itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 09:53 PM
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If you are good at letter writing...please help... |
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A few of us are interested in starting a massive letter writing campaign to reply to the wild lies that the media is allowing their newscasters and pundits to spout.
Skinner has referred us to a huge media contact list in the Research Forum and he okays the letter writing campaign idea.
What would help immensely would be for a few folks who are good at writing such letters to compose same that express our displeasure at being called anti-semitic and all the other lies that are being bandied about.
We will post these letters so that DUers can copy, cut and paste them onto email forms and send them to the offending stations.
If you are willing to help, please let us know.
I understand that the Republicans have over 6000 letter writers that can be counted on to contact the media and complain about any story they disagree with. We MUST begin to do the same, especially since it appears that none of our Democratic legislators are going to step up to the plate and refute these lies and defend us...their constituents.
We must either help ourselves or else just stop complaining to each other.
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AX10
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Wed Aug-09-06 09:55 PM
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liberalhistorian
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Wed Aug-09-06 09:55 PM
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greatest strengths, especially writing of the type you're describing. I'd be glad to help, just let me know.
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itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 10:56 PM
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7. Thanks LH, we need to focus right now on these ridiculous charges |
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of anti-semitism as relates to voting for Lamont over Lieberman.
I think a short letter that points out that Lieberman's race/nationality/religion had nothing to do with our support of his opponent and then you could mention the reasons, war and others, that caused us to lose faith in him as a Democratic leader.
Our next step will be to post your letter along with some selected email addys and ask our fellow DUers to cut and paste and email same.
Of course those who wish can write original letters as well.
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MannyGoldstein
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Wed Aug-09-06 09:59 PM
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3. What Were You Planning On Saying? |
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Can you supply us with the gist of your intended letter?
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itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:12 PM
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8. Manny, I am hoping that we can address some of the lies that |
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the news media is bandying about with such enthusiasm. If we don't respond now, they will ride their lying horse to death. This crap will grow and grow unless we put a stop to it and the only way we can bring this to a dead halt is by sheer numbers.
The anti-semitism charge is a dangerous and blatant lie. I doubt that less that one-tenth of one percent of the CT voters considered Mr. Lieberman's race/nationality/religion when they chose to vote for Lamont. Otherwise he would never have been elected in the first place. So we need to point out our reasons for supporting his opponent...as many examples as possible. We have to point our ALL the reasons that we stopped supporting him.
Another topic that needs to be addressed is this name-calling..."one writer in the NY Daily News who is also a frequent guest on one of the Sunday talk shows, Michael Goodwin, constantly refers to the left wing of the Dems as "whacko wingnuts." Think of some of the other names we are called and perhaps define what you believe to be moderate Dems and Leftist Dems. I think we have to force them to accept OUR definitions of what we are and not their made up terms for us.
The letters should be as short and to the point as you can make them.
I went to www.mediamatters.org and got some great tips. You might want to check them out.
When you finish the letter(s) we will post them here with selected email addys and ask DUers to cut, paste sign and email them.
I thank you sincerely for your interest in helping with this project.
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stillcool
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Wed Aug-09-06 09:59 PM
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4. now there's something I can do.... |
itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:25 PM
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11. Hi stillcool47...please check my responses upthread for possible |
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letter ideas.
Also, I think we could use a letter that complains about these newsprograms that never book Democratic guests who can express ideas with conviction as opposed to those who seem to be apologists for our liberal viewpoints.
Thanks so much for being willing to help..........
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Hailtothechimp
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Wed Aug-09-06 10:05 PM
Response to Original message |
5. Just let me know what you need... |
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I stand ready to help (how's that for Cheneyspeak?).
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itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:33 PM
Response to Reply #5 |
14. I think I prefer HailtotheChimpspeak... |
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:)
I posted some possible letter ideas upthread in several different responses, so now I would ask if you would check those out and chose a couple that interest you.
We need the letters to be written in such a fashion as to be able to send them to several media outlets at one time if necessary.
Of course letters that refer to a particular show or host would not be as generic.
Thanks so much for being willing to help.
Once you get the letter(s) written we will post them and ask DUers to copy and email them to select media. The email addys are in the Research Forum.
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Chichiri
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Wed Aug-09-06 10:42 PM
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6. Please cite your source for the 6,000 GOP letter writers |
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Your post is otherwise uninteresting, but that little factoid makes sense given my background knowledge, and if it were confirmed, I would indeed be inspired to take an extra step. As it is, I'm content writing LTTEs to my local paper to counter our most prominent liberal-hater....
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itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:20 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
9. You know, I want to be very honest with you...I read this in one of |
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the many newsletters that I get and I don't really remember just where. I save some of them and if I get the chance in the next day or so, i will try to find it. If that statement is a problem for you, then please just consider joining us and helping out even if the Republicans only have five letter writers. At this point, we have to do SOMETHING.
But anyway, thanks for the letter writing you are already doing. It is certainly valuable as I am sure that you already know.
Our point is to get some activity going among the frustrated folks who complain to each other. We need to complain to the folks that are frustrating us.
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Nikki Stone 1
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:26 PM
Response to Reply #9 |
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--The anti-semitism issue --Lamont's victory is not just about the war, it's a desire for change in leadership and direction
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itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:35 PM
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16. Yes, very important to make the distinction...nt |
w8liftinglady
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:22 PM
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10. I love writing letters..have 50+ published.. |
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where will we do the most good?
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Nikki Stone 1
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:28 PM
Response to Reply #10 |
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If you could write a template, I'd be happy to send a whole bunch of letters/emails.
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w8liftinglady
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:34 PM
Response to Reply #13 |
15. mine are all in Texas....they need edumacation in my state |
itzamirakul
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:42 PM
Response to Reply #10 |
17. I agree with Nikki, that IS incredible! If you look at my |
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responses upthread, I have listed the points that I think we should address on this go-round. We have to put an end to the GOP spin that equates Democrats with anti-semitism because they did not vote for Lieberman.
Also, we need to address thefact that the media allows the RW to define us. We need some letters that define us - b y our own standards - not theirs...
Finally, I would love to see something address the fact that Ann Coulter who spews hate like diarrhea from the mouth, is accepted as a guest on the major networks and cable stations. We should raise such hell about this that they stop booking her.
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Nikki Stone 1
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:45 PM
Response to Reply #17 |
18. As much as I hate hell's daughter, I don't think we should get |
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sidetracked with the Coultergeist.
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itzamirakul
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Thu Aug-10-06 12:07 AM
Response to Reply #18 |
20. You are right...we need to focus on one major idea at a time... |
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There is always time to get her banned from the airwaves.............
Thanks for the input Nikki....i need all the help and suggestions you can give.........
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Nikki Stone 1
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Thu Aug-10-06 12:14 AM
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21. I am trying to put together a letter |
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but I'm having a hard time figuring how to direct it.
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itzamirakul
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Thu Aug-10-06 12:38 AM
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23. Maybe try making it personal to yourself...like....Dear Sirs.... |
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I could not help but notice how biased the news reports coming from station XZSD are becoming. I am especially concerned about_________________
Like how these biased, name calling shows affect you personally.
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Justice Is Comin
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Wed Aug-09-06 11:59 PM
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19. Anything that gets the factual word out is great. |
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But duplicate letters to a media outlet will be obvious in it's motivation. Almost like a petition, but appearing to not realize duplicate letters would obviously show a motive. In other words, like freeping a poll.
Wouldn't it be better to have the letters flooding thousands and thousands of newspapers, but coordinated so that they receive only one on each given topic?
It only takes one LTTE to get noticed to have it published and that's the best result we could ask for. More of the same letters would have a diminishing effect.
In other words, highly coordinate it so that we know where the letters are going. And make it in massive numbers. We could all participate so the email addresses will be shown to be emanating from different people. Letters to the editor from us could be showing up in papers all over the country.
That's my opinion anyway. The general premise could be very effective with the best letter writings composing the letters, increasing the chances for publication.
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itzamirakul
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Thu Aug-10-06 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #19 |
22. Justice, I really appreciate your input and it all makes real good |
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sense. I don't think that I am coordinated enough to deal with thousands of papers across the country, but the following was what I thought originally:
I thought we would offer DUers a sample letter so that those who would not take the time to write an original letter, would merely have to copy and email the sample, thus taking part. But I was hoping that some folks would alter the sample or write original letters also. I thought we could provide some select email addys along with the letter to make it easy to participate. Those who are more interested can go to the media contact list in the research forum and get additional addys to mail letters to. We have at least 12 people who have agreed to write letters that can be used as samples.
Like you, we want to hit the media with a massive flood of mail, in numbers so great that it MUST be acknowledged. I have never done anything like this before so I am feeling my way as we go. But I had to do SOMETHING when I realized that the GOP was going to paint our entire party as being anti-semitic.
And if we don't hit back hard and NOW they will ride that lying horse to death all the way to 2008! I can no longer spend hours at DU complaining to my fellow Dems and taking no action to make a change. And it must be quite obvious by now that none of our legislators is going to step forward and defend the Democratic voters with any conviction.
This is not an one person project, it is an ALL OF US project and we welcome all the help we can get. In fact, I am willing to step back and let someone else who knows how to do this take the lead and I will work for them in any capacity in which I can be of service. Justice, if you can help in any way, please do.
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Justice Is Comin
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Thu Aug-10-06 01:19 AM
Response to Reply #22 |
25. The thoughts that first come to me |
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is that it wouldn't be t-haat difficult to coordinate through here. A forum could be set up and researched for the names of newspapers in towns with populations exceeding say at least 100,000.
As each identified target paper is mailed, that could be marked off on our site to avoid a duplicate. And so that the same email address doesn't show up on any of the topic letters.
The best idea in your endeavor is that well written impact letters is all that would be sent. That also means that the letter writers would be losing credit for their letter if someone else mailed or emailed it. That means credit won't be given where it should. But I don't think the members on here are of that egotistical mentality and would help anyway they could to aide the cause.
My last food for thought is, will any of this have a work versus reward value? It's a superhuman effort to get 100 people on here involved in anything. Take a look at any of the proposed projects prior. They die within days. That is probably the single biggest thing working against your proposal.
I don't know what inspiration it finally takes to circle the wagons.
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itzamirakul
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Thu Aug-10-06 06:20 AM
Response to Reply #25 |
26. The points that you mention did occur to me, but I think there |
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may be enough frustrated Democrats who are disgusted enough with watching our leadership do and say absolutely nothing in response to these unnecessarily nasty to take part in such a campaign.
If you go to the Research Forum, the Administrators already have an excellent, extremely comprehensive list of such local media outlets as you describe.
We are asking for letters that can be used as samples without crediting the original writer. I think that a few DUers will be willing to do this. Then, the senders can email them to selected addys.
Work versus reward value? I guess it just means the satisfaction of knowing that one has at least DONE SOMETHING rather than just sitting on one's hands. I take heart from the number of people who jump to the opportunity of DUing polls and hope that same mentality will occur with a letter writing campaign.
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Sapphire Blue
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Thu Aug-10-06 12:51 AM
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24. You might find some ideas here: |
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Lamont Wins - Tell the Real Story / Triumph Of The New Moral Center (CAF): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1865940Lamont: A Triumph of the New Moral Center - Write a letter to the editor to your local news outlets: http://capwiz.com/ourfuture/issues/alert/?alertid=8963971
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itzamirakul
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Thu Aug-10-06 07:20 AM
Response to Reply #24 |
28. That is really a great site! I hope that more DUers take note of |
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the information that they provide. Thanks for sharing.
The Talking points are excellent starting places for letter writing. I'm going to try a few short letters using them.
Will you be writing any letters that you would be willing to allow fellow DUers to copy and email? (I sure hope so! :) )
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Lochloosa
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Thu Aug-10-06 06:54 AM
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27. Count me in....great idea. |
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