I have a number of acquaintances that re either wingnuts or right wing evangelicals. It seems that feel they need to save me and forward all their wingnut crap to me. I used to hate it, but now I find it is a very useful way to get out truth. We all know their emails are full of lies, rumours, innuendo and general BS, but we shouldn't just delete them. We need to respond. I find that it only takes me 5-10 mins to do the research to debunk their emails. I respond to everyone on their distro. Not surprisingly I get few responses and those are usually full of strawmne and ad hominem attacks and just flat our personal attacks.
If no one responds with the truth the lies and misrepresentations get presented as fact. People who do not know the truth assumes the wingnut email is truth. We are not going to change peoples minds and enlighten them if we just ignore the trash and filth that is peddled by the right wing smear machine.
Maybe someone has already set this up, but I think the progressive blogosphere needs to put together a clearinghouse for people to get the truth and easily counter the emails with an intelligent reasoned response.
Snopes is a great resource, but they are not always timely and they do no deal specifically with political issues. I know the Obama campaign ahs put together a rapid response team to deal with attacks and smears. I wonder what could be done to build a site so progressives everywhere can find answers and responses quickly.
I am going to start posting the wingnut emails and my responses on my blog.
http://thoughtsfromruralwisconsin.bl...
If you get an email from a wingnut please send it to me so I can post it and your response. If you need help formulating a response I will gladly try to assist. We need to fight them in the trenches. These email smears are the trenches of this war.
I received a new one today that took almost no time to research because someone had already addressed all the issues.
Facts are facts
Good read! Think About it!
For those of us who spent time in the military, believe in our military and support the men and women of our military, read on............. ~
JOHN GLENN- (DEMOCRAT) said this ----- It should make you think a little:
There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq .
When some claim that President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following:
FDR -(DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II.
GERMANY never attacked us ; JAPAN did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost .. an average of 112,500 per year.
TRUMAN- (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea. NORTH KOREA never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost .. an average of 18,334 per year.
JOHN F. KENNEDY- (DEMOCRAT) started the VIETNAM conflict in 1962. VIETNAM never attacked us.
JOHNSON- (DEMOCRAT) turned VIETNAM into a quagmire.
From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost . An average of 5,800 per year.
CLINTON- (DEMOCRAT) went to war in BOSNIA without UN or French consent.
BOSNIA never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
In the years since terrorists attacked us ,President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors
in Libya , Iran , and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a
terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are
complaining about how long the war is taking.
But Wait, There's more!
It took less time to take Iraq than it took JANET RENO- (DEMOCRAT) to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation..
We've been looking for evidence for chemical weapon in Iraq for less time than it took HILLARY CLINTON- (DEMOCRAT) to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.
It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy
the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police
after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.
It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida !!!
Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB ! The Military morale is high!
The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.
BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE...
JOHN GLENN (on the Senate floor)
Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard
Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive
impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the armed services do what they do for a living.
This is a typical, though sad, example of what some who have never served think of the military.
Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn): 'How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?'
Senator Glenn (D-Ohio): 'I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.'
'I ask you to go with me .. . as I went the other day... to a veteran's hospital and look those men .. with their mangled bodies . in the eye, and
tell THEM they didn't hold a job!
You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and Orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their DAD'S didn't hold a job
You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery , where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you have the gall to tell ME that those people didn't have a job?
What about Metzenbaum?'
For those who don't remember, during W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney representing the Communist Party in the USA. Now he's a Senator!
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English thank a Veteran.
It might not be a bad idea to keep this circulating. I AM!!!
My response was in two parts
First of all you need to verify facts before you forward this crap.
I am only going to destroy parts of it right now. There is no evidence that Howard Metzenbaum had anything to do with the communist party. numerous sources say it is an internet rumour and nothing more.
Metzenbaum never said he never had a real job. Metzenbaum never said or even inferred that John Glenn never had a real job.
Also, John Glenn never said the first part. Some loser put it to the top of the second part.
Want proof.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/...
http://www.snopes.com/...
As for the rest of the items in the email I will address them later. Then we will address the "facts"
Second response
I love it when I don't even have to do the research. I figured someone else had already addressed this drivel.
http://www.buzzflash.com/...
http://forums.theledger.com/...
FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us ; Japan did.
From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost...an average of 112,500 per year. Germany, Itally, and Japan were allied through Tripartite Pact on September 1940. You attack one, you attack all!
Truman (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea
North Korea never attacked us
From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost...an average of 18,334 per year. Korean was a U.N. Action!
quote:
June 25, 1950
At approximately 4 a.m. (Korean Standard Time) on a rainy Sunday morning Democratic People's Republic of Korea Army (DPRK - North Korea) artillery and mortars open fire on Republic of Korea (ROK - South Korea) Army positions south of the 38th Parallel, the line then serving as the border between the two countries. The opening barrage is followed shortly by tank/infantry attacks at all points along the Parallel. At 11 a.m. North Korea announced a formal declaration of war and what is now known as "The Korean War" officially began. ...
June 27, 1950
During the late evening, the U.N. Security council passes a resolution calling for member nations to give military aid to South Korea.
John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire.
From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost...an average of 5,800 per year. Wrong!
quote:
According to the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam would hold national elections in 1956 to reunify the country. The division at the seventeenth parallel, a temporary separation without cultural precedent, would vanish with the elections. The United States, however, had other ideas. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles did not support the Geneva Accords because he thought they granted too much power to the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Instead, Dulles and President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported the creation of a counter-revolutionary alternative south of the seventeenth parallel. The United States supported this effort at nation-building through a series of multilateral agreements that created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). ...
December 1961 White Paper
In 1961, President Kennedy sent a team to Vietnam to report on conditions in the South and to assess future American aid requirements. The report, now known as the "December 1961 White Paper," argued for an increase in military, technical, and economic aid, and the introduction of large-scale American "advisers" to help stabilize the Diem regime and crush the NLF. As Kennedy weighed the merits of these recommendations, some of his other advisers urged the president to withdraw from Vietnam altogether, claiming that it was a "dead-end alley."
In typical Kennedy fashion, the president chose a middle route. Instead of a large-scale military buildup as the White Paper had called for or a negotiated settlement that some of his advisers had long advocated, Kennedy sought a limited accord with Diem. ...
At the time of the Kennedy and Diem assassinations, there were 16,000 military advisers in Vietnam. The Kennedy administration had managed to run the war from Washington without the large-scale introduction of American combat troops. The continuing political problems in Saigon, however, convinced the new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, that more aggressive action was needed. ...
Blame Eisenhower and Johnson!
Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.
Bosnia never attacked us. Bosnia was a NATO action!
He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
quote:
Clinton Rumors
http://www.snopes.com/...
GOP Congress blocked Clinton push for anti-terror legislation
http://www.americablog.com/...