You Must Be Kidding: the Email Reply I Sent to Harry Reid

An email I received from Sen. Harry Reid, and the reply I sent him:

Subject: Humming

On 10/7/2008 11:06 AM, "Sen. Harry Reid" wrote:

Dear Elayne,

The difference between real change and more of the same is a filibuster-proof Senate. Without it, Barack Obama's hands will be tied.

Democrats are leading in six Senate races for Republican-held seats. We're close in five more.

That filibuster-proof majority is in reach, but all of us have to do our part. The DSCC needs another $2.5 million - raised $5 and $10 at a time - before Friday to fight the lies and keep our campaigns humming next week.

Senator Harry Reid

Dear Harry,

You must be kidding. You let the criminals rob the treasury on the way out, and you want money from us?! The people you've bankrupted with your lack of oversight and now your lack of foresight? All you had to do, instead of falling for the "Weapons of Cash Destruction, hurry-up-and-pass-it lie" AGAIN, was to hold a worldwide press conference and say, "You know this plan is bad, for your banks and for our country. We will have a new president in a month. We will have a new plan in a month, and we give you our word that we will act to protect your countries' economies as well as ours, but we must ask you to hang on for just one more month."

Everyone knows Bush is the Boy Who Cried Wolfowitz, except you. Eight years of allowing the Ponzi Real Estate Pyramid schemes on your watch, and you couldn't hold out four more weeks. Instead, you made a mockery of checks and balances (which will now be known as BLANK CHECKS and NO BALANCES), of oversight, of review, of our votes, and you let them empty the coffers completely this time to insure that the next president (probably a Democrat) will not have the money to implement one single plan for America, insuring the return to power of the Karl Rove Traveling Dinner Theater Players in a mere four years.

"Barack's hands will be tied if we don't have a filibuster-proof senate"? His hands, wallet, and pockets are now empty thanks to you, meaning there will be no money for health care reform, college loans, social security, Medicare, and infrastructure repair. What is there to filibuster, which party gets to turn out the lights? Bush and Co. are now treasury robbing equals with every African dictator and every banana republic shyster, and no doubt Laura Bush has three thousand pairs of shoes in her closet. The only reason I am even leaving my house on election day is to prevent the Supreme Court from becoming the DAR, as we know YOU won't stand up to any right wing ideologue put up for a vote by a Republican president. Other than that, my days of caring, volunteering, contributing to the pathetic and corrupt DEMOCRATIC party (we already knew that about the Republicans) are over. I am not going to waste another second of the time I have left on this earth paying attention to anything anyone in government ever says again. You are a disgrace to this country, and no better than the Bush Regime for what you let them perpetrate on the people who sent you to Washington to REPRESENT us. You are NOT the House of Representatives, you are the House of Horrors. My life's work is animal rescue (www.tailsofjoy.net). Thanks to your non-existent policies regarding animal welfare, and thanks to your criminally negligent policies spurring foreclosures, every dedicated volunteer is spending every penny she/he has left trying to prevent the obscenity of the ten million companion animals killed by the government each year in America from becoming twenty million killed this year. Good luck to us. By now Americans know their money is better given to dogs than senators.

You need ONLY "$2.5 million before Friday" to keep your campaigns "humming"? You rape the treasury, announce it "might not work but we had to do "something,'" and you are disconnected enough from our horror to breezily use the word "humming"!!?? How about another trillion to keep Iraq "tidy," or another hundred billion to "perk up" Afghanistan? What's in the air you are breathing in the capital, cartoon ink? Francoise Giscard D'Estaing once said, "We will only have true equality when we have mediocre WOMEN in high positions". Well, at least you've achieved something. Regards to Ms. Pelosi. Car mechanics say, "It could be thousands to fix, but I can try this first for fifty bucks. It might not work but we'll see." Nobody but the lunatics running the asylum say, "It's a trillion dollars AND it might not work." You are not fixing MY car, and you are not my party. Take me off your lists, and go away. No, really. Go away.

Elayne

Comments

[sandrarita]

As much as I agree to a point, we have to recognize that the Dems have been operating with the odds stacked against them. Even with a majority since 2006, it isn't very large and Dems were forced to play the game with sleezeball Republicans who vote to a man/woman to block Dems from doing anything. With a Dem President, Congress and Senate, they may do some great things, especially I think Obama is tough and will be a good influence. He knows what he wants and is not beholden to 'bidness' as Bush or McCain are. I believe he will work for the American people, not the corporation or the top 10%. I also hope a Dem country will make more headway in animal cruelty issues, increase protection to our national parks including its wildlife, and ensure environmental preservation. The key is who Obama appoints to directorships, such as the Dept. of Interior, FDA, EPA, Dept. of Commerce. IMO, one of the first things that needs to go are the lobbyists who obstruct legislation benefitting people, the environment and the country for the benefit of special interests such as the oil, coal, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. There are many responsible companies doing business in America that are fair, just and provide a good place to work. There is no reason to accept irresponsible policies of corporate megaliths whose only goal is the bottom line.

[ObjectiveRealist]

I tend to agree

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/reedyoung/gGxjcD

...but although the Democratic Party is less supportive of human rights and animal rights than either of us would like, they're still, generally, more supportive of my agenda than the average Republican. And I'd guess the same is still true for you. It's not that Democats are just like Republicans, but they're too submissive, and especially when it matters most. It's an understandable, but not admirable, response to fear. Consider the illegal domestic wiretapping ordered by George Walker Bush. Democrats didn't so much "support" that as succumb to terror, just as they started to do to Henry Paulson's appeal to fear, "Give me $700,000,000,000 or my friends at the World Bank, the IMF and corporate financiers will inflict the Second Great Depression on you by refusing to extend loans to your employers.­" [Not his exact words, but a perfectly fair paraphrase­.] His initial bailout proposal would deprive 99% of Americans, under color of law, of property ownership, an essential liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/242fin.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/statutes.htm#section242

Financing only debts that individuals personally incur is absolutely included in the Constitution's protection of property rights.

[Neil Werewolf]

The guy you really want to blame here is Alan Greenspan, who told the mortgage industry in 2004 that they needed to keep cranking out more ARMs and other alternative mortgage products, and that rising household debt levels weren't a problem. That's how you get a bubble like this one.

And do you know what Harry Reid was doing for the last 12 years? Cozying up to Greenspan? No. Back when the sainthood of Greenspan was conventional wisdom, Reid was calling him "one of the biggest political hacks we have here in Washington­."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5396-2005Mar3.html

Reid was Greenspan's most furious critic in the Senate. He repeatedly voted against Greenspan's confirmation to Fed Chair. If he'd had his way back at the beginning of this bubble, there might not have been a bubble at all.

We need to get our heroes and villains straight here, and Harry Reid isn't wearing one of the black hats.

[ObjectiveRealist]

I disagree, at least on your portrayal of Greenspan as a "villain" here. I don't think Reid, is, either, but I don't know much about him. I'll defer to you on him, for now. The article below also blames Greenspan, but it includes some important facts which I'll reference, while I argue in his defense.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aD88.sUId1IM&refer=us

[``Act now and cut off the pinky, or wait till later and risk slicing off the entire hand,'' Rosenberg said in an interview last week. ``Either way it hurts, but you can still type with nine fingers."]

This analysis is vivid, and therefore "convincing," but only by its emotional appeal to fear and revulsion. The facts do not support the Chicken Littles, who ignore the possibility of the Treasury bypassing the Federal Reserve Bank, and dealing *directly* with those "Main Street" businesses deemed vital to the national interest. All the fat cats are treating a bailout of *lenders* as the only possible remedy. It is not. And Greenspan was certainly correct about the scope of the real estate problem:

[Greenspan disagrees. While he said on July 21 that home prices may be ``unsustainable'' in some regions of the U.S., the Federal Open Market Committee he leads decided in June that it wouldn't use interest rates to address ``possible mispricing,'' according to minutes of the meeting made public on July 21.]

The real estate bubble plagues many, but not nearly all locales.

[AmigoDelNorte]

Smart article!

[pmag88]

Loved the article and I feel the pain and sense of betrayal, but for now a solid democratic majority is the only choice we have. Once we get the big stuff out of the way we can start pruning away the dead wood as we go along. And for the record, I'm counting on reformation within the republican party as well.

[sandrarita]

Great letter Elayne,and thank you for helping animals of which I share a love for and work to help them against the greed, ignorance and cruelty of the human race.

As far as money, well, let the Treasury print us up some trillions of dollars more and see how fast we can spend that too.

[cadawa]

Amen. Lazy Harry needs a wake up call or better yet a new career. His four sons are all lobbyists or in real estate, The only people he is giving hell is us.

[Cybersquirt]

The scary thing is that I know of at least one woman who will vote for Palin (because she wants a woman in office that bad) and "trust's Harry and Nancy to get her dun". As in fight for what used to be the traditional democratic platform. Between this and "impeachment is off the table", I don't recognize this party anymore either.

If I were as incompotent, I'd have been fired long ago.

[funkalicious]

Elaine like the letter , You failed to mention that we are bailing out companies who are still paying out dividends tot heir share holders with our tax dollars.
What the F@ck is that about ? Redistributing wealth from the struggling middle class to the yacht and golf club crew?

It makes me want to bash in the heads of our senate...I­m not certain it would change anything brain dead now or really brain dead later.

[NTO08]

Thanks, Elayne...t­he Dems have been as irresponsible and aimless as their shameless counterparts across the aisle...no wonder Nancy Pelosi's and Harry's approval ratings are in the toilet. Obama needs to stand up and show he will break free of Reid's hopeless endeavors.

[MIVOTE]

Good for you! Get it out!

[Classof89]

I would like to co-sign on Ms. Boosler's letter.

[dixychik]

Reid and Pelosi aren't even Blue Dog Democrats ... they are Republicans posing as Democrats. They are the pits, and I hope they both get thrown out of office. Harry Reid ... what a WIMP. They will never get another dime from me, either. My money, what little there is of it, goes to Best Friends Animal Society. And yes, we have to vote to save the Supreme Court, because that would be the final nail in the coffin. Not to mention that McCain and Pelin have gone completely off their rockers.

[Star2000dancer]

We need Ron Paul or Dennis Kuciinich as house speaker.

[got2Bkidding]

Gonna be hard to dump all the incumbents and elect Barack and build a majority in both houses this cycle.

I think we'll have a filibuster proof majority this time. Come next time to vote for a Congress critter, we should vote the bums out if they deserve it. At that point you can vote for the non-incumbent in the primaries and bring them into a dem presidency, and majority.

Reid and Pelosi aren't Democrats. They're Blue Dog Democrats. The DLC is to the Dem party what Neo Cons are to the Republican party. Unfortunately there are too many of them to get any progressive legislation passed. We need to elect Ted Kennedy democrats and stop electing Rahm Emanuel democrats.

[dragonfur]

They are "dog" nothings! They have chicken feathers, haven't you seen? Amoeba have a better history of learning! Why do these "Democrats" still believe ANYTHING that comes ffrom Bush's regime? What dupes!

[disgusted48]

There should be an citizen funded organization that pays the new york times or the washington post to place citizen reponses to government actions like you would place an advertisment. Then it would get read by the "powers that be."

[locust]

Don't forget that Congress gave themselves a pay raise this year (as usual).

Sweep out the House.

Don't re-elect and then expect things to change.