Friends,
First I want to thank all of you for your continued support for our race. Since last spring, we've moved from being a start up campaign with a dollar and a dream to full fledged top tier challenger race. Your continued support could very well mean the difference between winning and losing against the worst George Bush rubberstamp member of Congress on this side of the Mississippi. I know that together, we can change the course of our nation- we can stand up and demand a new direction for America, but it means working together where we can win. As many of you already know last time we came within 1% of winning and this year we are starting early and I know we can earn the necessary votes.
Today, I want to speak a little bit about the news of the past week. This week we saw President George Bush continuing to make a mockery of our national reputation on a number of different occasions and we saw a brand new Osama bin Laden videotape. Indeed the plot has thickened and the President's wizardry with the spoken word has brought our national dialog to a new high.
The World according to George Bush
Bush's wild week began when he was overheard telling Australian Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile that we're "kicking ass" in Iraq. Such worldly language - it almost sounds like a phrase that should be followed up with "now watch this drive." This sort of flip comment makes me absolutely sick when you stop to consider that another seven of our troops were killed in Bush's preemptive war of occupation and attrition just the other day. How did we ever end up with such a terrible diplomat holding the highest office in the nation? Can you imagine how you'd feel to hear that we're "kicking ass" the day after losing your son or daughter in this unnecessary war?
I'm sure by now, everyone has also seen the story about the President's conversation with the South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun. They were sitting on the stage together for another one of those standard hand shake and smile photo ops, but instead of having meaningless conversation, President Roh decided to ask Bush a real question - When will the US end the Korean War? As you probably know, the Korean War never technically ended, it's actually just had a 54 year cease fire. Rather than discussing this opportunity, Bush started a heated engagement with President Roh, in front of the cameras, and reiterated his flawed policy of "no peace until their nuclear program is shut down." In all practical aspects, the war has been over for more than half a century. I believe that if we were serious about dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat (which is very real and should have been the first priority of the Bush Administration rather than Iraq), then we should be willing to show good faith by "ending" a war that's already over. Bush however wants to play cowboy with this and every issue by aggravating world leaders such as President Roh by publicly blowing him off in what should be a friendly exchange in front of the cameras.
The President's wild week culminated at his speech before the APEC summit on Friday. George called APEC "OPEC" and thanked Australian Prime Minister for his support and talked about when Howard visited his "Austrian" troops in Iraq. It's so strange that we as Americans are just straight up used to this kind of gaffe from our President - however I think it's very embarrassing to have him representing us to the rest of the world while he's constantly struggling to grasp the English language. I understand that we all make errors from time to time, but Bush is at a level of misspeaking that will be remembered for generations. If his grasp of foreign policy was half as strong as his grasp on grammar, then we'd be in a much better position on the world stage than we currently are.
Oh ya, and then after his speech he tried to exit off the wrong part of the stage only to be corrected and turned around by Prime Minister Howard...
Osama bin Laden returns to the stage
And then, a few days before the sixth anniversary of September 11th, Osama bin Laden returned in a video for the first time since right before the 2004 Elections. This is a very serious matter, and the language he selected suggests an attack may be imminent. For example, in his speech, bin Laden offers a truce to the west stating that we must all convert to Islam. This is not a trivial suggestion and the offering of the olive branch through conversion is the correct custom for Muslims before initiating an attack. We will have to see if the years of Republican leaders using our National Guard in Iraq rather than defending our borders was worth it or not.
I think one of the most striking parts of the video is the fact that bin Laden has gone from a grey beard to a black one. If he has the time and the resources to acquire Just for Men, then we are clearly not doing all we can to kill or capture the mastermind of 9/11. I'm by no means in favor of expanding the war, but we should be using our military to go after bin Laden and al-Qaeda rather than continuing our involvement in a three way ethnic civil war.
Looking to the Future
Tuesday will mark the anniversary of 9/11 and I hope and pray that we will never suffer tragedy like that ever again. When I look at politicians today, many of them have their hearts in the right place, but I truly believe that we need more Veterans in Congress to deal with these real world threats. Right now, the US Congress has the lowest percentage of Veterans in office since World War One. Not to belittle those that have not served, but I there is real value in having leaders who have real experience in actual combat situations before deciding to send our troops into a hostile environment. During my 24 year Navy career, I lost far too many friends in war, and I promise that I will never send our brave men and women to war unless it's absolutely necessary. Iraq was absolutely unnecessary, and we see the costs of that everyday.
I hate to turn the conversation to this, but if you believe in sending people like me to Congress, then you need to help me get elected. I do not accept Corporate PAC contributions because I will not allow my vote to be bought and sold by big business. Until we can enact the Clean Money/Clean Elections laws, that have been such a success in Maine, it is up to you to help me fund this race. Last year, I ended up 1% away from defeating my rubberstamp opponent, Randy Kuhl, and this year we are starting early. With your support, I know we can do it.
-Eric Massa
Commander US Navy (ret.)
Congressional Candidate, NY-29