Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life

"Outstanding…Moore Triumphs! Publishers Weekly

Mike's Letter

September 20th, 2004 12:00 AM

Put Away Your Hankies...a message from Michael Moore

9/20/04

Dear Friends,

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"

Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.

They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.

Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.

Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.

My friends, it is time for a reality check.

1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.

2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.

3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).

4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.

So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."

Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...

WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?

Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

You must log in to comment.

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register

Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant www.guardian.co.uk Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures...

Jun 21st
8:59 AM
Read More

Michael Hastings' Wife Obliterates New York Times For Dismissive Obituary www.huffingtonpost.com Hastings’ widow, Elise Jordan, is firing back at Times...

Jun 20th
7:58 PM
Read More

From Global Zero -- we can get to a world without nuclear weapons: The World Must Stand Together www.youtube.com Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas,...

Jun 20th
2:27 PM
Read More

RootsAction | Media want war in Syria. We don't. act.rootsaction.org Only 11% of the U.S. public wants the U.S. providing weapons to the Syrian...

Jun 19th
11:58 PM
Read More

Missing Michael Hastings www.buzzfeed.com One of the great reporters of his generation died Tuesday at 33. The stories he wrote, and the ones he didn't...

Jun 19th
7:19 PM
Read More

Rest in peace, Michael Hastings, author of 'The Operators': BuzzFeed Reporter Dies In Car Crash At Age 33 www.huffingtonpost.com Journalist Michael...

Jun 18th
8:20 PM
Read More

After Newtown shooting, mourning parents enter into the lonely quiet www.washingtonpost.com After the shooting and the politics, the Barden family suffers all...

Jun 18th
4:43 PM
Read More

From This Modern World, about Edward Snowden and the NSA: Daily Kos: Sensible thinkers www.dailykos.com Click to embiggen Support independent cartooning:...

Jun 17th
5:35 PM
Read More

Edward Snowden Q&A: NSA whistleblower answers your questions www.guardian.co.uk The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history is...

Jun 17th
1:36 PM
Read More

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Biden in 2006 debates Obama in 2013 over NSA spying program www.youtube.com Watch then-Senator Joe Biden from 2006...

Jun 14th
5:45 PM
Read More

Senator caught in strip club with his pants down www.youtube.com When money wins, we all lose. Join the fight to stop bribery & corruption at...

Jun 14th
5:42 PM
Read More

RootsAction | No New War in Iran or Syria act.rootsaction.org Sign the petition opposing war by the United States or NATO in Iran or Syria.

Jun 14th
3:15 PM
Read More

ICYMI -- Stop Watching Us | Stop Watching Us optin.stopwatching.us We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian about the...

Jun 13th
12:42 PM
Read More

We really should have listened to Shia LaBeouf five years ago: Shia Labeouf: One-In-Five Phone Calls Are Recorded (2008-09-16) www.youtube.com Clip from The...

Jun 13th
12:13 PM
Read More

Bradley Manning Has Done More for U.S. Security Than SEAL Team 6 ...by Chase Madar www.michaelmoore.com Thanks to Bradley Manning, our disaster-prone elites...

Jun 11th
3:10 PM
Read More

Historic challenge to support the moral actions of Edward Snowden ...by Norman Solomon www.sfbg.com

Jun 10th
11:48 AM
Read More

RootsAction | Thank NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden act.rootsaction.org Sign a thank-you note that will be delivered to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. And...

Jun 10th
11:42 AM
Read More

12pm Union Square: Rally Supporting #NSA Whistle Blower Edward Snowden www.sparrowmedia.net 12pm EST activists, journalists & concerned New Yorkers will...

Jun 10th
10:56 AM
Read More

Daniel Ellsberg: "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and...

Jun 10th
10:00 AM
Read More

NSA surveillance as told through classic children's books www.guardian.co.uk As news of the NSA's secret surveillance programs spread this weekend,...

Jun 9th
7:28 PM
Read More

Thank you, Edward Snowden -- destined to go down as one of the greatest whistleblowers in American history.

"I don't want to live in a...

Jun 9th
3:44 PM
Read More

ICYMI -- Husain Bazzi of Mike's High School Newspaper will co-chair a panel at the 2013 Left Forum at Pace University in NYC. Today, Sunday at 3 pm,...

Jun 9th
12:34 PM
Read More

Report by Mike's High School Newspaper from day 2 of the Left Forum in New York: Left Forum Day 2 Tweets | Michael Moore | High School Newspaper...

Jun 9th
12:33 PM
Read More

MORE from Glenn Greenwald. Someone near top of the U.S. government is very, very worried about what the NSA is up to: Boundless Informant: the NSA's...

Jun 8th
4:45 PM
Read More

Welcome to PRISM Internet Backup Service jcfrog.com I do hereby declare my allegiance to the USA and swear to their God that I will never try to hide any part...

Jun 8th
1:18 PM
Read More

Jeremy Scahill's film 'Dirty Wars' opens TODAY in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. Couldn't be more timely: Dirty Wars...

Jun 7th
8:15 PM
Read More

MORE from Glenn Greenwald. Someone near the top of the government is very worried about Obama and the ever-growing National Security State: Obama orders US...

Jun 7th
6:25 PM
Read More

Glenn Greenwald's follow up to his blockbuster Verizon story -- it turns out the *all* the biggest internet companies (including Facebook) are turning...

Jun 7th
12:20 PM
Read More

You probably thought Glenn Greenwald's scoop would be the biggest the biggest story about the National Surveillance State this year. Well...

...

Jun 6th
7:09 PM
Read More

Husain Bazzi of Mike's High School Newspaper will co-chair a panel at the 2013 Left Forum at Pace University in NYC. This Sunday at 3 pm, please come if...

Jun 6th
6:56 PM
Read More

Subscribe to Mike's Blog RSS

Click here to suggest an article

Mike's Blog

See More Blogs

Vew the archives

View older articles