Letters to the Editor
rphillips111
Published Letters: 201 Editor's Choice: 3
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Playing Politics While People Drowned in NO
[Read the article: How Karl Rove played politics while people drowned]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know how good or bad the book this is exerpted from may be, but I do know this:
In any natural disaster, the local officials and the the State Officials are the first responders and have the immediate responsibility for answering the call. So Mayor Nagin had immeidate responsibility. He shuld have got all those parked school buses busy hauling people out of the wards, and from previous experience they knew the Super Dome would have enourmous problems which the National Guard and police forces could help manage. There were enormous logistical problems only the local government could manage--and they didn't. Nagin was one of the first to shift the blame for his failures to Washington.
Gov. Blanco had lots of power and responsibility, including the National Guard, and she was at best very tardy in her response.
The feds wre guilty of lots of sins in the aftermath of Katrina, and wasted a lot of money, but most of those deaths were the result of actions/inactions by local and state officials. And the people of New Orleans apparently do not blame them. The re-elected Mayor Nagin only a few months after the disaster.
As for politics being played, no one played politics more than the Civil Rights community, Ray Nagin, and Blanco (all with media help) in the concerted effort to blame the fiasco on George Bush and the White House. Them and Obama are still riding that horse they mainly created.
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McCain to Russia, and lobbyists
[Read the article: John McCain's tough stance toward Russia]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For all his talk about being a "maverick", MCCain is an inside the Beltway politicians up to his eyeballs in lobbyists. His illegal amnesty Bill was basically the position of the U.S. (misnomered) Chamber of Commerce, and no one with long memories will forget him as one of the Keating 5, in the S&L Debacle in the 1980s.
As for his warmed over Cold War talk, why is anyone surprised? John McCain is the last practicing politician in Washington with a WW II, Cold War mentality. It fits with his campaign to continue to send jobs overseas, keep illegal immigrants in the country and let them bring their relatives, stay in Iraq 100 years, etc. Yeah, McCain's a "maverick" all right, driving his "straight talk" express and the Republican Party off the rails.
The only candidate worse is Mr. Marxism, Barack Obama.
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Liberals have at least won the election
[Read the article: Relax, liberals. You've already won]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a conservative, and take issue with a lot of Mr. Lind's assertions about the conservative cause. But McCain is pretty much a liberal, while Obama is a genuine Marxist in the Lenin, Mao, Alinsky mold.
So liberals have already won the 2008 Presidential race.
However, I think the conservative cause has received such recent setbacks primarily because the media is so overwhelmingly liberal--even radical. The hysteria of political correctness is consuming our society like wildfire.
And Conservatives have done themselves no good by being seen as anti-abortionists, pro-prayer in schools, and taxcutters. That is not what the conservative movement of the past 40 years was about. When you add support for a foreign policy which is internationalism-on-steroids conducted like a John Wayne movie and gunboat diplomacy philosophy, conservatives have put themselves--hopefully temporarily-in a very vulnerable position.
The media presented us with a McCain-Obama choice for President, the worst candidates for President in American history.
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Displaced Iraquis
[Read the article: Displaced Iraqis to return -- but to where?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In fact, the ethnic cleansing of Sunni Baghdad and elsewhere by the Shiites and Kurds, was allowed and condoned by the US occupation forces as we waged war on the sunni minority which ran ghe country so well before the 1991 war (at that time Iraq had the highest standard of living, education, and medical services in the middle east outside Israel)and our takeover and occupation in 2003.
One of the most important issues--and one in which american occupation and governance bears huge responsibility--facing a peaceful Iraq is the return of Sunnies to their homes and neighborhoods in Mosul, Kirkuk, and Baghdad. I don't see anyone even discussing that--including Petreaus.
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Yes, Pick Hillary
[Read the article: Why Obama should pick Hillary Clinton as veep]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Barack Obama should pick Hillary Clinton as VP, though my reasons might not appeal to Salon readers much.
Hillary Clinton is a strong-willed individual with decided views, and I think she would be an independent voice in "Mr. Marxist's" administration.
She's a liberal, not a neo-Leninist nor student of Mao, which I consider Obama to be. That's a big difference, and if this guy becomes President, Hillary Clinton is the only person I see who may stand up to him.
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Lieberman for VP
[Read the article: A McCain-Lieberman ticket?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Joe Lieberman is the most adept influence peddling fixer in the US Senate right now.
There are those who think that would eminently qualify him for VP on either ticket. After all, Joe's an Independent Democrat and the Democrats have given him chairmanship of an important committee. Lieberman and McCain see eye to eye on a number of issues. And picking Lieberman would definitely be a "reaching across the aisle" on McCain's part, at least to get a like-minded hot-war guy.
Of course "maverick" McCain might pick anyone, he is so "independent".