Michael Moore has written to his followers giving them 17 reasons to cheer up (at least not commit suicide).
His comments (left columns) and my commentary (right column) follow:
| Michael Moore’s Comments | Limbic’s Response |
| Dear Friends,
Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before you go and cash it all in, let’s, in the words of Monty Python, ìalways look on the bright side of life!î There IS some good news from Tuesday’s election.
Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists: |
Dear Michael Moore (and Fellow Travellers),
Actually it is as bad as it is. If you are a Democrat, you might as well keep singing that song: “Life’s a piece of shit, When you look at it. Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke it’s true. You’ll see it’s all a show. Keep ‘em laughing as you go. Just remember that the last laugh is on you.” Here are my comments on Mr Moore’s 17 reasons |
| 1. It is against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again. | 1. Careful Mike. Don’t push this. With control of the Presidency, senate, congress and the supreme court there may be an amendment to the constitution! |
| 2. Bush’s victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. | 2. Bush won the LARGEST popular majority in electoral history. |
| 3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was young adults (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents are always wrong and you should never listen to them. | 3. Proves that kids are naïve and politically idiotic. |
| 4. In spite of Bush’s win, the majority of Americans still think the country is headed in the wrong direction (56%), think the war wasn’t worth fighting (51%), and donít approve of the job George W. Bush is doing (52%). | 4. Those opinion polls are probably as accurate as those exit polls that had Kerry winning the election by a landslide.
The only real measure of political approval is an election. Need I remind you of the results? |
| 5. The Republicans will not have a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. If the Democrats do their job, Bush won’t be able to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I say “if the Democrats do their job?” Um, maybe better to scratch this one. | 5. Reduced to filibustering huh?
The Republicans have majorities in both houses AND the presidency. It is a catastrophe for the Democrats. |
| 6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the birthplace of our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole West Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that’s a start. We’ve got most of the fresh water, all of Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or bury them in lava. And no more show tunes! | 6. You got me.
There is hope for you after all. As a friend said when I recently looked in the general direction of a giant lady waddeling past: “Yours”. |
| 7. Once again we are reminded that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any old nut — a poisonous nut. A great nation was felled by a poisonous nut. May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday when it faces Michigan. |
7. There you go Ohio. When you were being courted, you were a brave and wonderful people. Now, because the majority of you voted for Mike’s hated foe, you are collectively a “poisonous nut”. |
| 8. 88% of Bush’s support came from white voters. In 50 years, America will no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn’t such a long time! If you’re ten years old and reading this, your golden years will be truly golden and you will be well cared for in your old age. | 8. Sorry Mike, this mildly racist gloat of yours contains bad news for you.
It is true that in 50 years the USA will no longer have a white majority. It is projected that the number of Hispanics will continue to grow rapidly and that the African-Americans population will shrink. Here is the sting: Hispanics in Florida voted for Bush and this confirms a trend. The Great Brown Hope of the Democrats, that Republican voting whites will be outbred by Democrat voting immigrants and non-whites assumes that this traditional Democrat constituency (minorities) will remain stable and pro-Democrat. Given the trend towards Republicanism in Hispanics and the fact that traditional Democrats have defected to the Republicans in large numbers (west coast Jews, Southern Dixicrats, Lower Middle Class mid westerners, hispanics and Christian blacks) I think those assumptions are deeply flawed. |
| 9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot get married in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding gifts we won’t have to buy now. | 9. This is quite sad actually. I am sorry for those gays. I think they ought to be allowed to marry. |
| 10. Five more African Americans were elected as members of Congress, including the return of Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. It’s always good to have more blacks in there fighting for us and doing the job our candidates can’t. |
10. This is positive but what is it with your worship of blacks?
You have claimed in the past that if blacks had been on the 911 planes the hijackers would have been challenged and stopped. (This of course is deeply racist, offensive to the heroes who did fight back and plays to the stereotype of the “black badass”.) Now you say that it is always good to have blacks in Congress “fighting for us” and “doing the job our candidates can’t.” Firstly, who are “we”. Secondly, this statement implies those black congresspeople are somehow not candidates at least they are not “our” candidates. I am not sure what sot of job you want “our” candidates to be doing, but Cynthia McKinney, one of their candidates presumably is a radical racist lunatic. On a personal note, as a youth did you long to be black (ala Howard Stern) or is your attitude a case of adult onset Wiggerism? |
| 11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for Senate in Colorado. Drink up! |
11. …he will join leader of the Democratic Party in packing up his things and leaving office. |
| 12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don’t want them to go away. | 12. Because I care. A consolation gift. |
| 13. At the state legislative level, Democrats picked up a net of at least 3 chambers in Tuesday’s elections. Of the 98 partisan-controlled state legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate), Democrats went into the 2004 elections in control of 44 chambers, Republicans controlled 53 chambers, and 1 chamber was tied. After Tuesday, Democrats now control 47 chambers, Republicans control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still undecided. |
13. This will make for better law hopefully.
Does not mask the fact that the Democrats have been routed at every other level. |
| 14. Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he’s having this week. It’s all downhill for him from here on out — and, more significantly, he’s just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It’ll be like everyone’s last month in 12th grade — you’ve already made it, so it’s party time! Perhaps he’ll treat the next four years like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the ranch or in Kennebunkport. And why shouldn’t he? He’s already proved his point, avenged his father and kicked our ass. |
14. Come on Mike! This is not wishful thinking, it is DELUSIONAL.
He is the opposite of a lame duck president. He will probably stick it to you EXTRA viciously now that he has such a Republican alignment across the government. and yes, he did kick your ass. |
| 15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and take this country down a very dark road, it is also just as likely that either of the following two scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn’t ever need to pander to the Christian conservatives again to get elected, someone may whisper in his ear that he should spend these last four years building “a legacy” so that history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will not push for too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so cocky and arrogant — and thus, reckless — that he will commit a blunder of such major proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from office |
15. History will always record the fact that despite the roar of international left wing opinion, the best efforts of Islamists across the globe and the best efforts of a master propagandist like you - Bush triumphed. |
| 16. There are nearly 300 million Americans — 200 million of them of voting age. We only lost by three and a half million! That’s not a landslide — it means we’re almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you had 58 yards to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down 55 of those yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball and go home crying — especially when you get to start the next down on the three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports analogies are coming!!! |
16. Nah Mike. That analogy does not work.
As only two players on the pitch rushed towards the goal line for the glory of the election touchdown, as they got to the last meter, the US people on the sideline threw the ball to Bush not Kerry. There is no consolation in having competed or even keeping up. Winner takes all. The prize was who would be trusted by the people to carry the ball. It was Bush and a massive victory for Bush too. |
| 17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed “The #1 Liberal in the Senate.” That’s more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this — that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals — that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that’s BIG news. Which means, don’t expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it’s better that they don’t. We’ll need the element of surprise in 2008. Feeling better? I hope so. As my friend Mort wrote me yesterday, “My Romanian grandfather used to say to me, ‘Remember, Morton, this is such a wonderful country – it doesn’t even need a president!’” But it needs us. Rest up, I’ll write you again tomorrow. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com |
17. That is the nature of simple two candidate races. Both candidates get a lot of votes.
As for the raw numbers and “More people voted for Kerry than Reagan” keep in mind there are more Americans now and the turn-out was massive. It is up to you. If you want to look a raw numbers then Bush’s 4 million vote victory margin is the biggest in US history. As for the “liberal trend” argument. It does not square with reality. The US is heading rightward. Kerry emphasised his military history, his pro-guns stance (I seem to recall this is one close to your heart) and his zeal for fighting the war on terror. He was appealing to a right-leaning populace. It is not easily reduced into a few lines, but for comprehensive explanations of why the US has, and continues to drift to the right, see Right Nation by John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge [Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com ] You are a social liberal, a gifted film-maker, a personable chap, a skeptic and a natural contrarian and champion of the underdog. In short a man who likes to balance up, to weigh in wherever weight is needed to represent the other side. I share these values but I believe you have to learn from this rout. Accept the reality principle applies. Accept your worldview will need more than propaganda films to be accepted. Defining yourself in terms of pure opposition will always fail against a well organised ideologically cohesive organisation like the Republican party. Be fair. Propaganda can backfire terribly. Learn from business: Go for operational excellence. Get the basics right. Lastly, you may need to consider examining your position after a Copernican inversion? After all your crafted image as the defender of the “little man” against “big media” and “big business” might need to be reexamined in the light of what happened. The “little man” spoke up in this election and he spoke up for Bush. The political and media elite (”big media”) were against Bush but he triumphed anyway. Bush was not just the candidate of conservative whites Christians: Bush increased his vote amongst Latinos by 9% (to 44%) [Source: CNN] Over to you… Kind regards Limbic |
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