Senator Cornyn wrote a letter to President Obama today regarding flag@whitehouse.gov where we can forward emails that distort and lie about health care reform. I got one of those emails the other day and was thrilled to send it on to the White House (even though I know they already got it because the were debunking it the day I got the email).
But Cornyn had to make it into something it isn't saying, "I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed ‘fishy' or otherwise inimical to the White House's political interests," Sen. Cornyn wrote. "You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program. As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights."
I am on Cornyn's email list and got his disgusting letter in my inbox. This is what I sent back to him:
Mr. Cornyn,
I received your email about your letter to the President about "fishy" emails. Well, guess what Mr. Cornyn, I am the recipient of one of those "fishy" emails and I would much rather you spend your time educating your constituents about what health care reform is REALLY about instead of allowing lies and deceptions to be circulated in "fishy" emails.
In the time it took you or your staff to write that letter, you could have written to everyone on your email list the truth: that we aren't going to kill elderly Americans, that we aren't nationalizing health care and that you are fighting harder for the health insurance industry than you are for me or my neighbor who pay out the nose for health insurance coverage that could be dropped tomorrow. You could have written how it's ridiculous that health insurance premiums are going up along with insurance company profits. And you could say how it's shameful that insurance premiums are going up at the same time insurance companies are fighting against reform.
But you didn't. Instead you created some "fishy" outrage over a pretend issue in order to avoid doing anything about the real issues.
You're pandering Mr. Cornyn. You're pandering to the people who believe that we're going to sign up old people to be euthanized. You are pandering to the people who rage against socialized health care yet get Medicare.
The Gallup poll the other day showed that Texas is a swing state. It showed that there are as many Democrats as Republicans now. So I expect you to start thinking about the Democrats in your state, too. I also expect a letter, like the one you sent to the President, but addressed to your fellow Texans that sets the record straight on those "fishy" emails. If you would show integrity by doing it yourself, the President wouldn't have to set the record straight for you.