I have received this letter from an Iraqi concerned citizen, who wishes to remind U.S. voters of the historic importance of their choice on November 2.
Dear voter,
I am an elderly man. Under the Clinton administration I had an excellent well-paid job. I took many vacations and had several holiday homes. Since President Bush took office my life has completely changed, and in every respect for the worse.
I lost my job.
I lost both my sons in the terrible Iraqi war. I lost my homes. I lost my medical insurance. In fact, I lost practically all of my possessions and found myself homeless.
Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living in bestial conditions, far from helping me, they arrested me.
I shall do whatever Senator Kerry wishes to ensure that a Democrat is returned to the White House next year. Bush must go!
There. I thought that all Americans would like to know what a man of my years thinks of the Bush administration.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Best wishes,
Saddam Hussein
[thanks to the French libertarians for forwarding this to me from this blog.]
This is similar to the Iraqi woman who gave an impassioned and emotional speech at Labour Party Conf in support of the war. Funny thing is, only those in the hall and watching the Conf on TV would have seen it, as the Beeb did not report it in any way shape or form.
Does he read The Guardian? If so, I wonder if some lucky Ohio family got this
I suspect Saddam might get more sympathy in Ohio than the typical letter from a Guardian reader. They must have known that their interference would have the opposite of the (supposedly) desired effect. So much so, I wonder if they were willing to damage Kerry a little just to get hundreds of Americans to flame Brits.
They’re either that cynically calculating, or more tone deaf than I ever dreamed.
TO: Antoine Clarke
RE: Pardon My French…
…mais, trés amusant!
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit. — Ralph Waldo Emerson]
S. Weasel: the Guardian thing was obvious trolling. If they thought it had backfired they probably wouldn’t have done such a prominent followup, unless they’re more honest than you give them credit for.
Personally I thought it was hilarious and most likely had either zero impact on the decisions of voters, or a slight negative impact for Kerry, both of which I’m just fine with.
No, most of the Guardian folk really are so “tone deaf” that they really think that their letters will help Senator Kerry.
This includes Prof Dawkins who wrote that President Bush was similar to Tony Martin (a British farmer who shot a two men who broke into his home one night, sadly only one of the swine died, and who was put into prison). To Guardian readers Tony Martin is a hate figure.
It would not enter their minds that people in the United States (other than the evil capitialist-fascist Bush-family neo conservative-religious extremist…………………………………. ruling gang, of course) could possibly think differently.
You’re making the assumption that the Ohioans even know who Tony Martin is. That’s leaving aside the fact that they’d probably shrug if they’d heard about a burglar who was shot while in someone’s home. Burglar shouldn’t have been in the guy’s house, after all.
I’m not from Ohio, but I know everything about Tony Martin that appeared on Samizdata, as do a number of other Americans. My friends and I followed the story closely at the time, and thought it was a terrible miscarriage of justice.
As for as the Guardian – the easiest way to seperate cretinous twits from regular people is to ask their opinion. The Guardian’s just sorting them for us.
“ If they thought it had backfired they probably wouldn’t have done such a prominent followup”
Unless they’re delusional.
As regards to the Tony Martin reference, the Guardian actually inserted a helpful comment outlining what he did for the edification of Americans (who they presumably thought wouldn’t possibly know, or be able to use ‘Google’).
I have yet to see a better example of shooting oneself in the foot (no pun intended), as I suspect the average American’s response would be exactly the same as the average UK man in the street – ‘Good on yer, son!’
Didn’t Dawkins also include some kind of threat about Americans that come to the UK had better speak with a Canadian accent if Bush is reelected? Not to mention, when you are 1) trying to beat Bush and 2) Bush is trying to rally Christian voters, it seems the height of absurdity to think including a letter from Richard Dawkins would be helpful.
Re Tony Martin:
An Alabama homeowner fatally shot a burglar he found in his living room and called the police. The officer duly arrived, noted the dead guy on the floor with three closely spaced wounds in his chest, and said to the homeowner: “Nice grouping.”
This anecdote nicely sums up the American attitude toward the defense of one’s person and property. Don’t expect any British champagne socialist to know this, however.
Give Dawkins credit. He hates Christians, but managed to avoid any reference to Bible-bashing bigots in his letter. Must have been difficult, but he did it. Awesome self-control.
“Master of self, master of all” (Russian proverb)