Letters to the Editor
Philly Peef
Published Letters: 92 Editor's Choice: 7
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Nowhere to go but up, I suppose...
[Read the article: Kansas O'Flaherty ... Secret Agent]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Overall, reading this strip is like finally seeing "Daredevil" on cable: I expected it to suck so hard that when it only sucked moderately I was pleasantly surprised. Lowered expectations are key to the enjoyment of mediocrity.
Visually, I liked the look of the rain, the man sitting next to her and the bizarre hard boiled egg cup hats of the angry foreigners. Bachtell is clearly a capable artist, which is why the sheer cut and paste laziness of the first strips were so disappointing. Narratively, however, the story remains hammy and irrelevant. Also, the third panel reads like Engrish.
A weekly feature on Salon is not the place to cut your teeth or learn your craft. Nor is it an appropriate venue for hobbyist side projects. This strip should be replaced by one where the authors and artists take the medium seriously and have already paid their dues.
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HRC remains a bad, bad choice
[Read the article: Who is the most "electable" Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm still surprised by the so-called conventional wisdom that HRC is electable. Rhetoric like, "Sure people hate her, but they'll warm up to her" is patently ludicrous when choosing a candidate that has to appeal to the soft, disinterested middle and avoid the swift boating of the extreme right.
I mean, just when the Xian right was beginning to shrivel and crawl away, a Huckabee vs. HRC race would be the one thing that could really bring the froth back to their lips and drive them to the polls in force.
On the electability issue, I agree with many of the other writers:
Edwards/Obama is the easiest win
Obama/Edwards is the ideal win
Clinton/anybody is the most likely loss in a general election
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Us vs. Them
[Read the article: The GOP's field of dreams]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In some ways Huckabee might be the hardest to beat in a general election. He's affable and doesn't have the major weak points of Guiliani and Romney. At the same time, his lack of foreign policy experience makes Obama look like Madeline Albright. Anybody worried about Obama's relative lack of experience impacting his electability (which is a trumped up concern anyway) would have no reason to fear in an Obama/Huckabee race.
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Another Angle
[Read the article: Obama to Clinton: You'll be working for me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't confuse the Clinton administration's successful foreign policy with the domestic culture war that raged in the 1990s. It is the domestic scandal and infighting that we don't want a repeat of. By contrast, our image abroad was quite good--certainly better than that of previous and subsequent administrations.
It is only natural that Obama would want experience in forming his own foreign policy agenda; where else would he draw from except ex-Clinton staffers? Otherwise he'd have to go back to the Carter administration to get Dems experienced at the Executive level.
For me the fact that so many former Clinton staffers are opting to advise Obama instead of HRC speaks volumes, no?
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Time Machine=Unoriginal
[Read the article: Flirting with disaster]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This retro-pop novelty act is just a one woman Squirrel Nut Zippers on blow. I don’t see how aping music from fifty years ago (Now with added F-word!) qualifies you as a great artist. If the drug thing were all an act I would be impressed (though how irresponsible would that be?), but I don’t think she has that kind of conceptual originality. Overall, the best thing about Amy Winehouse is that she provides great Halloween costume fodder for ironic Brooklyn hipsters. Google it to find out more.
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Hillary Has a Po$$e
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow, looks like the HRC campaign has loosed its blog dogs--perhaps paid, perhaps not--to trash Mr. Tom Tomorrow. Apparently they all got the same memo, which states, in effect:
* point out that TT didn't like Gore, thus implying that he is to blame for electing Bush Jr.
* make it appear as though the choice is between HRC and a Republican, rather than HRC and a real Democrat who can actually beat a Republican.
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First!
[Read the article: Kansas O'Flaherty ... Secret Agent]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think they've been looking at Little Nemo in Slumberland...
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Can you smell the Joementum?
[Read the article: Clinton looks calm, composed despite bad poll news]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can. It smells like yesterday’s candidate.
Fact: HRC polls very low among undecideds, and when the key undecided vote makes up their minds in the last 24 hours, they are unlikely to go wth HRC if they haven’t already.
Fact: The runoff from candidates with less than 15% of the vote can be key in the Iowa caucus process. I believe that Edwards and Obama are more likely to benefit from the Dodd, Richardson, (possibly) Biden and Kucinich runoff than HRC.
Fact: A room full of white haired women are a weak base of support, particularly since women--especially women of an older age--tend to vote with their husbands.
Prediction: HRC will finish 3rd in Iowa.
When a candidate whose primary (perhaps only) message has been that she is electable can’t win a primary, her base will dry up and blow away. Expect a call from Sidney Blumenthal in about 30 days. He’s going to want his desk back.
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Not a bad team
[Read the article: Deal or no deal?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]An Obama/Biden ticket would be alright. Biden would soften the lack of experience meme, and by being Veep would be free to make risky, Biden-like comments without incurring the blowback he would as the frontman.
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America, Hell Yeah...
[Read the article: Barack Obama's breakthrough victory]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Now that kid Obama trounced the former first lady (and former front runner) in a most unlikely context, can we finally put to bed the nasty meme that Americans are too racist to elect a black president? This country and my fellow citizens are better than that, and they just proved it.
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Sincere? Who can tell?
[Read the article: Clinton gets emotional]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe she choked up in spite of herself, or maybe she choked up because focus group research said it would be a good rhetorical move. Who can tell with HRC anymore, particularly after her overuse of the crazy mechanical cackle whenever confronted with direct criticism? I'm not questioning the fact that she has human emotions, but she is so composed and calculating in her creation of a political personae that I suspect any emotional display was planned and vetted in advance.
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Anonymous is Useless
[Read the article: The perils of being Hillary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why are the pro-HRC people in this thread posting anonymously? Perhaps it is because it is the same person posting repeatedly to make it look like more supporters. Perhaps because they don't want to out themselves as paid bloggers. Who knows?