Letters to the Editor
nepats
Published Letters: 31
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Clinton, Clinton, Clinton
[Read the article: Hillary at twilight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You've got to hand it to her. In spite of her attacks on the alleged media bias against her, Hillary quite literally dominates every single news cycle. Even following Obama's eleven straight wins, the lead stories are inevitably thus: what can Hillary do to get back in the game/catch up/come back? Are we being too tough on Hillary? Is Obama getting a free pass? Every storyline, good or bad, has been handed to the press by the Clinton campaign.
In the parallel universe that is the Clinton campaign, this point is rarely, if ever, discussed. It's almost become a pathology. The media can't help themselves, they just have a compulsion to cover her every public utterance and take at face value every reckless charge (Obama hates the Jews, Obama is an empty suit).
What this unfortunate oversight misses is something all voters need to consider: this destructive and co-dependent relationship the press has with Clinton is a part of the whole Clinton thing. It will never go away. All the chaos, the drama, the histrionics, the whining, the blaming, the almost oppressive narcissism and self-pity, is not something new. We had it in the 90s and Arkansas had it in the 80s. It is a fundamental component of the Clinton public experience. So much so that it goes unnoticed by the Clintons themselves and their most ardent supporters. People living inside a psychosis, see their psychosis as perfectly rational (really, the tinfoil hats will keep the government from reading my thoughts).
So I say to the undecided voters of Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont, is this really how you want to spend the next four years? All caught up on Clinton drama and histrionics' gerbil wheel? Spinning and spinning and spinning? With meaning and productivity being lost to unrelieved whining and belly-aching?
Please, please consider that when making up your minds.
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Same old, same old
[Read the article: Can the Clinton campaign take the heat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's how it works:
Howard Wolfson says the moon is made of green cheese.
The media reports, the Clinton campaign says the moon is made of green cheese.
The media then interviews a couple of NASA scientists to discuss whether the moon really is made of green cheese.
The scientists say that, well, we can't really tell for certain one way or the other because the moon is very far away and it's expensive and hard to get to, esp. since NASA is so underfunded. But from the rocks we brought back from the moon there really isn't much evidence that the moon is made of cheese. At least the rocks aren't made of cheese.
One expert laughs and says, of course the moon isn't made of green cheese.
Wolfson accuses the media of bias and also being anti-dairy farming.
The discussion continues for a full day in the press. And no one learns anything beyond what many of us already know:
The Clintons control the media.
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Finally a Real Candidate
[Read the article: The crazy uncles in Obama's attic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm among those people who just can't figure out why this is an issue at all. I find the whole thing completely bogus. And yet many people (granted, most of them are Repubs and Clinton supporters seizing a political opportunity and exploiting it) at least pretend to be "concerned," so I'll play along. Maybe it's because I actually have friends with whom I disagree on politics or that I come from a very large family of Republicans (no, I haven't denounced and rejected them), but I sincerely believe it to be a virtue to form bonds that transcend politics and expose us to points of view that challenge our own. Isn't this a quality that keeps us inured from the forces of fascism and dogmatism? Isn't this exactly what we want in a leader? And isn't this kind of what Obama has been saying all along - that he not only wants to get us out of the Iraq war, he wants to change the mindset that got us in there in the first place? I'm inspired that Obama has not sold this guy down the river, that he continues to defend him, because it indicates the presence in him of something we have gone far too long without in this country: character. Obama's having strong friendships with people with whom he disagrees only underscores for me that his willingness to meet with our enemies is not mere campaign rhetoric: he can see past dogma toward common principles. How else can this world be expected to move forward?