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[Prospero]

Operation Clark County

In the spirit of the Declaration of Independence's pledge to show "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind", we have come up with a unique way for non-Americans to express your views on the policies and candidates in this election to some of the people best placed to decide its outcome.

Writing to a Clark County [Ohio] voter is a chance to explain how US policies effect you personally, and the rest of the world more generally, and who you hope they will send to the White House. It may even persuade someone to use their vote at all.

Remember, charm will be far more effective than hectoring.

But John Le Carre, at least, goes for the hectoring instead of the charm.

Maybe there's one good reason - just one - for re-electing George W Bush, and that's to force him to live with the consequences of his appalling actions, and answer for his own lies, rather than wish the job on a Democrat who will then get blamed for his predecessor's follies.

Here are some of the American responses.

Thank you for taking such an active interest in the elections here in America. I appreciate what the Guardian is doing. Your effort to reach out to "swing states" and make a difference is commendable. I hope that many of your readers will take your challenge to help make a change in Washington by contacting voters.

Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two shits what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals.

I just read a hilarious proposal to involve your readership in the upcoming US presidential election. At least, I'm hoping that it is genius satire. Nothing will do more to undermine the Democratic cause in Ohio than having patronising Brits wander around Clark County telling people how to vote. Just, for a second, imagine if the Washington Post sent folks from Ohio to do the same in Oxfordshire. I'm saying this as a Democrat, and as someone who has spent the last few years in the UK. That is, with all due respect. Please, please, be rational, and move slowly away from the self-defeating hubris.

Interesting reading--says as much about what some Brits think of the US right now as what some Americans think about Brits.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

so many mature responses

 

[DSN2K]

really do feel for you americans....

choices you have are laughable. stupid or flipper :lol

 

[Tritroid]

Looks like most of these letters from "prominent" Britons are based mostly on conspiracies.

 

[Vennt]

Heres My "Brit letter to the Americans wrt/ Election 2004"

Dear Sirs,

You're fucked either way, best of luck with that.

Oh, and John Stewart for Pres!

Regards,

Vennt.

 

[LizardKing]

Heres My "Brit letter to the Americans wrt/ Election 2004"

Dear Sirs,

You're fucked either way, best of luck with that.

Oh, and John Stewart for Pres!

Regards,

Vennt.

:lol

 

[Che]

Heres My "Brit letter to the Americans wrt/ Election 2004"

Dear Sirs,

You're fucked either way, best of luck with that.

Oh, and John Stewart for Pres!

Regards,

Vennt.

:lol

IAWTP.

 

[Ripclawe]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...aun21.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/21/ixhome.html

British intervention in poll backfires
By David Rennie in Springfield, Ohio
(Filed: 21/10/2004)

Dan Harkins, a political activist in the vital swing state of Ohio, was excited when he first heard that the Guardian newspaper was recruiting readers to write to voters in his state in the hopes of giving foreigners a voice in the American election.

Yesterday, the first of about 14,000 Guardian readers' letters started arriving in the mailboxes of Clark County, Mr Harkins's home region - chosen by the British paper as a pivotal election district where President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry are neck and neck.



The first letters to be made public all urged Clark County voters to reject Mr Bush. As he watched the reaction of friends and neighbours, Mr Harkins was delighted.

He is the chairman of the Clark County Republican Party, and his neighbours' reaction was outrage. "It's hysterical," laughed Mr Harkins, showing off sheaves of incensed e-mails and notes from local voters.

 

[SFA_AOK]

"Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two shits what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals."

Yet another reason not to put our troops under US control.

Edit: Not that I think the letter writing campaign was a bright idea...

 

[shoplifter]

Like I said in the other thread, Clark County is a hellhole.

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

My dear, beloved Brits,
I understand the Guardian is sponsoring a service where British citizens write to Americans to advise them on how to vote. Thank heavens! I was adrift in a sea of confusion and you are my beacon of hope!

Feel free to respond to this email with your advice. Please keep in mind that I am something of an anglophile, so this is not confrontational. Please remember, too, that I am merely an American. That means I am not very bright. It means I have no culture or sense of history. It also means that I am barely literate, so please don't use big, fancy words.

Set me straight, folks!
Dayton, OH

:lol :lol :lol

I wish they would have shown more of the rational responses to this, but I guess it wouldn't get as much attention as showing the psychotic ones.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Shame on you for using the people of Ohio like this. The US presidental election isn't just about foreign policy, it's about healthcare, taxes, education, transportation, natural resources and all manner of issues with little to no impact on the people of Britain.

We live in a globalised, interconnected world. If China shuts its borders to US imports, you better believe American companies, shareholders and workers are affected. Should US citizens therefore have a direct say in Chinese policies? No - Americans should demand that their own elected leaders address the issues with their Chinese counterparts. The British have a similar voice in US policies - through your own elected representatives who have any number of diplomatic, economic and military tools at their disposal. You vote for your leaders and we'll vote for ours. Your problem is with your leaders, not ours.

this was the most rational response.

but the one Screaming_Gremlin posted was perfect :lol.


i like this one too.

I just read a hilarious proposal to involve your readership in the upcoming US presidential election. At least, I'm hoping that it is genius satire. Nothing will do more to undermine the Democratic cause in Ohio than having patronising Brits wander around Clark County telling people how to vote. Just, for a second, imagine if the Washington Post sent folks from Ohio to do the same in Oxfordshire. I'm saying this as a Democrat, and as someone who has spent the last few years in the UK. That is, with all due respect. Please, please, be rational, and move slowly away from the self-defeating hubris.

 

[Ripclawe]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...22.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/22/ixnewstop.html

Guardian calls it quits in Clark County fiasco
By David Rennie in Youngstown
(Filed: 22/10/2004)

The Guardian yesterday ran up the white flag and called a halt to "Operation Clark County", the newspaper's ambitious scheme to recruit thousands of readers to persuade American voters in a swing state to kick out President George W Bush in next month's election.



The cancellation of the project came 24 hours after the first of some 14,000 letters from Guardian readers began arriving in Clark County. The missives led to widespread complaints about foreign interference in a US election.

It also prompted a surge of indignant local voters calling the county's Republican party offering to volunteer for Mr Bush

 

[Triumph]

Heres My "Brit letter to the Americans wrt/ Election 2004"

Dear Sirs,

You're fucked either way, best of luck with that.

Oh, and John Stewart for Pres!

Regards,

Vennt.

Got space for rent?

 

[Crag Dweller]

I have to disagree with Shoplifter about Clark County being a hellhole. In fact there really is nothing more than farmland in the county except for Springfield. We have our fair share of country music lovin' shitkickers here I'll grant you, but all in all a decent area of the country to live in.

 

[shoplifter]

No offense intended. Springfield has just always seemed like a classic rust belt type of town. I'm from Mechanicsburg, and I think it's a hellhole too.

Springfield does have it's moments though. Downtown is nowhere near as shitty as it used to be, though there are still several completely empty buildings (that have been empty for at least 10-15 years). They have done a lot to clean up downtown though. The mall being built was the beginning of the end for that area of town though. I used to go to Rike's downtown when I was a kid.

I don't mean it in terms of 'shitty place to live' I more mean in terms of 'there's just nothing happening' and 'it's all redneck farmers'. Mechanicsburg's redneck farmers used to install subwoofers and drive down the street in their TRACTORS listening to 2Pac or Dre.

I'd certainly not mind my kids growing up in the area (hell I did) but I just feel that the area is destined to languish at this point.

 

[Crag Dweller]

Small world! I live on the outskits of Huber Heights on the southern border of Clark County myself. I drive thru Mechanicsburg once a month to visit my grandma in Marysville. I've probably driven over Darby creek a thousand times at least in my life. In fact last time I drove thru I noticed that the Shell station changed to a Marathon(when did that happen?), and Milford Center has a new IGA with a gas station. (Gotta love small town life!!!)

As far as Springfield goes, I lived there in the early 70's and it wasn't so bad then. After International Harvester left town it just hasn't been the same there. But, alot of stores have come into the town in the past couple of years so maybe it has some hope yet.

 

[shoplifter]

The Shell---> Marathon happened, iirc, as a result of cheaper franchise fees or something to that effect. I'll ask my friend next time I see him. We both used to work there (i over the summer during college one year), and the owners used to live across the street from me.

The IGA (which is in Mechanicburg, unless they ALSO built a new one with gas station in Milford) is a result of the old one burning down almost 2 years ago. I also used to work there, and I know the guy who runs it well. Ryan (the original owner's grandson, I went to High School with him) basically wants to take ALL of the Shell/Marathon's business with the gas station, and he's doing well. That Honda traffic is fucking precious.

Everyone knows everybody in the 'Burg.

 

[Sakonna]

Heres My "Brit letter to the Americans wrt/ Election 2004"

Dear Sirs,

You're fucked either way, best of luck with that.

Oh, and John Stewart for Pres!

Regards,

Vennt.

Ahh hahaha

 

[Crag Dweller]

The Shell---> Marathon happened, iirc, as a result of cheaper franchise fees or something to that effect. I'll ask my friend next time I see him. We both used to work there (i over the summer during college one year), and the owners used to live across the street from me.

The IGA (which is in Mechanicburg, unless they ALSO built a new one with gas station in Milford) is a result of the old one burning down almost 2 years ago. I also used to work there, and I know the guy who runs it well. Ryan (the original owner's grandson, I went to High School with him) basically wants to take ALL of the Shell/Marathon's business with the gas station, and he's doing well. That Honda traffic is fucking precious.

Everyone knows everybody in the 'Burg.

Yeah, The IGA I'm thinking about must be in Mechanicburg. All these years of going thru Mechanicburg and Milford Center have kinda melded both towns into one in my mind. Or it could be the dope.

 

[Particle Physicist]

"It also prompted a surge of indignant local voters calling the county's Republican party offering to volunteer for Mr Bush"



:lol .. well this pretty much backfired