Letters to the Editor
Ben Sen
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 98
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Outrage of the Week
[Read the article: Bush's worst day ever?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bad as it is, I don't think this is the outrage of the week. Did you not see the NYTIMES piece indicating the administration has found a way to claim the surge is working? This is aside from the obvious set-up of the "Commanders" Bush put into place at the press conference.
It's the kind of manipulation that has Rove written all over it. i.e. throw out the biggest lie you can, and then have a good laugh while they fight over the scraps. Gen. Patreaus (sp?) actually has a chance to become an American hero in the weeks and months ahead, but the question is whether he will take it. He knows damn well what the administration is going to do if he fails to give them what they want.
The Surgeon Generals were very helpful in the regard--don't you think?
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Mindlessness
[Read the article: Why David Vitter matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's the self-righteousness and denial of these miserable bastards that makes you want to vomit. And worse: it's knowing that Vitter's story like Haggard's and Foley's will do very little if anything to turn around this sort of mindlessness.
The only evidence we have, (and instantly the hackles are up) is that in Europe they have done a better job--at least at present. They don't excoriate their leaders for their personal lives. The recent election in France was a perfect example.
If I've asked this question once I've asked it a thousand times: why don't Americans learn? Why can't they separate their politicians from their saints? How is it that time after time the Vittner's and Gingrich's and all these assholes keep getting away with it?
The answer I've come up with is that it really isn't a political problem. The forum is not the place where it gets worked out. It's a cultural problem that goes much deeper. It takes artists, writers, filmakers and poets to make any inroads against it--people's whose job it is to actually tell the truth about how Americans' live--and it takes time.
The United States is a military country; it has been since the beginning. It has stayed stuck in a form of cultural adolescence--and personally I am not even sure its professional critical community for the most part is even aware of it yet. (They just want to make as much money as they can too.)
Those who have cultural interests, and actually learn from the insights of cultural arbiters are few and far between. They can live in North Dakota just as easily as New York City, and they may not even have an art--but they exist--and the future depends on them more than any politician, or any story in the news.
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Disingenuous Alert, Disingenuous Alert
[Read the article: The Salon Interview: Elizabeth Edwards]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On the cancer issue: my wife is currently suffering from "incurable cancer," but the best doctors in the business can't tell us if that means she will live for six months, or sixteen years. If Elizabeth was more clear about that, I'd be more clear about her and her husband.
I like the "poverty initiative." I like Edwards for bringing it to the table. I like the populist appeal, realize it could be disingenuous, but don't care given the weight of the issue--and it's appeal to the Democratic base--if in fact the Democratic base and its liberal perfidious ideologues are capable of getting off their asses and getting to the polls.
On Hillary, look: she has to say she is in it to win. Elizabeth knows that. Otherwise she'd be dismissed for a variety of reasons. Come on. Mrs. Edwards is clearly a smart cookie and I am impressed by her confrontation with the idiot--what's her name--but there is still a whiff of "the false appearance of simple frankness," which is the definition of disingenuous. It may be a sign of intelligence, but I'd prefer more leveling in order to support them fully.
Meanwhile, I'll gladly vote for the man if he is nominated. I don't have to love 'em to vote for 'em. It's politics; it ain't love. If he wants another popular issue: he should be against the current reduction of social security benefits based on income. They need to be revised, and millions of boomers are about to get hit with it.
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Right Wing Skullduggery
[Read the article: Elizabeth Edwards didn't call Hillary Clinton a man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm very much in agreement. This is typical right wing skullduggery and needs to be challenged immediately and decisively. It's hard to believe this low level a "debate" is necessary but it could just as easily backfire on them.
It has amazed me to see how often subscribers claim Salon favors one candidate or another. I think they should stick around awhile longer, or simply pull up some past interviews with other candidates.
It is also a relief to see the focus starting to emerge on the Dem/GOP differences. If this election is allowed to go down the tubes the way it happened in '00 and '04 and the liberal media falls into the same traps it will be pathetic.
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The Ripest Banana in the Bunch
[Read the article: Cooking the intelligence, again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even if a rehash, to me the wonder of the NIE report is that it got out. Recent investigations have clarified again and again the extent to which the administration has controlled information and personnel--so that's still the story at present to someone whose souce of information is limited to the news.
It's a gigantic piece of information: WHY HAVEN'T THEY MADE A DEAL WITH PAKISTAN AND SENT THE TROOPS THERE? The question is the ripest banana in the bunch. When will the Congress chime in--now that the latest symbolic protest by the Dems is over? Isn't this a chance for Biden to get his face on the front page?
How far out on the limb is Patraeus going to go? How the hell will they make a case when a day doesn't go by without another massacre? It boggles the mind.