The American Spectator

Reader Mail

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly

12.5.07 @ 12:01AM

COOL TO BE KIND
Re: Jeffrey Lord's Merry Christmas to the Opposition:

What a great piece. Too often we forget that we are indeed supposed to love our neighbor and to wish them a Merry Christmas is part of that admonition. Jeffrey Lord is correct in everything he found nice about all the Democrat candidates and I thank him for reminding me.
-- Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky

I'll bet Jeffrey lord wrote this on assignment -- he can't believe his sophistry. The primary lesson Clinton has taught her daughter is that an amoral life can bring untold material rewards and national and international regard. What kind of character instruction came,for example, from the Clintons' shameless lie that Chelsea sought to heal their marital estrangement by arranging for spiritual and emotional intervention by the reverend Jesse Jackson and by the subsequent revelation that during his counseling Jackson was accompanied by an assistant who was carrying his love child. (Did Clinton want her daughter to learn that illicit, adulterous sex of the kind engaged in by her husband was preferable to that of Jackson, because no issue results?) Even a moment's reflection must have convinced Jeffrey Lord of the untenability of his premises.

I could continue concerning the encomia conferred on the others, but I think it would be attacking straw men.

I will add, I've given up arguing that Richardson is a fat, transparent fraud -- if people can't see what's in plain sight, I give up.
-- Jim Wheatley
Harper Woods, Michigan

Jeffrey Lord mentions Barry Goldwater and Jack Kennedy's relationship in his story. Do know if he or anyone at your magazine has seen the movie Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater? The movie goes into that subject and others very intensely. All readers of this publication should be advised to see the film and also pick up a new copy of The Conscience of a Conservative, by Goldwater. He was an American that we all seem to want to emulate these days, so a refresher course would not hurt.
-- C.C. Goldwater

I haven't read anything before that has truly touched my heart. This man makes me feel there is still hope for this country that I love dearly. I don't watch the news on TV anymore because I don't believe the media anymore. I have found myself coming to my computer and TAS for the best reported news I can find. I have always been a Democrat but find I have slid over to being a conservative. I am 72 years old and grew up very very poor. Lived for many years in an orphanage. Boy did I learn to love this country with WWII and the Cold War it was frightening. Because there is something different about America then many other countries that we have prospered and survived. I truly believe it's because we were founded with a deep belief in God. I love to read of our history, of our founding fathers and how we came to be. We are like a non-functional family at times. Things get crazy but over time it gets better.

Mr. Lord, it made me so happy to read your letter as I have had such strong (not so good ) feeling for a certain candidate on the Democratic ticket. I feel ashamed that I forgot my love of God and his love for all thank you for reminding me.

I wish you a very happy and blessed Christmas as I do people everywhere. Thank you for the pleasure you put in my heart. Keep writing!
-- Marie Simmons

Jeffrey Lord wants us all to be nice to liberals. I believe Lord is one of those delusional conservatives who believes in demonstrating to liberals that conservatives are not really fascists. Somehow, I don't think conservatives' acknowledging that supporters of (say) abortion rights are human beings is going to make much difference in Democrat voting patterns.

The problem with Lord's premise -- that conservatives are mean and must be nice -- is just to accept the liberal view of conservatives, which is why we end up with conservatives being blamed for the JFK assassination, the RFK killing, and so on. The spirit of niceness is fine in its place, but we ought not to become happy and clappy about every crumb that liberals dole out regarding our species status.

Lord admits, "The real goal of these liberals is a defense of what has evolved into the liberal status quo and the personal destruction of its critics. They want conservatives silenced." And we're to wish merry Christmas and happy Kwanza to these smear merchants? Should we all dance together around a Holiday Tree, or recite a disguised version of the communist manifesto under the mistletoe?

I think Lord forgets something Rush Limbaugh often emphasizes: conservatives get up every morning and find America and its traditions of freedom under constant attack by liberals (Christmas, Boy Scouts, marriage, etc.). This defensive position causes conservatives like Lord to worry about being thought mean or intolerant by liberals. But Lord should realize the futility of this by looking at Israel's example. This nation's attempt to defend itself is considered mean in some liberal quarters. Why can't they just be nice to all the lunatics who surround them? It's because in a war, you can only be nice if the other side doesn't desire your personal (or collective) destruction.

I never hear liberals saying they should be nice to conservatives, who are, after all, human beings -- allegedly.
-- C. V. Crisler
Gilbert, Arizona

Now that's chutzpah, Mr. Lord, or something akin to it, but more admirable. And, if/when Merry Christmas doesn't work, as it often doesn't, how about this? "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do!" Works for me.
-- Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

Letter to the Editor

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