A Wall of Shame Letter

by: saramerica

Mon Nov 20, 2006 at 18:02:14 PM EST

This one particularly pissed me off because it was written by the father of my daughter's best friend from nursery school. But read on, my fair MLNers:

Here goes the nasty epistle from Ethan A Brecher, ex-friend.

Greenwich Time columnist Sarah Darer Littman regrets Ned Lamont's loss because he won't be joining the other Democrats in Congress who should now, according to her, hold the Bush administration "accountable" for alleged misconduct since Bush came to office (editorial, Nov 14th)

Littman misses the entire point of this election cycle. The electorate has decided that for now, at least, the Democrats should play a role in governing. The time for holding a governmental official accountable comes through the electoral process, and that has now happened.

It's hard to understand Littman's vindictive desire to punish President Bush, who has not stripped her of her right to vote or express her opinions on the pages of our town's newspaper, and who is probably not listening in on her phone calls or reading her e-mails or keeping tabs on what books she checks out of the library.

For all his purported "sins", President Bush responded forcefully and correctly to 9/11, took out one of the world's most awful dictators, is working hard to keep terrorists from striking again, while at the same time promoting a vibrant economy.

Ned Lamont, who had no ideas other than carping about Iraq, wasn't qualified by experience or temperament to serve as our senator. He launched his general Senate campaign with two notorious anti-Semites at his side, and sunk from there.

Littman should celebrate her freedom and the preservation of her liberities in this difficult time and not seek to take revenge on her fellow citizens who have made her way of life possible. If all she wants is a pound of flesh over the next two years, she will have many more long and sad election nights to follow.

I don't even know where to begin to wade my way through the ridiculous crap in this letter. Ethan's obviously been overdosing on Fox News Kool-Aid. Let's start in paragraph 2 - "The time for holding a governmental official accountable comes through the electoral process, and that has now happened." I'd give anything to know where Ethan was when the Republican controlled Congress was busy trying to impeach President Clinton for lying about a blowjob, something that hasn't cost thousands of American lives. I mean seriously - Clinton was re-elected President, so why did those nasty vindictive Republicans not just roll over and listen to the voice of the electorate when it spoke. After all, the voting public held Clinton accountable and re-elected him?

Frankly, it's Ethan A Brecher who has missed the point. The reason that the Democrats gained control of Congress is because the public WANTS there to be some checks and balances. They WANT Congress to stop being the Bush Administration's bitch and just letting the Executive f*ck this country up down and sideways.

Then there's *this* little gem: "It's hard to understand Littman's vindictive desire to punish President Bush, who has not stripped her of her right to vote or express her opinions on the pages of our town's newspaper, and who is probably not listening in on her phone calls or reading her e-mails or keeping tabs on what books she checks out of the library."

See, even Ethan, who happens to be a lawyer, can't definitely state that Bush *isn't* listening in on my phone calls or reading my e-mails or keeping tabs on my library borrowings. As a lawyer, I would have thought Ethan would have had more respect for the law; would have a great understanding of the Constitution, would have thought that these things were, you know, important.

And I guess Ethan doesn't know about how before the 2004 election, Durham Monsma, the publisher of the Greenwich Time/Advocate was getting a lot of pressure to shut me up, how I got an e-mail from my then editor saying that perhaps I could lay off writing about Bush for a while, to which I responded that if the paper was going to stop me from writing my conscience then I couldn't in good conscience continue writing for the paper. Lord knows, I don't do it for the money...or the fan mail.

The last paragraph is just plain stupid: "Littman should celebrate her freedom and the preservation of her liberities in this difficult time and not seek to take revenge on her fellow citizens who have made her way of life possible." Bush has done more than any other American president to destroy our way of life. To say that HE has made my way of life possible shows a fundamental lack of understanding about international law, about constitutional law and the intentions of the framers to have checks and balances, about what our basic freedoms are all about.

So Mr. Ethan A Brecher, resident of Greenwich, CT and former friend, I hereby post you on the SARAMERICA WALL OF SHAME. You've earned it.