Why Democrats shouldn’t be scared By Michael Moore,

USATODAY.com

Exactly what moment was it during the convention that convinced them that the Republicans had now “connected” with the

majority of Americans and that it was all over? Arnold praising Richard Nixon? Ooooh, that’s a real crowd-pleaser. Elizabeth Dole

decrying the removal of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse wall in Alabama? Yes, that’s a big topic of conversation in the

unemployment line in Akron, Ohio. Georgia Sen. Miller, a Democratic turncoat, looking like Freddy Krueger at an all-girls camp? His

speech — and the look on what you could see of his strangely lit face — was enough for parents to send small children to their

bedrooms.

My friends — and I include all Democrats, independents and recovering Republicans in this salutation — do not be afraid.

Yes, the Bush Republicans huff and they puff, but they blow their own house down.

As many polls confirm, a majority of your fellow

Americans believe in your agenda. They want stronger environmental laws, are strong supporters of women’s rights, favor gun control and

want the war in Iraq to end. …

And there were the Band-Aids. The worst display of how out of touch the Republicans are was those

Purple Heart Band-Aids the delegates wore to mock Kerry over his war wounds, which, for them, did not spill the required amount of

blood.

What they didn’t seem to get is that watching at home might have been millions of war veterans feeling that they were being

ridiculed by a bunch of rich Republicans who would never send their own offspring to die in Fallujah or Danang.

Everyone at the top of the Bush adminstration except the absent Colin Powell actively avoided Vietnam. Hey, I was

certainly thinking about Canada when my number was drawn. But I’m not pounding a podium today saying you didn’t bleed enough and you

are weak. Colossal, mammoth, elephantine hypocrisy. mjh