Letters to the Editor
masaccio
Published Letters: 237 Editor's Choice: 16
-
Fred is the Roman Hruska candidate
[Read the article: Fred Thompson is just like you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You remember:
"Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? And a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Cardozos and Frankfurters and stuff like that there."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Hruska
-
@ William Timberman
[Read the article: Brit Hume and the Bush administration take propaganda to a new level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I absolutely agree that it is high time we started calling these people liars in public. I sent Moveon.org a thank-you note for the excellent ad they ran in the NYT, and will follow with a donation.
On Sunday, the NYT explained its standards for calling people liars in the news section. If you read that article in connection with the front page story on the status of things in Iraq, realizing that the NYT put serious man-power into that article, it is clear that they are calling Petraeus a liar too, only with nicer words, in accordance with their standard practices.
-
The adminsitration lies
[Read the article: Bush gets no surge from Petraeus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why shouldn't Moveon point this out? The papers report that the White House was involved in Petraeus' testimony, and he denies only that they actually wrote it. The front-page stories in the New York Times on Sunday flatly contradict everything Petraeus and the administration say about security in Baghdad and Iraq. So do the report of the GAO and the report of General Jones.
The lesson of Viet Nam is that generals owe their duty to their country first and their troops second. How is Petraeus living up to that standard? I feel betrayed.
-
Joan Tell them this
[Read the article: Petraeus' Pentagon skeptics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Plenty of us think Petraeus is putting his career ahead of his duty to his troops. This was the complaint of Viet Nam era junior officers towards the generals of their day, and it led Colin Powell to his famous Powell Doctrine for committing troops to battle. Which, of course, was ignored by the administration and its hand-picked generals. Including Petraeus.
-
No whining
[Read the article: Women are the new men on TV]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The first thing I learned about being a man is not to whine. Some people are smarter, some are better looking, faster, stronger, better singers, whatever. Masculinity is about competing and accepting the outcome.
Petulance isn't sexy. Neither is incompetence, Judd Apatow notwithstanding.
-
Let's hope
[Read the article: Reid to Bush on Olson: Don't even try]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Reid sticks to this. Olson would be a poke in the eye.
-
@ Greg in FL
[Read the article: So long, white boy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree. The article says that Democrats shouldn't change or even shade their positions in an effort to woo the votes of white southern males. but, absolutely nothing should prevent the democratic candidate from directly saying to them that their economic and national security interests are identical with those of the Democratic Party.
Look at Guiliani. He is campaigning for those NASCAR dads, admitting that he is pro-choice and that he has a laughable reputation on personal issues; the only candidate who competes on that issue is Newt Gingrich. The southerner is perfectly capable of deciding about priorities. If the guy thinks that macho rambo is the solution to the national security issues, and that is the priority, then the guy votes for Rudy and abortion has to wait.
If the guy thinks that economic issues are at the top of the list, democratic candidates can compete for the vote, and abortion has to wait. If abortion is the top issue, democrats aren't competitive, but they weren't going to get that vote anyway.
No appeal to interest groups defined by characteristics. Assume everyone can figure out their interests and run as yourself. The days of image consulting are over.
-
Ummm, Motel?
[Read the article: I'm a sexually active woman, but my Christian parents treat me like a child]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So much for this problem.
-
Connecticut
[Read the article: Joe Lieberman and three Republicans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks a lot. You can be proud of your Lieberman for Connecticut party.
-
Click-through
[Read the article: Protests shut clinic on opening day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and send e-mail to the council. I did.
-
Money for challengers
[Read the article: Dianne Feinstein, symbol of the worthless Beltway Democrat]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Look at how hard it is to raise money for left challenges to incumbent democrats. I have talked to several people about finding challengers, and the amount of money in my district seems to be in the range of $2million. Better to spend that money finding democrats to run against incumbent repubs, and hoping that if we have enough of them, we can move at least the house.
Funding a dem challenge to a sitting senator is even worse. If we do that, we get Joe Lieberman.
Evict republicans. A lousy strategy, but the best one I can see.
-
The arithmetic is right but
[Read the article: Iraq and roll over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The leadership has to hang the war around the Republican's necks. It needs to come up several times more between now and the election, and each time, the R's have to scuttle change, and the Dems, and moveon and the rest of us, have to be ready with our ads and our charges of betrayal of trust and betrayal of the will of the people and so on. ("Betrayal" deliberately chosen by me, maybe not for everyone.)
The Democrats have to stand up for our side even if it means losing over and over. The more votes, the better. It will work for SCHIP and it will work for the war. Make them eat it. Show spine.
-
What Verizon really wants
[Read the article: Verizon: Abortion rights potentially "unsavory"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is immunity from liability for permitting the NSA to use its systems to spy on Americans in purposeful violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.