are great...right? It's about time someone started working for US - the middle class - and regardless of what John McCain says, he doesn't want to distribute anything to you or me. He wants to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. That is his redistribution plan. Obama wants to give it back to the people who worked for it and earned it.
(disclaimer: If you make over $250,000 a year this add was not meant for you...tough shit)
I was immediately emailed back by one of my wingnut Colleagues.
So you are saying that "rich" people don’t work hard for the money they earn? What do you think is going to happen when Obama taxes the crap out of the "rich" people and evil corporations? That’s right. They’ll move oversees where it is more profitable.
The middle class owes their very lives to the evil "rich" people who busted their ass to get rich. I don’t know of anyone who works for a poor person. How do you explain all the people who are not working at this moment who are going to get a "tax break" from Obama? I love how your response blames EVERYTHING on the Republicans. Sorry. You have CONGRESS to blame for that and it happens to be controlled by Democrats. Just because you are president, you don’t get to do whatever the hell you want. Bush is an idiot, but the SENATE and the HOUSE approved the war in Iraq. As far as the financial mess, everyone is to blame on that. Congress is to blame for mandating "loans" to families for the "right" to own a home. The banks are to blame for underwriting and getting bonuses off loans they KNEW that would never get repaid. The people are to blame for taking out mortgages they KNEW they couldn’t afford. To blame this mess solely on the republicans is both idiotic and pure nonsense. You want the definition of fair? It is that everyone has the same opportunity to make their lives better. To call out the so-called evil "rich" people for working hard and taking advantage of the opportunities afforded them is both misguided and trivial. And how can you say McCain only wants tax cuts for the wealthy? Under his plan, EVERYONE would get a tax cut. And the so-called "rich" people ALREADY PAY the vast majority of the taxes. You say it is fair to tax them more? Sounds a little bit socialist to me.
and here is my final response to him.
You are very good at spewing Republican talking points, but that is irrelevant. We will not have to worry about Bush or the corrupt Republican party for much longer.
Deregulation breeds greed and corruption, and during the past 8 years the Republican party has proven that their Voo-Doo economics does not work. Republicans are great at creating wealth for corporations, but unfortunately, middle class Americans are not corporations. Nothing is trickling down to many middle class Americans, and hasn’t been for a long time now. Alan Greenspan admitted to congress the other day that his monetary policies (Republican every one) were wrong and were responsible for the financial mess we are in now. Why do you think people vote Democratic when economic times get tough?
If you watch the video at the bottom you’ll see that McCain espoused the exact same "socialist" views that you claim Obama espouses now, until he wanted to get elected president. John McCain is a national hero and a great American, but the video proves that he is also a hypocrite.
For the past 8 years Republicans (yes Republicans) have made sure that laws benefited the rich and also made sure that regulations were removed that stopped excessive abuse. Earning wealth the old fashion way is one thing; stealing it at the expense of hard working Americans is quite another. It is obvious whose side McCain is on. It sure as hell isn’t the middle class and until you join the elite group of the wealthy....don’t worry, Barack will have your back, whether you agree with him or not
How do you think we should respond to these idiots ??