The American Spectator

Reader Mail

The Enemy of the Imperfect

10.23.07 @ 12:01AM

DISCOUNTING VALUES
Re: W. James Antle III's Against Discount Values:

When Mr. Antle suggests that social conservatives should spend energy to try to move Giuliani toward their way of thinking, what he's really saying is that they should try to get him to say the right things. This is precisely the lesson that Mitt Romney has put into practice for his own campaign the last couple of years, and it has even worked to some extent, witness ostensible cognoscenti such as Mr. Antle accepting as bona fide Romney's claimed pro-life conversion, his many contrary past utterances, actions and inactions on the matter of abortion notwithstanding.

Note to Messrs. Antle, Tyrrell et al. at TAS: There are hundreds of thousands of voters in the social conservative bloc who understand for what it is the tactic of politicking known as "Screw what I really think; just tell 'em what they want to hear." As much as we despise Bill Clinton's worse half, we are animated far more so by our pro-life principles, which are nonnegotiable. Our prospects for having a reason to turn out in November of '08 grow bleaker by the week.
-- Francis M. Hannon, Jr.
Melrose, Massachusetts

Whether or no some Evangelical conservatives warmed up to Giuliani in D.C., yours truly, Catholic and conservative, simply will not vote for a pro-abortion, pro-queer, antigun hedonist who was a draft dodger during my little war in Vietnam. I.e., I won't vote for Giuliani even at the risk of letting Hillary capture the White House.

Nor will I vote for a Mormon (and another draft dodger) under any circumstance whatsoever.

It increasingly looks like in '08 my vote will go to a 3rd party.

Is the GOP indulging in the fulfillment of a death wish?

Dominus vobiscum,
-- Dave Livingston
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Values voters and social conservatives enamored with Mike Huckabee should be skeptical not only of his fondness for taxes, but his dubious ethics. As Governor of Arkansas, on the ethical front he had more in common with his predecessor Bill Clinton than with Ronald Reagan or both Bush Presidents. Still any one of the Republicans stands head and shoulders above the Democrat Presidential contenders, who as a group embody the corruption and dishonesty of the morally bankrupt Democrat Party.
-- Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

GET OUT THE WAY
Re: Jeremy Lott's Watch Out for Lynne Cheney's Elbow:

What a great article Mr. Lott has brought us here. Mrs. Cheney is a tremendously underrated politician/bureaucrat and an absolutely brilliant woman. She and Dick Cheney have been tremendous assets to this administration. Unfortunately the President has discarded some tremendously talented assets, like John Ashcroft at Justice, Porter Goss at CIA, Donald Rumsfeld at Defense, Amb. Bolton at the UN, Gen. Peter Pace as CJCS, and Adm. G as his number 2, and others. All the while giving us a plethora of Clinton holdovers well into the first term, while trying to jam unqualified candidates down our throats like Harriet Miers for SCOTUS, while giving us Alberto Gonzales at Justice to succeed Ashcroft.

All the while Bush absolutely refuses to defend himself and his administration from the vicious attacks from Capitol Hill, and the news media, and the radical activist Left. No, for almost 7 years now we have been charged to "change the tone." Well, the tone has indeed changed, it has gotten orders of magnitude worse.

We need more of the attitude of the Cheneys and a good deal less of the attitude of the Bush clan.
-- Ken Shreve

She is the woman I would vote for for President. I have been a big fan of hers for years.
-- Janis in Independence.

STRIPPING THE COLONEL
Re: George H. Wittman's The Scores of Tripoli:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Economics, Business, Abortion, Law, NATO, Libertarianism, Energy, Oil, Unions