Letters to the Editor
Asher Steinberg
Published Letters: 224 Editor's Choice: 12
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Yeah, Hutman, I'll Have To Vote For McCain
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Though I'm not crazy about him. As for the change sell, yes, it's true that any Democrat would be a change - which is why it's dishonest for him to act like he would somehow effect way more change than Hillary. What makes him the change candidate? Both, I take it, are for withdrawal from Iraq (big mistake), both want healthcare (I'm fine with that), both tout "green jobs," both have some plan to subsidize college tuition, both want to raise taxes on the upper bracket, or as they say, repeal Bush's tax cuts for the rich (big mistake in a recession), both claim that they'd take vaguely protectionist measures to protect manufacturing jobs, though Obama's leading the way here with his absurd "Patriot Employer Act" (mistake), both have plans to decrease oil dependence but aren't willing to drill in ANWR or offshore to do it (mistake), both want to scrap No Child Left Behind (mistake), and that's about it... is there a single substantive policy proposal on Obama's side that Hillary doesn't have a very similar, and in many cases, more threshed-out version of? As for Obama's registration drive, I have no problem with it, though I think it's telling that his campaign thinks he can't win unless he gets non-Democrats to masquerade as Democrats for the primary. If the party's interested in nominating someone who party members actually like, Hillary's the clear choice - though I'll grant you that Obama might have more of a shot in the general election. Then again, it'd be a closer race than you'd think and McCain could get him with experience and this whole Wright business.
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About Wright
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While I'd like to believe Obama, it doesn't seem possible that this is the first time he's been made aware of these statements or ones like them. As the N.Y. Times reported when Obama announced his intentions to run for the presidency, Wright was originally supposed to deliver an invocation at the announcement, but was disinvited by Obama aides hours prior because they thought his presence might be too controversial. And, in Obama's first memoir, Dreams of My Father, written before he went into politics, Obama recounts hearing Wright's "Audacity of Hope" sermon, and quotes or paraphrases this passage:
“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere…That’s the world! On which hope sits!”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Obamas_Wright_White_folks_greed.html
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So The Thought of Hillary Continuing Her Campaign Till June 3 Makes Your Stomach Tie Up In "Unpleasant Knots"?
[Read the article: Getting ready for the long, long haul]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That sounds kind of partisan to me. Maybe that's why you took a pass on that most patriotic of ex-marines/biblical scholars, while offering us unstinting coverage of the oh-so-important Ferraro affair.
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The Difference Is That Wright's A Racist
[Read the article: The difference between Jeremiah Wright and radical, white evangelical ministers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe you can offer some examples, but I don't see Hagee or Parsley ranting about the baleful influence of rich blacks, poor blacks, or any sort of blacks on our society. Wright, on the other hand, seems to have made a habit of saying derogatory stuff about "white people," "rich white people," "the United States of White America," suggesting you shouldn't vote for someone because she's white, and so on. That's racism. (Yes, Virginia, it's possible to entertain racist views about whites.)
The other big difference is that it's one thing to say that God hit New Orleans with a hurricane because the people there were too busy fornicating. It's offensive in principle, but it's so absurd and ridiculous that most people don't even take offense. Nor is it unpatriotic. Someone like Falwell would still say that they feel loyal to America vis-a-vis other nations; he just feels a deeper loyalty to God and God's moral strictures, much in the way that a Quaker feels a deeper loyalty to his God than he does to the draft board. To say, however, that we're morally equivalent to the terrorists in a more secular sense - for instance, to say, as Wright did, that we're no different from Al Qaeda because we support state-sponsored terrorism against the Palestinians - and therefore were deserving of being attacked is deeply unpatriotic.
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Honest Question About Black Liberation Theology
[Read the article: The difference between Jeremiah Wright and radical, white evangelical ministers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I noticed that in Wright's diatribe about Hillary he mentioned that Jesus was "a poor black man who lived in a country controlled by rich white people." Now, I had always thought that Jesus was Jewish and therefore probably white. Also, there have never been, to my knowledge, many black people living in Israel. But putting aside whether Wright's right or wrong, is this view on Jesus's race typical of black liberation theology, and does it have any implications on their religious views - for instance, do they believe that Jesus, as a black, was preaching a specifically pro-black doctrine, or that blacks are the chosen people or better Christians, or that the God of the New Testament is a specifically black God... it seems pretty problematic to attribute a race to God. Imagine a white church emphasizing Jesus's whiteness.
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Maddie, What Do You Need A Campaign For?
[Read the article: Getting ready for the long, long haul]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So they can come and pander to Floridians and talk about your special Floridian questions and concerns? So they can clarify their positions on Cuba and hurricane insurance? You seem to know who you're voting for without the benefit of a campaign. Like the Floridians who voted back in January, you've seen them on TV, read what they have to say, and made up your mind without the help of some insipid campaign rallies or TV commercials.
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This Ad Would Actually Make A Lot Sense If It Weren't For...
[Read the article: GOP congressional candidate parodies Clinton "3 a.m." ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the fact that the Republicans have been running up the deficit like mad with their war in Iraq. However, I don't think Obama or Clinton are going to help balance the budget much.