CALL TO ACTION: We've got to spin the ObL tape OURSELVES...

[regnaD kciN]

Bush and his henchmen, both on the campaign and in the media, will be spinning it big time as "you must re-elect the President now, or the terrorists have won."

If we let the notion that this tape is "Osama endorsing Kerry," we're dead.

BUT...Kerry himself can't do it. Any mentions of Bush's failure to apprehend ObL will be viewed as "disloyalty at a time when we may be under attack again." If Kerry attacks Bush over this, we lose. If we fail to attack Bush over this, we lose.

In other words, we have to hit back. Not Kerry, but US. We are the only ones who can do it.

I draw your attention to http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1220715. We all need to be sending letters to our local daily newspapers -- especially if we live in one of the swing states. Considering the massive Republican control of the electronic media and print pundit realm, the only voice we are going to have is through letters to the editor -- and, since it's undoubtedly too late for Saturday's edition, we must get them in so they run on Sunday or Monday. That means e-mailing them is the only option.

Write a letter, in your own words, pointing out that Bush let Osama walk away from Tora Bora, and later professed to be "not that concerned" about him, while concentrating on Saddam. Make it clear that, if ObL is alive, well, and threatening the U.S. today, it's because Bush allowed it to happen. (Some of you -- not all -- may wish to bring this up as the "October Surprise.") Then e-mail that letter to every daily paper near to you. (As an example, I live in Seattle; I'm going to send it, not only to the Seattle Times and Post-Intelligencer, but also the Tacoma News-Tribune, the Everett Herald, the Eastside Journal, the South County Journal, the Bremerton Sun, and the Olympian from, well, Olympia.)

Everyone needs to send such a letter. A paper might not want to run one such letter, but, if they get ten or twenty of them, each clearly different from the other, they'll likely let one or more through.

You can bet the Repugs are already exhorting their followers to flood the media with similar letters claiming that the ObL tape "proves" that we have no alternative but to re-elect Bush. If we don't answer in kind, that's going to be the message those on the fence take away from today's events. If we want to have any hope of stopping the Bush regime, we must do our part to turn public perception around. I'm about to start my letter(s) now. Who will join me?

:bounce:

[Brundle_Fly]

1. Exactly

more inspiration.

My pen is out and paper is ready!

[Carolab]

2. I mass e-mailed a shitload of news organizations

But I guess I can send local letters to my top two papers

[regnaD kciN]

4. Could you provide some links, please?

We need to send them there as well.

[kevin881]

3. I emailed 45 news orgs.

Including:
Brokaw
Rather
Wolf
Dobbs
Zahn
Novak (lol)
Carlson (lol)
Begala
Reagan
...etc.

[bettyellen]

5. WILL DO !!

[regnaD kciN]

6. FWIW, here' s my letter...

...but please don't copy it wholesale! If all the letters sound alike, we'll get discredited or ignored. Use your own way of expressing yourself; that's always the best.

Three years ago, the U.S. had a chance to finish off Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora. President Bush, inexplicably, decided to hand the job over to Afghan warlords instead of sending in U.S. troops. Then, after Osama got away scot-free, the President, who had earlier vowed to get bin Laden "dead or alive," suddenly decided he was "not all that concerned" about whether or not Osama was captured.

Now, we see the results of Bush's approach -- Osama bin Laden, alive and well, taunting our nation and threatening future attacks. If the President is "not all that concerned" about whether or not we have Osama to deal with, I certainly am!

If we suffer another day of horror, another 9/11, the responsibility for it will lie directly at the door of President Bush, who could have taken care of the monster Osama once and for all, and wilfully failed to finish the job.

[ciaobox]

15. You need to tie it to the weapons...

To compound the issue, as a direct result of Bush's botched invasion of Iraq, now 380 tons of high explosives are in the hands of terrorists --- possibly in the hands of OBL himself.

[UCLA Dem]

7. just emailed every major news outlet I can think of!!!

:kick:



Let's go DU!!!!

[regnaD kciN]

10. Once again...PLEASE post e-mail links to national orgs!

That way, the rest of us can send our letters to them as well.

[Tamyrlin79]

8. Umm. Please.

Kerry needs to hit back on this as much as anybody. Bush and Co. WANT Kerry to shut up and stop criticizing him. Kerry has gotten where he is over the last month by taking it to Bush. He's not gonna improve by going all mishy mashy now, at the very moment he needs to be hammering his message home.

[regnaD kciN]

9. Yes and no

Kerry does need to not back down because of this, but he's walking a very thin line here -- if he goes too hard after Bush on this, he will be portrayed as at least cynically using "the man who attacked America" for political gain instead of "standing united in the face of a threat to us all," or at worst "siding with bin Laden against the President." It's B.S., of course, but there are at least a significant number of undecideds who may react this way. Why have Kerry risk alienating them just before the election, when we can raise the point ourselves? Supporters of a candidate are allowed some leeway in going overboard, taking a more partisan approach, without it affecting the candidate him- or herself. Let's make sure that the message gets out without Kerry getting hurt by it.

[regnaD kciN]

11. So far, we've got CA, NY, and WA...we need the swing states!

We need this to be joined by members in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado...COME ON, DUers!!!



:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[AnIndependentTexan]

12. Print these and put them up everywhere

Print these and hand them out everywhere. We can help Kerry on this.



Go to http://somnamblst.tripod.com to download high resolution TIF or PDF file to print.

[nhc1978]

13. Freeper Poll Rumor

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1262368/posts?page=18
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp

Free Republic rumor that tomorrow's Zogby poll shows Kerry +1, a +1 gain for Kerry from yesterday. Backed up by the National Review website.

This is a three-day tracking poll, and it reflects the drop-off of 10/27, which was a very strong day (+5) for Kerry. So last night (Friday night) must have been fairly good for Kerry, despite the cable tv spin about the OBL video.

Tremendous if it is true, because polls drive coverage. Nothing will shut up the "experts" like a poll tracking toward Kerry.

We'll see if this is true... but I am feeling much better right now.

[regnaD kciN]

16. That doesn't compute...

This is a three-day tracking poll, and it reflects the drop-off of 10/27, which was a very strong day (+5) for Kerry. So last night (Friday night) must have been fairly good for Kerry, despite the cable tv spin about the OBL video.

First of all, I think Zogby has gone to a four-day tracking poll for the final week, not a three-day one.

Even if it is a three-day poll, though, it wouldn't drop off 10/27. The poll results released Saturday the 30th would include:

Friday 10/29
Thursday 10/28
Wednesday 10/27

What you can draw from the tracking poll, since Kerry will have gone from even to +1, is that 10/29 must have been better for him than the day that dropped off (10/26 or 10/25, depending on the number of days included in the poll). While that certainly would be good news, keep in mind that much of the Friday polling took place before the ObL tape was released, or at least before many pollees had a chance to hear of it from the nightly news. A truer picture of the tape's initial impact would come from the results taken today (Saturday), when most people being polled would have heard about it.

Of course, all this is based on a freeper rumor being true...and how many times have we all seen that not be the case?

[nhc1978]

17. poll

Well.. no comment on the Freeper rumor. Although the National Review is marginally more reliable.

I meant to say the results reported on the morning of 10/27. So the night of 10/26.

What time do they take polls at? I thought it was dinner time and early evening (6-10pm).

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=909

[ciaobox]

14. Looking for feedback on my chart right now

This is very rough. Sunday I will make it prettier and 3D

[JohnnyCougar]

18. God damn it!!!

I started a thread like this 8 hours ago, and I got more flames than positive replies!!! The thread sunk like a stone!!

Yes!!! I agree!!! Can it possibly hurt to do this?!? The more the people speak up, the more pressure the media has to be honest!!!

I have already written LTTE to two papers. Hopefully they can print them before election day!

[VOX]

19. I did the same thing, Johnny! Had to self-kick to keep my own thread aloft

Even then, it soon died a quick death this afternoon.

Thanks for the LTTEs; I agree, they can't hurt -- only help.

Best to you -- :toast: