Sep
10
2009

Dear Mitch

so i do this thing sometimes, for perverse reasons i don’t fully understand, where i email spammers back. i doubt anybody ever reads them, but i get some jollies out of it.

i think this is the first time i’ve written one of these emails back to a list that i willingly signed up for.

stimulus:

from Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com info@barackobama.com
reply-to info@barackobama.com
to josh@stickybuffalo.com
date Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM
subject Now, it’s our turn

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM, Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com wrote:

>
> Joshua –
>
> Last night, President Obama called on our representatives to pass health reform that brings stability and security to Americans who have insurance, affordable coverage to those who don’t, and reins in the cost of care.
>
> Now, it’s our turn. After last night’s speech, members of Congress have no doubt about where the President stands. But to win this fight, we must show that Americans from every state and every background support his plan — and we need Congress to do the same.
>
> Click here to call your representatives, and then tell us how it went. According to our records, you live in Iowa’s 2nd congressional district. Please call:
>
> Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Cedar Rapids office at (319) 363-6832
> Sen. Tom Harkin’s Cedar Rapids office at (319) 365-4504
> Rep. Dave Loebsack’s Iowa City office at (319) 351-0789
>
>
> (Not your representatives? Click here to look yours up.)
>
> Call your representatives, and tell whoever answers where you are from and that you watched the President’s address.
>
> Then tell them that you want your representatives to support the President’s plan, ask them where they stand — and thank them if they already clearly support it.
>
> Don’t forget to click here to let us know what they said.
>
> Hundreds of thousands of folks will be calling, so please try again if you get a busy signal.
>
> This movement has brought us to a historic moment where reform is within reach. Now your energy and commitment are needed to get us the rest of the way.
>
> Please call today:
>
> http://my.barackobama.com/CongressCall
>
> Mitch
>
> Mitch Stewart
> Director
> Organizing for America
>
>Donate
>
>
> Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee — 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
>
> This email was sent to: josh@stickybuffalo.com
>
> To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe

response:

From: josh@stickybuffalo.com
Date: Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Subject: No, it’s still HIS turn
To: info@barackobama.com

Mitch,

You guys have some solid brass cojones on you. You follow up the defining capitulation of Obama’s first (only?) term by trying to rally the faithful, mindless beasts of burden that we are, once more unto the breach. For what? You just punted on the one proposal that had a snowball’s chance in hell of addressing the problem he so eloquently outlined last night, a proposal he campaigned and won on — which, by the way, still has broad majority support among the public, despite the summer’s barrage of insane demagoguery that you guys utterly failed to anticipate or respond to.

If the President isn’t willing to fight, or even put up the pretense of willingness to fight, for the public option, where does that leave us? Where does he get off asking “us” to sacrifice more time and energy to help America swallow whatever nuggets of “reform” might be coaxed from the suppurating, campaign-contribution-lubricated asshole of Max Baucus? Maybe if we work real hard we can get ourselves mandated into buying private insurance with no provision for making it affordable — that’s one big bowl of shit I can’t wait to dig into! I’ll be sure to call my congressman right away.

Brass fucking balls. If only you’d show the same testicular fortitude in confronting the insurance lobby and the shrieking idiots, instead of pissing on the people who worked to get you elected, maybe we’d get some real reform. Until that day comes, good luck with this turd of a presidency — I’m sitting out 2012.

Josh

P.S. My favorite touch is how you remembered to include the “Donate” link at the bottom of the email. You guys are friggin’ adorable! Sorry, I need that money to pay my exponentially increasing health insurance premiums.

5 Comments »

  • gray

    Capitulation? Wow, I think we must have been watching different speeches. It wasn’t the full-throated demand for a public option I would have liked, but he’s clearly not abandoning it. I think you may have jumped the gun on this one, especially with that “turd of a presidency” stuff.

    Comment | September 10, 2009
  • What I heard was “I’m for the public option, but it’s not a dealbreaker.” In the current climate, that amounts to capitulation.

    What was so frustrating about the speech was that rhetorically it *was* a really eloquent and forceful articulation of the problem and the urgency of the need to address it, but in terms of content all he did was formally indicate to Congress that he’s ready to concede his key provision. Do you think they won’t take him up on that? Like all of his speeches it was an exquisitely beautiful container, but in this case the payload it delivered was “I give up!” If he’s not leading the fight, who’s going to get the public option through? The progressives? I wish, but I doubt it. It’s over.

    You’re right about the scatological imagery though, I did go a little overboard there…

    Comment | September 11, 2009
  • And another thing…

    No more lectures about not “letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.” For my part, I’m okay with letting the lame and disappointing be the enemy of the totally, execrably unacceptable.

    Better yet, how about letting the nothing-at-all be the enemy of the totally-meaningless-simulacrum-of-a-political-victory? Why should the Republicans be the only ones who get to indulge in the odd pyrrhic victory? The more I think about it, I am going to call my congressman — to tell him, “kill the fucker.” No bill. If the progressive wing of the party is going to have any relevance at all, Rahm can’t be allowed to call this shit sandwich a win.

    Comment | September 11, 2009
  • Oops, there’s that scat talk again. Sorry, folks.

    Comment | September 11, 2009
  • gray

    I just don’t think it’s that stark. Plus, the progressives in Congress are finally starting to flex their muscle (hell, that Obama didn’t entirely torpedo the PO in his speech, despite weeks of telegraphing exactly that, seems to me to be a fairly clear sign that the progressives in Congress are more powerful than anybody previously thought), so I think it’s entirely possible that we’ll end up with a decent PO (possible, but by no means certain, or even necessarily likely).

    Comment | September 11, 2009

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