A Great Conversion Opportunity for DU!

[ursacorwin]

hey folks:

i'm going to go look for goodies myself now, but i thought i'd ask for the good people of DU to pitch in to the effort. i've started spending time with a new friend who's very bright but not a devoted reader of political sites like me. he's a gulf war vet, and currently works in that scary world of security as he's ex-special forces. but he's a good man, a real patriot one might say, and he believes in reason.

here's the catch: he hates clinton for the usual BS reasons, and because he's convinced that a budget decision of clinton's caused the death of a member of his old unit. we've agreed not to talk about clinton, but he's challenged me to prove to him that bush is not worthy of his vote.

i know lots of other people have been able to convert rethugs and talked about here, now it's my turn to try! my friend has a lot of friends who'll most likely vote for bush if we can't stop them, and he's very popular with them such that i'm sure if he changes his mind, the rest will follow.

so have at it, people! gimme your best (worst) about the shrub! links are always helpful. thanks!

[Worst Username Ever]

1. Has he seen F 911? n/t

[redqueen]

2. First thing I thought of -- "When Ignorance Isn't Bliss"

This article was one I'll never forget... David Sirota did the legwork to provide a few telling examples of the disconnect between the right's rhetoric and reality.

http://www.alternet.org/story/18929">http://www.alternet.org/story/18929

(snip)

1. Pro-Defense: Facing increasing violence in Iraq, military commanders in Iraq asked Congress and the president to immediately fill shortages in protective body armor. Just four months after the president signed another massive tax cut for the wealthy, up to 51,000 troops were still not properly equipped for combat, with many begging friends and family at home to buy them makeshift armor. Responding to the crisis, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) sponsored a bill to immediately plug the shortage. He was voted down (Senate vote #376, October 2, 2003), and the results have been catastrophic. As a recent study circulating in the Army notes, up to one in four casualties in Iraq was due to poor protective gear.

2. Compassionate: With U.S. troops struggling to secure Iraq last summer, Congress and the president repeatedly praised soldiers' efforts and promised to provide them the best facilities possible. Yet, the White House budget that year proposed to cut $1.5 billion out of military housing. Representative David Obey (D-Wisc.) came up with a simple solution: Slightly reduce the proposed tax cuts on the 200,000 Americans making $1 million a year to fill the budget gap for the troops and their families. Instead of getting an $88,000 tax cut, millionaires would receive an ample $83,000 tax cut, and the troops' housing would be maintained. Obey's bill was voted down (House vote #324, June 26, 2003).

(snip)

4. Patrotism: As the recession reached new lows in December 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives considered whether to continue rewarding companies with taxpayer subsidies, even if those same companies use those subsidies to send U.S. jobs overseas. The question was simple: During a jobs and deficit crisis, should the U.S. government's Export-Import Bank continue giving most of its $15 billion a year to subsidize a slew of Fortune 500 companies that are reducing their U.S. workforce? But when Representative Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) offered a measure to curb the government handouts to corporate job exporters, he was voted down (House vote #120, May 1, 2002).

5. Clean Government: Halliburton, the oil company Vice President Dick Cheney ran, continues to receive billions in no-bid government contracts for work in Iraq, even after it was cited for overcharging taxpayers and providing unsanitary facilities to U.S. troops. At the same time, Cheney is receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation from the company and holds roughly 400,000 Halliburton stock options. More troubling, internal memos now show that Cheney's office was directly coordinating Halliburton contracts. When the Congressional Research Service ruled the situation represented a "potential conflict of interest," the Senate considered legislation that would have forced the termination of the Cheney-Halliburton relationship. It was voted down (Senate vote #386, October 16, 2003).

[ursacorwin]

3. thanks, RQ!

he's not yet seen f9/11, i don't think he wants to relieve the first war (he was in it) or think about his friends dying over there now...

but the alernet stuff is perfect, i'd forgotten that one as well. thanks!

[nyhuskyfan]

4. He's only interested in 2 percent of the population

Everything he has done in politics has shown a callous disregard for the majority of the American people:

* Sent the military into war of choice while cutting their pay and their benefits. Refused to recude his tax cut for the wealthy to help pay for it
* Deceived the American people into believing that most would benefit from a tax cut, when only the wealthiest did
* Gutted education funding so the rich could have a tax cut
* Scaled back dozens of environmental regulations so corporations could make more money at the expense of their workers.
* Gave tax breaks to corporations to ship their jobs overseas
* Has gutted after-school programs, job-training programs, reduced funds for policemen, firemen, and first responders, all so that the rich could get a tax cut
* Achieved two military victories with Clinton's military, yet totally bungled the post-war strategy in both cases.
* Has made us hated and disrespected around the world, after most of the world was lighting candles in our honor and was on our side.
* Has reduced the original 10 amendments to our Bill of Rights down to a more managable six.
* Biggest deficit ever (which will effect the working class and future generations the most) after inheriting a surplus.
* Wouldn't approve a 9/11 Commission, and after buckling, only budgeted $3 million dollars towards the investigation. Our country spent $47 million investigating Monica Lewinsky.

I could go on forever. Unless you are in the top two percent of the country or are a CEO of a big corporation, Bush has done nothing for you and has shown no signs that he ever will.

[nyhuskyfan]

5. Or you could sum it up with one of his own quotes

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about why I do things."

- George W. Bush, President Of The United States Of America

[Fleshdancer]

6. Clinton vs a Republican controlled Congress

The GOPers will take credit for anything good that happened during the Clinton administration (like huge job creation and budget surpluses) by saying that it was because we had a Republican controlled Congress, but when they want to bash Clinton for something (non sex related) then it's all Clinton's fault. Apparently we're suppose to believe that Clinton alone has the ability to reduce the military budget and the Congress had no say in the matter. Funny, huh?

It's also funny how Bush ran on the fears in 2000 that Clinton supposedly destroyed our military and yet that same military is in two wars right now. Remember Bush quacking about how our military is "undeployable"??? Yep. Clinton sure did destroy it, didn't he?

I'll go and pull up various articles about Clinton and the military, but I just wanted to make these initial points right now. I have a family member who's Special Forces and I've had this argument with him during the 2000 election so I know what you're going through. :)