Subject: Just found your site
Mr. Bartcop,
I came across your web site by accident
and I have to admit that I
spent a good deal of time tonight reading
your material and came away
amazed with your faith in Al Gore. I am
not usually compelled to
write letters (I'm busy enough with the
family) but I felt the need.
Ray, I have more faith in W and the GOP screwing this up
than I have in Gore getting everything right.
I am a 43 year old police officer from upstate
New York. I am
married and have six children. I have lived
in NYS all of my life
and have voted GOP consistently since Ronald
Reagan in 1980. I
consider myself a pretty much straight
line conservative except for
my staunch opposition to the death penalty
(to me abortion and death
penalty are basically the same issue).
So far, you're making sense.
Now that being said I must also tell you
something you probably
guessed already......I have no intention
of voting for Mr. Gore or
Mrs. Clinton come November (gasp!).
You're not alone. It's my understanding there are millions of
people
in NY state who will not be voting for Hillary. If you think
that young
fella can better represent you in the Senate, by all means...
In reading from your site you hold nothing
back in your distaste for
anything Republican and you are especially
harsh in your critique of
Mr. Bush.
I think there's a chance Bush m,ight be
a decent candidate in, say 2004
or 2008. Right now, he seems to be learning
all he can about the job.
I don't exopect him to know everything,
but you remember that Pop Quiz
he got somewhere, Boston I think? When
the reporter asked him who the
leaders of certain nations were, Bush show
back,
"I don't know - DO YOU?"
That's probably more childishness than anything
I've seen from a
presidential candidate in my lifetime,
and I'm older than you.
For some reason, the unqualified Busyh is
being given this nomination
without having to earn it, like everything
he seems to have gotten.
What I am wondering is....Are you blind
to the obvious flaws in your chosen
candidate? I think you put far to much
confidence in Mr. Gore's ability to
turn his campaign around.
Sure, Gore has flaws, but if you think "Buddhist
temple, love canal and
I invented the internet" will win this
election for your boy, you are mistaken.
If you want to see flaws in a candidate,
wait for the debates.
Are you so certain you have a winner? At
times you seem confident that
an Al Gore presidency is a given, but that
confidence is occasionally
mixed with doubts of whether Mr. Gore can
actually win.
I see no chance Gore can lose.
If women want Jesse Helms to control their bodies, and blacks
think racism
is dead, and the pooor have enough to eat, and the old stop whining
about
having to choose between medicine and food, THEN I'll think your
man
has a chance, but that's not going to happen
I understand that the only real poll that
counts occurs on November
7th, but surely you have access to polling
data that places Mr. Gore
down as many as 15 points. Even more urgent
for him is the electoral
college polls that show him behind in many
states.
Hey, I remember a famous war hero with an approval of 91 percent
who got
beat by a skirt-chasing, dope-smoking, draft-dodging governor
of a small,
poverty-stricken, backwards state. Granted, Gore is no Clinton,
but I don't
think he has to be. When people start paying attention, Gore's
going to look
pretty good to the voters.
I know that your response to this point
is to look to the debates and how Gore
will destroy Bush, but even if your best
possible scenario occurs (Mr. Bush
suffering a panic attack on stage), how
many points can he gain?
Gore will start closing the gap 30 days before the debates.
Debates have never provided a candidate
a bounce of more than 10 points.
If you are honest with yourself, you know
that your best scenario will not happen.
Bush's comfort and confidence levels have
improved dramatically in the past year
and even if he does reasonably well he
will not be seen as the loser. What happens
if the debates do not produce the desired
effect for Mr. Gore?
(The same issue was put out by Democrats
regarding Mr. Reagan)
I'm back to the women, blacks, poor, elderly etc. If those
people think Bush can
"fix" the America Clinton/Gore have given us, we could be in
for some trouble.
Maybe I should allow more for the idiot" factor.
I realize that your next line of defense
is the abortion issue. I
understand that this is a devisive issue
in the United States, but
not nearly as devisive as liberals maintain.
No presidential
election has ever turned on the issue of
abortion and the fact of the
matter is that the issue has historically
helped Republicans in
national elections more than it hurts.
Also Mr. Gore has little
credibility on this issue given his well
known flip-flops (sorry, no
coat hanger on stage).
I've said this before.
If women don't want control of their bodies, it's OK with me.
I won't insist on anything they don't need.
I think the reason that many Democrats are
panicked right now is they
realize that people just don't like Al
Gore. Conversely, Mr. Bush
seems to get more popular by the day coupled
with public opinion that
he just might be up for the job (which
really scares the Democrats).
Democrats?
Panic?
Have you been listening to Rush?
Looking back over this I realize I am rambling.
I want to commend you for
your convictions. We are blessed to live
in a nation where ideas can be shared
so freely. I will be watching closely right
up until November and I might even
visit your web site again and hopefully
see more and more of that Democratic
fear creeping out through your material.
I have failed to make my position clear:
I'd like to see Bush win, but I'm certain that's not possible.
If Bush wins, I think the monetary awards would be significant.
I've been playing defense so long, I'm ready for some offense.
Reminder: I'm male, white, healthy, not pregnant, not poor, not
draftable.
There's very little harm Bush could do me.
Sincerely,
Ray Walsh
Thanks for the nice letter.
I don't get many of them.