Letters to the Editor
jwr_12
Published Letters: 149 Editor's Choice: 45
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The "It's up to the Iraqis" Meme
[Read the article: Bush on civil war: It's an Iraqi thing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As more and more supporters of the war are now trying to back away from it, it seems to me their tactics can be divided into two rough categories.
Those who are not in the administration itself--and are therefore free to critique it--argue that the war itself was a good idea, but who knew that we would bungle it so badly? (Kristol, Packer, Bremer [ironically], etc.)
Those in the administration have to say something else, so now they're trying to lay the blame at the Iraqis' doorstep. If Iraq falls into civil war, it's because moderates failed to stand up, or Islam is in compatible with democracy, or what have you.
I find both of these positions morally reprehensible, but the administration's version (also endorsed by David Brooks of the NYT) makes me sick to my stomach. It's like setting a person's house on fire, and then criticizing them if they don't have the ingenuity or wherewithal to put it out. The reason Iraq is falling apart today is that we never had a real plan to keep it together. The reason we never had a plan to keep it together is that we just didn't care enough about the consequences of war. We just thought about its abstract politics--the 'messages' it would send, the 'ideals' it represented, etc. Well, goddamn you, there's people involved, and trying to pass the buck onto them makes you not only responsible for their deaths, but also with smearing their reputations. How dare you!
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Superscript J? A smiley tangerine icon?
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Baseball record books have adjusted for all sorts of oddball factors: changing rules, season length, etc. The question is what sort of asterisk should be used to mark out players who were juicing? Some possibilities:
A superscript J, for 'juicing'.
A smiley fruit of some sort, maybe a tangerine.
An electronic juicer icon?
Or the face of that guy--whose name I have now forgotten--who had wild eyebrows and used to sell his juicer on tv?
Or a syringe?
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Re: Horseracing (I second the motion!)
[Read the article: The Hillary juggernaut]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear Salon and fellow readers,
I would like to strongly second the motion, made by pfmcdevitt below, that we not get sucked into "and they're off" style horseracing just yet.
"Not by bread alone," after all. Our democracy (or what's left of it) may as a practical matter be ruled by crushing combinations of money and organization, but that doesn't mean we don't need ideas. There's a disconnect here, I feel, between the 'muckraking' and 'political reporting' operations at many news organizations. Less so here, but for example, just yesterday we had a long article (by Michelle Goldberg? I'm sorry I can't remember who) about the possibility of 'peak oil.' Global warming is changing our world forever, about which stories have also here appeared.
Today, the header is Hilary has $100 million warchest.
But can we connect points A and B somehow? What is Hilary saying and promising to do about energy and the environment? How will she be better than, say, McCain (or any contender) on this all-important issue?
Why do we have Michelle Goldberg over in this corner covering scandals and problems, and Walter Shapiro, in this corner, covering practical politics? Can we get the two desks on the phone, or at least put another desk between them? (I think both are great writers by the way, though I do think there's some sort of structural problem here in most news organizations, even Salon).
From my reader's point of view, the problem with the horse race is that has gradually crowded out a more civically minded kind of journalism, while at the same time encouraging critical journalism to stay in the realm of, "Oh my god, look at the mess we're in."
Forcing the candidates and voters to connect electoral politics and the mess is what is needed now. Long story short: what pfcmcdevitt said!
Best,
John
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His 'centrism' comes out of our hide
[Read the article: The war Lieberman didn't want]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are several points in this article where the reader is led to believe that it is irrational Lieberman-hatred that makes people fail to realize he is a centrist with a record similar to (get this) the 'octogenarian senator Byrd lionized by bloggers.'
I am not a blogger. I am not a political reporter. I am a citizen, for whom Senator Byrd's principled opposition to what I believe is the single greatest policy error--and tragedy--of my lifetime is worth a heck of a lot more than Lieberman's agreement with me over how the federal government funds sidewalks. Even on abortion--an important issue--I can't say that Lieberman's pro-choice position matters to me nearly as much as his pro-war stance. His vote against Alito got me nothing, while his support for the war has helped this commit this country to an open-ended military conflict that has killed thousands of people, bankrupted the treasury, and subverted the constitution.
And I won't forget, any time soon, that Lieberman has given as good as he's gotten, using accusations of America-hating and terrorist-loving to bash his critics right back--this despite the fact that this only feeds into the strength of the Republican party.
So I'm sorry that Joe Lieberman may feel he doesn't get enough credit for the good things he does. Neither was Nero praised for his fiddling in Rome.
PS: Watch the age-ism, as well! God forbid somebody belittles you as 'octogenarian' some day.
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Re: Climate of Hope (Gore's great but...)
[Read the article: Climate of hope]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This sounds like a job for the man from hope! Where's bubba?