Letters to the Editor
Gwool
Published Letters: 366 Editor's Choice: 40
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More of the Same
[Read the article: The Coulterization of the American right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a life long moderate republican who has decried the way in which the christian right has dominated the party, I was hoping for something a tad more erudite. Instead the diatribe consisted of the standard harsh rhetoric thrown at the right by the left. As such the echo chamber continues.
There's a market out there for fiscally conservative, hawkish, social libertarians. They could firmly ensconce themselves in the middle, marginalizing the hyenas from the right and the left with one of them dying off and the other becoming the surviving party.
Caustic rhetoric isn't going to get us there. The public seems desperate to see its politicians treat one another with civility again. Obama scores points talking about the Baby Boom argument that has dominated politics for 40 years and how the rest of the nation is sick and tired of it. From Vietnam, to watergate, to women's rights, to abortion, to "family", the self absorbed spoiled offspring of the greatest generation have bitched at one another like the bickering married couple you hate to invite to dinner parties.
And there are devout "christians" on the right who are developing a softer, more civilized tenor and tone. They, too, gain some currency. Huckabee out of Arkansas was written up favorably for just such comportment.
Sadly neither Ms. Coulter nor Mr. Kamiya will ever be accused of excessive civility.
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I feel your pain
[Read the article: Screw you for not smoking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I gave up butts around the same time. Closely on the heels of giving up booze. That's quite the virtuous combination. While I haven't gained weight, I don't feel any differently save for the errant morning hangover after 16 beers and 2 packs of smokes.
How I long for the good old days.
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Take the Lemon Out of Your Mouth
[Read the article: "I Think I Love My Wife"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My Goodness. First I troll through the write up of a comedy movie to have it parsed as if it has some deep seated inner meaning over some cheesie French version from a generation ago, and then I click on the letters to find a bunch whiny complaints regarding jokes about marriage and sex contained therein. There were also, of course, the obligatory gratuitous comments about the plight of the black man thrown in for good measure.
Jesus Christ, will you people lighten up. It's a form of humor. It's not a hate crime. It's not misogyny. It doesn't mean Rock or C.K. necessarily hate their wives or suck in the sack.
If you don't want to sit back, suspend a little reality, and laugh, then don't go to the movie. Find some film noir with the appropriate subtitles and sit on hard metal folding chairs in a library. Then smoke a few clove cigarettes when it ends while lamenting how the film didn't do justice to the misery that is life.
I would be real interested to know how many of the folks who snidely derided the notion that family demands strain a sex life have actually raised a family let alone gotten laid on a regular basis.
The former points to experience. The lack of the latter points to what pains in the ass they are.
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Democrats and U.S. attorneys -- then and now
[Read the article: Republicans and U.S. attorneys -- then and now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Could there not also be an article with this title? An article where Democrats defend the President's right to fire USAs because they serve at the pleasure of the president?
I have the utmost respect for you Glenn from our days on TownHall, but this is just a typical part of the nastiness that has enveloped our national political discourse of late. It shouldn't have been a story when Clinton canned them, and it should not have been a story now. Presidents can fire whomever the heck they want. There's no grievance process. There's no appealing to a union and whining one's performance evaluation belies the firing. They're in the rarified air of political appointees.
It was a manufactured scandal when the republicans whined about -- and the democrats defended -- Clinton, and it is a manufactured scandal when democrats whine about -- and republicans defend -- Bush.
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The More Things Change, the More They Remain teh Same
[Read the article: MoveOn moves in with Pelosi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I recall an almost identical situation several years ago. Extreme grass roots organization begins gaining clout. Executive Director of said organization begins seeing the value of compromise in moving from bomb tosser to governance. Grass Roots mouth breathers begin bellyaching that the organizer is a sell out.
This, of course, was Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition.
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To Steal From Ron White
[Read the article: I'm dying to be a musician]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You can pay money to fix lots of things. You can buy a new face, a new wardrobe, or whatever.
But, as Ron White says, you can't fix stupid. You can't fix tone deaf, either.
Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't.
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I Can Only Hope ...
[Read the article: How Bush helped the GOP commit suicide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I always thought of myself as a Goldwater republican and have been watching in horror as the party lurched ever rightward after Bush I lost thanks in SOME degree to Buchanan breaking ranks and challenging him.
Bob Dole was deemed too scary and conservative in 1976 and was deemed a wishy washy moderate in 1996. That's how far it's gone.
So, as a former Bush I advance man in 1980 and as a thrice elected small town republican official in Massachusetts of all places, I find it heartening to think we've seen the high water marker of the so-called social conservative movement.
That extreme element is really no different from the far left. It is not that they want to dismantle government and reduce its infringement on our personal lives. It is just they wish to focus on different apsects of it.
So let them recede back into their churches and live their lives as they see fit. Let us also hope the drop in Republican support does not also translate into an uptick in intrusion from the other side.
Let's not replace the Christian Coalition with MoveOn.Org. Let's replace the Christian Coalition with common sense, calls for efficiency, and across-the-aisle collaboration.