Dear Senator Salazar, Liebermann, Ben & Bill Nelson, Landrieu, and Pryor:
Today, I am disgraced to call you a member of my party, the Democratic Party. Your vote to have Alberto Gonzales as the lead prosecutor of our nation's laws upon its people may have been one of the largest un-American and unpatriotic acts you have ever committed. You have sacrificed your integrity and that of the party you claim to represent by looking to score quick political points. A simple abstention would have sufficed because we already knew Gonzales would pass. We would not have thought less of you. Instead, you chose to score political points over political principle. Why?
You know what, I do not want to know why nor do I even care. Quite frankly, we, as in the real Democratic Party, are sick and tired of Democrats In Name Only, DINOs, such as yourself, who cannot stand for simple principles for the sake of losing political points. Do you think your vote may have helped your own reelection chances in your state? You have not only just given the other side a key issue to use against you, but you have also given a reason for many upstanding Democrats to sit at home or choose someone else when your reelection comes. You voted for a key instigator of a policy that not only led to our greatest national disgrace in over a generation, and is also likely classified as war crimes. Think about that - you just confirmed as our nation's leading prosecutor a potential war criminal. Does that make you feel any better?
You can dodge the issue as much as you want, but the fact still remains: while you may have voted to prevent yourself from appearing anti-Hispanic, you ended up becoming a pro-torture politician. So the next time one of our citizens is subject to the same kind of humiliation and torture that happened in Abu Gharib, here or abroad, or the next time our soldiers are taken, and are subject to various acts of torture, remember your vote and know that you helped make that possible.
Since I'm a Democrat, as are many other law-abiding Americans, we may find time to forgive you, but do not think we will forget. Mark my words - you will live to regret this vote. John Kerry's Iraq War Presidential authorization was the one issue, outside of moral values, that may have cost him the Presidency. People didn't forget that, and we surely won't forget this.
This may come as a shock to you, but in this polarized political climate, you need us more than we need you. We have a grassroots effort to reclaim our party as the party of real moral values, of civil liberties, of fiscal responsibility, and anti-torture. You may threaten us with fear that your seat could go Republican, further empowering the Republican Party in Congress, which will now be known as the Pro-Torture Party, but we are more afraid of the angry anti-American or terrorist grabbing us and torturing us than we are of you losing your seat.
You may think this will all be forgotten and we will be able to get back to the real business with America. It won't be. There is a hunger for real positive change, for real leaders who stand for our principles and care more about doing what's right rather than what's popular. Somewhere in your state is a man or woman who intends to run against you when your reelection comes up. That person, given he or she is not another DINO, just earned financial backing from me and many other Democrats. And if such a person does not exist at that time, do not expect simple capitulation from us. Even if it costs us your seat, we will at least stand on principle that we don't back pro-torture Democrats, financially or with our vote.
Howard Dean says we have the power to take back our country. We will, beginning with your seat.
Sincerely,
gfactor