The American Spectator

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Mourning in America

6.8.04 @ 12:01AM

FOR THE MAN WHO WANTS EVERYTHING
Re: Lawrence Henry's The Man Who Has Everything:

Mr. Lawrence Henry is a true Renaissance man and I find new reasons to stand in awe of him with each new contribution. May I commend to his attention and other like-minded collectors of the bizarre the redoubtable Archie McPhee whose catalogue and online site contain the same sort of preposterous oddities and trifles in which he delights at Brookline News and Gift.
-- Bill Lannon
Rockland, Maine

THE PITY AND THE SOROS
Re: Enemy Central's Tender Resignations:

George Soros did not draw a moral equivalence between al Qaeda's attack on WTC and the torture at Abu Ghraib. He noted that the U.S. had the sympathy of the world after it was victimized on 9/11, and that now the U.S. had the enmity of the world after the discovery that it had victimized Iraqi prisoners. He pinned the blame for this reversal of fortune where it rightly belongs -- on GW Bush. A simple point that doesn't in any way resemble the slur from the NRO that you link to.

Regardless of the prisoner scandal, Soros's point is correct. We lost the respect and support of the world community as soon as we stopped fighting the Islamic fundamentalists who attacked us and began the process of making war on a country that was well contained -- as evidenced by its immediate neighbors' declining to join the coalition.

This is why GW Bush has about as much chance of being re-elected POTUS as Saddam Hussein has of returning to power in Iraq -- as documented by the Wall Street Journal.
-- Kyron Huigens
New York, New York

Enemy Central replies:: Kyron Huigens doesn't spin too smoothly: All the NRO story did was report first on what Soros said that morning. It did so by quoting Soros's actual words, which is more than Huigens can bring himself to do. So now quoting someone accurately is the equivalent of a slur? For the record, Soros said that Americans because of Abu Ghraib had moved from being "victims" to "perpetrators" -- the latter being the term once reserved for the attackers of 9/11. In case the moral equivalence was missed, Soros added that "there is, I'm afraid, a direct connection between those two events..."

OUR RON
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s A Great Gentleman, Wlady Pleszczynski's America Loves Reagan, and John Tabin's He Changed the World:

Thanks for the articles. I was a Reagan delegate to my state's Republican convention in 1980. I was a new Republican at the time and Reagan offered all of us hope. We were in the middle of unreal inflation, prime rates were sky-high, gas was out of sight, and all you heard was gloom and doom from the liberals. Ronald Reagan's optimism was a breath of fresh air to the Carter policies of incompetence and a hope for ending the Iranian hostage crisis. Reagan brought about the biggest tax reform in American history with his endorsement of the Kemp-Roth tax package, along with his defense posture, which resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The articles are right. There will never be another Reagan. Our nation has lost an icon. I am glad and privileged to have been a part of the Reagan "Revolution."
-- Pete Chagnon

Wlady, how right you are. My college student daughter commiserated with me on the phone Saturday over the loss of our beloved Ronaldus Magnus. She was born in 1985, so some of her affection for him was inherited from her parents. Some results from the emanations of the man's greatness through history. Eyes still well over at the thought of his passing into a world where death no longer matters. He liberated millions with firing hardly a shot.
-- David Shoup
Dublin, Georgia

Thank you, Mr. Tabin, for the eloquent piece on the effect President Reagan's legacy even on those born too recently to remember him in office. I was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1980. My family left Romania and came to the States to escape that murderous tyrant, Ceausescu. My friends never really understand why I profess such a strong admiration and love for Reagan, since I was only eight when he left office. However, this article clearly explained why the legacy of Reagan will live on forever; because of his determination to transcend communism by extolling and promoting freedom everywhere he changed the face of my home country. I cherish the freedom my family has here and, because of President Reagan, I have hope that the people of Romania will fully realize those same freedoms. God bless Ronald Reagan.
-- Alex Tomescu

Once again the TV newspeople have overlooked the opportunity to end the TV obituary with a film clip of one of Ronald Reagan's goodbye scenes.

Surely in all of his movies and press conferences there must be one scene where he wishes us well, waves goodbye and then exits. Why haven't we seen it?
-- David Hamilton
Aumsville, Oregon

More of what the media won't show us was relayed to me by my daughter who is in the Air Force Academy band. When the president was there delivering the commencement address and was announced 29,000 people arose as one and wildly cheered him. But the best part was that after his speech he stayed for almost two hours and shook the hand of EVERY SINGLE graduating cadet!!! Some did not want to shake his hand !!!! they wanted a HUG! and he hugged them!! Now isn't that a nice patriotic heart warming little story that uplifts your spirits and makes you smile. But all the major media had to say about that day was that president gave the commencement address at the Air Force Academy.... Maybe you guys can get it out to the public... it just goes to show the affection and admiration that 99.99% of the military has for this man. Of course the major media doesn't want to show America anything like that...
-- John Gardner
Buffalo, New York
Proud parent of Tech SGT. Crystal Lynn Proper USAF academy Band

FROM THE KERRY WAR ROOM
Re: The Washington Prowler's No Class:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Hillary Clinton, Islam, Movies, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Africa, Communism