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DrZeeLit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:26 AM
Original message
Look what I got in the mail from a "friend." How should I respond?
Does anybody know or have access to information that I might use to reply? This friend is a former teacher/colleague and she has sent this to a zillion teachers, mostly female. I'm not pleased, but I want to respond in an intelligent way, and I'm not familiar with Dr. Sowell -- either his work (although his name rings a bell), his politics, or whether he even writes like this. Is this real? I did a quick look at Wikipedia and saw that Dr. Sowell is endorsed by Clarence Thomas and Rush Limbaugh -- sooooo, bells are a-ringing in my head.

What say you?

Here's the letter:

Thomas Sowell
Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow
The Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford , California 94305


Thomas Sowell is syndicated columnist and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Stanford, California, who wrote this past week in a column titled 'Random Thoughts' and published in newspapers nationally, the following:

'Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

'After long and serious thought, I have decided to endorse Senator John McCain for President. �I have always voted for the person, and have not voted for anyone because some political party was telling me who I should vote for.

'We all know the choices by now and, that said, I do believe that the process of selecting a chief executive is deeply flawed. The words money and special interests come to mind, amongst many others.

'Here's the way I see it:

'Barack Obama, you are a fine public speaker. You are also an extremely liberal Senator from the State of Illinois , which has a long and rich history of political corruption of the first magnitude. You are indeed a child of that system. You have finally insulted my intelligence far beyond my capacity to tolerate your insults. It has nothing at all to do with your skin color. As a matter of fact, it would be so COOL to finally have an African-American for President. What a great statement that would be to the entire world, that we are indeed the greatest country on earth!

'But, unfortunately, General Colin Powell is not running, and YOU are NOT the man for this job !

'Barack baby, you want me to believe that you have never heard the sermons of your own pastor, the Right Reverend 'God Damn America ', Jeremiah Wright. It is a matter of record that this has been your church for over 20 years. It is a matter of record that you were married there by this very pastor, and that your children were baptized there.

'The good reverend saw fit to visit Khadafy in Libya with you, and to give a life-time achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, of all people.

'We have all now seen excerpts of his sermons all over the airwaves by now. And you have publicly stated that this man is your 'spiritual mentor.'

'BUT, your pastor is NOT the reason I am NOT voting for you. His words were disturbing enough, but it is your own HUGE church congregation, seen jumping, hooting, and howling to his words in the background that disturb me the most. And, please don't tell me you attended church there and never once heard a 'discouraging word' in the 20 years you attended there. Don't tell me, that in addition to the good reverend, that you are now not having anything to do with all those other people seen hooting and howling in the audience in the background of his fiery tirades. � Even Oprah Winfrey got disgusted, and walked out on your campaign. I am no Oprah fan, but still she did the right thing.

'Now �you look me in the eye and ask me to believe that you never heard such language in all the years you attended there! This is like my telling you that I attended dozens of Klan rallies and never once heard the 'N' word. Yep. And Bill Clinton 'did not inhale'.

'Yes, Mr. Obama, we all have friends who have said stupid things that embarrassed us, but NOW you have asked me to believe something that is so incredibly stupid that you are telling me that I am just stupid enough to believe you. THAT is the main reason that I will never vote for you. I am deeply sorry, that in a country teeming with enormously talented African-Americans, who would make a good President, that the political system has chosen YOU. You are a pathetic and plastic excuse for an American, who will not even salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. God forbid you ever get near the Oval Office.

'AH YES! This brings us to MRS. WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON. �'MS. Clinton, it is just as depressing to realize that there are dozens of women who would also make great Presidents. But, fortunately, the horrible state of the selection process has selected YOU. I am not voting for you for a world of reasons, but the main one is the same as my not voting for Senator Obama. You persistently insult my intelligence. It COULD be conceivably possible that you did not know about Monica Lewinsky, extremely remote, but possible, if we stretch our imaginations a bit. But you turn around and then ask me to believe that you also did not know about Paula Jones, and the legion of other women who were chewed-up and spit out by your lecherous excuse for a husband. Puleese, turn off this broken record!!!

'But, let's set aside your hubby's flagrant peccadilloes. The real reason I will never vote for you is that I don't think the country can survive EIGHT MORE YEARS of Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Sandy Berger stuffing his socks with classified intelligence, Janet Reno's goon squad, and the myriad other corruptions that seem to stick to you. So, our former President can't keep his thingy in his pants. The REAL issue is that he committed perjury under oath when he lied about it and the pathetically-attempted cover-up that followed.

'Like you, he is totally incapable of telling the truth. He could not do it if you tortured him, and in voting for you, we would get the BOTH of you, all over again. You are the same folks who could have taken out Osama Bin Laden over 4,000-dead- Americans ago!

'And, please stop telling me that you have 'eight years of experience' to lead us. You were the first lady, not the Commander in Chief. Jeez! The sum of your 'experience' is that of the most worrisome and incompetent meddling in the history of the White House. You even cursed your pitiful staff and the Secret Service agents, who were, and still are, unfortunately charged with risking their lives to protect you, all at the expense of other people who have to work for a living.

'Your single pathetic platform is to finance the illegal drugs, alcoholism, and bad habits of the very lowest and most irresponsible free-loaders in America, and to then 'garnish the wages' (your own words) of every law-abiding and hard-working American, to pay for it. This disaster you refer to as 'Universal Health Care.' Where have you been the last thirty years? Did you not see that socialism is a failure wherever it has been tried? Did you not notice that the Soviet Union has collapsed since it gave no reward to those who worked the hardest for the fruits of their own labors to pay for those who will not?

'It is interesting to see all the dead bodies that you and your hubby have left in your wake. Suicides, mysterious deaths, and cover-ups that make Richard Nixon look like a rank amateur. The utter contempt and unbelievable arrogance of some of your strongest supporters, most notably the recently resigned and disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer, the epitome of hypocritical and malevolent arrogance gone wild, one of your most ardent, wealthy and powerful political supporters. A man the news media refuses to admit is �a 'super delegate' in your own political machine, a fine example of your own 'adopted' state of New York . No wonder you moved there to run for Senator!

'Yes, I would vote for a woman; but, I will NOT vote for YOU!

'Which leaves us with Senator John McCain.

'John, you are a flawed man. You are a bit old, a bit looney, and you have a notoriously bad temper. This perfectly qualifies you, in my humble opinion, to lead us for the next eight years. I WANT your trembling hand on the nuclear button. Think about it.

'We have Kim Jong IL, Chavez, and Ahmadenijad all running around like lunatics, threatening America, and threatening to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. We have Putin and the Chinese blustering and rattling their sabres at us. I want John McCain in the Oval Office, and I want him to be really pissed-off at all these other nut-jobs around the planet.

'John, once you are elected, I want you to go into the Oval Office, and throw one of your perfect FITS. Jump up and down and throw something through a plate glass window. Rip the drapes down, and foam at the mouth a bit. And, I want the whole thing on camera so that Ahmadinejad can see it. I want all of these 'world leaders' to lay awake at night, and to break out in a cold sweat every time they think of messing with the United States of America

'I want the nuclear button sitting right next to the alarm clock on your night stand. I want pictures of this to be sent to Iran , Russia , China , Venezuela , Cuba , Libya , Syria , Pakistan , and those other freaks in the sheets, the Saudis. On the domestic front, poor John did try and reach across the aisle to the opposition in a desperate effort to compromise, and to get the Congress to do something. You may not agree with his efforts, but at least he TRIED. For all his efforts, all he got handed to him was his head in a basket. The liberals are pissed at him, and the conservatives are pissed at him. Just my kinda guy.

'I predict that John will select Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Good choice. I want a Jew whose memory of the Holocaust is still fresh in his mind, and who is royally pissed-off at all of these towel-headed morons in the Middle East to be the next in line if something should happen to John. Shalom, Vice President Joe. One heart-beat from the Oval Office.

'Finally: John McCain knows, on a most personal level, what it is to suffer horrible torture for years, and to see others die, right in front of you, for their love of America. When you ask him about it, he will tell you that what he did was 'nothing special.' Even more incredibly, he states that ANY American, who truly loves his country, would do exactly the same as he did in that situation. You and I will have a hard time believing that; but, the real point is that John McCain believes that about the 'average American,' and that, dear friends and neighbors, is why I will cast my one poor ballot on election day for John McCain ----- warts and all.'
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scheming daemons Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:28 AM
Response to Original message
1. Snopes has already debunked this... Sowell didn't write it
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DrZeeLit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:31 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. I checked Snopes the minute I got this. Couldn't find it. Do you have link?
Thanks, that would REALLLLY help.
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scheming daemons Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. Sorry.. I was mistaken.... it was a different writer I was thinking of.....
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mrreowwr_kittty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:57 PM
Response to Reply #1
23. That figures. Sowell is an asshat, but he does write coherently.
No way in hell was this drivel written by a prominent columnist like Sowell.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:28 AM
Response to Original message
2. Send it to the bit bucket and forget about it
Just like any other piece of junk mail.
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QueenOfCalifornia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
3. ...
Edited on Mon Jul-21-08 10:31 AM by Gilligan
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endarkenment Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
5. Why do people propagate this sort of crap here?
What is the point of publishing the rightwingtard hate mail in its entirety? Surely you knew this was total bullshit.
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RNdaSilva Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:44 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. Yep...
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DrZeeLit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:45 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. Whoa... I think you owe me an apology. I am sincerely asking for help.
I don't appreciate your reply or your implications.

I checked on Snopes and I couldn't find anything, so I thought I'd ask for help.

I've got just as much right as anybody else to post.

Now, would somebody find me a reputable source to refute this?
I don't think any academic wrote this.

Please, if you haven't got anything helpful to say, I really don't need anyone taking shots at me.
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endarkenment Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #9
14. Once again: why post the entire piece of crap?
How about "does anyone know anything about a rightwingtard email purportedly from Thomas Sowell that starts..."?

When I see people reposting the entire crapfest here I also see the crapfest originators smiling and thinking "job well done".

You knew it was crap, right? You know the whole point of viral smears is to propagate them as widely as possible and, best of all, to generate tons of google hits, right? Can you not figure out that you were playing right into their game?

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DrZeeLit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. Yeah, or the terrorists win.
Look, I thought somebody could recognize a piece of this from some other document.

If you don't have anything constructive to say, except to rant at me, fine.

Geez.

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World Citizen Donating Member (363 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:44 AM
Response to Original message
8. Since its a proven lie.... Ask you friend...
why she thinks the RW feels the need to lie.
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EstimatedProphet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:53 AM
Response to Original message
10. So if you do want to know about how to handle this, I'd do this:
Email it back to everyone on the list, along with the link that was provided above to debunk it.

Ask why it is that this was written by someone who doesn't have the strength of character to claim responsibility for their own words, but instead use a famous person to spread their opinions - BTW that is an OPINION piece, not a factual one. Make certain that is clear. Then point out that anyone who would do anything like that is either a coward or a liar, and in either case their words cannot possibly be worth shit.
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rox63 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 10:56 AM
Response to Original message
11. All I had to see was Milton Friedman and the Hoover Institute to know it was right-wing BS
I'm not familiar with Sowell at all. But the Hoover Institute is a well-known RW "think-tank".
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elkston Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 11:25 AM
Response to Original message
12. I don't have proof, but I doubt Sewell wrote this.
Sewell is a conservative black guy, and may indeed be backing McCain. But I just don't see him going on that rant about Reverend Wright, and using language like "barack Baby,..."

Sorry, but getting all twisted about Rev. Wright is a white thing.


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DrZeeLit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 11:46 AM
Response to Reply #12
15. Okay, that's how I replied. Thanks for your help. I do appreciate it.
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TahitiNut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 11:37 AM
Response to Original message
13. I just love the penchant of racists to trot out some (fictional) 'black' opposition ...
Edited on Mon Jul-21-08 11:38 AM by TahitiNut
... to a 'black' candidate as some kind of "King's X" to cover their own deeply-entrenched racism. But they're not racists, are they? Oh, no! After all, there's always some 'good black' they'd vote for or agree with ... because they know their place, of course.

Same ol' same ol' ... just raise the specter of the scary black man, Farrakhan, or that furriner Kaddahfi and it sounds so erudite and balanced. (To other inmates of Bigotville.)

:puke: :puke: :puke:

With "friends" like that, who needs enemas?

:eyes:
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bunkerbuster1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:52 PM
Response to Reply #13
22. Yeah. & much as I dislike Sowell, he'd never write anything as trashy as this.
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sourmilk Donating Member (512 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:04 PM
Response to Original message
17. Sowell is a racist fuckwit...
who opposes EVERY bit of Progressive legislation tabled ON PRINCIPLE, rather than on the merits of the legislation. It's very good that no one has ever attempted to elect HIM for ANYTHING.

He believes that social programs are discriminatory, which harm minorites they are designed to help and that immigrant communities are 100% responsible for their own poverty.

This sentence from the letter should give you a clue:

"I predict that John will select Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Good choice. I want a Jew whose memory of the Holocaust is still fresh in his mind, and who is royally pissed-off at all of these towel-headed morons in the Middle East to be the next in line if something should happen to John. Shalom, Vice President Joe. One heart-beat from the Oval Office."
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Cronus Protagonist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
18. No worries - it's FAR too long to read and therefore its impact will be ZERO
I didn't read past the first paragraph.

:P
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Arugula Latte Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:08 PM
Response to Original message
19. Whatever you respond, please hit "reply all"
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LWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:42 PM
Response to Original message
20. I would mark it as junk, and not reply.
Sowell is a columnist. A right-wing columnist, allowing the conservative right to pat themselves on the back for agreeing with a black man.
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hatrack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 12:45 PM
Response to Original message
21. Here's the response I favor for these kinds of messages:
"Don't ever send me any more of this shit again."

"Ever."
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MonteLukast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 01:01 PM
Response to Original message
24. Hoover Institution: all you need to know...
Edited on Mon Jul-21-08 01:02 PM by MonteLukast
... that the author's a right-winger.

Victor Davis Hanson is also a member of the Hoover Institution.

Never could figure out why they still look up to the career and policies of a man whose Great Depression hurt the conservatives, too.
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Efilroft Sul Donating Member (827 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
25. Ask your friend where he found it.
Tell him you couldn't find it in "The Onion's" archives.
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roseBudd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-21-08 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
26. One question. Did Sowell vote for George W. Bush? If so advice not taken.
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