> Put Away Your Hankies...a message from Michael Moore
>
> 9/20/04
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come
> there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK?
> Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and
> stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is
> embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them
> cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"
>
> Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded.
> They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks
> that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.
>
> They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they
> just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself
> "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both
> houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the
> governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off
> considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and
> every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day
> wreaking havoc on the planet.
>
> Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his
> convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through
> Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they
> caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the
> frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END
> IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"
>
> No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate
> Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy
> candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so
> pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you
> expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a
> helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or
> I. People like Kerry run.
>
> Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass
> campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those
> phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president
> -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just
> gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and
> moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not,
> they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas
> pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac
> once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.
>
> My friends, it is time for a reality check.
>
> 1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On
> Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them
> both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they
> are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have
> consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young
> people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who
> are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not
> polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again,
> that means they are not talking to young people . Finally, most of the
> polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby
> revealed last week . You are being snookered if you believe any of
> these polls.
>
> 2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton
> (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.
>
> 3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya,
> there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being
> captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real.
> Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare
> you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything
> else is just a sugar-coated lie).
>
> 4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the
> fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are
> doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have
> noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call
> Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and
> the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry
> meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to
> their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush
> bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat
> of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won."
> All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last
> Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is
> going to cook his goose come this November.
>
> So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need
> you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your
> easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate
> another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a
> candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when
> WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like
> Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted
> for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."
>
> Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what
> I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...
>
> WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are
> pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault
> weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong.
> YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO
> GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL
> YOU DO THAT?
>
> Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands.
> Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you
> want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once
> had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid
> is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth,
> why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester
> come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do
> we have any other choice?
>
> Yours,
>
> Michael Moore
>
> --
>
