Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3298 Editor's Choice: 7
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The shooterine dilemma
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Holly has you, shooter. This is the essence of what you've been trying to peddle here since back in those halcyon days when the world was young, and Jane Hamsher had just given you the boot:
1) a Nazi foreign policy,
2) a Soviet domestic policy,
and
3) the sweet reasonableness of shooter.
For 1 and 2 there are no buyers, and 3 is absurd on the face of it, even for the folks who've only seen a couple of your comments.
Have you ever read The Death of a Salesman? Did it ring no bells? None at all?
A pity.
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For myself
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary Clinton's appearance at Firedoglake heartened me, and not coincidentally, made me think more highly of Hillary herself. Whatever anyone thinks of Jane and Christy, they are, along with Kos, MoveOn and Howard Dean, among the principal contributors to a long overdue renewal of the Democratic Party. I admire them and their fellow posters, and the spirit and energy which they've lent to the rest of us.
I can't see why anyone except the sour grapes Lieberman crew, who at this point are out of touch with most Democrats on the most important issues would find, Hillary's gesture at all controversial. It's both a welcome bow to the growing power of the rank-and-file, and a sign that Hillary may be a lot smarter than some of her advisors. When it comes time to vote, I won't forget it.
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Thank you, hcoppola
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Now that was fun. Here's the question from WT, imaginary White House Correspondent:
Mr. President, how does what you're planning for Iraq differ from what 'air and naval forces of the Empire of Japan' did on December 7, 1941, apart from the fact that Iraq's military weakness allows you the luxury of warning them in advance?
Let's see how Mr. Knoller likes that one.
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On muddying the waters
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those giant tin-roofed Republican gotcha factories in Colorado Springs, or wherever they are, are at last running into the law of diminishing marginal utility. The Clinton penis incantation has lost its power to arouse; the spectre of Democratic racism and homophobia re-enacted by sweaty middle-aged cheerleaders like shooter plays to empty stadiums everywhere.
With folks like Paul R. ever vigilant, and well-armed, I'd advise earnest young Christian men and women to give up their dreams of becoming the next Lee Atwater, and start looking for honest work.
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I don't think so
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jane and Hillary a prop? Not bloody likely. They have narratives of their own, and powerful ones at that. I don't disagree that reducing them to props is a goal of their enemies, but I honestly think that their enemies in this case have bitten off more than they can chew.
More power to them both.
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Perhaps a thicker skin?
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you're overweight, you're going to hear references to fat slobs. If you smoke and some one you know dies of a heart attack, you're going to hear Well, he DID smoke. If you're a woman, you're gonna hear men called pussies, as though that's a really, really bad thing to be, and if you're an African-American invited to dinner at a white acquaintance's house, sooner or later you're going to get served collard greens or watermelon.
Innocuous enough in individual cases, but the constant drip, drip, drip of moral judgment, disgust, or well-meaning patronage can be enough to make you gun-shy, and even a bit snappish.
If you're fat, and not overly sensitive, you can get over it. If you're really bothered, you can lose weight. If you're a smoker, and tired of having a target on your back, you can quit.
What's a woman supposed to do, have a sex-change operation? What's a black person supposed to do, paint himself white? Emigrate to Africa? Well, I suppose they can take Rush Limbaugh's advice and develop a thicker skin, but they can also point out -- gently, firmly, bluntly, whatever they believe the circumstances warrant -- that they really don't appreciate the extra attention, as Karen M. has done here.
The latter course, it seems to me, preserves a necessary dialectic and offers at least the hope of a more equitable set of social norms, which might very well be of benefit to us all someday.
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@ killinginthenameof
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well said. Very well said. Thanks.
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Whom God hath joined together....
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sysprog, you really do have a genius for this. That you find it is amazing enough. That you put it together in a way that brings such clarity out of the familiar muddle is truly remarkable, the moreso because you do it over and over again. We owe you.
What can anyone add to this latest gem, except to note that they undoubtedly deserve each other?
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On the RNC
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Successful, RealName? That depends both on your definition of success, and on your timeframe. Treating people like idiots, and rewarding those who stay on message may have seemed like a fine idea at the time, but ultimately it enshrines stupidity, and stupidity isn't a formula for long-term success, nor is that shiver of disgust you exhibit for people who can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Watch and see.
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New (old) maladies
[Read the article: A genuine political sea change?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Atrios' High Broderism is an inspired example of fitting a name to a pathology, but it seems to me that we could use others. How about Vulgar Krauthammerism? Or Limbaugh-Imus Syndrome?
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More good news
[Read the article: A genuine political sea change?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd like to add a little happiness from west of the Beltway to this sense of coming Spring. My own representative, the infamous Rick Renzi of Arizona Congressional District 1, seems about to get what he so richly deserves, and be forced to follow Tom DeLay into retirement.
It may be not be quite time to throw flowers from our balconies on passing strangers, but soon, I think....
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@ Lisa S and Nick R.
[Read the article: A genuine political sea change?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Obsequious toady works for me. Self-serving whiner also seems fitting. Coward for short.