Letters to the Editor
Dmagnificent
Published Letters: 116 Editor's Choice: 6
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Where is the other story
[Read the article: Wolfson calls planned Obama declaration a "slap in the face"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The NYTimes is running a blatantly false headline lifted from the Hillary campaign. Where is Salon's response?
The headline says As Time Runs Short, Clinton Claims Lead in Popular Vote. At first I tought it might just be a misleadingly worded headline, as Clinton IS lying through her teeth and CLAIMING the lead in the popular vote. But no, the article does nothing to address the fact that by no reasonable measure is Clinton leading in the popular vote.
Salon has yet to criticize Clinton for her blatantly false claims, but have now posted two pieces about Obama ACCURATELY claiming that after tomorrow he will have secured a majority of the pledged delegates available. After tomorrow it will be mathematically impossible for Hillary to end up with more pledged delegates than Obama. This is a fact.
Hillary is claiming the lead in the popular vote by throwing out the vote of anyone who voted in a caucus state. She is counting the votes in Florida which are dubious because there is no reason to believe that the results would not have been different if the candidates had campaigned there. Hillary probably still would have won in a valid election, but the margin of victory would be different and probably lower.
She is also laughably couting her votes from Michigan and giving Obama, who wasn't on the ballot, the ZERO votes he got.
That is how she claims that she has the popular vote lead. This is stretching the truth beyond the "Clintonian". This makes "I did not have sexual relations with..." seem straightforward and honest by comparison. This is a LIE.
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Ignorance is Strength!
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary's statements today have to be among her absolute dumbest ever.
Yes, sexism has played a huge role in this campaign. There have been a lot of women voting for Hillary Clinton simply because of her gender. A lot of them even admit that they don't really like her. Many of those stories from last week accurately pointed this out, which you -OOPS- failed to mention.
Hillary has used her gender at every turn to HELP her campaign. Lose Iowa, cry before New Hampshire.
Hillary Clinton has run as the "experience candidate", while all of the experience she cites is her husband's. Except for the stuff she now claims to oppose. She was just a lowly first lady with no influence over those matters.
She has played it both ways and any intelligent woman knows that she has. She has used her gender and any intelligent woman knows she has. But there are far too many intellignet women supporting Clinton simply because she has ovaries. That is the sexism that has permeated this campaign and the exit polls back it up.
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Stupid people are easily manipulated
[Read the article: A great debate about Obama and Appalachia]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While I understand the sentiment of the letter, I have to disagree to some extent.
Some of us make a mistake when we dismiss ALL of Appalachia as ignorant and racist. There are good, hard working, decent people there who have not the slightest racist streak. There are smart people there. However, there are also a lot of, if not dumb, grossly undereducated people there.
The racists should NOT be tolerated. I won't tolerate racist family members. I keep my children away from certain parts of their family because being around these people would hurt my children. I don't want to explain to my son that he should spend time with his aunts and uncles, but just sit quietly while they complain about the "niggers". Tolerating hatred from your family is the same as condoning it and that is something I refuse to do.
As for the "idiots", I see no reason to embrace them. It is easier to manipulate them than try to explain complex issues in monosyllabic terms. The Republicans know this. They have used the strategy for years. God, guns, flag, us and them. These are the simple concepts that idiots are moved by. All of these things are complex issues. Jesus was nailed to a tree for his liberal teachings; the Second Amendment doesn't clearly confer an individual right to own a gun, et al. But Republicans have excelled at taking complex issues and dumbing them down to sway those too dumb or intellectually lazy to think for themselves.
The Democrats know it too. Hillary Clinton is about as populist as I am Martian. But the toothless crowd swallowed it hook line and sinker. She manipulated them as surely as Atwater and Rove did.
It is far easier to trick these simpletons into supporting you than it is to convince them with intelligent arguments. Rove knows it. Hillary knows it. She also knows that Democrats have absolutely NO shot at Kentucky in November and West Virginia is probably out of reach, too- no matter who the democrat is. But she is hoping that the superdelegates are as easily bamboozled as hicks are.
There are good people in Appalachia. They are grossly outnumbered by racists and willfully ignorant hicks. They fall for simplistic trickery and vote against their own financial interests. These are the people who still believe that Iraq had WMDs. Logic and facts won't move them.
My wife heard a joke at work the day of the WV primary that sums up the regions perfectly:
The only people who admit to being from West Virginia are the ones who are really from Kentucky.
I live in Eastern Tennessee. I know these people. I live with these people. I was told to take off my tin-foil hat back in 2002-3 when I was trying to convince people that there was no justification in attacking Iraq. No amount of evidence mattered. Their minds were made up and weren't going to change. That is why they are "idiots". They CHOOSE to be.