The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Waiting for Good Oil

9.19.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 5)

C'mon. Your choice of verbs is bubble gummy, or like "holy slime-ball Obama" a new jocular locution that shimmies in right-wingia.

It's so "so" that you are a parody of yourself -- your own doppleganger. I'd call you high-minded, but it appears to be oozing out your ears... as deaf as you are to the sound of your own voice.

Give yourself a break, a long one...

Satire is rich, but when it comes from the voice of a cynic, it's self-referential babble-rousing.
-- Patrick Phillips

What I don't understand is why SOMEONE who has the authority to do something, stops Obama from censoring the facts about what Obama really stands for and his past years. I can't take this anymore. I thought this is America where these things could see the light of day. No man should have the power to censor anything he wants to. This country was founded on freedom to expose people like Obama. At least be able to give "we the people" the right to try to inform the others of the truth. I can't take this anymore. Is this really America or NOT? Is there anyone brave enough to do something about this? What are they afraid of? Do they not care? Is it too much trouble? Are they afraid of what people might "say"? Is that more important than truth? Has our country come to this? At least give the people the facts and let them make their own decision!

Have we lost the basic fundamentals this country was founded on?
-- Frankie Goodson

Matthew Vadum writes a compelling article. Unfortunately, it's one that completely leaves out the most important tie to the slime campaign. That is the Obama tie to Saul Alinsky. Alinsky is the name that apparently cannot be mentioned or written by those on the conservative side of the political spectrum. The Spectator has not had a single comprehensive article on this Marxist radical and his ties to Obama. Yet the Obama campaign is following, step by step, the game plan as laid out over three decades ago by Alinsky in his tome Rules for Radicals. In case after case this has been the plan. It is no trouble for a precocious 10 year old to predict the Obama campaign reaction to any part of the McCain/Palin campaign, if said 10 year old has read Alinsky's book. Who would better know the Alinsky method than Obama, when he taught classes on the subject in Chicago and its environs?

How about the Spectator lifting the ban on mention of Obama's slavish devotion to the Alinsky methods in its articles? Would the Spectator be as circumspect in bringing up the links between Hillary Clinton and Saul Alinsky? Hmm!
-- Ken Shreve

Editor's note:
Since June 1, 2008 alone, Mr. Shreve could have found TAS mentions of Saul Alinsky here, here, here, here, and here, not including Reading Mail.

EXPLANATION NEEDED
Re: Matthew Bishop's Bury the Damn Bridge:

I agree that broaching the "Bridge to Nowhere" as it was done by the McCain/Palin campaign, was not a good idea. But not necessarily for the same reasons as Mr. Bishop.

Sarah Palin's initial support for this project highlights one of the strengths that she brings to the campaign, as well as lending some credibility to her running mate in this regard. That is simply that she works FOR her constituency. When she was Governor of Alaska, her constituency was the people of Alaska, not the rest of the people of the United States. The funding for the bridge project would have brought several hundred million dollars into the state, most of which would have gone directly to the people of Alaska, rather than coming from them. It also would have replaced the ferry which connects the town of Ketchikan with Gravina island, the home of Ketchikan International Airport, providing a safer, more reliable connector. All of this would have benefited the people she was elected to serve, Alaskans.

Unfortunately, "earmarks" has become a buzz word. The average person has only a dim knowledge of exactly what earmarks are; they only know that they have been told that they are wrong. And this is where the McCain campaign fell down on the job. This whole bridge thing could have been short circuited by simply having Governor Palin say that when she was Governor of Alaska, her first responsibility was to the people of Alaska. And, if she could provide benefits to the people of Alaska without their paying for them, then that was part of her job. If she is elected Vice President, then her primary responsibility will be to the people of the United States and she will carry out that responsibility to the fullest.

The problem that exists here is not so much the McCain campaign bringing up the "Bridge to Nowhere" project [the Democrats would have brought it up sooner or later], but in not effectively communicating why this was one of Palin's positives, rather than allowing it to slide into the negative column. This is all about perception and communication is the key to guiding perception. Sarah Palin is not John McCain and that is precisely why this campaign has taken off. She is the Yang to his Yin. They compliment one another in the minds of many simply because they represent opposites. The campaign was slow to realize this. By attempting to cast Palin as being a female McCain, the campaign marginalizes what she brings to the team. McCain may very likely win with Palin on the ticket, if he allows her to be who and what she is. She is not running for the Presidency, he is. But he has a slim chance of winning without her.

Palin's stance on the Gravina Island bridge would be a positive for voters, if it were explained to them clearly and in the proper context. Just as most of what Palin has done, both personally and professionally, would be. This campaign really needs someone who can communicate with people simply and honestly. They do not have to beat the Obama campaign, they simply have to tell the people why they are the better choice. Most people are plenty smart enough to get it.
-- Michael Tobias

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Transportation, John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Television, Earmarks, Satire, Sports, Environment, Books, Hollywood, Constitution, Law, Russia, NATO, Energy, Alaska, Oil