Dear Republicans, Welcome Back to America (this is your last chance)

So, with the immigration bill and Bush's plan, you now have fully felt the betrayal of your own party leadership. You've placed your trust along with your votes that those in power will represent your beliefs and ideology. The difference between you and me is that you had fully placed your trust in your party leadership. America has been waiting a long time for you to wake up. This is your last chance. You won't get another opportunity to separate yourself from the Traitors who are in control of our country. You must choose now to either redeem yourself and come back to stand WITH America or remain complicit in the TREASON being committed by the Republican Party in power. You get this one last chance because Democrats are understanding. Yes, it's true, we do want to understand those who oppose us. With understanding, comes intelligence and information that is actionable in resolving conflict. So I will show you a little understanding now. It must have been hard for you initially to see the truths revealed that gave you pause. At first, things were excusable since, like us, you did not have direct access to the actual data.

For example, it must have nagged at you a little to discover that there were no WMDs and that the intel that took us to war was false. "No worry," you thought, "Saddam sent the WMDs to Syria and the intel gathering was a 'mistake'" Hell, with that kind of denial, you could go back to sleeping at night. But later on, you'd wonder why in the hell we weren't going after those WMDs in Syria and why, with all the great satellite imagery, down to the inches, the very same technology that led America to believe the WMDs were in Iraq, how we could have missed them moving the weapons to Syria (or anywhere else for that matter)? But, it didn't matter after all, our boys were over there and we had to keep them over there in order to make sure their sacrifices meant something (even if it meant more sacrifice). Little did you realize that your trust would eventually fade as pale as the sun-bleached yellow on the magnet ribbon on the back of your SUV. With the release of the Downing Street Minutes, internal White House memos and the fact that we were painting U2 Warplanes as UN planes and flying them over Iraq to goad them into war, you now realize that our boys are over there fighting a war that was instigated by the Traitors in Office in order to channel billions of taxpayer money into war profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater and drive the price of oil up nearly double before the war, yielding oil companies profits that have never been seen before by ANY CORPORATIONS IN THE WORLD.

When the discovery was made that American Soldiers were ignoring the Geneva Convention, you were extremely upset. But you were told this was the result of a few bad apples. The guilty were relieved of duty and prosecuted. End of story. That is, until it was revealed that Rumsfeld issued the torturing himself and A.G. Gonzalez made the legal case for subverting the Geneva Convention. What a disgrace... leaders in your parties grand administration excusing and authorizing TORTURE. Well, you considered, if it meant that a few soldiers lives were saved as a result, perhaps, in some strange way, in the 'post-911' world, it was justified. But then you found out that the torture was not being used to gather intel, but rather be used as an attempt to demoralize the population, and that children were being tortured in front of their parents. I'm sure you thought, "there must be a good reason for this, isn't there?", but by now your trust was being pushed to the limit.

But then there was the Corruption scandals sweeping through the Republican Lawmakers. "Well," you considered, "ALL Politician's are corrupt, aren't they?" But after searching for scandals involving Democratic politicians, you came up short and were left with a HUGE list of Republicans on the indictment wall of shame. It got worse when you found out that Abramoff only gave money to Republicans and that he could end up taking out nearly 40 Republican lawmakers. Now you started getting a little hot under the collar.

And that anger wasn't relieved at all when Libby was indicted for obstructing federal investigators and perjuring himself in front of the Grand Jury. U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald's case seems air-tight, and it appears he may even get to the bottom of who leaked critical Secrets. When you found out there was an organized effort to discredit a dissenter and that a crucial covert operation was sacrificed to do so (one that was covering the Nuclear Program in Iran), you may have realized that the Administration was ruthless in quieting those who opposed them. But I'm guessing you didn't make the connection that "those who opposed them" really translates into "those who would reveal the truth about their actions." After all, they've destroyed whistle-blower protections and destroyed the military careers of those Generals who have tried to speak out. Perhaps you had an inkling of the truth when more than 6 retired Generals, CONSERVATIVES, who served under Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton and/or Bush Jr., all came out to speak the truth that needed to be heard. You *must* have thought, "Why would these Generals seek to betray America?"

Perhaps you were rising from your slumber when Katrina hit and the National Guard was unable to respond and FEMA (now under the Dept. of Homeland Security, one of the heaviest funded non-DoD gov't organizations in the history of the U.S.) failed to respond to those citizens in need. Thousands of poor, sick and elderly, who were unable to evacuate, perished because your party leadership chose cronyism over competency (remember what the administration does to those who don't proclaim blind loyalty). Perhaps if we weren't breaking the back of the National Guard in Iraq, they could have responded... perhaps if Bush could take a little criticism, he would have put someone competent in charge of FEMA. After all, FEMA has been one of the most successful gov't run rescue organizations in the world. They responded to the Oklahoma City bombing, the first world Trade Center bombing, Hurricane Andrew ('92), and many more natural disasters throughout the history of the U.S. And of course, what if, just what if, Katrina had been a terrorist attack, perhaps a dirty bomb going off in a Major City with absolutely NO WARNING? Many Republicans chose to distance themselves after Katrina. You should have. But there is still time for you, and still a little understanding.

After all, even if Katrina was handled badly, you still had faith that the Republicans in power knew what they were doing when it came to defense. Your reasoning being that a Hurricane doesn't compare to a terrorist attack, and so far the Bush admin has prevented further terrorist attacks. Well, except for the Anthrax stuff. Oh and the D.C.Sniper. Oh, and the Shoe-bomber (thank goodness for those fast-acting passengers). But when Bush tried to sneak past handing the control of our Ports over to the UAE, a sudden realization hit you. You thought, "How could Bush be trying to protect us from the terrorist if he's willing to give over our ports to them?" After no response from the administration other than he-said/she-said and finger-pointing, you realized, ok, maybe we're not so safe with Bush in power. After all what has Bush done to protect our borders? And then the whole immigration issue heated up right after that. Finally, Bush and the Republicans in power had a chance to redeem themselves and show the world that they are tough on defense and tough on the illegal immigrants who are slowly invading our country. And this is where the final betrayal of your own party has brought us.

You see, the Republicans in power don't have the best interest of Americans in mind. They have one thing and one thing only: Greed for Money and Power. Everything stems from that. Every action committed by this administration and this party can be traced back to this fundamental lesson of morality: GREED IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.

Now is your chance to stand with the rest of America and fight to take our Country back. I'm truly sorry that your party is responsible. I understand your pain and frustration. I've been living it for a long time now. Won't you join us?

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :toast:

Are you sure we should welcome them back to America, after they've f'd it up so completely. Ignorance is no excuse in my book. Prolonged ignorance is downright dangerous.

You wouldn't have Bush at 29% if there weren't some republicans who were waking up.

We need as many as possible to help make a positive change in the Country. Democrats can't do it alone.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

...after all their enablings of the lies, the smears, the electoral frauds, the unecessary waste of the troops' lives and limbs, the shameful patterns of governing a la Enron, the endless looting of the treasury, the rampant corruption, the lawless unitary executive, and on, and on, and on, they better remember who did and do all that criminal s**t this time.

Why is it that it's always the victims who have to accept the exuses of the (former idiot) abusers, and have to forgive them? :grr:

As predicted, Repubs are only turning now because they're feeling pinched in the wallet and are worried about their own privacy. Once again, they're acting only out of self-interest.

These are the same people who called us traitors and to this day believe Bush** was right to invade Iraq, authorize the torture of detainees, and cut social programs to "free loaders". They want to legislate women back into the stone age and they applaud the rise of a US theocracy.

They don't give a DAMN about anyone's rights but their own. They didn't start whining until Bush** made it personal.

The can all take a flying f***.

who R "turning," because the Republicans who R "turning" have just awaken from the lies they wrongly took for "truths" and they must be informed about the minority of extremi$t$ who highjacked the republican party and the country, not turned away (we will need their help to repair the damages done and restore true Democracy in America, IMHO). Don't turn them away. Let's educate them. They R listening: http://www.dnc.org/agenda.html


On Edit: Sorry. I still can't type correctly.

Sincerely I do. But I no longer have the stomach for them. They wanted to make us the enemy, well they've got one in me.

same as you do. But I also want to help "educate" the ones who have been duped by the criminal (but powerful AND hypocrit) neocon$.

(Most of) the ones who are "turning" (or have "turned" already) could learn a lot from true progressives, instead of from Faux News...

Maybe if we put the effort, they won't get fooled again? What have we got to lose? What have we got to win if we try? America? Why not?

Five months to "educate" them. Everybody's free to do it or not to do it. I say let's do it.


Edit: Same as the above. Sorry.

But I see it as a lost cause. Anyone who enabled or supported the catastrophic damage Bush** has done to this country in the last five years has a fundamentally flawed idea of what America and being American is about.

I'm not talking about the difference between conservative and liberal here -- I mean that approximately 50% of the voting public doesn't care about anything except their own issues. They'd elect Satan if he promised them guns, 'under God' stays in the Pledge, lower taxes, and that their little worlds will be safe from the big bad terrorists (no matter what is lost in return). Don't think they'd elect another Bush**? Read Doug McIntyre's 'apology'. They're disappointed in Bush**. They still don't get the seriousness of all he's done. They think it's a lark. "Tut tut. We'll have to elect a REAL conservative next time", they say.

The rest doesn't matter to them. Who cares what the Constitution and the Bill of Rights really mean apart from their historical value? You might as well ask their opinion on String Theory. What difference does it make if an administration lies us into a war, drills holes in the rule of law with hundreds of signing statements, fudges on economic reports, and curbs dissent...just to name a few examples? They'll want to know how it effects THEM. And you know they'll have already prepared their argument to justify their disinterest in your response.

Here's a quote that sums up these people for me:

"Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world...few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds -- justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can't go on. To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind."

There's only so long a person can be excused for a fool before it becomes painfully obvious they're a willing fool. That elevates them from simple morans to a serious and ongoing threat IMHO.

Of course, this is all my opinion. I've just seen too many of these people wandering around loose recently to expect that a simple intervention will save them, or us from them.

But I don't begrudge anyone else who wants to try. I'd dearly love to be proved wrong.

I'm not talking about them. I think (or hope) these retards will stay home in five months, instead of bother to vote for the rubber stamps on their side. Again, I am not talking about them. They R a lost cause. I know that.

The ones the OP was about (and mine as well) are those who voted perhaps for the first time in 2000 and then in 02 and again in 04, who still believed at the time in the GOP's lies and tricks, but these ones feel they have been betrayed since Jan. 04 now, or since when the chimp started catapulting the BS SS propaganda, as President Kerry warned them about the upcomming 'Bu$h's January Surprise' and was immediately smeared for saying so. Then they saw what happened to the Gulf States in that terrible disaster, when the incompetent little king George went to eat cake and party while the disaster was raging, and then the tape of **'s lazy a$$ being warned about the upcoming tragedy, and not asking a single question, like he didn't give a rat'$ a**. Then all the despicable scandals that happened almost day after day, day after day, and non-stop since, not to mention Libby's indictement and the illegal and amoral eavesdropping.

Those R the ones we're talking about. Maybe there's a small chance they'll try to learn from their mistakes... and perhaps they want to help restore a true Democracy in this country.

I guess we just see them differently. You see them as waking up, opening their eyes and going, "My GOD! What have we done!" I see them as being rudely awakened and snarling, "Dammit, can't these bastards do anything right?"

It's a subtle difference, I'll grant you. One implies enlightenment and the urgent desire to fix what's been broken. The other, irritation at the growing awareness that their man reflects badly on them.

I have a sticker on my car that I hope some are noting and acting on out of curiosity. It says "Google PNAC". That is the essence of the calamity for me. PNAC. It all originates there. If people go to that site and really look through it -- if they have an ounce of all that has ever been right about America in them -- the result should be something between a dead faint and apoplectic rage.

And yet, a majority of the Dems on the Hill don't have a grasp of the severity of the matter. If even they don't understand (or in some cases don't care to acknowledge) that we're in the midst of a Constitutional crisis because of the neocons, there's no way a significant number of Repubs on the ground will even bat an eyelash.

For crying out loud, these people liked Bush** well enough the first four years to bring the margin of error in '04 close enough for the GOP to steal it! And the partying and dismissiveness went on for most of last year, up till Katrina.

Don't you see, they want to believe the lies. They want to excuse the corruption and the undemocratic process BushCo is engaged in. Still, to this day. Don't think for a moment that if Bush** pulled an ace out of his a$$ tomorrow that Repubs everywhere wouldn't perk right up and bless him as their savior again. After all, no matter what a Republican does, it's never as bad as when a Democrat does it!

No, I'm afraid I despair of them. They're beyond help. They're millions of Golems to the ring of Republican power. You reach out to them if you wish. But I'd wear thick gloves if I were you.

...'The Vampire Lestat' by Anne Rice.

They get no pass from me.
They better start asking for forgiveness. It is time for republicans to step up and demand impeachment, until they do no healing can start here with me.

The main problem is that these people WANTED to believe in the jingoism and racism of this administration. They believe in the black 'welfare queen' because they want to. They believe that the US owns every other country on Earth, and Americans are inherently better than everyone else on Earth, because they like the feeling it gives them. These people are racist by nature and elitist to the core-even the anti-elitist among them still get their rocks off when they get to slam someone.

So we're going to welcome them back to the fold? Won't work. The best we can expect from them is that they will say 'Bush and his gang were criminals, but the fundamental principles of trickle-down economics will still assure our inherent role of superiority in the world' or some other such crap. They WANT to believe that. It threatens them not to believe that. They will go out of their way to believe that Reagan was an emissary straight from God to make America strongly white again, even if Bush finally crashes and burns. And they will never wake up to the fact that the road they insist the nation walks down leads directly to an end in a burning bunker with a pistol barrel in their mouths. It's the path that goes there, not the President being corrupt that put us there, but they don't want to see that and they will do everything they can to repeat the mistakes we have been through the last 5 years.

Recommending the thread anyway though. Good discussion!

And the Democrats are giving them too much attention. These people will just wait for a new and improved Republican Father Fuhrer Figure.

If the Dem party wants to actually attract the LARGER percentage of eligible voters, they'll start talking about things like national health care, and ending the IWreck War.

If they don't, they're screwed.

Maybe I'm losing my faith in my fellow citizens, but I sometimes think this country is populated by self-absorbed shitheels.

Excellent job! I am often relieved to see DUers doing an excellent job to save our country. I have read DU for a long time and decided now to post. I am permanent resident only, so I cannot vote off this government destroying this country step by step if the American people are not waking up soon. Only place I can make a difference is arguing with my repuk friends and try to help other to open their eyes. Thanks again for this site.

Indeed, they must know by now the extent of the deception?

Or about DUrs vs freepers, or progressives vs pugs, left vs right, blue vs red, dems vs pugs. The real battle of the last six years (at least) has been all of us (including freeps and pugs) against those in power in this administration (officials and corporatists). The freeps just haven't realized it yet.

What has allowed the administration to keep their base in line is an incredibly effective, sad, and deliberate focus on polarization, confusion, lies, and smearing. They have lied to their own for years in order to keep them isolated.

I fear that, although some may cross over to vote and some may stay home instead of voting, most will look for any excuse to remain in what they've come to accept as the "right" camp. Most will never vote dem. Most would rather keep the faith rather than be correct.

I like the post except for the "last chance" attitude. Last chance or WHAT?? I say come on over, if not today, we will be here tomorrow and the next and (this is the important part) we aren't going to beat you up for taking your time about it! We will welcome you instead! Our ideas, ideals, and politics are sound and clear and humane; once you stop drinking the koolaid; we are the OTHER party that doesn't need to bully or coerce you; we care about you, and education, and the growing disparity between rich and poor, and so on.

join with liberals to get at the truth this year, then there likely will never be another opportunity (at least not for many years).

I agree with you. The prodigal son is always welcome back.

I have a hard time envisioning even the more moderate Rethugs having a turnaround by the time midterms roll around. People who have been that wrong for that long will be very reluctant to admit it through voting Dem. More likely they'll stay home, or vote for the more "moderate" Rethugs on the ticket. I feel it would take a profound catastrophe to shake them from their stupor. Yes, even more catastrophic than what they've slept through already. We as a nation will have to go through the fire before we can come out the other side...

For a long time I was good friends with a fellow who is a fundamentalist Christian, but who does not fit the worst stereotypes of people of that persuasion. He voted for * in 2000 (anybody but Gore; he was strongly against abortion). I was disappointed but tried to respect the difference. At the time I thought * was pretty bad, but did not know he was going to be as bad as we have found out since.

I got together with him one last time in October 2004; I wanted to find out if he was still for *. Much to my disappointment he was.

He felt that what we did in Iraq was right and necessary, like he felt we should have stopped Hitler before World War II. However one thing he said that really bothered me was that it was OK that we did not find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because intelligence is not an exact science.

After * "won" his second term I had to reevaluate my friendship, and let my friend know in strong terms how I felt, about *, about fundamentalist Christianity and the religious right and their agenda, and about my friend voting for * a second time.

It was a hard struggle trying to be fair with my friend and appreciating our past friendship and the good times we had, and being very bothered by his support of *. We both agreed to end our friendship, and we did so on good terms.

We ended our friendship in May 2005. I wonder if he still thinks * is OK, or if he has finally had some second thoughts about him. As long as * is still in office, it is unlikely that he and I will be renewing our friendship. (My friend, for his part, did not want to maintain a friendship on a "probationary" basis, subject to reevaluation based on his politics or religion.)

I feel a little sad about losing a long-time good friend, but happy about having made a decision.

Come to think about it, I have family who voted for * in 2000, and felt he was OK at least most of his first term. We have avoided talking about politics pretty much since 2003. I do not know if my family members voted for * in 2004, or if they have had second thoughts about him since.

Except, I can't end my 'friendship' with them. Maybe that's why I have more tolerance for those on the right (and far right). I also have many friends who are conservative (or very conservative). If we go on and treat them like they are the enemy, we will *become* their enemy. And that is not what we are.

Before the 2004 Election, I wrote an editorial called "The Divided States of America". I published it here and it was published locally on more than one newspaper. It was about the tactics that have been applied by the Republican party (namely the Bush campaign/Karl Rove) to divide Americans on issues that are so low on the priority list that we should not even be talking about them (Gay Marriage, Abortion, War on Christmas, on and on...). I received many kudos from friends and family, both conservative and liberal. I do believe we can bring AMERICANS back together to solve the many challenges that we face. We can't do it as two groups. And until the party in power has some of that power taken away, that party will continue to do what it can to divide us.

We have to look beyond the wrongs that have been committed against liberals and the Democratic party. We must look forward to putting our Country back together. If we send this message to Conservatives, they will see it and will *want* to return to a UNITED AMERICA. They will do what needs to be done. But if we spite, spurn and mock them, they will not respond, and we will surely be on our own.