Wow - a response from one of the bushbots I emailed

[Skip Intro]

A small event, but a hopeful one. Thought I'd share it.

About mid-2002 I was working with a real estate agent to find and buy a house, and we began to communicate by email. She's very pro-bush and pro-Iraq invasion, and added me to the group of people who email each other pro-invasion bs, usually with some 700 club-ish slant.

Occasionally I "reply all" to these messages and try to expose these people to the reality that lies just outside of their "bush is god" daze. Usually I get back a handful of replies parading all the 9*11, "where's your patriotism" etc. faux talking points. This has been going on for about a year and a half.

Reading LBN a couple of days ago, with the Powell and Kay wmd statements, I decided to send the group an email. Checking my mail since, I expected some nasty responses, but instead I received this short, yet remarkable (for this group of people) message:

------------
*****,
I happen to agree with your message and am certainly doing an about face on my thoughts about a lot of things.

*****.
------------

I know some people think its a waste of time to argue with these zombies, but if a member of this group can change her mind about the bush regime and this bloody invasion, then anything can happen. And I'd like to think I had a little something to do with her change of heart. They can be re-awakened.

I don't know what rove has planned for this year, but once he starts losing people like this lady, I think we Dems might be looking at a big upset in Nov.

Here's the email I sent out to this group:
(kinda long)
--------------
I know there are passionate differences of opinion on this issue, and I respect everyone's right to believe what they choose. But it seems to me that the continuing flow of facts make it almost impossible not to realize that we have been had by the Bush administration, and that our brave souls in Iraq are paying the price for those lies.

Three stories for your consideration:

Powell: It's 'Open Question' Whether Iraq Had WMD


TBILISI (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said on Saturday it was an "open question" whether stocks of weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq (news - web sites) and conceded it was possible Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had none.

Powell made the comments one day after David Kay, the leader of the U.S. hunt for banned weapons in Iraq, stepped down and said he did not believe there were any large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons in the country.
"The open question is how many stocks they had, if any, and if they had any, where did they go. And if they didn't have any, then why wasn't that known beforehand?" Powell said to reporters as he flew to Tbilisi to attend Sunday's inauguration of Georgian President-elect Mikhail Saakashvili.

more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040124/ts_nm/iraq_usa_powell_dc


That's not what Powell told us and the world at the UN, is it?

Next:

Ex-U.S. Arms Hunter Kay Says No Stockpiles in Iraq (Kay:"I don't think they ever existed")!!!!!!

David Kay, who stepped down as leader of the U.S. hunt for weapons of mass destruction, said on Friday he does not believe there were any large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq
"I don't think they existed," Kay told Reuters in a telephone interview. "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last (1991) Gulf War (news - web sites) and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s," he said.


Kay said he believes most of what is going to be found in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been found and that the hunt will become more difficult once America turns over governing the country to the Iraqis.


The United States went to war against Baghdad last year citing a threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. No actual banned arms have been found.

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=578&u=/nm/20040123/ts_nm/iraq_usa_weapons_kay_dc&printer=1

That's not what Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Blair told us in late 2002 and early 2003 just before we invaded, is it?

Next:

AP: Five U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks (Saturday, 1/24/03)

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded on Saturday in Khaldiyah, a town west of Baghdad, killing three American soldiers and injuring six soldiers and several Iraqi civilians, the military said.

Two other American soldiers were killed earlier Saturday in a roadside bombing near Fallujah. The latest deaths raised to 512 the number of American service members who have died since the United States and its allies launched the Iraq (news - web sites) war March 20. Most of the deaths have occurred since President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat May 1.

Khaldiyah and Fallujah are part of the Sunni Triangle, the area in central Iraq where most of the anti-U.S. attacks by die-hard Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists have taken place. The U.S. military says the attacks have reduced in number since Saddam's arrest on Dec. 13.

In the Khaldiyah attack, a four-wheel-drive vehicle drove up to the checkpoint at a bridge and blew up in front of a Humvee that tried to block it, said a witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said there were about 20 soldiers in the vicinity at the time.

A U.S. military spokesman said the attack took place in Khaldiyah, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing three Americans and wounding six other soldiers.

more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack&cid=540&ncid=1480

Not exactly the flower-throwing, dancing in the streets welcome we were told our boys would receive, is it? Not exactly mission accomplished, is it? And why are these young heroes of ours dying again? I'd like George W Bush to answer that question. Wouldn't you?

Again, I am not sending this to instigate argument or cause negative feelings for anyone, but to shine light on the facts, and provoke thought. A terrible wrong has been done, and justice cries out to be served.
----------

[wryter2000]

1. Good for you

You have a lot more patience and tolerance for BS than I do.

I consider my officemate pretty middle-of-the-road. She was all for the war because she thought "they" would attack us again if we didn't do anything. When the Moran-in-Chief finally admitted that he'd never said SH had anything to do with 9/11, she came around. She says, "I guess I should be better informed."

There's a lot of progress taking place out there.

[Gingersnap]

2. bravo!

Your message is worded very considerately and without condescension too, which may account a lot for why they were able to actually think about these issues.

SOme of the religious wingnuts in my family are on to Bush, but unfortunately, because of the abortion issue, will not vote for a democrat. My mother says she will sit out the next election. Her church "told" its 5000 members to vote for Bush last time and I expect will try to influence their decision again this time. Unfortunately, that religion card can be played, and they play it well.

[bluescribbler]

9. If she sits out the election

that will be nearly as good as voting for the Democrat. Let's hope she does so.

[Grins]

11. Her church "told" her to vote for Bush?

"Her church "told" its 5000 members to vote for Bush..."

If that's true, they should lose their tax-exempt status.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. KUDOS!!! and bless you and your dipolmacy and patience...

i also know of many that i communicate with that have seen the light...and are very upset at bush* for his deceptions...keep at it :yourock:

[hobbes159]

4. It is sometimes possible to turn people around...

I've got a woman here at work, a life-long Republican, that I've been talking to for about a year. Just last week she mailed in her voter registration change card to change her enrollment to Democrat, and she has taken the initiative to start winning over members of her own family (her son is also going to be voting Dem this year....)

[MsUnderstood]

5. *Round of Applause*

I Live in a very conservative area and am continually frustrated by the zombies that walk through my life each day. The idea that these guys can change is so hopeful in the land of the dead.

[el_gato]

6. You'll get a kick out of this

Here's a message a friend of mine forwarded to me. It was from
one of the people he argues with about the war:


"I apologize to all you tree huggers who opposed this war and for giving you a hard time about your antiwar views. We were LIED to and this was all about oil just as you tried to tell us it was. I know for a fact you were right because we just had another high alert and we do not have 1,600 daily raids looking for bin-Laden mentioned in a State of the Union Speech we have them in Iraq instead and so this is not about dealing with a terror threat to us here at home or we would have the same number of raids going on in Afghanistan over bin-Laden, but we don't. All our major efforts are in Iraq and we are not offering Billions in no bid contracts to benefit the Afghanis, we do not have a Taliban or Al-Qaeda deck of cards or even Osama bin-Laden on a card to help the pathetic small volume of troops looking for bin-Laden, we have not lost 500 troops or suffered 10,000 wounded over the real threat to us, terrorists, it's all been about Iraq and it has oil, so you were right and I apologize. Our troops are brilliant at what they do though, just on the wrong mission is all in order to protect us here at home."

[loudsue]

7. It really is up to us to do what the press SHOULD be doing...

informing the public.

Yes, it's dangerous. Paul Revere's ride was dangerous. All of the people who fought for our democratic freedoms faced danger. So can DUers with a mission.

The facts are there, and once you lift the veil for people, they can finally see. The evidence is all around them.

The veil of propaganda is always lifted by hard evidence to the contrary.

I can't wait until the masses begin to realize what has happened to our votes, right under our noses. That needs to be the biggest movement of all....to have police protection of our votes, ON PAPER, that WILL ACTUALLY ALL be counted. Once the masses realize we haven't really elected the people stealing our tax dollars, there's going to be a major reckoning. Our so-called elected officials are spending our tax dollars like a bunch of drunken sailors, and it's ultimately making our so-called elected officials and their cronies richer by the minute.

:kick:

[proud patriot]

8. WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO ! ! !

Great ! Thanks :D

[Cat Atomic]

10. It's amazing how long they can hold out though, isn't it?

I mean Jesus- most of us thought their arguments were all obvious bullshit months before the invasion ever began. There's been a constant stream of evidence that discounts their lies. Every week there's been something new.

It's simply stunning to me that human beings can deny reality for so long.

[info being]

12. The thing about changing someone's mind...

is it takes a long time. Sometimes you plant a seed that doesn't grow for months or years.

Explaining a "non-conventional" idea is like giving someone a different lense through which to view things. When the subsequently go out and view the world through that lense, perspective changes.

It happened to me. And when you make those first few breakthroughs, there's no turning back...ESPECIALLY for someone who has previously bought the party line -- for they already understand the indocrtination and will never be fooled by it again.

[reprehensor]

13. Beautiful.

Keep up the good work. They can be reached, if you can get through their thick skulls.

Part of the problem is, they get your email, then they go home and watch CNN, FOX and the rest of the dedidedly UN-liberal media, and therefore need to be de-programmed on a nearly daily basis.

A sustained effort on all fronts is required, but the corporate lap-dog media won't do what they should for the public interest.

[hippyleftist]

14. GREAT POST!!!