Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 577 Editor's Choice: 5
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Thanks for the laugh, libertyson. The "Oedipal nature of the election"!
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is "outrageous", to quote Joe Conason. You seem to be suggesting that Barack Obama has solved the riddle of the sphinx, That's so literal that it cannot be your meaning so you seem to be implying, by mentioning psychology, that one of the candidates has an Oedipus complex or maybe it's an Electra complex. Oh yes, the American playwright wrote "Mourning becomes Electra", so that must be it, considering the "likeability" factor, although it's very difficult to actually like or dislike someone you don't know. Those ancient Greeks were a murderous lot, all the same, and I discovered just recently that the word "hypocrite" in it's original Greek meaning simply meant an actor. Lifelong learning is the thing and I'm certainly learning. American politicians need spiritual mentors to "bring me to Jesus" or to tell them about the way, the truth and the light, as John McCain also feels the need for some other windbag preacher to endorse him. I feel positively sinful as I sit here eating an apple, not bothering with even the most minor of the prophets, and trying to work out what Oedipus has to do with Obama, Clinton and even Al Gore. I think that Oedipus means "swollen feet" so this could be an oblique reference to Gore's extensive travels spreading The Word or to Obama's and Clinton's traversing of the States but it's just as well that Oedipus doen't mean swollen head. I'm glad you mentioned Queens, because the whole tenor of the indignation about Geraldine Ferraro touched not only on her family but also on Queens so that it seemed a very louche place with no Harvard graduates. Oh dear me! Still and all, you've made amends by suggesting that some psychologists, even psychiatrists, could be living there. The place must have come on exponentially in the last 24 hours. It's almost midnight here - you know, the witching hour- and even I have to get my sleep.
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Correction.
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I forgot to mention that the American playwright was Eugene O'Neill.
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Uncle Fester, Al Capone "met his Waterloo" by violating tax laws.
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not calling these "holy Joes" reverend because I don't revere them. McCain claims he only met Mr. Parsley for the first time a few weeks ago but the seamless blending of politics and religion in the U.S. is very strange indeed. The Scopes trial took place over eighty years ago but this is a Presidential election in 2008 and religion should not be an issue at all in a modern society. It's essentially a private matter, especially for politicians. If Wright and Parsley want to politicise their pulpits then they should be prepared to pay the price in taxes. America seems to specialise in religious charlatans whose main purpose in life is to prop up their own egos, feather their own nests and spread hatred of those who don't agree with their poxy opinions. Wasn't there a "holy Joe" called Jimmy Swaggert who got his comeuppance?
If Mr. Conason believes that Geraldine Ferraro needs to apologise, I'd expect. him to be even-handed and also demand an apology from Uncle Jeremiah who attempted to justify the deaths of innocent civilians (many of them non-Americans) in the attack on the Twin Towers. An Irishwoman who'd emigrated to America was on one of the planes, with her five-year old daughter. Both were killed as so many more were who had no part at all in Bush's war for oil. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me", we used to say as children but we now know that's not exactly true. I don't know enough about Rod Parsley to comment - although he might have been taking lessons from Ian Paisley on spluttering rhetoric - but I don't think Jeremiah Wright would have had the nerve to say what he did if Chicago, instead of New York, had been targeted. The relatives of those brave firefighters and others who died on that day would have had something to say to that Philistine. Of all the churches in all of Chicago why did Barack Obama pick one whose theme is definitely not reconciliation? There's been no convincing answer to that, despite all the huffing and puffing.