Hi Bill,

I'm late in arriving to this piece, but I'm posting on the chance that you see this. I wanted to say I agree with you wholeheartedly, and I've seen it for years in many fields, not just politics. You don't have kids, but if you did, you'd be appalled at what passes for smart teachers. (Whenever my kid gets a horrible one, I always hear from friends, "Little Johnny needs to be able to deal with all kinds of bosses later in life, even ones who don't know thus and so," as if any other profession tolerates incompetent workers and tells customers "We know the teller/cashier/accountant by the far wall is horrible, but it's good for you!") But that one's going to get me in trouble, so on to what I sent to the Plain Dealer right after the election of 2004:

"I wish the post-election attacks on Democrats would stop already. For crying out loud! If a mere 136,000 votes had swung the other way in Ohio, everyone would be wringing their hands and wondering why the President couldn't connect with the Northeast instead of wondering why Kerry didn't connect with the Heartland. I'm stunned at the liberal bashing that's been leveled by Republicans since their victory, mainly the bitter recriminations about an intellectual elitism. I'll gladly own up to mine, but frankly it feels rational. Conservatives have to admit it doesn't help their image when they nominate a candidate as inarticulate as W, whose convoluted English isn't nearly as worrisome as his simplistic world view, his patriotic jingoism, and his apparent inferiority to his own VP in policy matters. It also doesn't help their case when a large, independent study comes out less than two weeks before the election with the astounding finding that a full three-fourths of Bush supporters got the answers wrong on a patently objective (and widely covered) test on American foreign policy, including whether and when Iraq had WMD and whether Saddam had a "substantial/direct" link to 9/11. And what intelligent person doesn't pause when the normally reserved scientific community, including 48 Nobel laureates, rises up against a sitting president for his regressive policy on everything from the environment to weapons systems to medical research? Forgive me my contempt for the electorate who brought this anti-intellectual back into office. As a final note, the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to superiority of the moral variety; there is simply no one more self-righteous than an Evangelical who sees the path to Heaven straight through George Bush."

What cracks me up is that anyone who defended elitism back in 2004 was doing so BEFORE Katrina! LOL. Like anything spelled incompetence more than that disaster.

see ya. keep up the good work.

My tech-savvy high school junior is considering Va. Tech for college, so this really hit home to me. But already I'm disgusted at the television media's response. I turned on the tube for a few minutes and got the usual crap that Jon Stewart mocks them for: scary music, anchors trying to look earnest while hiding their glee at such a "great" story to cover, and the fear-mongering graphics like : IS ANY STUDENT SAFE? and WHAT'S TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING ANYWHERE? (from MSNBC) and "This will certainly put all colleges on notice!" (from CNN)

To be clear, I have cried on and off about this since I heard, mainly b/c I keep imagining the parents who are getting those awful phone calls--and putting myself in their place. I'm actually glad at the stupidity of cable, so I can be outraged rather than sad. But what I'm worried about is the overreaction that will inevitably occur like it has in elementary, middle, and high schools since Columbine (locked doors, closed main offices, security officers).

The truth is, we CAN'T prevent this sort of thing, at least not with a bandaid security approach. I'm not saying there isn't some threshold of security that works on some level, but really the main reason this won't happen much in the future isn't b/c of whatever million-dollar security systems are put in place; it'll be b/c there aren't that many people wanting to shoot up schools. It's an awful, complicated blend (I think) of circumstances that gets someone to this point, and there just aren't that many times those stars will align. I hope we all keep our heads about us.

Is great. I wish more people could ignore the smoke and mirrors and look just at the policies, proposals, and facts on the ground. But you're preaching to the choir here at salon. Most everybody here, in spite of different opinions, arrives at them thoughtfully and with a viable set of facts.

It's always instructive to see how the world views us.

I found the London paper most alarming. It's one thing to read the general disdain and puzzlement by others about our gun culture; it's quite another to hear so baldly that there will be another, more serious shooting on a college campus in a couple of years. That strikes fear in the heart of this mother of a high school junior, making it all the more personal.