Letters to the Editor
Asher Steinberg
Published Letters: 231 Editor's Choice: 12
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The Purpose of Superdelegates
[Read the article: The Democrats' anti-momentum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a Hillary fan so perhaps I'm biased, but a lot of you are forgetting why we (you rather, I'm a Republican) have superdelegates in the first place. After the infamously disastrous convention of 1968, a commission, led by George McGovern, changed the rules so that every delegate was controlled by how his state voted in the primary. Under that system, maybe not so coincidentally, McGovern got nominated and went on to lose in a landslide. And in 1980, Carter lost in a landslide. So in 1982, the party introduced superdelegates as a way of ensuring that the party would have an electable nominee. The idea was never that superdelegates had to vote for whoever won the most primaries. They were supposed to vote for whoever would have the best shot in the general election. Now, I'm not saying that that person is necessarily Hillary; Obama definitely appeals to more independents than she does, but with the Wright business, which I submit is far from settled, there is reason to doubt how electable he is, and I think it would be a mistake for the superdelegates to vote for him just because he has more pledged delegates - delegates which, as Shapiro wisely points out, were accumulated quite a while back. Hillary's won the last two big contests and is about to win a third by a pretty big margin. I think it's very possible that Hillary is now the more popular candidate. Now, if the superdelegates conclude that he's actually more electable or that nominating Hillary, after Obama "won" the primaries, would be so offensive to his supporters that they might stay at home on election night, they should vote for him, but they shouldn't just rubberstamp whatever the outcome of the primaries is.
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That Whole Thing Only Made Sense in Chris's Mind
[Read the article: Matthews rails against "Clinton-centric world" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's nice to see even an Obama tout like you, Alex, can recognize how nuts Matthews is. The question was whether the endorsement made any difference in Obama's election chances, and Matthews says that that's the wrong question because it presupposes a Clinton-centric world. What? The obvious question after any endorsement is whether it makes a difference in the election. That's not a question about Hillary's feelings I also have to say that the guy in the McDonald's shouting "with a tone of wonder and amazement" is an idiot. How would Richardson's endorsement ensure that Obama's going to be the next President?
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RE: Ashley
[Read the article: The best-laid plans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Take a clue from Diablo Cody: quit stripping and make some art.
Juno wasn't art.
As for this piece, I'd read it if I was in a waiting room, hell, I read it now, but a whole book of stuff like this? Who would read that? It's competent enough but that's about it.
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You've Got It All Wrong
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Patriotism has nothing to do with the reaction to Wright's comments. The problem with Wright is that he's a racist and a demagogue who's feeding his congregants paranoid conspiracy theory BS. His comments on 9/11 were reasonable enough, though not the sort of thing, obviously, a presidential candidate wants to be associated with.
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?
[Read the article: Raffle craze strikes innocent presidential candidates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is this legal? I guess they've checked it out. Obama, by the way, was first on this, he did it back in July of last year.
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This Should Help Our Economy!
[Read the article: Obama's plan to change the economy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From Obama's interview on CNBC today:
BARTIROMO: "How do you plan to change the tax code when it comes to capital gains? How high will that 15 percent rate go?"
Sen. OBAMA: "Well, you know, I haven't given a firm number. Here's my belief, that we can't go back to some of the, you know, confiscatory rates that existed in the past that distorted sound economics. And I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was the 28 percent. I would--and my guess would be it would be significantly lower than that. I think that we can have a capital gains rate that is higher than 15 percent. If it--and if it, you know--when I talk to people like Warren Buffet or others and I ask them, you know, what's--how much of a difference is it going to be if it's 20 or 25 percent, they say, look, if it's within that range then it's not going to distort, I think, economic decision making.
Later:
The broader principle that I'm interested in is just making sure that we've got a tax code that is fair for all Americans. And I think it is not unreasonable to say--you know, I know that we'll get some arguments from some folks on this, but it's not unreasonable to say that those of us in the upper brackets have benefited disproportionately from a globalized economy; that those benefits have been compounded by the Bush tax cuts and that for us to roll back some of those tax cuts and to put this economy on a more stable fiscal footing and to make investments in the American people so that they can afford a decent life...
I mean, I wasn't aware that the purpose of the tax code was to punish overly successful people.
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Not Surprising That Infanticide Is Bad For Your Mental Health
[Read the article: Can abortions lead to mental illness?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]See above.
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You Know...
[Read the article: Scott Bateman: "Everybody can't janitor"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't want to be mean, but I'd say that the only really good thing about your work is the audio you borrow from other people. Your captions are mildly funny at best, and the animation doesn't really add anything at all.
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Haha
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex/IFC: Oh Winona!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"A lot of early films of the late 80s and early 90s indie period"... that makes no sense.
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I'm An Obama Hater And I See No Problem Here Either
[Read the article: Michelle Obama on "ignorant" America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Though the Wright stuff and the "typical white person" remark does concern me.