The American Spectator

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Taking Issue

12.10.03 @ 12:01AM

ACLU MATED
Re: Doug Bandow's Dear Nadine …:

The ACLU invites me to become a supporter at least twice a year. I have told them that I will not join as long as their politics advocate more power to the state rather than to the individual. They continue to write me. I received the latest request last week.

This summer I attended the State Libertarian Convention for Texas. A representative of the Texas ACLU spoke. I told her that I could not support them because of their advocacy of government power, while the Libertarians advocate individual rights. She told me I should not judge the ACLU on one issue.

One issue?
-- Raymundo Aleman

If the ACLU is so concerned about rights, how about our right to walk our streets free from fear of crime? How about letting our children play outside without our having to worry about pedophiles and creeps preying on them?

Also, while the rights of the minority are supposed to be protected in a democracy, isn't it still the basic precept of democracy that the majority rules?
-- Frank Mauran

I was one of those receiving a request to join. It was accompanied by a questionnaire re my stands on motherhood and apple pie. After answering their questions, all accompanied by a lot of "buts," I returned their form in the prepaid envelope with my contribution. A whole penny taped onto the form. Obviously, I wouldn't give two cents to that bunch.
-- Donald A. Holloway
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

KERRY DRIVEN
Re: Brandon Crocker's Kerry Jumps Off the Deep End:

This article has articulated exactly what many Americans think. It's so good to know that others out there in the country share the same views and care for the country. Kerry is so obviously a liar, and not slick and oily like the slickmeister. Keep up the good work and God Bless...
-- Henry Gooch
Gulf Shores, Alabama

I've never heard anyone say "John Kerry is one sharp politician" or even "John Kerry has one sharp mind" or John Kerry anything except comments about the wealth of his wife. When you really think about it he is a non-player outside of his home state.
-- Richard Ledford

Brandon Crocker asserts Howard Dean has finally driven John Kerry insane. If so, it looks to have been a short drive. Those who lament the length of the quadrennial presidential wrist wrestling contest between wannabes in the run up to the first set of primaries ought to re-think their complaint. One of the great advantages of this extended gauntlet -- through millions of other peoples' dollars, hundreds of thousands of trudged miles and often through the very limits of exhaustion -- is the chance for voters to see how the wannabes control themselves in high stress situations.

Of course, the process ain't perfect. We did, after all, give JFK a squeaker victory over his pressure-tested opponent. There must be something about these New England politicians lusting for high office that seems to make them crumple under pressure -- John F. Kennedy flinching at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Teddy making those endless telephone calls from his motel room to cover his sorry butt while one of his boiler room bunnies breathed the last of the air trapped in the back seat of his submerged automobile at Chappaquiddick in 1969, Ed Muskie crying in the snow in 1972, John Kerry imploding in an interview with Rolling Stone.

And now we're being asked to believe that Howard Dean is New England politician cut from different bolt of material. Tough sell, even if the inventor of the Internet -- the guy who needed a female consultant to teach him how to be an alfa male and the guy who booted away what should have been a peace/prosperity/budget surplus shoo-in of an election -- has endorsed him. It may be an especially tough sell because Al Gore had to stick the knife of betrayal into the back of his ultra-loyal 2000 running mate in order to endorse Dean.
-- Thomas E. Stuart
Kapa'au, Hawaii

MISSING O'BRIAN
Re: James Bowman's review of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World:

The nautical photography and effects are the most gorgeous stuff I've ever seen. The design work is awesome, as is the cinematography. The lighting beautifully evokes a time when illumination came from whale oil and beeswax, before Mr. Edison gave us our bright, indiscreet century.

Letter to the Editor

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