The American Spectator

p> LIP GLOSS br> Re: David Hogberg’s Loose Lips Sink Campaigns : /p>

If Mr. Hogberg thinks America is safer with Saddam Hussein captured, then he is delusional. The Bush Administration just heightened the alert and made motions to tighten airline security because of increased fears about safety. It may be true that Howard Dean speaks what’s in his heart before he settles for generic-talk, the stuff Mr. Hogberg undoubtedly thinks is the kind of talk we should continue to hear from Washington. But Howard Dean’s loose lips have said a lot that needs to be said, whether it’s that Democrats need to win the votes of Southerners on economic issues or that in our system of government, people, even Osama bin Laden, need to be proven guilty by trial.

p>The press is not allowed to talk to Mr. Bush freely. If they were, they would have more material than they knew what to do with, when it comes to lies and inanities. Meanwhile, they write about trivial stuff — no wonder the country is in such bad shape! br> — Carole Glickfield /p>

This is regarding David Hogberg’s “As the saying goes, ‘Loose lips sink ships.’ Too many liberal pundits have forgotten that they can also sink campaigns.” Everything Hogberg says makes sense. The problem is, people tend to forget.

Increasingly, elections are decided by current “image.” The important questions are: What is the composite picture of a candidate, and how recent is it? It may have very little to do with words spoken, unless these are (1) utterly outrageous, and/or (2) spoken in the last few weeks or days before an election.

p>Most of us are afflicted with “attention deficit disorder.” I suspect that the Iowans and South Carolinians are not even going to have much recall of Dean’s gaffes, unless Dean himself regularly freshens the stream. br> —