If you want me to regard you as a friend, please don’t include me in your mailing list when you send out one of those scurrilous emails demonizing Barack Obama and his family. It’s not just that I already have made up my mind to vote for Obama (and everybody else with a D next to their name) when I go to the polls in November. We can agree to disagree. Indeed, I strongly defend your right to express your opinions even when I am totally opposed to your ideas.
I keep reminding myself that good people can vote for bad people. I have relatives who just adore a Fox News commentator named Sean Hannity (rhymes with insanity), and my brother Peter proudly confesses to being a Rush Limbaugh “ditto head.” I cannot even argue with these folks. They subscribe to a system of logic that is beyond my powers of comprehension.
In my view, the Republican Party clearly exists to enrich the rich, and will do anything to achieve that objective. Here are just a few things the Republicans seem to believe:
– If young men and women have to die in a bogus war, so be it.
– If millions of children go to bed hungry, and sicken and die because they cannot afford health care, that’s just too bad.
– If young girls will once again resort to back room abortions, which often prove fatal, that’s OK, too.
– If millions starve to death in faraway countries, hey, it must be the will of God or it wouldn’t happen.
So, it comes as no surprise that “the party of Lincoln” would engage in an email campaign of lies and innuendos to win the next election. The campaign has persuaded a lot of weak-minded people that Barack Obama is a Muslim (and psst! he might even be a terrorist!). Now, the propaganda mills are at work on his wife, Michelle, who is being portrayed as “an angry black woman.”
I am disappointed, but not surprised, to see media commentators repeating and legitimizing the slurs and rumors generated by the shameless propaganda mill. Commentators (they stopped being reporters a long time ago) have been told by their bosses that they must give “equal time” to opposing sides of the political spectrum, and if one side takes advantage of that dictum to spread lies and raise unreasonable fears, the commentators must grit their teeth and act as if this verbal pollution actually merits consideration.
But when you get one of those putrid emails designed to cast doubt on Barack and Michelle Obama, you should check out the truth at:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/
If, however, you prefer to forward the email to friends and acquaintances, please take the time to delete my name from the list. These emails won’t make me turn against Obama, and sending them to me will only make me like you less.
