Letters to the Editor
david-smith
Published Letters: 99 Editor's Choice: 8
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There Are Few Pleasure Like Watching Republicans Drown
[Read the article: Quote of the Day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh God, it's an indescribable pleasure to see these big, fat greasy rats scrambling off the sinking ship of the Republican Party. Let's just pray that the Democrats are smart enough to resist the urge to toss a single one of them a lifeline as they go squealing beneath the surface.
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What A Gaping Asshole Brooks Is
[Read the article: David Brooks takes on pop music]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just a typical helping of insipid, pompous doggerel from hairless, four-eyed uber-putz David Brooks. Indeed, Brooks is no mere run-of-the-mill simpering buffoon (as witnessed by the not-long-ago revelation of the names of his childhood pet turtles, "Gladstone" and "Disraeli," during one of his nauseatingly ubiquitous Sunday-morning talk show gigs), but successor to the mantle memorably bestowed upon legendary rightwing hack Abe Rosenthal by Spy Magazine, rendering him now and forever David "I'm Writing As Bad As I Can" Brooks.
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Bush Represents Republicanism, Not the United States
[Read the article: Moral hazard]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My only quibble is the presumption that telling Bush to fuck himself constitutes a repudiation of "the U.S." It's time to consistently articulate the fact that Bush represents nothing more than the disease of Republicanism, and is no more a legitimate representative of the United States than Marshal Petain was of France. He isn't "our" president, he is the leader of a cult of racist, authoritarian religious fanatics, and the measure of any real American's patriotism is the degree to which he'd like to spit in his goddamn face.
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The Straw that Broke This Camel's Back
[Read the article: Chris Dodd on FISA, habeas corpus and Democratic capitulation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jesus Christ, this FISA vote just can't be real. What the hell makes it so difficult for these people to understand that normal human beings feel nothing but loathing and seething contempt for politicians who cringe like whipped dogs in response to every threat, who lack the smallest measure of dignity and self-respect needed to stand up for basic convictions. Make no mistake about it: this situation has nothing in common with the decision to abjure either an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, or impeachment proceedings against Cheney and Bush, both of which are at least defensible (if only weakly) on the grounds of political self-interest. No, the true horror of this vote is not the Democrats’ typical, breathtaking absence of principle (though it certainly is that too), but its incomprehensible POLITICAL stupidity. For six years, Democrats have denounced Bush as a liar and a criminal and an imbecile, a petulant half-wit manifestly unfit to serve as President of the United States. That, of course, is precisely what Dodd was getting at with his de Gaulle anecdote. Now, when the lying half-wit demands – demands – that they not only pass a surveillance bill, but do so according to his exact specifications, the spineless cowards bend over and beg him to fuck them in the ass. Can these geniuses possibly fail to recognize that they have just ratified illegal wiretapping, the elimination of habeas, the Guantanamo gulag, and every other criminal act committed by this cabal of thugs since they assumed control of the White House six years ago? That they’ve thoroughly validated the accusation that the investigation of such conduct is a self-serving witch hunt and an exercise in captious grandstanding?
And while my disgust and outrage are all too real, at least I can take some cold comfort in the vindication of having vilified the party week after week after week. I’ll tell you one issue into which this capitulation has given me extraordinary new insight: the widespread apathy and anemic voter turnout among the African-American community. I used to be highly critical of that circumstance, frustrated that blacks could be so seemingly neglectful of and indifferent to their own apparent self-interest. I now clearly recognize the naiveté and narrow-mindedness of that perspective. Like the rest of us, blacks fully recognize the stink of betrayal and exploitation when they smell it, and frequently hate the “smiling faces” of the Democrats even more than the good old-fashioned nigger-hatred of the Republicans.
I know just how they feel.
I don’t think my back is the only one to have been broken under the weight of this particular straw. Indeed, I suspect this vote could constitute a real watershed, one that might shatter the uniform, unwavering support of the activist base of the Democratic Party. From here on in, the Democrats will never be anything than the lesser of two evils, an aggregation of opportunists and collaborators only slightly less repellent than their Republican masters. They are ciphers, an entity of pure negation that will never constitute a repository of anyone’s hopes or political aspirations. I'll be goddamned if I'm going to expend my money and efforts on behalf of a party that stands for no affirmative principles of its own, one whose only identity is "not Republican." That, quite simply, isn’t good enough. And as for those who say, “Well, at least they're better than the Republicans,” all I can say is that horse can only travel so far, and this one is now a dead, rotting carcass.
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I Knew This One Would Have Them Crawling Out of the Woodwork
[Read the article: How can I help my friend get over losing his girlfriend?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]She's not coming back, because she's already hooked up with another sugar daddy. Come on now, a 19-year-old single mom who finds a 37-year-old old fool to take care of her doesn't leave till she's found a (better) replacement.
I knew I’d find a putz or two afoot as soon as I’d read this letter, but this one’s really got them crawling out of the woodwork. Yup, there’s nothing more adorable than those who conflate their subjective aesthetic preferences with universal moral imperatives. In other words, because they’re repulsed by the notion of dating someone 20 years older, doing so must be immoral, wrong for everyone else, and inevitably doomed to failure. Such puritanical, self-absorbed assholes ought to consider a philosophy of life others have found enormously worthwhile: it’s called “live and let live.” Don’t like pornography? Don’t watch it; don’t approve of abortion? Don’t have one; don’t like taking it up the ass? Don’t do it. Otherwise, mind your own goddamn business and don't worry about anyone else's preferences, unless they involve violence, cruelty or abuse.