The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Little Big League

7.17.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 6)

A LIGHTBULB COMES ON
Re: Jennifer Rubin's McCain Power:

Ms. Rubin writes, "voters really do want solutions, both long and short term to what ails them." President Reagan said it best, "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

'Nuff said.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

I'll admit, I've never been a strong McCain supporter. I would have much rather had Thompson become the nominee, but even from the first I knew that wasn't very likely. Romney was my distant second choice, but alas, he didn't make it either. And yet, here we have McCain coming up strong and fast in this horse race. And while I still cannot abide the fact that he drank the Warm Kool-Aid, he's got a serious and workable energy proposal.

Actually, the more I think about and look at McCain, the more conflicted I become. He's way too liberal for my tastes, but then again, most people are. And I've never really considered him a major 'ideas guy' which is what the Republican party needs right now more than anything. This makes me wonder if perhaps McCain couldn't benefit from the consideration of Gingrich. Maybe not as VP, though I think Newt could do McCain a lot of help there, but for some place inside his cabinet. Secretary of Interior, maybe? Gingrich lead the last conservative revolution, and I think we would be living with a much better government right now had he held on through the Bush presidency. Maybe we can encourage McCain to start buddying up with the former Speaker? Check out his American Solutions site and adopt a couple of policies? It might be just what McCain needs to put him over the edge come November.

With all the articles in the Spectator lately clearly describing Obama's left-wing tendencies, you do need to remember one thing. You're preaching to the choir, not the converted and not the masses. None of us are close to supporting this advocate of change to the past policies and tax-hikes you can believe in. What we do need is more reasons to support our man. And we need ways to make sure that he is, as Mr. Hillyer said a few days ago, our SOB and that he stays that way. My thanks to those Spectator writers such as Mr. Lord and Mrs. Rubin who are giving us these reasons. Now let's find ways to make sure he stays by our side as we stay by his.
-- Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

Jenny Rubin is correct to suggest that unless John McCain can put behind him his "One-trick Pony" image, that his sole concern as president would be the war against Islamic terrorism, he's toast in the general election.

The American, or any, people care far more about bread & butter issues than about a far away war that's winding down. Or about another, also far away, very hot war, in this case, the one in Afghanistan.

Tip O'Neill was correct also to observe "All politics is local." In other words, people care about issues that affect them directly, not abstract ones. Bin Laden has become an abstract issue, regardless John likes it or not.

Unless McCain can bring himself to become seriously concerned with domestic issues, I'm one conservative who's about to give up on his candidacy.
-- Dave Livingston
Colorado Springs, Colorado

OVER THERE, BUT NOT IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Re: Ryan L. Cole's Vietnam Syndrome:

So far, nobody who served in Korea made it to the White House either...
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

With regard to war, the only "unbridgeable gulf in 200 years of American history" is the complete self-absorption of my own generation of Baby Boomers who still haven't appropriately honored their own veterans.

The current crop of soldiers will do just fine in politics -- especially as the increasingly irrelevancy of old age (another Boomer "tradition") turns us into nothing more than political "kibbitzers."

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Education, Trade, John McCain, Barack Obama, Islam, Abortion, Law, Iran, NATO, Immigration, Energy