No, No, No, No, No, No, NO!!!

[We sent this post (with cleaned-up language, of course) back to Senator Boxer in reply to the email outlined here. -H]

BarBARA! I expect this from Kerry, but not from you. Not another damned online petition! NO!

You can read the entire message later in this post. This is what Sen. Barbara Boxer is sending to her mailing list.

Cindy Sheehan's courageous protest outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX has captivated tens of millions of Americans from coast to coast.  Her poignant and heartfelt pleas have focused the nation's attention on Iraq in a way that nothing else could.

Yet after 28 long months of our occupation of Iraq, and after 1,873 brave American soldiers -- including Casey Sheehan -- have lost their lives, President Bush has still failed to develop a success strategy.  This cannot continue any longer.

Shortly after the Senate reconvenes in early September, and when George Bush returns to Washington from his five-week vacation in Texas, I am personally going to deliver our petition to the White House, calling on President Bush to spell out his plan for Iraq.  And I want your name to be on it.

*sigh* Stop. Just stop. Stop getting strategy tips from John Kerry. Stop sending emails asking people to sign an online petition. It's been proven time after time after time after time - that this White House couldn't possibly care less about petitions.

It's not hard to understand. Bush is a lame duck. What the people think doesn't matter to him anymore. Your petition will be dropped on his desk, and that's where it'll die. No press. No attention. No nothing.

Barbara. Barbara. PLEASE. Please get on a plane to Texas. PLEASE bring some of your Beltway pals with you. Don't ask us to join Cindy via a petition. YOU JOIN CINDY IN PERSON. YOU show her you care. YOU show America how serious this is. YOU go - AS OUR REP-RE-SEN-TA-TIVE and show your commitment to Cindy's cause.

Make some goddamn noise.

Unless you're afraid of the backlash. Then just do nothing. And we'd reluctantly put you in the category of scared Democrats. It'd hurt, but you're missing a chance to make a difference. You can make a change. You can ride this wave.

Or you can just watch it quietly crash ashore on TV.

It's time to make a real commitment here.

Dear Friend,

Cindy Sheehan's courageous protest outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX has captivated tens of millions of Americans from coast to coast.  Her poignant and heartfelt pleas have focused the nation's attention on Iraq in a way that nothing else could.

Yet after 28 long months of our occupation of Iraq, and after 1,873 brave American soldiers -- including Casey Sheehan -- have lost their lives, President Bush has still failed to develop a success strategy.  This cannot continue any longer.

Shortly after the Senate reconvenes in early September, and when George Bush returns to Washington from his five-week vacation in Texas, I am personally going to deliver our petition to the White House, calling on President Bush to spell out his plan for Iraq.  And I want your name to be on it.

Call on President Bush to develop a success strategy for Iraq -- sign my petition now!

I'm proud to stand alongside my colleague Russ Feingold from Wisconsin as a co-sponsor of Senate Resolution 171, calling on President Bush to define a timeframe for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.  Because it's time -- in fact, it's more than time -- for President Bush to clearly lay out a strategy for the American people that can succeed in Iraq, defuse the terrorist insurgency, and bring our brave men and women home. 

That will only happen when the President brings credibility, accountability, and responsibility to a war that has been lacking in all three.

• Credibility: It's time for President Bush to stop using sound bytes like "Mission Accomplished" and be honest and truthful with the American people.
• Accountability: We need to hear from the Bush Administration about exactly how many Iraqi forces are needed; how to meet that goal; and by when.
• Responsibility: We must honor our soldiers and their families -- including mothers like Cindy Sheehan -- every day, by giving them the equipment they need while they are deployed and the health care they deserve when they come home.

Add your name -- today -- to the petition that I will deliver to the White House next month!

More than 40,000 Americans have already signed my petition, urging President Bush to develop a success strategy for Iraq.

But we need tens of thousands more to make our voices heard, loud and clear.

We need tens of thousands more to stand with us, urging President Bush to set a timeframe for withdrawing American forces.

We need tens of thousands more to stand with Cindy Sheehan and all the grieving mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and family members who have lost loved ones in this war.

Urge President Bush to develop a success strategy for Iraq -- sign my petition to the White House now!

Thank you so much for your support.  I'll keep you updated on our progress in collecting petition signatures and will let you know exactly when we'll be delivering them.

I look forward to carrying your name with me to the White House in September. 

In Friendship,

Comments

[Lee Presson]

As Groucho Marx said, "I'm not in the habit of making threats, but there will be a letter about this in the Times tomorrow morning."

[OxyConservative]

I think this whole petition thing is just a backdoor way to build an email list to be used for political contributions.

[spears]

stop hoping a democrat is going to call 'bullshit' on bush's shenanigans. the corruption is bi-partisan and it runs rampant.

you want your country back? an angry letter or a petition isn't going to do it.

we need to get off our fat assess and remind these motherfuckers who they work for.

[HeyImGay]

Here's what's wrong with the anti-petition stance:

If you just go to Crawford without any sort of petition, you simply add onto the right winger's fuel that you're part of the "left wing fringe."

If you send a petition AND go, you cover more bases. You send a petition, Chimperor doesn't look at it, you have less recourse, so you go to Crawford to demand seeing him face to face. The problem is that the Dems don't make the rejections of petitions very public. Once you present to everyone that this government won't even address grievances (put it in the context recalling the framers of the Declaration of Independence), THEN you will convince moderates and even some right-leaners that direct confrontation is needed. Get the media to make this a staple of how the Bush Administration operates, and that's how you'll get moderates to join you.

And as far as the email list thing is concerned, just unsubscribe. I did that with Kerry's group long ago.

[Mark Richards]

The only petition I want to see her name on is one for impeachment.

[Mark-NC]

You are right - the Dems NEVER learn.

Bush didn't give a damn about petitions or opposing views from the first day he took office. That will never change.

The only way to affect Bush is to stand him down. Boxer should shut up with the petition crap and get on a plane to Texas.

[Daughter of Viet Vet]

I'm dealing with a bullshit concillatory "we catch more flies with honey" mentality among the anti-war types here in Phoenix.

You wanna fight fire? Set your own blaze. Sucking GOP cock with warm words and useless petitions ain't gonna do it.

[Steve]

The people at Fox were musing about the mid-term elections today, and for once they made some sense. The Democrats cannot just sit back and hope BushWorld collapses of its own accord. Real clowns like Santorum might fall over, but the bulk of the Republicans might survive if they just put a little distance between themselves and Iraq.

Kerry wasn't the answer, and isn't part of the answer anymore. Nor is Biden, Lieberman, or any of the Sunday show crowd.

[diehard liberal]

I would strongly urge ALL democratic politicians to resist the call to follow the pilgrims to Crawford to camp before the great almighty president. This story has legs of its own. This story does not need politicians flagelatting it like the conservatives did the Schiavo affair. I think it is far better that this be a citizens movement as opposed to a movement sanctioned by democratic politicians. I APPLAUD Senator Boxer and others for staying away from Crawford. Think about it people, just because they are not in Crawford does not mean that they are not in support of Camp Crawford, it means that they realizse that as soon as they show their faces the media will make it about them, or the democratic party, when this is really about Gold Star Mothers for Peace and they citizen movement that they have inspired. PLEASE, do not go to Crawford Ms. Boxer!

[Mark-NC]

Diehard liberal:

Excellent point!!

However, another toothless petition is useless.

[LAWTON WATSON]

Diehard liberal is right of course. Wolf Blitzer has already accused Cindy of making the issues political . He said "bush would have invited her in for a glass of tea but she made it a political issue by allowing certain groups such as MOVE ON.ORG to support her" . He further stated that bush shunned politics on issues of this nature.
What a fucking rediculous statement from Blitzer.
God damn it everything thing bush and rove do is based on politics and nothing else. Blitzer has his head completely up bush's sorry ass.

Daughter of Vet . These concilatory elements are hiding the fact that in reality they support the little chimp but do not have the guts to admit it. How else could bush and cheney have run roughshod over America if the people had not supported him openly or secretly. ? Every place I go, businesses and homes , have a TV on with nothing but FOX'S perversion of the so called news. FOX is their electronic bible. I have yet to see a single set viewing DEMOCRACY NOW or AL FRANKEN. It just doesn't happen.

[jello]

boxer (and cindy), please demand congressional hearings on the downing street memo.

apply some jujutsu (as the guys like to say). republican recalcitrance in refusing to hold hearings can be used against them. it highlights their corruption and reeks of a cover up. and useful in envoking this question in voter's minds: what are they hiding?

(and yes, i am going to be like a broken record in repeating this point.)

[jello]

yes i agree with diehard. sharpton appearing at the camp poses the same dangers that diehard mentioned. i don't think that will be helpful.

i say this a former support of sharpton, before it was found out he was corroborating with gop operatives during the last primary.

[jello]

oops "collaborating" is what i meant.

[LAWTON WATSON SPRINGDALE ARKANSAS]

Yes Jello its true , Sharpton whom I used to admire has cost Demos enough votes to win several elections . Bill O"Reily and Fox use him like the proverbial step child. Sharpton does'nt realize it or does he ?

Sharpton is repulsive to most all red staters and is considered a sworn enemy by the NASCAR dads .
He is the antithisis of everything they stand for. Fox annointed him as the democratic front runner for president just prior to the 2002 midterms. Repugs swept the house and senate !