George W. Bush's speech in the Israeli Parliament (The Knesset) yesterday was simply despicable. He used a solemn occasion marking the 60th Anniversery of the foundation of the Israeli State to launch a political attack against Barack Obama and the Democratic party, insinuating that they are akin to "Nazi appeasers."
Never in the history of this nation has a sitting President so pointedly denounced other Americans while speaking on foreign soil.
It is our duty, as progressive Democrats, to send a message to our representatives in the Senate that this President has, once again, gone too far. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now come out to say that these comments were "beneath the dignity of the office." Senator Joe Biden has bluntly stated it is "bullshit."
Thus, I call on each of you to send a letter to your member of the Senate asking them to immediately put forward a motion to censure President Bush.
As you may, or may not be aware, "censure" is a formal procedure by the US Senate to reprimand the President.
Already, President Bush has been the subject of five different resolutions for censure (NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, the pardoning of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and the Plame affair).
Unfortunately, while none have passed, these censure motions remain a part of the Congressional Record and a part of our nation's history.
As John Edwards said yesterday, "it is time to come together as a party." Let us speak with one voice on this issue. Let us take 5 minutes, to say we will not be silent; that this President does NOT speak for us.
Here is the link to contact your Senate representative. (Note: If you have a pair of crappy, worthless Senators, you need consider that your letter cannot simply be thrown in the trash. It must be recorded, filed, and you should receive a response. If you wish you can always send it to Senator Russ Feingold. You have the absolute right to write to any of our elected officials.)
If you do not have the time to write a letter, feel free to use this one:
The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator __:
I am writing to you today, as a constituent, requesting that you introduce a motion as soon as possible to censure President George W. Bush for the extraordinary language and words he used in addressing the Israeli Knesset on May 14, 2008.
President Bush's partisan attack, which deliberately insinuated that the Democratic party, and by extension, United States citizens who belong to that party are like Nazi "appeasers" was both despicable and embarrassing.
Although we may have differences of opinion on how to achieve this, all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, want to see our country safeguarded against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I do not believe that either the Republicans or the Democrats have a monopoly on how to achieve this.
We must let the record show that such behavior by the Chief Executive of this nation is inexcusable and intolerable .
I thank you for your time and consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Name,
Address,
Telephone no.
This is not the best letter. I encourage you to post up your own and I'll put up the best one here.
Update: Thanks for all the constructive comments improving the language of this letter, keep em' comin'. BTW, please do not say that democracy in action is a "pointless exercise." That is what Kos is all about. Moroever, we should resist this criminal cabal in every way possible. We should speak out, and mail letters, whether we believe we will be ultimately successful, or not. As MLK said, "In the end, we will remember not the voices of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."