Sam Park, Teresa and Fe Bongolan in New Hampshire during the primaries.
One of our great Grassroots volunteers for John Kerry working here in Los Angeles had received the horrible email attacking Teresa Heinz Kerry, from of all people, his mother.
He chose to respond in a thoughtful manner.
Please send his response below to all your friends, those who may be on the fence and especially those considering voting for another 4 years of Bush and Company.
Also consider using it when you get the false email from someone and do tell them to inform others of their error in sending it.
If you haven't seen the email, you can view it at:
Email attack on Teresa Heinz Kerry
Email from John Malone to his Mother:
----------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to respond to the e-mail you forwarded to me assailing Teresa Heinz Kerry. I apologize in advance to anyone on this list who doesn't want to receive messages like this, but I get so irritated when I see such outrageous lies spread like viruses across the Interent, forwarded unknowingly by well-meaning people who are just struggling to figure out what is going on in such a confusing world. Please forgive me for going on and on about this, but I want to make sure that people receive the truth (rather than unsubstantiated rumors and outright falsehoods) and make informed decisions. I'm a proud supporter of John Kerry for President, and I wrote this rebuttal myself. I'm well-informed, reasonably intelligent, and I'm happy to discuss these things privately with anyone who wants to. Feel free to forward this message if you like.
I find it interesting that one of the most corrupt, scandal-ridden administrations in history is so desperate to win re-election that they resort to baseless attacks against their opponent's wife. They can't talk about Bush's accomplishments with respect to jobs, education, health care, the environment, or preserving America's standing in the world. It would seem to me that these issues are far more important to the American people.
They can't defend their running up of massive national debt, their irresponsible tax cuts aimed chiefly at their wealthy campaign contributors, their use of flawed intelligence and misleading statements to justify a war, their justifying of torture which led to the prison abuse scandal, their complete inattention to terrorism prior to September 11th...I could go on and on. So what do they do when their perceived credibility and competence are at an all time low ? Engage in a smear campaign against their opponent's wife. If this isn't gutter politics, I don't know what is.
Mrs. Kerry has for years been a champion for numerous worthy causes related to the environment, women, children, and healthcare. She has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and a strong supporter of the arts. She is not an extremist wacko, as the anonymous author of this piece attempts to imply. If you are interested in the truth, allow me to point out a few things about this shameless (and mostly false) hit-and-run aimed at a remarkably intelligent, compassionate, and generous woman:
1.) Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry
Are we supposed to be frightened because Teresa has a foreign-sounding name? Because she was born in another country and educated abroad? Because she is fluent in five languages? I've got news for you -- all of our ancestors were born in another country. That's what this country is made of. This is perhaps the lowest kind of bigotry I've heard in a long time.
2.) ...she only took his name eighteen months ago ...
So what? My wife continues to go by her maiden name to this day for professional reasons. Anyone who would suggest that this has any kind of sinister meaning obviously doesn't know me and obviously doesn't know her.
3.) If you thought John Kerry was scary, he doesn't hold a candle to his wife!
If you want to see something REALLY scary, I'd recommend that you go to your local movie theater and see "Fahrenheit 9/11". I've heard a lot of supporters of the President assail this film because it's highly critical of him, but none of them have actually SEEN the movie, and none of them point to any actual factual errors in the film. Some of the most shocking things in this movie are pieces of footage you will see with your own eyes that you never see on television. They are undisputable and they are truly alarming. This film is not some anonymous attack piece distributed on the internet. It is a well crafted and thoroughly researched documentary. Regardless of what you might think about Michael Moore, I think you will be surprised to learn a few things about Bush and the way he has led this country that you may not know, and that I'm sure he doesn't want you to know. It may have a point of view, and it may reach conclusions about the President that you don't agree with, but the facts are undisputable. Go see it for yourself and make your own decisions about whether we have a responsible leader in the White House. I dare you.
4.) ...she married Senator John Forbes Kerry, the liberal junior senator from Massachusetts...she became a registered Democrat..
That is NOT the way it happened. Although the Kerry's shared many of the same values, they belonged to different political parties through most of their marriage. Strong marriages can weather differences of opinion. Mrs. Kerry only became a registered Democrat less than two years ago, NOT immedately after marrying Sen. Kerry in 1995. She made the change in party after witnessing the shameful attacks on Max Cleland, a good friend of the Kerry's, when he was running for Senate in Georgia in 2002. Max Cleland, a veteran who left three limbs on the battlefield in Vietnam, was accused by the Republican Party of being "unpatriotic". Apparently, if you disagree with the President, you're "unpatriotic."I guess that makes me unpatriotic, too (which is ridiculous, I love this country more than you know). But to hang that label on a man who made such tremendous sacrifices for his country is laughable. Mrs. Kerry decided she could not belong to a party that practiced this kind of demonization of an American hero like Max Cleland. Neither could I. By the way, Thomas Jefferson was a liberal and a Democrat...I'd say he did pretty well writing the founding documents of our nation. In today's political discourse, labels like "liberal" or "conservative" are thrown around, not to inform, but to confuse. Listen to the ideas, not the labels.
5.) ...having inherited Heinz's $500 million fortune...
I'm sure, however, that the Bush family is in no way compromised by their tremendous fortune earned from the oil and defense industries. Remind me again what industries are benefiting from this tragic war in Iraq?
6.) A lot of hard-earned money, made through many years of hawking catsup, mustard, and pickles has fallen into the hands of two people who despise successful entrepreneurship and who believe in the confiscatory redistribution of wealth.
Huh? On what evidence is that ridiculous statement based? As the former Chairman and current Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, John Kerry has been a national leader in promoting small businesses growth.Kerry owned his own small business, a cookie and muffin shop Kilvert and Forbes that he opened in 1976 with a friend in Bostons Quincy Market, giving him first hand experience of the obstacles faced by small business owners. Every one of George W. Bush's business venutres was funded by his family's wealthy friends, and they all failed. Bush's tax plan is designed to benefit those who are ALREADY wealthy, not the struggling entrepreneur. The Kerry's would actually BENEFIT from Bush's tax plan. The fact that they oppose it demonstrates to me that they care less about themselves and more about average Americans. Kerry's tax plan is designed to HELP small businesses. This is "confiscatory redistribution of wealth?"Give me a break. We're talking about fundamental fairness here.
7.) Teresa Heinz Kerry donates millions of dollars to fringe political groups through the Tides Foundation.
False. Grants from The Heinz Endowments to The Tides Foundation have funded projects related to either environmental protection or youth education. Check out the following links to a press release from the Tides Foundation as well as to a website well known for debunking rumors and urban myths that are spread on the Internet.
http://www.tidesfoundation.org/press_rel_04.cfm
http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/tides.asp
Thanks for reading this. I welcome any comments or questions that anyone might have about this or other issues concerning the upcoming Presidential election. This couldn't be more important, because the future direction of our country is at stake.
No comments:
Post a Comment