Letters to the Editor
BadgerBlue
Published Letters: 172 Editor's Choice: 7
-
Alito
[Read the article: Spinning the Alito defeat: It makes progressives stronger!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]58-42? 2/3rds of those polled want Roe upheld? How can there be such a disparity between the Senate and the average American? Here's something that the GOP understand about that disparity. A HUGE chunk of that 2/3rds that "support" Roe don't "support" it with the intense single minded fervor that a Pro-Life activist "supports" overturning Roe. I've encountered enough Pro-Life members to say with a fair degree of certainty that eradicating a woman's right to choose is a fanatical obsession. So fanatical indeed, that they ARE WILLING TO GO TO THE VOTING BOOTH ON THAT ISSUE ALONE! The Republicans have been milking this ignorant species of one-issue voters for all it's been worth ever since Roe's been on the books and I think the Democrats missed a chance to take that free lunch away from them by not taking a hard line and showing that there was something they would go to the mat for. They might have been able to put a handful of these "moderate" Republicans in the corner with the light shining on them to help reveal the real truth to thier constituents that they aren't and never were moderate when it mattered. Alito getting into the end zone is one thing, but letting him score on 1st down untouched only re-enforces the stereotype that many who do and don't vote already have of the Democrats - They are weak on defense!
-
Feingold vs. Kerry
[Read the article: Feingold drops out of the "Me Primary"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a Wisconsin resident and voter, I can't say enough good things about Feingold. He makes it a point to visit every single county in the state every year regardless of whether it leans Democrat or Republican and regularly attends listening sessions where anyone is free to ask him questions. If I send his office an e-mail or letter, I always get a response from him. He's a living example that a progressive candidate can win elections by simply standing by those principles and not trying to dodge the dreaded "Liberal" moniker. If there was ever a complete opposite of Bush43, it is definitely Russ. That alone makes me believe that he'd make a terrific President, but Shapiro is right that the steriotypes that often come with national elections would likely be his undoing in '08. Sadly, a RNC smear ad would suggest that since Feingold is a Rhodes Scholar like Bill Clinton, he must have also slept with Monica Lewinsky.
I'd also agree with a good deal of what Karen stated about Kerry. I canvassed quite heavily here in the last two election cycles and I have been surprised of late at how many more people have a better impression of Kerry now compared to '04. Very few Republiacans I talked to believed that Kerry's comments were meant to insult troops and most thought his remarks were aimed squarely at Bush. Almost all had more respect for Kerry when he fired back at the White House while many affirmed that they wished they saw more of that in '04. Here's some food for thought. Some of the more nuanced folk that I talked to agreed strongly with my distaste for Hillary Clinton chiming in for Kerry to apologize. Many here in the midwest interpreted her actions as self-serving and suspected that her motives were calculated to undermine someone she saw as a potential threat to her own asperations for '08, and were put off by the fact that she put her own ambitions in front of the good of her party at such a critical juncture for Dems as a group.
No wonder Dean can't stand her. She acts like Bush. As if he alone isn't repulsive enough.