The American Spectator

br> — Steve Ahlstrom /p> p> CACTUS SOUR br> Re: Jerry Carter’s And They’re Off! /p>

Jerry Carter’s 4/18/02 column including McCain in a list of presidential contenders for 2004 continues to ignore the former POW’s unsavory history. Why are reporters so kind to McCain? In Arizona McCain’s sainthood has worn thin and the odor of CFR sanctity insufficiently masks the stench of his past.

p>A carpetbagger from Connecticut, he barely won a five-way primary for an AZ Congressional seat with the help of a thoroughly corrupt leader of the statehouse named Burton Barr. A few years later, McCain rushed to call for the resignation of an honest Republican Governor who was falsely accused of fraud (later acquitted) and who had beaten the same Burton Barr in a primary. McCain’s treachery to Republicans (sound familiar?) turned the state over to Democrats and, eventually, to another financial mentor, the now thoroughly discredited Symington. Also, Arizonans haven’t forgotten Charles Keating. McCain thrives in the media, but would have trouble carrying his own state. br> — Bill Heuisler br> Tucson, AZ /p>

Jerry Carter replies: My mention of McCain as a possible GOP nominee in 2008 didn’t “ignore” his unsavory history. I just didn’t need to go into it. And I was hardly “kind” to McCain, since the one sentence I devoted to him insulted him and suggested he is not a true Republican.