Letters to the Editor
Malusinka
Published Letters: 368 Editor's Choice: 50
-
Some 12 year olds look adult
[Read the article: "Ugh" of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In my daughter's 5th grade class, there's a girl, age 11, who could pass for 18 (not if she opens her mouth, as she talks and thinks just like an 11 year old).
My daughter, who does not have her period yet, has a figure that is not all that different from Botticelli's Venus. If you look closely, you see the differences between a Venus the adult, and my daughter's not fully pubescent figure, but at a glance the resemblance is there.
But, these 11 year olds are children. They think like children. The disgusting factor is the abuse of innocence, not whether or not the girl has a prematurely mature body.
-
Frankly from the picture
[Read the article: "Ugh" of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]you can't tell the age. If you'd told me the girl was 30, I wouldn't have doubted it.
-
Since height is a huge advantage in basketball
[Read the article: What do you do when a girl is better than the boys?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And Nared's height (at age 12) is a function of her gender (girls get their growth spurts earlier), it is a legitimate argument that her gender is giving her an unfair advantage.
-
Middle ground
[Read the article: Obama, McCain and abortion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is a lot of middle ground in the abortion issue and the majority of the country inhabits it. What each candidate has to do is to try to stake it out and then pin the other side as extremist.
Extremist right: Life begins at conception, no abortion should be allowed. (Perhaps we'll make exceptions for the life of the mother.) We'll overturn Roe v. Wade.
Extreme left: Life begins at birth. We'll defend second and third trimester abortions; The right of children to decide the fate of their baby when they're not considered mature enough to: marry, vote, or make contracts.
Any candidate who can dodge the extreme and pin it on his opponent will win the issue. And also make voters think he is a man of sense, not beholden to his party's special interests.
-
Jbldm
[Read the article: Obama, McCain and abortion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I belong to Hillary's core demographic. I consider myself a feminist, but my feeling is that Hillary dished out as much as she got.
Bill's Jesse Jackson comment wouldn't have been made about a white candidate. I'm not sure that the Clintons would have had the gall to offer Obama the VP slot -- when he was ahead! -- if he'd been white. I think they thought because he's black, he'll never be president, he'd be wise to settle for VP.
I'm disappointed at the tone of the primary, but the Clintons don't come out looking like the post-racial, post-gendered future.
-
Bohica
[Read the article: Obama, McCain and abortion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You said, "African Americans are being called on to riot at the convention if Obama is not the nominee while the millions of women who voted for Clinton are just going to fall in and toe the line according to the pundits."
Obama won more delegates. The only way Clinton can win is if the party elite decides to throw the election her way. That's just plain undemocratic.
Hillary might have won the majority of women's votes, but she did not win the primary. She lost.
Full stop.
And she lost it on the merits. Yes, there was sexism, but there was racism, too. The reason she lost is that she did not inspire the millions of Democrats sick to death of politics as usual.
-
What did Hillary do to generate so much dislike?
[Read the article: Still waiting for Madam President ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It was being tone-deaf. She first made waves with her 'I won't be baking cookies' remark. Both the content and the tone suggested some scorn for traditional wives. It offended the large number of women (and their husbands) who are.
She could have defined herself as a career woman in a way that didn't denigrate other women's choices.
She also offended a lot of people with the way she handled her health care role. And ultimately, perhaps because of that, she failed to produce a national health care policy.
My take is that this is the flip-side of her "fighter" personality. She goes in swinging her fists when a little charm and diplomacy would go a long way.
People respect fighters, but they like charm better.
-
It's not so clear to me that in the future
[Read the article: The fight over Florida and Michigan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]States won't try to jump the queue. Because most states vote both primaries at the same time. Being a laggard gave Penn Dems a big thrill and the chance to make a difference. Penn Reps had no choice. Why go to the polls? And Rep voter apathy might have made a difference to the other races also having primaries.
I'm sure it's cheaper and leads to higher turnout to have both primaries on the same day.
So, when primary day is set next time, the Reps are going to be arguing strongly for an earlier day. What if more than 2 states jump the queue?
This issue is not going away, despite the punishment meted out by Dems this year.
-
Indigo
[Read the article: The fight over Florida and Michigan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're deluded.
"Polls after polls show that people's voice has been muted by the press. Voters want Hillary, not Obama or McCain, to be next president.???"
Votes tell you a lot more about what people want than polls. People lie to pollsters. People answer pollsters' questions before they make up their minds. I changed my mind before I voted. But the day I cast my vote, I was sure who my candidate was.
-
Dem2Win
[Read the article: The latest delegate math]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary only has the popular vote by making a set of assumptions that favor her: 1) ignore caucus totals where the states didn't count the number of voters. We all know Obama won the caucuses.
2: Assume that Michigan's uncommitted were not votes for Obama, even though that was the only option available to Obama supporters.
3: Assume that Obama not campaigning in Florida -- as per the DNC rules -- produced a fair election.
Make a different (and to my mind more reasonable)set of assumptions and Obama wins the popular vote.
If the superdelegates throw the election to Hillary, a large number of people would cry foul.
Because:
1) Any voter in a caucus state that didn't count votes would be disenfranchised.
2) Obama supporters in Michigan would be disenfranchised.
3) People would suspect racism (America won't elect a black man) would be a cause.
The result would be a huge mass of angry Democrats. Is that what Hillary and her supporters want? Who cares about the party as long as she gets the gold ring?