Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1346 Editor's Choice: 12
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@maureenodonnell: Crying Wolf and the balance of fear
[Read the article: Obama hits back at Clinton ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe I've misinterpreted some of the posts but I thought some people were downplaying the idea of fear. The war in Iraq has been a fiasco but what about the Taliban in Afghanistan? Would ignoring the Taliban make it go away? It seems unlikely. Bush is "the boy who cried 'Wolf'" but that doesn't mean that there are no real wolves out there.
You're making a good point. Certainly the Wahabist types out there are not our friends. "The Great Theft" by Khaled Abou el Fadl makes a good case that that the Wahabists aren't good friends of Islam either. You seem like a literary type that would enjoy the book.
But back to the main point. A lot of us in the good ol' U.S. of A are tired of politicians playing the fear card to get what they want, not what we the people need. They've gotten a bigger, but not necessarily better military (in fact a worse-off military) with obsence pork-barrel spending to contractors. A large mercenary army (Blackwater et al) with allegiance only to the paycheck. A loss of our historic rights and freedoms going back centuries. The people have gotten a historic level of debt and a plunging dollar.
This fear has pervaded our daily life and may not be so visible to others offshore.
I say we need to change the balance of fear back so that politicians fear what the people say, not that people fear what is said by politicians.
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@Maureen (OT WWII and da Russians)
[Read the article: Obama hits back at Clinton ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the Russians feel aggrieved that they are not given enough credit for fighting Hitler's armies in Europe and I'm not fully cogniscant of what happened, although the battle of Stalingrad is accepted as turning the tide against the Germans. What is true, however, is that it was the Red Army which first got into Eastern Europe (neighbouring countries) and it was the Russians who went into Auschwitz in Poland and not the Americans.
A lot of our WWII history has an American bias, which should come as no suprise. But the situation between the Allies and who should get credit for what and who should advance was frought with tension. There's some biographies on Eisenhower that discuss this. From what I've read, the Russians didn't keep their side of the bargain (at Yalta and elsewhere) and the countries they invaded became part of the Soviet bloc.
And yes, I think official US policy pissed on the Russians after the fall of the USSR, particularly when the Bush Admin unilaterally walked away from the ABM treaty, one of the crown jewels of Nixon's foreign policy, in order to persue the "Missle Shield". They were impotent and couldn't respond. Now that we are hosed in Mesopotamia and Russia has re-emerged, they are returning the favour.
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@Angry Bees: It always has been about race.
[Read the article: Obama hits back at Clinton ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course. You see Obama represents the liberal guilt and rage that dare not utter its own name. It IS about race. It always has been about race. And if I were running the Democratic Party this is precisely the year I'd exploit it, when, for better or worse, any Democrat who doesn't commit a felony on-air can get elected. What better opportunity to elect the first African American President? You might not get another chance such as this against a crippled floundering GOP for a decade or more.
Let's have a little thought experiment then...
Alan Keyes: black, male, brilliant orator. Fire breathing fundamentalist.
Condi Rice: black, female, super-smart. neo-con and liar
How many dem votes do they get? Let's stop with the reductionist bullshit. People are voting based on a group of factors, all at once.
Another thought experiment. What policy has the best chance of success?
The one where the candidate wants to build the broadest coalition possible and wants the public to stay engaged so that politician's feet can be held to the fire, or
The one where the candidate will engage a forever war across a political no-mans land and the public remain unenvolved in a consumeristic stupor?
P.S.
My bees at home are cool, work very hard, and prefer to live and let live.
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@KateTex: Obama Chorus and the elephant boneyard
[Read the article: Obama's got ground game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The nearly deafening chorus from Obama supporters, made ever louder by the tremendously irresponsible MSM, is obscuring political realities. It's almost as if support for Hillary Clinton has been driven underground by nearly constant badgering, derision, and censure. Thankfully, there is the Internet. Only here do I find assurance that I'm far from alone in my thinking and firm preference for Clinton.
Yes, you and other Hillary Clinton supporters have turned Salon into a sort of Elephant graveyard where you go to post long laments on the unfair demise of Hillary.
But she's not dead yet, and I find it curious that you fault everyone except her campaign. If her campaign had actually contested those last 11 states, there is no way Obama would be on the streak he is, and the amoral media spin would be totally different. If you want to blame somebody, I'd start with Mark Penn.
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Nonsense!
[Read the article: Obama's got ground game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and I find it curious that you fault everyone except her campaign.
No you don't.
So your have scry'd my inner thoughts with your third eye then?
Are you saying that Hillary has run a flawless campaign, making no mistakes?
Obviously no candidate should have to fight both the nut left in their own party and then the big guns of the right too.
Obama is not Nader. Are you saying that over 10 million voters for Obama have been duped into some sort of conspiracy? They're nuts? And that you know better?
And you're still ignoring the fact that she can still be the nominee.