A Letter from Grandpa - New RW talking points chain letter going round and my reply..

[ddeclue]

A letter from Grandpa
LETTER FROM GRANDPA
From an Anonymous Grandpa:

"Guess you heard that 68% of "the youth vote" went to Obama

My granddaughter called this morning to tell me she was one of them. I replied with this e-mail:

The election of Obama comes down to this. Your grandmother and I, your mother and other productive wage-earning taxpayers will have their taxes increased and that means less income. Less income means we will have to cut back on basic purchases, gifts and handouts. That includes firing the Hispanic lady who cleans our house twice a month. She just lost her job. We can't afford her anymore.

What is the economic effect of Obama's election on you personally? Over the years, your grandmother and I have given you thousands of dollars in food, housing, cash, clothing, gifts, etc., etc. By your vote, you have chosen another family over ours for help. So in the future, if you need assistance with your rent, money for gas, tires for your car, someone to bring you lunch, etc....call 20... . That's the telephone number for the Office of the President of the United States. I'm sure Mr. Obama will be happy to send a check from his personal or business accounts or leave cash in an envelope taped to his front door.

It's like this. Those who vote for the president should consider what the impact of an election will be on the nation as a whole and not just be concerned with what they can get for themselves (welfare, etc.). What Obama voters don't seem to realize is that the government's money comes from taxes collected from taxpaying families. Raising taxes on productive people means they will have less money to spend on their families.


MY REPLY:

If Grandpa REALLY wanted to help his grand kids, instead of complaining about his "taxes being too high" (which they aren't):

a) He would fight for universal health care - healthcare is killing the economy and the only real fix is make it government provided as it is everywhere else in the civilized world.

b) He would fight for universal free college education and job training. College education is simply becoming unaffordable and 99% of us don't have a grandpa making $250k per year to turn to - we need a solution that helps everybody, not one that helps the 1% of the privileged few who really don't need it.

c) He would fight for strong unions. Not everyone is cut out for college. The only way to protect our standard of living is to provide a balance between corporate and labor power in this country. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act now.

d) He would demand that the government break up all those companies that are too big to fail, particularly banks, investment firms, and oil companies into much smaller companies that would have to actually compete for our business and offer real jobs to us.

e) He would demand that the government ban all future mergers of companies NOT in bankruptcy. Why break up these companies only to find ourselves back in the same place in 10 years.

f) He would RAISE taxes on the richest and spend the money counter-cyclically into the economy into infrastructure and research and development to RAISE demand for the economy. He would also want to use that money to pay the DEBT down so his grandkids won't be stuck paying for it.

g) He would get us out of Iraq - an unnecessary war based on lies that costs us $12 billion per month that we could be using here instead.

h) He would demand that we regulate, investigate and prosecute the hell out of the banking, investment, real estate, and oil businesses that have led our economy to the brink of destruction.

i) He would demand that we get our country OFF its dangerous and expensive dependence on foreign oil that is sending $700 billion per year to the Middle East - money better spent here - and work to switch our transportation system to use electric, methanol fuel cell and other renewable energy sources instead of oil.

j) He would demand that we get the money out of politics so that ordinary people would be representing ordinary people instead of the wealthy representing the interests of wealthy interests.

Doug D.

[ellacott]

1. Good reply

[benddem]

2. good job n/t

[NanceGreggs]

3. Excellent reply!

:kick: & REC'D!!!

[ddeclue]

7. I am not worthy!

I love the stuff you write!

:)

[Starry Messenger]

4. Good reply.

I love the touch about the housekeeper in the original. "OMG we had to fire the maid!" It's like those magazine tips for saving money that suggest you cut down on trips to the hairdresser. Some of us have slipped several rungs down below this one already. :rofl:

[ddeclue]

10. notice how the maid is hispanic??

trying to peel off hispanic voters but using a blatantly racist stereotype in the process...


:eyes:

[DangerousRhythm]

14. Oh, but of course.

I like how they even HAVE a maid in the first place. :rofl:

[ddeclue]

11. notice how the maid is hispanic??

trying to peel off hispanic voters but using a blatantly racist stereotype in the process...


:eyes:

[navarth]

5. well done. I hope you did a 'reply to all'.

keep up the fight

[ddeclue]

6. Actually it's on a linked in group called Campaigns and Elections Politics Magazine

that I joined. I thought it was going to be a place to discuss the PROCESS of campaigns with other campaign consultant types in either party but it has turned into a place for this right wing clown to post his nonsense - so I owned his ass for putting this crap up.

:rofl:

[navarth]

8. well done.

linkedin is getting bigger all the time...

[Mz Pip]

9. Obama hasn't even

been sworn in and grandpa is already anticipating the worst and he's being a smart alecky prick about it as well.

Dumbest part of the email is this:

"What Obama voters don't seem to realize is that the government's money comes from taxes collected from taxpaying families."

No one is that stupid as to not get that people who work and make money pay taxes. This is hardly some new development in the history iof the US.

So here's the thing Grandpa - when the government runs out of money you will be losing more than your maid. Expect to see cutbacks in Medicaid and other "freebies" seniors get. Guess what Grandpa, you've got a stake in how well Obama does so instead of anticipating the worst, why not wish him well and hope for the best. It's not like GW did so well for you and yours.

[Uzybone]

12. " firing the Hispanic lady who cleans our house twice a month"

and they wonder why they are losing more and more of the Hispanic vote.

[Vinca]

13. Whaddaya want to bet Grandpa's cleaning lady is an illegal immigrant

he can pay half the wages of an American worker.

[knitter4democracy]

15. None of the cleaning ladies I've ever had were.

I'm even in an area with more and more latinos all the time. They've all been poor white women who've lost factory jobs. That "grandpa" doesn't live in Michigan, that's for damn sure.

[CTyankee]

36. I had a great Russian couple until they retired. Now I have a Portuguese woman

who I pay $25 an hour for 3 hours once a month to help with the heavier stuff I find it hard to do. I would feel really guilty not paying what she needs and asks for. She does a great job for me and my husband and, as he gets more disabled, we need her help. We are seniors and are having to rely on people we can hire to do what we did when we were younger. Age takes it out of you...

[AllentownJake]

16. My response would be snarky

Don't worry Grandpa you won't be working long. The first people companies downsize is the older workers with forced early retirement. BTW most of entitlement programs in the federal buget go to social security so you have a little extra income and medicare so you and grandma can get drugs and healthcare..but I guess your only concerned with taking care of yourself.

[Hissyspit]

17. UNDER OBAMA'S TAX PLAN

The only way "Grandpa's" taxes are going to go up is if he is making shit loads of money, in which case he isn't going to have to fire his maid anyway.

What a diaper load of an email that is.

[izquierdista]

18. Grandpa needs a good FU

Cut off his Social Security (wouldn't want him to be accepting welfare), tell him the able bodied need to pull their own weight, and let him pay for his health care out of pocket, unsubsidized by Medicare.

[mopinko]

19. whose grampa is this? i don't know anyone who had this kind of gramps

paying my rent, and bringing me my lunch? get real.

[last1standing]

20. Grandpa sounds like a greedy, spiteful bigot to me.

Grandpa fired the 'hispanic' housekeeper before Obama could even take office to allegedly raise those taxes so it looks like he's just a spiteful old bigot to me. He wanted to take his bitterness over the election out on a minority to make up for the indignity of having to call a black man, "Mr. President".

Then, gramps decides to cut his grandkids off from any help because of his extreme greed. He's so upset at the concept of losing out on a possible 3% of his income that he's going to let his grandchildren lose their homes, be stranded without a vehicle, or even a meal. Can you imagine being willing to let your progeny suffer for such a petty excuse as this? Granddad is one hateful sonovabitch!

Of course the reality to this anonymous letter is that there really isn't a 'grandpa' at all. This is just another chain email dashed off by some middle-aged freeper who needed to vent his frustrations with life and the way it's treated him before calling up to his mom from the basement for another baloney sandwich with extra ketchup and the crusts cut off.

[Laelth]

21. Nicely said. n/t

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Mister Ed]

22. Grandpa kept supporting the ones who were plunging us into debt these past 8 years

Who did he think was going to pay that debt if not the taxpayers?

That staggering debt is Grandpa's real legacy to his granddaughter. Thanks a lot, Gramps.

[Ilsa]

23. Excellent! Hit Reply To All when returning it! Thanks. nt

[Monk06]

24. That hispanic cleaning lady is really going to miss that 16 hrs a month at

less than minimum wage job where she has to pay
for transportation to get to grandad's house.

Plus she has to clean two weeks of filth in eight
hours. That's assuming grandad believes in an eight
hour work day.

Just a question, how much money has this miser actually
given to his family over the years?

[lady raven]

25. I'm sure I'm not the ONLY one who found irony in THIS part:

"Those who vote for the president should consider what the impact of an election will be on the nation as a whole and not just be concerned with what they can get for themselves (welfare, etc.)."

Hey, fictional nasty Grandpa: Isn't that what YOU did? YOU supported McCain because YOU wanted more money for YOU. You didn't look past your own wallet to do what was right for the nation as a whole (Although your much wiser grandchild did). All you did was vote for your own interests. Perhaps you should consider what the impact of an election will be on the nation as a whole and not just be concerned with what you can get for yourself.

Your granddaughter probably voted to help her children have a better future and to help the rest of the people in this country who are not so fortunate to have a yearly income above $250k as you are so lucky to have.

Oh, and cutting off your grandchild based ONLY upon who she voted for: There's some family values for ya!

[OnionPatch]

29. No, you're not the only one.

The part that kills me is that most people work hard raising their kids to instill values in them like the ones his granddaughter has. If my daughter gave up her future "grandpa-gifts" of cell phones, iPods and video games because she wanted to make sure everyone in America has health care, education and opportunity, I would be so proud of her I would burst!

[lady raven]

32. No kidding! Me too!

[nemo137]

26. Grandpa's a jackass, it seems.

Your response, though, spot on.

[Orsino]

31. Anonymous for a reason.

He's a coward as well as a liar.

[Vinnie From Indy]

27. Tell Grandpa ...

Fuck off Grandpa! I don't want your stinkin' money. Since
you'll be dead soon, I was wondering what the mortician will
say when he begins the embalming procedure and finds that
instead of blood, you are full of shit. If you keep sending me
these idiotic, ignorant emails I might just have to petition
the court to judge your competency and urge that they appoint
me your legal guardian. That way I will get to decide how to
spend ALL of your money. 

[OnionPatch]

28. Grandpa ought to be ashamed!

What is he teaching is children? That you care ONLY about your own family? That grandpa and grandma's housekeeper is more important than other people having health care and the basic sustenance of life? Grandpa ought to be applauding his granddaughter that she cares so much about the rest of the world despite the self-centered adults who raised her.

[and-justice-for-all]

30. Blah blah blah...they can blow it out their ass...

It has been a long standing myth that those people are the 'majority', but in fact, they are and have always been the 'minority'.

Why do you think that when they had control of everything, they still continued to be pissed off and angry all the time? It is because they are the minority and always have to put up the front that they are something that they are not. The majority of America is not hannity, limpballs, coultergeist, savage, robertson, dobson or any other venom spitting clown and never has been.

Shattering the myth that they are the majority is a key to eliminating this Neofascism that has come to America.

[mitchum]

33. Hurry up and die, "Grandpa"

[yardwork]

34. How's that retirement fund working for you, "Grandpa?"

Portfolio healthy? No?!

[Mz Pip]

37. True dat!

Grandpa has probably lost at least 30% of his net worth during the last year, but he's already complaining about the possibilty of a tax hike.

If I were Grandpa, I would be happy to trade higher taxes for the money I've lost in my investments. Grandpa sounds like he's lost his mind.

[Arugula Latte]

35. Grandpa's an ignorant, nasty old bastard, isn't he?

[jberryhill]

38. No problem Gramps... We were tired of paying for your social security and medicare anyway /nt

[depakid]

39. A fine reply, yet you have to wonder

whether people who "think" like this have enough knowledge of basic economics (or are even numerate enough) to understand your reasoning.