UDON THANI – Long-time Thailand resident and prolific letter writer Bill Arnold expressed shock and dismay yesterday that his prodigious efforts to inform the world about his brilliant and infallible opinions failed to sway the US presidential election.
“I don’t understand it,” said Arnold, a 66-year-old small business owner. “I must have sent in over 200 letters to the Bangkok Post and The Nation in the last four years clearly outlining the failure of Obama’s liberal policies, and yet, he still won. Unbelievable.”
Although only about a fifth of Arnold’s letters to the editor were actually published, he assumed that those who knew of his infinite wisdom and rapier wit from the published letters would have sought more of his writing by going to his blog, where in addition to all his letters he writes daily observations about Thailand and US news.
“I’ve traveled the world, I’ve served in the military, and I’ve owned businesses, so unlike these kids who spout off their nonsense in the papers, I know what I’m talking about,” said Arnold, citing his years living in Thailand and Cambodia, his single tour of Vietnam as a supply clerk, and the three failed businesses he has started. “People respect my views.”
In addition to writing to local newspapers and blogging, Arnold also spends upwards of six hours a day on news sites and forums, writing opinions that “educate the world about the truth.” He claims to be a top poster at Thaivisa.com, TheEconomist.com, and New Mandala, which he claims is a “haven for ivory-tower pseudo intellectuals.”
Ever since Obama’s election victory in 2008, Arnold has been engaged in what he calls “Operation Overlord,” a reference to the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II. Declaring himself a “soldier of principle,” Arnold began his campaign of enlightening the ignorant people of Thailand and the world, who were all endangering the prosperity of the Reagan Years by allowing a soft-on-terror, socialist-liberal, lying non-American to seize the White House in what amounted to a “coup by media fiat.”
“I have had over 7800 hits on my blog since 2008,” he proudly announced. “In addition, I estimate that the forums and newspapers I write for have a total audience of over five million. Over the course of four years, I am absolutely sure that I reached enough people to open their eyes and make a difference.”
During Election Night, Arnold stayed up all night tracking results through like-minded conservative websites, which unlike the “liberal MSM” understood the nuances of modern communication and based its projections on the comprehensive work of people like Arnold to bring truth to key constituencies.
The final result was a shock, and immediately brought up suspicions of a conspiracy.
“There is no way that Barack Hussein Obama won that election fair and legally,” he concluded. “Not with people like me out there for these past four years, showing people the truth. It’s just not possible.”
Arnold plans to present his suspicions of conspiracy to his peers directly when his regular group of elderly expat friends gathers this Friday at the Tilac Bar, where according to several people questioned, conspiracy presentations by Arnold are a regular occasion.
“Oh, that’s just Bill,” said Peter Morgan, a longtime friend. “He just keeps talking. We all stopped listening fifteen years ago, but he just keeps talking.”
