Some folks believe that the current acrimony in American politics is unprecedented. Not so. After Bush Betrayal was published in late summer 2004, I received a torrent of emails from indignant readers via a Palgrave MacMillan blogsite. Happily, most of the commentors did not use a spellchecker.
Many Bush supporters took the time to explain the error of my ways, especially regarding so-called torture. Their comments restored my faith in deliberative democracy. Lew Rockwell kindly posted a roundup of these comments at LewRockwell.com on October 12, 2004 – “Bush Supporters Vindicate the President.”
Here’s some of the highlights:
“communist bastard”
“hypocritical scum”
“blatant opportunist”
“delusional”
“a very little man”
“scum of the earth”
“one sick mother f***** “,
“liberal pig”
“paranoid and bizarre”
“unrepentant BUSH-whacker”
“people like you and Michael Moore” [another email said I was “right there with
the other flim-flam men like Roger Moore” – like James Bond???]
Here’s the emails:
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 015459-0400
You are a communist bastard! How can you justify saying that our President
“wrapped himself in a flag drenched with the blood of Americans
who died due to the failure of the federal government he commanded…”
Can’t you even consider the simple fact that President Bush had
only been in office for less than a year and had to sift through
all the termoil and mess that former President Clinton left behind?
That in it’s self is enough for him to earn another term in office!
Quit the “bashing” and “finger pointing” and put yourself in his
position. YOU wouldn’t have done half the great job he has done
during these trying times in our country. He’s a damn good leader!
Let him finish the job. Finish getting those terrorist bastards
that threaten our freedoms and our peaceful way of life – that
life we are so accustomed to, that we forget where we’ve come from
and what it took for us to be where we are today! So don’t forget
that there are those out here who put there lives on the line for
assholes like you to have the freedom of speech- to say what you
will – and so can I!
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 205808-0400
Are you dilusional or just trying to make a buck?
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 071335-0400
You and your information are more full of crap than George Bush could
ever be accused of. How the trash you write could ever get this
far is unbelievable.
To:
<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 16:38:46-0400
You are a very little man. Those of you who don’t appriciate the freedom
our sons and daughters paid for make a mockery of their sacrifice.
May God have mercy on your soul, you ignorate little person.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 115016-0400
Colledge hazing is a hell of a lot worse than abu ghraib. Let’s see a story
on that.
To<bovard>
SubjectResponse to Palgrave Blog
DateSun, 26 Sep 2004 125445-0400
I think we should be torturing these SOB’s… They are killing and
mutilating our people! Your concern over the so called “torture”
of the prisoners is ludicrous when one looks at how barbaric they
are to begin with. What you are caling “torture,” most people would
call callege hazing.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 092838-0400
You will say anything in your book just to make a buck or two. Have
you no shame spitting out lies. Nobody wants your piece of crap book.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 070316-0400
Again you make the Terrorist out to be the good guys and the US out to
be the bad guys! You talk about debacles, your clinton I noticed
is not even mentioned. He had 8 years to sow the seeds of freedom
we are now reaping. He stuck his head in the sand gets a blow job
from a near minor and throws some missles into the desert. You dont
say boo. If you have any back bone which you don’t you might try
putting the responsibility on the people how have been attacking
the US for the last twenty years! Bush walked into this mess and
your right “is kicking ass” good of you to mention that. Your head
is partialy out of yours!
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 011914-0400
You are nothing but a piece of trash. You and the other scum of the
earth who enjoy being called the “elite media” will receive a lot
of appreciation from the left-wing activists who, like you, harm
the USA with your dribble and made-up sources. You can’t report
what any reputable journalist would write. You just write what you
want to hear and couldn’t care less for the truth. You are a gutless
individual.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 125356-0400
Once again a left wing political opportunist tries to make money and
tarnish the reputation of the President of the United States. Hey,
where were you when Clinton was lying about getting his knob polished
by Ms. Lewinsky in the White House????
The only reason that lying Bill Clinton didn’t get impeached is
that the left wing democrats prevented justice from being done.
By the way, did you know that President Bush is personally responsible
for the four hurricanes that have devastated Florida? He also started
the flu epidemics in the 90’s, and my first divorce in 1985. Fair?
Balanced? You are hypocritical scum!
To:
<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 21:56:26-0400
please grow up and get over your anger we need a strong leader like pre Bush
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 010858-0400
Are you basically an unhappy person? Your view of the world seems to
be dominated by the theory that large and wide spread conspiracys
dominate our daily lives. And many of these are perpetrated by Bush
and his minions. Is this basically the line on your existance?
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 213206-0400
You are one sick mother fucker. Why not just support the troops instead of criminilizing them. does history not teach you anything? Like John Kerry is a fucking liar/traitor.
why not write a book on those facts. The facts are all readily available.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 120628-0400
Another liberal heard from. My heart really bleeds for those poor abused
Iraqi prisoners. Why don’t you spend as much time writing about
those Americans getting their heads sawn off? Pull your head out
of your ass and wake up. Saddam isn’t the 20th hijacker. People
like you are…
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 101802-0400
All I can say is…You’re an idiot!
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 094421-0400
You’re nothing more than a blatant opportunist feeding at the capitalist
trough. Your motives are transparent – you care only about enhancing
your wealth at the expense of the small minded, through spreading
alarmist, reactionary, conspiracy theories.
Funny thing is, you probably see yourself as a great American who
is sacrificing much to perform a public service.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 052709-0400
People like you and Michael Moore is what brings down our country. Revoke
your citizenship and go live in another country, like maybe France.
Do you think that had Kerry or Gore been in office that 9/11 would
not have happened? I thank God that they were not and that Bush
was. I think the blame for 9/11 goes a little further back than
Bush. We had our chances to get Bin Laden prior to his day in office
and we failed.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 073356-0400
yes
I have something to say from some one who has been their and done
that, Have you? You liberal pigs are like socialist, get off your
ass join the service and be part of the solution and not the problem.
Take a look at the Henley Video. I ask you, what side are you on?
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 080139-0400
I think it is ironic that you critize my President and we hear nothing from
you critizing J. Kerry.The partician media at work.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 033422-0400
Your distortions of current events to me seem paranoid and bizarre. By
your definition of torture, a frat house hazing is torture. No one
condones the humiliation that some Iraqi prisoners were subjected
to. But it is a mute point in contrast to, the gassing of 3000 Kurds,
the summary execution video taped and aired on Iraqi television
by Sadam’s henchmen. (Please note a documentary on Frontline PBS)
Where Sadam stylized his regime after his idol Joseph Stalin, the
recent beheadings of foreigners is not something new in Iraq. It
was first done to the Iraqi people before the US invasion, Sadam
videotaped the execution of a man and had each of his Generals put
a symbolic bullet into the dead mans body.
I do not know if your fear and hatred of Bush blind you or you are
still smoking that stuff that makes people paranoid, and eliminates
articulate thought. But if you were in Sadam’s Iraq and you made
these accusations about Sadam that you have about President Bush.
You and most of your family would have been slaughtered. But that
is Sadams justice, he is a very good student of Joseph Stalin. The
current so-called insurgency in Iraq is the people who Sadam hired
as his personal guard. They consist of Jordanian Syrian and Arab
nationalities, and the caches of arms they are using are from the
stockpile of weapons Sadam had. Keeping this in mind there still
are many places the Iraqi Survey Group and the UN Weapon Inspectors
have not seen. This sir is just common sense, common sense would
also dictate that if there are WMD’s in Iraq disclosing their existence
and location would place US Servicemen and the American people at
an even greater risk of attack.
I am sorry but you writings lack discretion and commons sense. If
you have not been smoking anything, quit and then try to think about
what you are saying. If not I would suggest you see a therapist,
they have made many improvements in the ability for anti-psychotic
medications. So there is hope for you.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 043715-0400
The people in the Abu Ghraig prison were there because of suspected
crimes. Many were terrorists and murders from Sadaam’s regime. However,
the Geneva Convention says that all prisoners will be treated humanly.
The fact that North Korea, North VietNam, and the radical Muslims
ignored these rules is NOT an excuse for us to ignore them now.
But to blame our president for what a few “out on a limb” military
personel did is asinine. Of course Bush didn’t know what these “Rambos”
were doing after hours. Their immediate supervisors most likely
did not know until someone blew the wistle on the prisoner abuse.
The people who are ultimately responsible for this behavior are
the persons who commited the crimes. Some blame must also go, of
course, to the parents who failed to teach Christian morals to their
children, the military who did not stress the reasons for the Geneva
Convention rules, and also to the public school teachers in charge
of guiding young minds. Too often I hear the admonition, “You do
whatever is best for you.” This is liberally poured on school children
from day one in public schools. Well, humiliating, harassing and
frightening past members of a system that did all of the above to
others, apparantly was “the right thing” for the American soldiers
who chose to ignore the rules for handling prisoners. Their choice.
Not what our president has asked of them and of us. Sorry, I can’t
blame W.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 120447-0400
what have you been smoking?
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 130136-0400
You are an idiot!!!The military has handled the situation already .Those
responsible are being delt with. This is old news and by constantly
revisiting it does nothing but send a negative message to the very
people that we are trying to get rid of. Maybe you should watch
the beheading video like I did and if you have any common sense
you will see that the prison issue is nothing compared to the true
evil acts that they seem to think is normal.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 065056-0400
An unrepentant BUSH-whacker who rails against the (misleading) Campaign
Reform Act on “free speech” grounds, but yet remains SILENT on CBS
News and Dan Rather’s BIG LIE.
So confused. No wonder you are unhappy. Being among America’s intellectual
elite is a demanding job, but your destiny lies only within this
small band of freedom fighters. (If firefighters fight fires ….)
Allah akbar.
A midwestern boy in “fly-over” country. (Thank Google for your PAID
link, otherwise I would have overlooked America’s Messiah.)
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 100302-0400
Bovard, Just reading the short excerpts here make me sick. How dare you
try to blame 9/11 on this administration! The fact that it happened
while he was in office is coincidental and in no way reflects on
this administrations focus, efforts and intent. The fact is that
the US government (any administration) is forced to allocate resources
on the most immediate issues and threats.
Until 9/11 I’m sure every administration had plans for terrorism but its
focus and priority was relatively low since it was largely deemed
an oversees threat. Yes, I’m sure there were voices out there trying
to make an argument for greater diligence and more focused intelligence
and in retrospect they may actually have been right, but why blame
Bush when those same voices had years under the Clinton administration
trying to make the same case.
There may actually be some kernels of truth in what you are writing but
your bias is so vehement it poisons everything you say. In the brief
exposure I’ve had to your vitriol I’d classify you right there with
the other flim-flam men like Roger Moore. You find an issue that
has passionate people on both sides and exploit it by pandering
and feeding their greatest fears by selectively picking the information
that supports your case.
Just once I would like to see someone with the obvious time you have
to create biased junk report something factually and let the readers
make up their own minds.
Thank you for elevating my resolve to reelect this President.
To<bovard>
Subject: Response to Palgrave Blog
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 191320-0400
Playboy eh? Were ya ever in the mansion? Well, I think you should run for
president… maybe you will help bring on the end of the world sooner…
quit harassing those who are giving us protection.
You and that Roger Moore!
“Are you dilusional [sic] or just trying to make a buck?”
Why can’t you be both?
When I first saw that “delusional” line, I thought my CPA had posted on my blog.
Hi Jim,
Just a month or so ago, I was going through one of my boxes of books and selected Bush Betrayal. Had read the parts most interesting to me years ago.
I read it cover to cover. A good and fair critique of the G.W. bush regime.
Um…it appears you might start collecting information in order to research and write your next book, The Trump Betrayal (need a proofreader?).
Trump just enthused over and indicated a ramping-up of the miserably failed War on *some* Drugs as well as unleashing the fictional judicial relic of asset forfeiture that allows police agencies to self-fund (actually, “steal” is a better term) sans oversight…a priority activity of our police agencies while half-a-million missing children remain missing, as well as other unaddressed real crimes against property and/or people.
Let’s see if I have some sort of handle on President Trump’s intentions:
Much of government is indeed a “swamp” needing drained; the swampy political critters utilize police as their enforcement arm; Trump appears intent on somehow draining this swamp yet retaining the enforcers in order to apparently double-down on total failure…aka the War on *some* Drugs.
This sort of ridiculous totally corrupt governmental activity is what I thought the “swamp” entailed…
The suspicions and worries began last year when I noticed Trump mentioning “law and order” more often than “Rule of Law” during the campaign.
They are NOT the same thing…
“Law and order” is what the Soviets and Nazis had…and what places like North Korea have…
It appears to me we may be soon getting a stiff dose of…authoritarianism…
I also seem to recall promises of 1st day, 1st hour EOs to be signed, rendering onerous and useless and unconstitutional gun laws a dead letter…still waiting for such to happen, not holding my breath.
I think we may have been snookered once again.