A Letter to Nancy Pelosi

Below is a letter to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi posted by the author in my comments section. I’m promoting it, so to speak, to the main page because it’s way too much fun to leave languishing in obscurity at the tail end of a thread. Don’t miss Rep. Pelosi’s response at the end. (The following has been slightly edited for spelling and punctuation.)

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 23:12:15 -0800 (PST)
From: “Warren Windrem”
Subject: Re: Join Me in Welcoming Howard Dean to the DNC!
To: “Rep. Nancy Pelosi”
Dear Rep Pelosi,
If I had to pick one guy who was most responsible for driving me out of the Democratic Party and into the arms of the Republicans, it would be Howard Dean. Welcome him to the DNC? I’d just as soon welcome Noam Chomsky, the late Edward Said, or Ward Churchill, or Juan “Israel is always wrong” Cole, or Leroi What’s His Name, former “Poet Laureate of New Jersey” (“The Jews didn’t show up for work on 9/11, ’cause they were in on the secret — the CIA/Mossad did it!), or the Middle Eastern Studies Department of Columbia University, or the Chairwoman of the Duke University Middle Eastern Studies Department (“Let’s boycott the International Gay Pride Celebration in Tel Aviv — we don’t want to give any encouragement to the International Zionist Conspiracy!), or Representative Cynthia McKinney, or her Jew bashing (not just Israeli bashing, but in-your-face Jew bashing) daddy.
Hey, normally, my being a Democrat would be a lead pipe cinch. Pro choice? Check! Pro Gay Marriage? Check! Pro women’s rights, whatever that is these days? Check! Do I have a pro-Democratic voting record? Check! (Voted for Jimmy Carter twice, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton twice, and even, God help me, Al Gore.)
But the promiscuous, intellectually and morally slutty Anti-War Movement (“We don’t care how bloodthirsty the Palestinian Extremist anti-war speaker is, he’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard” attitude) has driven me out. Now, Howard Dean probably doesn’t share all of the above views, but he certainly has legitimized them, and that makes him totally unacceptable to me.
I turn 57 day after tomorrow. Back in the 50’s and 60’s I rejected Bull Connor, Orville Faubus, George Wallace, the White Citizen’s Council, the Ku Klux Klan, and all the other people who murdered Condi Rice’s childhood friend in the Birmingham church bombing of nineteen sixty something or other. The Civil Rights Movement more than anything else drew me out of my Goldwater Conservative family into the Democratic Party for a generation (at least 35 years, anyway). Too bad the No-Enemies-on-the-Left anti-war crazies are driving me right back to the Republican Party, isn’t it?
You want me back? It will take a Sister Soulja speech straight to the black heart of the anti-war left. I suppose Hillary Clinton looks promising that way. She seems to have lowered the shouting on the abortion debate. (Interestingly enough, I personally would have been okay with a take-no-prisoners pro-choice position, but pragmatic compromise there is okay by me.) I do feel sorry for you. As a San Francisco politician you have to take the Neo-Stalinist idiots down at 24th & Mission (A.N.S.W.E.R.), and the disgraceful Medea Benjamin, and that Israel Bashing lady that runs a women’s shelter on city funding somewhere in S.F. (no coverage of THAT story in the Comical, I had to read that story in the Baltimore Sun — maybe your dad can send you a clipping) and makes life miserable for Jewish employees and clients…you have to take them seriously. Fortunately, I don’t, and I’m free to associate with people who, however much they might disagree with me on Social Security “reform”, or taxation policy, or Supreme Court appointments, or reproductive rights, or bankruptcy legislation, at least they share my abhorrence of racism and Israel bashing and Jew bashing.
Yeah, yeah, don’t tell me, I know, I know, Dean’s wife and teenaged kids are Jewish, so I shouldn’t worry. Do you remember the question some network guy (Tom Brokaw?) asked Michael Dukakis in 1988? “Governor, if some man raped/murdered (I forget which, it was 17 years ago) your wife, what would your reaction be?”
Okay, here’s my question for Howard Dean, and all you people who think he’s okay: Governor Dean, speaking as the husband of a Jewish spouse and the father of Jewish children, what is your emotional reaction when you see some old line neo-Stalinist geek or some don’t-know-any-better young protester carrying a sign that says, “Zionism is Racism”, or “Smash the State of Israel”?
When I hear the Democratic party addressing my concerns in that area, we can talk about contributing money, and not one nano-second earlier.
Warren S. Windrem
Oakland, California
P.S. I am ethnically Scotch-Irish/WASP, from a Presbyterian family background, raised in at-that-time predominately liberal Protestant Olympia, Washington (yes, sigh, the home of “Let’s burn the Israeli flag” Corrie What’s Her Name). I don’t belong to ADL, I don’t dynamite abortion clinics, if I should ever be so lucky as to be invited to the wedding of a gay or lesbian friend I would be honored to attend (I’ve lived in the Bay Area since 1976, almost 30 years, and I hold the typical gay tolerant attitudes). I didn’t grow up in Brooklyn, Queens, or North Jersey. I’d be happy to see the Israelis abandon most, if not all, the West Bank Settlements (BUT NOT THE WALL — a perfectly legitimate defensive measure against inexcusable murder). If you guys want to insult would-be liberals like me by endorsing Howard Dean, go ahead. Even here in the Bay Area there are more pro-war liberals than you think, even if the Comical, and Medea Benjamin, and Tom Meyer would never admit it.
*
Rep. Nancy Pelosi wrote:
Dear Warren,
On Saturday we elected a great Democrat as the chairman of our Party — Howard Dean. Governor Dean has used the power of technology, the force of his personality, and the depth of his ideals to energize the grassroots, and bring more people into the political process.
I have seen Howard Dean’s campaign strengths firsthand as he traveled across the country for House Democrats — organizing voters and raising money. I have seen people who have stood in driving rain for hours to hear his message. We all thank Governor Dean for his enthusiasm and support for our candidates.
This is a critical time for our Party.
https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome
Governor Dean joins the DCCC’s new Chairman Rahm Emanuel as a pair of visionaries who are already working quickly to reform our party and refine our message.
Our new Chairmen need you on board. The 2006 elections have already begun. We need the support of loyal Democrats like you to continue in our fight.
Please renew your support in the DCCC today.
https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome
Democrats are shaking up the status quo, reaching outside the Beltway for ideas and direction, and striving to strengthen the bonds with the great citizens of this country. We will restore a government that protects the interests of the people against the massive special interests that would use government to gouge them – rather than the other way around. You want real reform, and we will bring it to you. But we can only do it with your help.
https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome
We will fight together, and together we will prevail!
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi