Letters to the Editor
Ben Sen
Published Letters: 608 Editor's Choice: 98
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Cheap Shots and Liberal Self-Rightousness
[Read the article: Hillary Studies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When you know the only reason a couple of books are being written is to capitalize on the approaching election that's what makes them boring.
Regardless of Hillary's past, it looks at present that the same thing that did in Gore and Kerry is going to do her in.
Namely: she can't get respect from her own kind.
It's pathetic. Like a mother slowly starving her own children to death. You can hear it in the constant barrage of cheap shots, the lack of giving credit where it is due, and the self-rightous pontificating of the "professionals" too "objective" and unconscious to notice what they are really doing.
Who gives a rat's ass about these types of books--that's what I want to know. Do they contribute anything of substance, especially given the "gap" between the government of this country at the present time and the reality facing that government?
The first serious woman candidate for president may well go down for reasons that have little to do with her ability to lead the country. When the smoke clears, and another right wing brat takes over on behalf of the corporations--those same liberals and phoney feminists will have nobody to blame but themselves.
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It's Not a Pleasant Sight
[Read the article: America without makeup]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's at the point where despair starts to take over.
Americans quible over non-issues. Attention is drawn to "flash," like fish in a feeding frenzy. We pursue bigger and better as if there is nothing else. Why pollute the internet with gossip the way every other media is? You talk about the mob--how can it not be in charge given the current situation?
How can the problem be anything but spiritual bankruptcy--led by the very religions that are supposed to provide reasons for living without owning oil wells, SUVs, and executing the mentally deranged. You are suspect not if you want to pursue war--but if you want to pursue peace.
The warmongers spend their mornings at the mall and the afternoon calling into their favorite radio show dispensing hate. They will deny themselves their own freedoms, and build walls across the earth in fear of anyone else getting what they have.
It doesn't matter much what anybody says any more. The force of reaction is so pervasive it can't be seen and singled out. One sees the poetic power of declaring the apacalypse, but know that too is a ruse. There is no listening left--only marching orders issued by boys who dress up in suits so they can send more sadly deluded patriots to their death.
I don't like how the election debate is progressing. It sounds too much like '00 and '04. Not enough asking: how did it happen that a fool was elected the President of the United States, and how can it be stopped? Now.
The populists are eating their young again, and it's not a pleasant sight.
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USA Not Mature Enough for Woman President
[Read the article: Polling '08: Good news and bad news for Clinton]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The problem for HRC are the women who would prefer to have her suffer for her husband's sins than admit their own. She has been rejected by the very women whose lives she represents, and that includes those in the media who are too afraid to admit the truth--and are playing it "cool."
They show no loyalty and in the end show feminism to be a false ideology. They speak very poorly for the consciousness of the sex, and the so-called liberalism they supposedly support.
That is aside from what they give the misogynists to crow about. I never really planned to be "pro-Hillary," like this, but find such conduct so reprehensible I feel impelled to say something.
If these were boys acting this way on the playground, I'd be no less critical--and neither would the women who are now turning their backs on Hillary.
It is an appalling case of hypocrisy that makes it clear this country is not mature enough for a woman president.
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Drop the Pretense
[Read the article: Don't run, Al. Don't!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love how Paglia has begun to preface her democrat-bashing by constantly reminding the un-initiated that she's a registered democrat.
With friends like her none of them need enemies--particularly Hillary, who she continues to bash like an old lady who stole her parking space. It's nothin' if it's not personal--is it Camille?
An analysis based on the facts, i.e. a woman running in a primarily militaristic country in the midst of a neo-colonial movement is too deep for tabloid opinions, and opinion-makers. It's more "critical" to talk about her tone of voice than the fact that her knowledge of the issues puts the other contenders to shame. Using You-Tube video images as a way to discredit the work of Gore is also perfect once the cartoon technique is in place.
Why not simply call Gore fat, and Hillary doty--and get the childish sarcasm out of the way? Those big strong republican white men who govern in the name of other big strong white men, and find the Paglia's of the world disgusting, are obviously more to her taste--so why not drop the pretense and say so?
There is a long history of aesthetics who prefer the firm control of the upper class to the machinations of populists who attempt to govern in the name of the "common" interests. (Hence the insistent Clinton digs, and total avoidance of any understanding of the broader issues at stake.)
While not admitting it, Paglia conceals herself poorly. I haven't yet tracked what other more seasoned minds make of her, but have reached the point where I no longer feel it necessary. The proof is in every column she's written since her return to Salon.