Letters to the Editor
heyjude
Published Letters: 397 Editor's Choice: 42
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Voter turn-off
[Read the article: Who, me? Couldn't be]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In case anyone still wonders why voter turn-out is so low in our country, one reason may be that people are so disgusted by election day that they've ceased caring who wins because everyone has been caught in the wake of the same Swift Boating.
I don't even answer my phone during the interminably long election season. I figure if it's someone I want to talk with, they'll leave me a message and I can call them right back. If it's some scummy political call, I've saved myself the aggravation. It's amazing, the ratio of calls to messages ... My answering machine says, "If you're calling for or against a political candidate, hang up now and don't ever call me back. If you're friend, colleague or family, please leave a message."
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Please ....
[Read the article: Yes, and George W. Bush never looks at polls, either]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please, God, make time pass quickly so this election season may mercifully end and all the blathering will cease and we can all return to reading actual news ...
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Nervous and nervy
[Read the article: Dodd, Huckabee want answers on McClellan charges]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Scott McClellan was always nervous and ill at ease during press conferences. He had the stance, body language, and facial expressions of a person on the spot who knew he was lying. I was surprised he lasted as long in the job as he did since he was preceded and followed by people who were very slick and comfortable in the role of professional spewer of the administration's stories, regardless of the truth.
Dana Perino is more like Scott. Nervous, twitchy and clearly lying and knows it ... but determined nonetheless to "press" on. He sounded weasely. She just sounds dumb most of the time. You'd think the administration would realize that we're not that stupid and we don't believe any of these people, but then again, you'd think the administration would realize that it is unconstitutional and grounds for impeachment to lie to the American people.
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Still waiting
[Read the article: Clinton: I will be the nominee]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is more a commentary on Katie Couric wasting air time with ridiculous questions than it is about Hillary Clinton acting like any other candidate.
When are journalists going to come up with questions that are worth the candidates' time to answer and that get at the actual issues people care about?
This is right up there with "diamonds or pearls" which some idiot at CNN thought would just fascinate the public at the end of a mindless debate in which Wolf Blitzer distinguished himself by demanding sounds bites even in the face of candidates' attempts to explain issues.
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Re # 2
[Read the article: Four things we don't believe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What the hell DOES "Clintonian" mean? You got me there. I'm with Obama -- I have no idea what it means.
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fame and glory
[Read the article: Clinton's answer to Oprah?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does anybody really care what celebrities think? They're just like the rest of us -- people with their own political leanings who will choose a candidate and maybe work for and vote for him/her. It's not like celebrity endows anyone with unusual political savvy or policy wisdom or profound insight into candidates... What does Oprah know about Obama that the rest of us don't know? What does Barbra know about Hillary that the rest of us don't know?
It's nice that some are willing to get involved politically but I am no more impressed by that than I am by the fact that an elderly neighbor decides to go out and join a campaign effort and stump door to door for the candidate of his choice.
That's the point of our democracy. People are supposed to be involved -- rich or poor, famous or infamous, whatever ...
I don't get why this matters at all.
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Ex-presidents don't have any power
[Read the article: Was Bill Clinton "opposed" to the Iraq war "from the beginning"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Once he was no longer in office, Clinton's opinions counted no more nor less than yours and mine. He is a citizen with a right to express his views, change his mind, get new information, take a nuanced stance -- whatever. We can listen to him or not, just as we would listen or not to a guest in our home in a political discussion.
Why does this matter?
Hillary obviously didn't listen to him. And, as a candidate in her own right, she has a right to her own opinions and her own mistakes and her own explanations of them.
The problem I have with Hillary as a candidate is that the whole country sees her as "Billary" and it doesn't appear she can run on her own.
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Hang on there, Mr. Spud
[Read the article: Was Bill Clinton "opposed" to the Iraq war "from the beginning"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Doing something" does not mean going to war. There are many options available to thoughtful, intelligent people other than "shock and awe".
From a geopolitical standpoint, Iraq was an interesting challenge. It did serve as a secular deterrant to Iran. It was a country with a crumbling infrastructure and a cruel dictator and it clearly could not go on indefinitely. But there was no URGENCY about going to war. We could have used the global good will that followed 9/11 to build a multi-national diplomatic effort to work for peace and stability in the Middle East. Going to war against Iraq did not improve the stability, economic security or likelihood for support for the U.S. in that region.
Why do people always see things as black and white? We either do nothing, OR we go to war. How about we cannot do nothing, so we need to gather information and strength and allies to do something intelligent and meaningful?