Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 207 Editor's Choice: 4
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Campaign tactics
[Read the article: Clinton asks supporters to raise money for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The comments of Rep. Andrews of New Jersey concerning the pressure he was under in the lead up to the Pennsylvania primary are chilling and disturbingly plausible. Super delegate Andrews was a staunch Clinton supporter (he was even chastised during the spring for campaigning for her among his fellow congressmen).
According to a report in this morning's Newark Star-Ledger, Andrews says he was contacted by a high-level Clinton staffer in the days before the PA primary and told of a plan to use supposed ill-will between Jews and blacks as a wedge to drive voters to Clinton in the primary. Andrews refused to name the staffer because the phone call was personal. The Obama camp had no comment. The Clinton staff denied the story, slapping Andrews with the label of loser for his landslide defeat by Lautenberg in this week's NJ primary. Andrews' account does not benefit himself in any way. But it does offer an important insight into the unwholesome tactics used by Sen. Clinton's campaign in its desperate push for victory.
I think that in the coming weeks we will hear many more unsavory stories from Clinton super delegates who were bludgeoned, strong-armed, threatened and otherwise pressured by her campaign. Apparently, the months before the end were an exceedingly tense and unhappy period for many super delegates who tried to maintain their neutrality or even for those who backed Hilary Clinton.
Yet another reason to feel lucky that Sen. Obama prevailed.
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Is he really that dumb?
[Read the article: Return of the gas tax]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The gas tax holiday was a riduculous idea when McCain first proposed it. It was a dumb idea when Clinton took it up. It is still obnoxious and unconscionable pandering now that McCain has revived his pitch. The only one not spewing crazy-talk in this campaign is Barack Obama.
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McWeak
[Read the article: Touché, Senator McCain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]McCain's attempt at a clever quip was lame, clumsy, and a real head-scratcher. Bush is our current president, so charging McCain with attempting to foist upon us a third Bush term makes perfect (if horrific) sense. McCain's forced smile and garbled delivery is painful to watch for two minutes and would be abysmal to endure for four years.
Carter was a president from decades ago whose noble work since his term in office has redounded to his everlasting credit. Carter is smart, savvy, worldly, and sympathetic to the struggles of people in the U.S. and around the world whose lives are constricted by poverty, hunger, and bigotry. What is wrong with being an extension of that?
In sum: John McCain's presidency would indeed be like a third Bush term, but without the commonsense decency of Laura Bush.
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The amazing thing
[Read the article: Bush says he regrets tone on Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is that there remain even 25 percent of the American public who still support this odious criminal. January 2009, and the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, cannot come soon enough.
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Sad denouement
[Read the article: James Johnson resigns from Obama team]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was the classic inside the Beltway story that was fascinating only to bored Washington journalists who were uninterested in reporting on issues like the imploding economy or environmental degredation or the insane war on Iraq. What a non-story.
Johnson did the right thing in resigning from his volunteer position. His departure will make little difference to Obama's search for a VP, but his continued presence could have disgruntled the punditry who like to read from the GOP talking points.
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McCain stumbles on Commander in Chief threshhold yet again
[Read the article: McCain: Timeline of Iraq withdrawal "not too important"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]McCain is systematically proving that he is not qualified to be president of the United States. Each day he unveils a new mental blunder or gaffe or actual statement of his misguided policy positions that reveal he does not understand the world we live in.
But this is no time for the Democrats to slide into complacency. We need to push hard on all fronts, pressing the media to give complete coverage to McCain's distortions and flip-flops and incompetencies. He is indeed a fighter and he will rise up once he has hit rock bottom if given room to manoeuvre. Obama and his surrogates need to keep the heat on, forcing more amazing errors.
McCain is would be a dangerous president because of his profound ignorance of history, culture,literature, religions, language, and human nature. His complete tone deafness and lack of empathy for the lives of ordinary people is astounding.
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What's good for the goose is good for the goose
[Read the article: Get ready for the attacks on Michelle Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This whole phony emphasis on the wives of the candidates is balderdash. The GOP is so desperate that they are exposing their sleeziest angles earlier and earlier. I hope that the American people display a bit more sophistication this election cycle. The Republicans are played out and cannot make a sound case against Obama based on the issues.
Does the GOP really want to get into a bracing round of "investigative articles" about Cindy McCain's pre-marital affair, her father's brewery millions, her drugs, her thievery, and her hidden tax returns?
I'll take Michelle Obama's professional ambition, intellectual drive and curiosity, her powerful analytic abilities, her dynamic persona harnessed to a sharp wit, and her evident strengths as a parent and spouse over the Stepford Wife any day of the week.
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Powerful ad
[Read the article: Obama camp releases first general election ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This ad was strong in concept and emotionally evocative in delivery. Obama came across as genuine, modest, thoughtful and straightforward. He has a touching and deeply American life story to tell and the ad will go a long way toward to getting the word out to the general electorate. The pictures of little Barack with his grandparents were especially effective and moving.