This is doing the rounds as an email chain letter and is being posted to many places on the web. It is supposedly a plea to vote for Kerry from a “very conservative” Orlando Sentinel columnist. The email I got says,
“He’s a Conservative Republican who is anti-abortion, anti-tax-and-spend, loudly critical of legislation by the judiciary, doesn’t think much of ulticulturalism or secularism, has suggested Clinton “turned the Oval Office into a whorehouse,” thinks Ronald Reagan is the greatest thing to come down the pike since canned beer, and voted for Bush in the last election.”
Reese’s ‘column’ begins,
“Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush’s re-election, they are really voting for the architects of war – Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers. I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a front man, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory.”
The only problem is I cannot find anything like this piece, or anything by or about Charlie Reese, by searching the Orlando Sentinel site. Much as I would love to believe in this religious conversion from the dark side, it sounds to me like a spam troll by an anonymous Kerry supporter to get conservatives to give the Democratic candidate another look. Snopes, my favorite debunking site for the abuse of the credulous (like myself!), has nothing about “Charlie Reese.” Does anybody know any more?
Addendum: It turns out I couldn’t find anything because it is “Charley Reese”, not “Charlie…” (Thanks to the comment from reader NWD). Reese was with the Sentinel until 2001 but has posted his columns on lewrockwell.com since then. Here is a link to “Vote for a Puppet, Not a Man.” Here is a more accurate capsule biography of Reese:
“Charley Reese [send him mail] has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969–71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner. Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802.”
I apologize for my initial skepticism.
