The American Spectator

Reader Mail

John Chevy Chase Kerry

5.5.04 @ 12:01AM

TOMMY THOMPSON
Re: Joseph Cella's letter ("National Catholics") in Reader Mail's Breakfast Talk:

I was a little confused by the letter of Joseph Cella, President of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. In one paragraph he says that no Catholics of either political party who go against Church Doctrine would be given the opportunity to speak. Then one paragraph later Cella says that Tommy Thompson spoke at the event. Clearly there is a great inconsistency here, because Thompson goes against Church Doctrine on stem cells and other issues. I hope Mr. Cella can clarify the position of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast as to whether Catholics who go against Church doctrine are allowed to speak at the event.
-- Ryan Jones

ALMOST GROWN
Re: William Tucker's Kerry's Empty Secret:

William Tucker hits the mark when describing the silly self-absorption of the Baby Boomer generation. Could anything surpass the arrogance of the "Caution: Baby on Board" bumper stickers that first appeared when the Boomers began to reproduce? What other generation could have produced the unbelievably shallow Clinton and Kerry? Fortunately, there are some of us, at least, who have actually grown up as we grew older.
-- Cynthia Good
Lake Sherwood, Missouri

I'm sick of him already. Enough said.
-- Shirley Sims
shirleysims@earthlink.net

NEW INITIATIVE
Re: Wlady Pleszczynski's Brock's Content:

Wlady Pleszczynski asks: "Whatever happened to 'Worthwhile Canadian initiative'?'" I took a look at Brock's website; the top headline under "news" referred to Al Gore announcing a new cable television network. I clicked over to the article. Let's overlook that this is not a new cable network, but the purchase by new owners of an existing network. What I found interesting is that the content for the network is, and will continue to be, provided by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.). So, there is your Canadian initiative; whether it is worthwhile is a question I will leave to others.
-- Charles Meyrick
Fairfield, Connecticut

KERRY SPOKES MEN
Re: The Washington Prowler's Bikegate:

You say no word yet on Kerry's bike being American, French or Italian? Unfortunately, it is made in Saratoga Springs, NY despite it's euro-sounding name, Serotta. Here in Boston, ground zero for Kerry-bashing is Howie Carr, conservative talk radio host extraordinaire. Howie is The King in many of our minds here in Boston, and when Kerry "won" the nomination, you knew Howie was looking forward to 12 months of fun and great ratings. Well, the good luck continues for Mr. Carr: Just last Friday Howie did a column in the Boston Herald about Kerry's custom-made $7,000 bike and how the more we learn about "Liveshot" Kerry, the less he has in common with the average voter. Another wipeout later (not blamed on Secret Service -- yet), and Kerry blows a clearly staged photo-op designed to appeal to the outdoorsy set. I sense a rock-climbing accident waiting just around the corner.....
-- William H. Stewart
Boston, Massachusetts

Kerry's $5,000+ bicycle frames are made in the U.S.A. (not sure, but NOT by union labor, I think), but all the components are Japanese and/or Italian in origin.
-- The Comedian<<p>
Since, after Kerry's spill while skiing on the bunny slope, we know by his own declaration that he "never falls," but rather, referring to his Secret Service protection agent, "that SOB ran into me," one has to wonder whom he blames in this embarrassing snafu. When, since Kerry is proving he can't remain upright, will he join Gerald Ford in the "Candidate as Klutz" pantheon?
-- Warren Mowry

I have the feeling that one of his advisers told Senator Kerry that he needs to act more presidential. Judging from his misadventure on the ski slopes in Idaho and his cycling mishap in Concord, it seems that the senator has taken this advice. Unfortunately for him, he is acting very Presidential Ford.
-- John Corrigan

LESSONS IN PROLIFERATION
Re: Marina Malenic's Pyongyang Proliferation:

Marina Malenic suggests that if a terrorist organization went shopping for nuclear weapons "...the suspect list for the supply-side of the equation would be short. And North Korea would lead it."

I am afraid she is wrong. The former Soviet states have not accounted for literally hundreds of nuclear warheads. Those warheads are somewhere, and there is a reason why they have not been found.
-- Jan Machat
Redmond, Washington

Marina Malenic replies:
For four decades, the greatest potential for nuclear conflict was the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the first major nuclear proliferation threat -- of seeing four states with nuclear capabilities emerge from the carcass of the USSR -- was averted when U.S. negotiators persuaded the newly formed nations of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus to relinquish all of their nuclear weapons to Russia.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Television, Business, Religion, Russia, NATO, North Korea, Socialism, Fascism, Nuclear Weapons