Letters to the Editor

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Tideswimmer

Published Letters: 383     Editor's Choice: 47

  • Sounds like he's a professor to me

    [Read the article: Professor Obama, I presume? ]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Obama taught classes at the University? That sounds like he was a professor to me, an ordinary Joe -- as much brain power as I want to give it; Oh, technically maybe not a professor? So the fuck what?

    Now, if he DID NOT teach classes, but he's claiming the title, then you have something there. You now, the way someone might claim to have been dodging sniper fire, when in fact they were not, that would be bad. But as it stands now, I have no idea why the Clinton camp thinks this stupid Senior Lecturer/Professor parsing is important. Jesus, God!

    McCain! Hillary, please talk about how you will be different than McCain. Remember him? The guy who thinks things are just fine in Iraq? That guy? The one who will give us a Bush third term? ATTACK HIM if you want my vote. McCain! He's the one!

    Quit the sniping. Please God, before I go insane.

  • Not important!

    [Read the article: Professor Obama, I presume? ]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    You academic purists really crack me up with your continued insistence that Obama is trying to spread himself with glory. Here's a clue for you: No One Cares! In your little world, such things do matter, but out in the real world, here's how the conversation will run 98 percent of the time:

    "It says here that Barack Obama was a Senior Lecturer at a University."

    "What's a Senior Lecturer?"

    "Well, he's like a Professor. He teaches classes."

    "So he's a Professor, then. Why don't they just call him that?"

    And that's just the way it is. People don't have time. They're going to reduce it to the simplest term they can. The difference is important to you, working your way up ever so slowly through the rungs of academia, but out in the world, no one has the time.

    I live in a University town, and have many friends at all levels of titledom. They are all just "Professor" to me. I can't keep them all straight, and in the long run I don't think, for my purposes, that it really matters.

    As I said before, McCain is now running around talking idiocy about Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, and the urgent need for more of the same. McCain's Iran/Al-Qaeda goof is important. This lecturer/professor bullshit is, well, bullshit.

    I want to see the Democratic candidates countering McCain. Instead, Clinton is keeping everything mired down at this baby talk level.

    McCain! Hillary, he's the one. He's the enemy. He's the one who will deliver the killing blow to this country. McCain. McCain. McCain. Let me hear you say it.

  • @Jim2312

    [Read the article: Professor Obama, I presume? ]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    At least in my case, you read my words but did not grasp them. I KNOW there's a difference, of course. But for all general purposes, I DO NOT CARE. The distinction matters to them, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to keep track of all the various flavors. As I said, many of my friends teach at the University. If they are above grad students, be they assistant, associate, vice-poobah to the third secretary or whatever, I just lump them all as professors because I don't have time to try and keep track. For my purposes, and I think for most people, lumping it all into the same umbrella is good enough. If I ever have need for the services of a FULL professor rather than just an ordinary Associate Professor, then, yes, I'll be paying closer attention, just as I will when I ever need to hire a lawyer.

    Until then, I DON'T CARE and I don't have time. Got plenty enough to keep my brain occupied, thank you.

    What I am worried about is, as I've said twice before now, is the excruciating agony of Clinton trying to turn bullshit like this into something. I want substantive discussion about real issues. Like HOW DO WE TURN THIS DISASTER TRAIN AROUND! The tracks we are on lead inexorably to hell: what are we to do about it? I do know this: that discussion sure as hell doesn't start with "Well, first of all let me say that Senator Obama said he was a professor when in fact he should really have said he was a senior lecturer."

    Don't you see how insane that is? How childish and moronic? I'm not going to hold Hillary's conflation of a bumpy ride into a foreign airport against her; I'm willing to let that go, even though I don't see how even the threat of danger translates into anything that means anything. You had a dangerous flight, so what? Chelsea was with you, and had a dangerous flight, too. Let's vote for her then.

    What I do know is this Hillary keeps touting her 35 years of "experience." Well, five or six years ago, I, with no experience at all, was able to tell that giving Bush his unlimited authorization was an extremely bad idea. Hillary still makes excuses for it. Last year, with several more years of "experience" under her belt, and knowing full well what happens when you give Bush even a little slack, she voted for the Leiberman-Kyl amendment, or as I'm sure Bush/Cheney will view it, carte blanche to go ahead and fuck things up even more than they are already.

    Hillary has some serious explaining to do if she wants my vote. This constant snipe snipe snipe at Obama is not winning me over. It never will. Lecturer/professor: I DON'T CARE!

    Is that plain enough and clear enough? This moronic baby talk just has to stop.