Letters to the Editor
doc5467
Published Letters: 288 Editor's Choice: 7
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useless fantasies of filibustering
[Read the article: Kerry to push for Alito filibuster]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wonder if most of my fellow liberal Democrats now live in a complete fantasy world. This excited chatter about a Kerry filibuster is just plain silly--Kerry isn't even close to having the numbers, the radical right wants nothing more than a chance to end all filibusters and will certainly do so with a majority vote if given the excuse, and such a filibuster even if somehow successful for a day or two, would just make our party look even more feckless and petty and incompetent than we do already. The Dems made complete asses of themselves in the hearings and failed then to lay a glove on wily ole Sam; to now try like spoiled children to stop his appointment is just mindless. We almost daily now demonstrate our absolute incoherence and lack of any political skills whatever. I despair of my party ever getting on top again unless we find a leader of far greater abilities than our current bunch.
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Oooh, the big bad Ayatollahs! Brrrr!
[Read the article: Out-hawking Bush on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What few people today actually discuss is this; just how bad would it be if Iran manages in eight or ten years to create a primitive nuclear weapon or two? Iran has nuclear powers Pakistan and India to its east, and a hostile nuclear Israel to its west. Israel has more nuclear weapons per capita than any nation in the world, and any reading of her history suggests she would not be loath to use them if she felt threatened. Iran's leaders are mean screwballs these days, but not insane; any leader of Iran would know that Israel would destroy their nation and their people should they ever attempt to lob a creaky rivet-popping missile with a warhead of any kind towards Tel Aviv. As to any presumed danger that those nutty Persians will hand over little nukes to "terrorists"--there are a whole bunch of nations right now who are perfectly capable of doing so anyway. Oh, and by the way, how does the nation with the largest nuclear force of all time, who is the only one in history who has used these weapons, whose current mean and somewhat screwball leaders talk of using "tactical" nuclear weapons in their already illegal wars--how does that nation become the one to decide who else gets to join their dandy little club? I say, to our friendly hawks and doves in both parties, lighten up. Iran isn't going to nuke Miami anytime soon. Or Tel Aviv.
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Fantasyland
[Read the article: Handicapping 2008, or the Frist-Kerry buzz kill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]ChuckV is so correct--this discussion is yet another example of the Fantasy Football game Democrats and especially liberal Democrats insist on playing over and over again. When someone seriously suggests a Feingold/Conyers ticket as a winning team, we know we're listening in on a conversation among Detroit Lions fans about where best to sit for the Super Bowl. My friends, if we keep doing this--keep choosing candidates because we "like" them and then watch them run disastrous campaigns again and again, we will see a conservative Congress and White House and Court for decades to come. Our party needs to come up with strong leaders NOW, men or women who will speak powerfully and who hold charisma and likability which appeals to ordinary Americans of all locales. And, who have the gravitas to get all of US on the same page for once. We continue to believe our ideals regarding healthcare, the environment, working conditions, help for the poor, etc., will win the day nationally because they are the right ideals. We seem to think that just possessing the "truth" will defeat all clever and effective campaigns of deceit and appeals to selfishness or fear that the opponents throw at us, and we need not select spokesmen or leaders who as human beings appeal to those milions who usually think both parties are untrustworthy anyway. So--no more Kerry/Edwards squishiness, no more Richardson/Clark yawn-producers. No senators and no gray drab governors either. No Hillary or Gore figures who start the race with 50% of Americans despising them. And NOW is when Mark Warner needs to step up, not two years from now. NOW is when our current party leaders need to find some coherence and clarity of message that can be said on a bumper sticker and be repeated over and over and over until it enters the American psyche. I'm sick and tired of losing, and of hearing good people here in the heartland say things like, "Well, I don't like Bush but those Democrats don't have any idea of how to run the country." Come on! Stop fantasizing about lovely favorites and start promoting our chances to actually win in the real world.
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Fantasy redux
[Read the article: Handicapping 2008, or the Frist-Kerry buzz kill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]RE: comments by orbitboy
In spite of my personal deep admiration for the courageous and principled Senator Feingold, I still suggest Robert Burns would be a great mentor to my party this year:
"O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notion. . ."
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McCain and Guantanamo
[Read the article: Jon Stewart, John McCain and "Bullshit Town"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's odd that in all the scores of letters being posted here, no one has pointed out one of the greatest real dangers in falling for the McCain phenom and thinking as Farhad does that the man would be a good choice for President if a Dem can't make it. McCain is directly responsible for the current outrage at the Supreme Court; he tacked onto his "anti-torture" law, an amendment that forbids the federal courts to "interfere" with Guantanamo, with "enemy combatants" held for years without charges, and with "military tribunals" set up by an out-of-control President. Thanks to McCain our beloved country is now becoming a pariah which breaks almost every international law and treay in existence on treatment of prisoners. Say goodbye to the Great Writ, say hello to the Red White and Blue Gulag, thanks to the cuddly, cute, "honest-sounding" McCain and his toadying. What will our country do when HE's President??