Reader Mail
We're Becoming Venezuela
The U.S. as a Chavez ravine. A Democrat defends Obama. Steve Martin found unfunny. Plus more.
(Page 2 of 3)
They also apparently have never heard of his public and politically expedient back-turning on, for instance, his late white grandmother, his racist-and-anti-American mentor Jeremiah Wright and all the other "That's not the [fill-in-the-blank-with-their-name] I knew." Tony Rezko comes immediately to mind.
Or they ignore that everything that the president said or says has an expiration date.
But Barack Obama having real friends? Who, truly, but that that
image in the mirror he sees -- that reflection of a man who
appears incapable of accepting responsibility for his actions and
who whines whenever he is challenged about anything?
-- C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia
MENACE TO SOCIETY
Re: Matthew Vadum's ACORN's
Labor Pains:
ACORN, which the president and his party have written into
Porkulus I, Waxman-Markey and Obamacare, is not a PR disaster
waiting to happen: It is a legal train wreck, civil and or
criminal, that one hopes occurs immediately. It's also a social
threat that needs curbing now, too.
-- C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia
Some more Republican desperation!
-- Roger Gerold
ENABLING TYRANNY
Re: Lawrence A. Hunter 's
RHINOCare: A U.S. Chamber of Horrors:
Republicans who support Obama's neo-fascist health policy or any bastardization of the same should face an opponent in next year's primaries. If Bennett and Grassley roll over, they may find voters back home in a not so forgiving mood. One thing that might shock potential Quislings is if the GOP leadership warns that if they side with Democrats once the GOP is back in power Committee Chairmanships will go to those who have shown a commitment to Republican principles and resisted Obama's neo-fascist agenda. Seniority is not a promise of leadership in the new Republican Congress. One thing we must do is stop rewarding the enablers of tyranny.
It might also be helpful to remind them that Arlen Specter was a
Republican and is as Democrat in serious political trouble,
because being an Obama to the worst President in US history
(sorry Jimmy, move over, Barack is now the worst) is not smart
politics and definitely not patriotic.
-- Michael Tomlinson
REALPOLITIKING STEIN
Re: Ben Stein's A
Pat on the Back:
Mr. Ben Stein was a principal reason I started reading TAS and I continue to enjoy his writing, but I am baffled how he can view President Nixon as a friend. Politics aside, Nixon was an anti-Semite. This was not something that was revealed after his death; it was well known during the man's life. Dr. Kissinger's working for and with Nixon was understandable: it was an expression of realpolitik on a personal level. Too often a man has to work with disagreeable people to realize great achievements. Mr. Stein on the other hand, has written on numerous occasions of his personal fondness for Nixon, the man. This is incomprehensible.
The traits that Mr. Stein finds necessary for friendship are difficult to fathom. Aristotle made his thinking on the subject of friendship very clear. He wrote that friendship has many components, including mutual caring, along with a shared esteem of individual and social value. How could Nixon see Stein as having individual value when he summarily dismissed the value of Stein's people? And in turn, how could Stein truly care for a man who was highly suspicious of Jewish motivation and action? Could Stein not see that this suspicion fell directly on him?
Unlike Sartre, I do not see a racist solely defined by his prejudice, nor do I define water by the waste product in it, but I choose not to drink water that has been defiled.
Mr. Stein is a complex man. I will continue to read his writing,
but I doubt I will ever understand his core values.
-- I.M. Kessel
NOT TO DIE FOR
Re: Ben Stein's John
Hughes, RIP:
Letter to the Editor View all comments (27) | Leave a comment
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frost| 8.10.09 @ 8:18AM
Kinda saw-it-coming, you might say? Fifteen, twenty years ago I returned AARP's propaganda with an important looking letter saying, "if you send me any more of this garbage I'll sue you for harassment."
It worked. They've not darkened my mailbox since...
David Gonzalez| 8.10.09 @ 10:11AM
Mr. Daub---
I'm not a psychologist, but I once read that humans laugh when they're surprised (which is why the funniest jokes are the ones with which the comic blind-sides the audience). The diatribe was hilarious precisely because it wasn't expected, and the female rental agent's observation was even funnier for the same reason. I suspect that, were you to consume some Kingsford briquets, in very little time you'd produce some high-quality blue-white diamonds!
wanda keith| 8.10.09 @ 11:42AM
I am scared. I am very scared! B. Hussein is out of control. As for the front group AARP, I returned my card after they supported B. Hussein in the last election. I have repeatedly told them to stop sending me their trash and I now put it in envelopes with no return address and send it all back to them. I am not sure if they get it but I feel better.
Die Fledermaus| 8.10.09 @ 5:50PM
Lee Russ is just another left wing socialist nut job.
IMKessel| 8.10.09 @ 6:43PM
Mr. Zierak,
Well thought out and written.
Welcome to the revolution.
FIGHTINGFORFREEDOM| 8.10.09 @ 6:47PM
Obama Hussein / the Demograt dictator is following the footstep of Chavez/Castro. Wake up America! Stand up and fight for the freedom before it's too late. This administration is practicing communist law in our country and suppressing the voice of the American people!
Occam's Razor| 8.10.09 @ 7:38PM
Mr. Nixon may or may not have been an antisemite in his private views. But in his public one, he authorized the airlift that saved Israel in 1973. Some credit is due for that.
IMKessel| 8.10.09 @ 9:27PM
Nixon's motivation, like all human motivation, is like a diamond, multi-faceted and observable only from certain angles at a given moment. Or to use Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty: all (motivational) factors cannot be observed at once. Nixon assisted (saved is too strong a verb) Israel, but he had a myriad of reasons. Israel owed him no thanks.
Plenty of evidence is recorded that Nixon was an anti-Semite. It is not a question of fact, though it may be one of perception: “You know, there's none so blind as they that won't see.
[1738 Swift Polite Conversation III. 191]”
Richard Baker| 8.10.09 @ 11:22PM
Kessel:
Tell you what. If Nixon hadn't taken M-60 tanks out of US stocks and had them C-5'd to Israel in 1973 Israel would have been hammered. Does an Anti-semite do something like that? Ask Golda Meir and the Israelis of the day if they were thankful.
IMKessel| 8.11.09 @ 12:51AM
Mr. Baker,
If Nixon had not sent military assistance, the outcome might well have been different, but his sending assistance does not make him pro-Israeli or negate his personal feelings of anti-Semitism. Nixon understood that without the support of the Evangelical Christian and other pro-Israeli constituents, his presidency would have become highly ineffective. Abandoning Israel would have been (rightly) seen as morally repugnant. Further, the Soviets were giving support to Arab and Muslim countries. The defeat of Israel would have been a defeat of America by proxy (similar to conflict in Viet Nam). Nixon well understood the real world and the world of realpolitik. His personal opinions and dislikes took a backseat to his politics.
Please feel free to do “Google” President Nixon + anti-Semitic Remarks. (Here is one result: http://www.bing.com/search?q=Nixon+++Anti-Semitism&src=IE-SearchBox)
Ivan| 8.13.09 @ 10:54PM
Like Chavez, no way, it's imposible to make a copy. His style to rule Venezuela is unique, more likely to Castro's style.
Richard Baker| 8.14.09 @ 4:17PM
Kessel:
As usual, you liberals make the assumption that you could read Nixon's mind.
Lee Russ| 8.19.09 @ 9:23PM
Well, I guess "we" have really been put in our place. First we get the incredibly well reasoned "Lee Russ is just another left wing socialist nut job." Then we get the impeccably argued "As usual, you liberals make the assumption that you could read Nixon's mind."
Brilliant. Unassailable.