Letters to the Editor

• Poor Gary Owen -- the Troll With Nothing Else to Do But Bash Everyone Else

  [Read the article: Campaign wrap]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Concepts like allusion and inference are apparently way beyond you, as you continue to have your "where has Joan said she's voting for Hillary" tantrum. It's called propaganda, Gary. Big word, I know. You can look it up. Joan is very good at alluding to things, to skewing her coverage in different directions. It's her right to do so, but it doesn't make it right, no matter how much you scream, or how many tantrums you have.

  By the way, they say that Obama attracts the "wine voters" and Hillary attracts the "beer voters." But they need to add a new category just for Garry Owen: Hillary Supporter -- the "sippy cup voters."

  Cause after what, 8,000 posts (not busy with a REAL life or anything productive much, Gar?) your way to appear

  intelligent or clever is seriously to parse people's names into body parts? OMG, you must be such the wit on the playground!!!

  I know, Gary, you're already typing up "AssyrianAssyrianBoBassyrian Bananafanafofassyrian" as you read this...

  But hey, it's Saturday morning. Maybe you're not online. You're probably watching Sponge Bob and eating your Fruit Loops.

  Permalink Saturday, February 2, 2008 08:37 AM

• Thanks Joan

  [Read the article: Don't call Oprah a "traitor"!]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I thought this was a good recounting, gave a sense of what the event was like, and wasn't skewed, or passive-aggressive in favor of either candidate.

  Good job! Please keep this sort of reporting coming.

  Permalink Monday, February 4, 2008 07:02 AM

• Rebecca...Vote with your gut , your heart, your mind...

  [Read the article: Undecided '08: Should I vote for Clinton or Obama?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Vote with your gut, your heart, and your mind -- and don't let anyone make you feel guilty either way, and don't tell a soul if you don't want to.

  This is a major decision, and it's an important decision.

  I don't envy you your undecided status. I know how I'm voting.

  I'm voting for..

  • the person least likely to land us in more immoral wars
  • the person least likely to be influenced by special interests and lobbyists
  • the person who will give people of the Middle East, Africa, and around the world the sense that America is heading in an entirely new direction and making a break with its recent troubling past
  • the person who won't support amendments against flag-burning or support No Child Left Behind
  • the person who inspires people young and old to return to politics after years of cynicism and disgust with the old way of doing things
  • the person who has the ability to truly move people, to lead, to inspire, to motivate

  I will be voting for Barack Obama. But I respect anyone who is voting for Hillary for their choice as well. I may not support her in the primary, but the nature of the situation is such that if she is the nominee, I will have to vote for her in November, without question.

  The key thing, though -- GET IN THERE AND VOTE DEMOCRATS!!!

  Permalink Monday, February 4, 2008 07:17 AM

• Looking Into the Crystal Ball, You'll Find A Political Wife Who Voted for War

  [Read the article: The qualms before the storm]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  It is not, as you suggest, "futile" to rehash Hillary Clinton's BAD decision to vote to permit Bush to go to war. It would only be futile if Hillary Clinton were already the nominee -- which she is not.

  Because right now, asking oneself that question can help make the decision between Hillary and Barack Obama quite simple. Do you want to vote for the candidate who voted for war? Or the one who is on record as not supporting the war from the start?I know which one I'm voting for.

  Hillary Clinton's decision to vote to permit Bush to go to war was her Waterloo. She weighed what was politically most expedient at the moment, and she made an unethical, immoral decision. She claims she was "duped," but it's quite damning to her reputation as being smart for her to admit that she was duped by a dupe. It's an especially silly argument, given that millions of us who had no priveleged access to security information knew unequivocally it was a bad decision, and urged her and others to vote against it back then. We even demonstrated at the Capitol. Some Senators knew it and had the courage to vote with their ethics/morals and conscience...but not Hillary Clinton.

  As for Barack Obama's "charmed" political life. You do know that he lost his bid for Congress in Illinois. His opponent's son was murdered during the campaign. The campaign was a mess -- a rout, and Obama lost, and lost big. So, do you want to know how he reacts to adversity? Read about that political loss, and the decision-making process he went through to decide to run for Senate. His comeback after that political loss, coming after the kind of childhood he had, losing his father, the poverty, living abroad, being a minority student at Ivy League colleges, has given us more than enough information on how to judge his reactions to adversity.

  As for Obama's "lack of any administrative experience" -- let's talk facts. Barack Obama has more experience in elected office than Hillary Clinton.

  And since when did "exposure to a Democratic presidency" become a criterion for election? By that count, John Kerry also had a lack of any exposure to a Democratic presidency. And everyone knows he'd have made a FAR better president than a second term of George Bush.

  Is this "exposure to a Democratic presidency" your not-so-subtle way of suggesting that being married to a president makes a candidate more qualified?

  Does that mean that, if there's a Mrs. Shapiro, she's more qualified to be a political columnist? Should Laura Bush run for the Republican nomination in 2012? I think that this idea is, perhaps, the biggest fallacy of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Yes she's competent and smart, but marriage to a politician is NOT a presidential qualification.

  Finally, before you go looking for a crystal ball, can I suggest that you read Barack Obama's books "Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams of My Father."

  You'll learn everything you need about his ability to overcome adversity, his history, his experience, what he prizes and what he abhors, and the kind of amazing intelligence, judgment, wisdom and eloquence you'd be electing if you choose Barack Obama.

  Permalink Monday, February 4, 2008 07:43 AM