Letters to the Editor
KateTex
Published Letters: 580 Editor's Choice: 4
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@ignatius
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]<<you snidely attack fellow Democrats for worshipping a ‘myth,’ and then one someone else responds rudely to you come back and tell us that he made you cry. What a piece of work you are.>>
Yes, I can have a sharp keyboard at times, but if you can find a single instance of my assassinating another poster's character on this site, you're welcome to produce it. There's a huge difference between posting general criticisms of Obama and a very visible segment of his supporters, and going for another poster's throat, utilizing vicious slander.
<<You asked who Obama is and what he’s accomplished. I had my doubts as to the legitimacy of your inquiry – it didn’t seem like you really wanted an answer but I posted a lengthy post summarizing just a few accomplishments. Just as I figured – no response.>>
I apologize for not responding to your post. But I have read about Obama's accomplishments and to me, they're too little, too late. I just can't see where he's made any substantial difference for those who could've used the support.
<<Oh wait, you do have a response – because you don’t like some of Obama’s supporters, you don’t like Obama. So essentially, you don’t like Y, and Y likes X, so you don’t like X. That may be the most inane reason I’ve ever heard for not supporting someone – at least the dumbest reason since the last time someone posted as much, and that, too, was a Hillary supporter.>>
Now, you're being snide.
<<At least my opposition on Hillary is based on HER, and her votes in the Senate, and not anyone else.>>
My support for Hillary is based on her track record and my belief that she really does care about making a positive difference. Sure, she's a politician and has her downside, but I do believe her heart and philosophy are in the right place. I believe this about Bill Clinton, too. I simply don't believe it about Obama. This belief may not meet any rigorous intellectual criterion, but it is my belief and it is the result of not only a whole lot of living, but a lot of reading, too.
<<Obama is hardly responsible for the behavior of his tens of millions of supporters>>
Any leader's followers give us important clues about who s/he is and what s/he stands for. I simply have not seen the naked hatred which issues from so many Obama supporters issuing from Clinton supporters. And I've been doing one hell of a lot of reading message boards lately.
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@madamf
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "After reading your back posts, I feel that your language and depiction of people who support Barack Obama, are quite racially charged. Don't see you as a liberal either. You write in coded put downs and dangerous generalizations."
You're free to interpret language any way you want. You're free to criticize those you don't begin to know. You're free to accuse others of talking in code. You're are also free to find what you go looking for, whether it exists or not.
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@madamf
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "Please tell me in your own words why it is alright for Hillary Clinton to sing praises of John McCain and ridicule Barack Obama who is a member of her own party. You still have not answered why that should not even be a campaign issue. Give me your thoughts on it, for the simple reason that I might see this infraction in another light."
I'll try to say this in my own words, your honor (rather than relying on those voices I keep hearing?). First of all, Hillary Clinton has not 'sung the praises' of John McCain. What she seems to have implied is that she does not believe that Barack Obama has the grounding or gravitas at this point in his life to handle being commander in chief. I would guess she actually believes this, along with many millions of American voters. This is no small matter; it will obviously be in the forefront of most voters' minds and cannot be lightly dismissed.
"The jury is still out on you being a self styled liberal Democrat."
I shall pray for merciful judgment.
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@JL
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "I don't understand what some insulting supporters of Senator Obama on a "Letters" site in a tiny corner of the internet has to do with voting for Senator Obama or not."
It's not just this site, not by any means. I've been following NYTimes reader comments on the primaries for about two months now, and the flood of really, really nasty messages about Hillary Clinton has increased in direct proportion to Obama's prominence in this campaign. Of late, I've been tempted to think there's a coordinated effort involved, because so many of these messages closely parrot one another in content and theme (SHOW US YOUR TAX RETURNS, etc). The style and level of writing in most of these messages has changed noticeably in the past few weeks and is certainly not typical of the average NYTimes reader. Many are pretty incoherent and sound as if they've been written by a middle schooler.
Also, there are numerous links on the NYTimes Opinionator page to news and opinion sites around the country. I've been following reader comments on many of these sites for some time now and have noticed the same trends on them.
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@reality counts
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "I am tired. I am depressed. Maybe sanity will return. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning."
Funny - I'm thinking of incising this on the bathroom mirror, so I can recite it while I brush my teeth at night.
And yes, I too campaigned and voted for McGovern, Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry.... the whole flipping losers' list. If it hadn't been for Bill Clinton, I likely would've ended life with a perfect record.
I want to thank you for putting your thoughts and sentiments down tonight, as I share so many of them. As human nature is a constant - proof against tricks and shortcuts and ringing proclamations, I've begun to believe that maybe the most we can ask of any government is to rein in the worst of it. That's about all I ask of our next president.
Thanks again and goodnight.
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@Reality-based
[Read the article: Some free advice for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "I do have to disagree with you about KateTex answering me. She said that Clinton didn't endorse McCain over Obama and stopped there."
You are wrong - I didn't stop there. You may want to read my post again.