Pandered to the far-right
EDITOR:This letter is in reference to the Sept. 8 letter "Bashing of Sarah Palin." The letter states:
"If you happen to be a Democrat, you are now aligned with a venomous party. Anyone who takes hateful potshots at a 17-year old pregnant teenager or a 4-month old Down syndrome baby is repulsive and deserves to be repudiated. There is no place in our society for such deplorable behavior. Have we lost all respect?"
As a Democrat, I take offense to the implication that I am "repulsive" and belong to a "venomous party."
The letters has assumed, and wrongly so, that all Democrats have been hateful against Governor Palin's two daughters. To say that we have attacked a 4-month old Down syndrome baby is a complete lie. A few idiots in Internet blogs might have, but not the party. Senators Obama and Biden have publicly said that families are off limits.
Unfortunately, the selection of Palin has put the Democrats in a Catch-22 situation. If she is attacked for her views and policy, the Republicans will cry "sexism." If she is not criticized, Palin's ultra- conservative beliefs will be ignored. She will be able to continue espousing her Karl Rove formed ideas unchecked.
Her convention speech energized the party but did we hear anything substantial? Her tone was very sarcastic and strident. To mock Senator Obama's "work as a community organizer" was over the top.
It degraded the sacrifices of Dr. Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. Of course, many in the Republican base like to avoid any connection with the disadvantaged and poor. They don't fill the coffers of the Republican "war chest."
In my view, Palin is nothing more than a Dick Cheney, without the experience, I might add, in an attractive woman's garb. Oh, I'd better avoid saying "attractive;" that's a sexist comment. I've had enough of Dick Cheney and his ilk hanging around Pennsylvania Avenue. Eight years of a Cheney led administration is enough.
The letter also goes on to quote former President Clinton's Secretary of State: "Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright once said, 'There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.' No doubt Madeline was referring specifically to Democratic women. But have no fear; Sarah Palin is a woman of courageous substance who can take the heat and has no intention of spending time in Madeline Albright's 'feminists' kitchen.'"
I don't believe that Madeline Albright was, to quote the letter, "No doubt specifically" referring to Democratic women. She endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton and advised her on foreign policy. Now, Albright is serving as an adviser to Senator Obama.
As to, "take the heat," that remains to be seen. As of this writing, she hasn't been allowed to give an interview. "Courageous?" "Substance?"
Well, she has stood up to a moose or two. She has, as Commander and Chief of the Alaskan National Guard, also kept her borders free from invasion by Russia and the Yukon. She has learned, during her brief political career in Alaska, to walk over the bodies of her critics unscathed. She has, like many astute politicians, said that "pork" will not be tolerated but will keep federal funds anyway.
The "Bashing of Sarah Palin" letter is typical of many "modern" conservatives. They simply "parrot" information from "ultra-right" web sites like the Free Republic. As a matter of fact, most of the information in the letter was written by "boy wonder" Ben Shapiro in his article, "The Hypocritical Woman-Hating Left Targets Palin" found on townhall.com.
Sadly, the party of Reagan and Goldwater has moved drastically to the politics of the far-right, derision and intolerance.
Senator McCain is more honorable than this but has had Palin forced upon him by the new core of the Republican Party. He has pandered to the far-right, in order to get elected. Is this the kind of "change" we want in Washington?
Thomas Martin
Iron Mountain
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leakey
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09-15-08 12:18 PM
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whiteagle NAFTA was signed by Clinton.Period.He could have used his veto power and congress would not have had enough votes to override unless of course some of the democrats would have crossed over.
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whiteagle
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09-14-08 10:20 PM
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Leakey- you are just a blaa…blaa guy, don’t know the facts and just blow your blaa..blaa hot air. FACTS are that GOP is why NAFTA past, look it up: ***********tradeobservatory****/library.cfm?refID=24359 Democrats don’t have enough votes to do anything today, to pass any legislation, and if they had, I think too many of them are in corporate pockets.
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maleman
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09-14-08 10:13 PM
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harris you can ask the same thing but replace bush with the democrat congress then ask would it be better to add a dem pres. to make the nightmare complete.
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lacountc
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09-14-08 9:18 PM
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Hey leaky, a period (this thing .) is usually followed by a space (this thing ) in the English language. I know that online posting doesn't usually allow the usual grammatical observance that journalistic reporting does, please perform a proof-read before you post otherwise your intelligence could be called into question. You might try Firefox, it has a built-in spell-check that is free.
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leakey
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09-14-08 8:40 PM
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Just as you have the far right in the Republican party you have the socialist side of the democrats.McCain was the republican nominee because the majority of the republican party can see that not everything that Rush and Hannidy say fits into the average american lifestyle.I don't have a problem with all of the democrats just the ones that are the far left. The problem gets worse when the majority of democtrats start talking about current issues.Right or wrong i am always right is the attitude. Facts don't mean anything.Only what i am saying and if you don't like it i will call you names or whatever it takes
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leakey
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09-14-08 8:21 PM
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Whiteagle the senate in michigan may be republican but they don't make the "law".The house of reps is democrat and both house and senate have to agree before it becomes law.Get your facts straight!NAFTA is still NAFTA. You have had two full years of a democratic congress and NAFTA is live and well in washington.Congress makes the rules and passes the money not Bush.
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lacountc
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09-14-08 8:13 PM
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Oh man, I almost fell out of my chair. We actually have a poster on here who really believes that Fox News is "Fair and Balanced." That's the equivalent of calling Mao Tse Tung a compassionate leader. Or perhaps Saddam Hussein a leader accepting of dissent. Fox News is a propaganda organ of the GOP, simple fact. Anyone who believes otherwise is either a wingnut or schizophrenic.
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whiteagle
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09-14-08 6:55 PM
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Bush is much more responsible then Clinton for the job outsourcing – Globally. Big business got solid hand grip on a GOP a lot more then Dems. Sad fact is that both sides in congress and senate are equally responsible for the big breaks to large Corp’s that have headquarters outside this country and shouldn’t receive any tax subsidies and breaks. If we want to make a change, everyone need to vote incumbents out, give them a pink slips, then they will start working for us, maybe?
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whiteagle
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09-14-08 6:43 PM
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Leakey…..you forgot to mention that Michigan State Senate majority is run by GOP and they make a law in State, but of course that probably just slipped your mind! It is always better to blame the other side.
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leakey
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09-14-08 6:26 PM
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The jobs lost in the midwest(primarily manufacturing) are mainly do to a poorly written document that Clinton signed commonly refered to as NAFTA.Area's that have realitively low labor rates,low union membership and large tax incentives have done well.It is interesting how Bush is blamed for everything including the declines in michigan when we have 2 democratic senators,a democratic congress and a democratic govenor who has said that she was going to "blow us away in two years". The civics i took in high school 40 years ago must not apply anymore!
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harris
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09-14-08 6:05 PM
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Questions: Are you better off now than you were 8 years ago? What will McCain do to help the economy? The GOP continues to hold people hostage over social issues. It's the economy ....
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LARRYL
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09-14-08 4:08 PM
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HARRIS, IT'S VERY EASY, FOX IS FAIR AND BALANCED,AND RUSH LIMBAUGH DOES NOT PRETEND TO BE A NEWS CASTER. HE IS A CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOW HOST. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE.
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harris
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09-14-08 3:07 PM
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Please - do your research - some say that the media is too liberal. How do you explain Fox News and Rush Limbaugh? Look to other sources and as many as you can - this election is too important to have your head in the sand!
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harris
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09-14-08 3:03 PM
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John McCain wants to be the next president of the US at any cost. Yes, McCain selected Palin to demonstrate that he can reach out to the evangelicals, perhaps to make amends for his harsh comments directed at Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson several years ago. Yes, John McCain opposed Bush's tax cuts and now proposed more tax cuts to individuals who earn more than $100,000. I ask who will pay for these tax cuts? Does the McCain tax plan offer any tax cuts to those who earn less than $100,000 - doesn't appear so. My question is why, after 8 years of GOP control would anyone who earns less than $100,000 vote for John McCain? Are you better off now than you were 8 years ago? It appears that many of John McCain's campaign ads and speeches bashing Obama are based on lies and deceit. Again, it appears that John McCain will do anything to be the next president of the US.
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maleman
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09-14-08 10:55 AM
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Whiteonrice your not alone SSD website says Studies show that a 20-year-old worker has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age. So people like you have a 3 out 10 chance of winning the lottery. Also am sure you must watched that TV program called “COPS” most of those are also fellow democrats that will join you in solidarity to cast their vote for Obama except the one that have committed felonies. Seriously you intellectual democrats this is you also identify yourself with and if you work you also support this through your policies.
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maleman
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09-14-08 9:41 AM
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Whiteonrice don’t worry about chief whiteeagle we know that you are a strong growing part of the democrat party. There are also a group of people that think they are intellectuals and don’t want to admit that you're part of the democrat party. What they really can’t stand is when people like you dump your 100’s of cigarette butts from your ash tray in the Wal-Mart parking lot and they step in it.
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whiteagle
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09-14-08 1:26 AM
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whiteonrice - please get off the drugs, you making dems look bad by making crazy 9/11 conspiracy. People like you making me think twice before voting for democrat.
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DaleRay19
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09-13-08 9:58 PM
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ummm FYI Patrick no George wasnt flying plane but he knew who was though ;)
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PatrickMarble
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09-13-08 9:28 PM
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8 of the top 10 riches Senators are Democrats. I think if you look through the list of both Congressmen and Senators you would see this trend continue. I am not sure why you always have to fall back on the argument that Republicans are rich and Democrats are poor. For the most part, that is the antithisis of reality. The rest is so ridiculous that it doesn't merit a reation. Stupid is as stupid does or in this case says. Next you will start saying Bush actually flew one of the plane into the Twin Towers, but he wore a new suit created by Halliburton to shield himself. He then jumped out of the building onto a giant blow up mattress and then flew on Airforce One to Florida to read to some kids. Unbelievable. Perhaps that is why you have had trouble in life. It may not be Bush's fault.
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whiteonrice
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09-13-08 7:49 PM
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I don't care what you say people need help. You guys are luky you have a job. I couldn't lift my hand above my head without felling like I was going to pass out. It took me 3 times to before I could get disablilty becaue they didn't believe me and I almost starved on top of that I got hooked on persription drugs due to being stressed out. Now I know no rich republican would help me out. Obama said he would help people like us. Republicans don't have the problems democrats do because they can work. My friend who works for the city say the rich don't appreciate him now he limps. Also we would be at war if bush wasn't trying to get oil out of the UN. I am a believer like many of democrat friends that bush is behind the attacks of 9-11. And no one has been able to prove otherwise
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maleman
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09-13-08 7:11 PM
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Some of the reasons for a poor job market is every one living in debt now and they can’t pay their bills. So the consumers are not going to be consuming if they have no money! The dems that drag the congress to an historic low of 9% approval rating have not done anything to help get oil into market and refineries on line because they say “its stupid”. The unions helped drive business out of the country by demanding things from their employers if they could afford it or not. Our education system is failing us. The government is growing as fast as the obese in our country.
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davepete
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09-13-08 6:24 PM
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John McCain is a flip-flopping machine. He's never seen a policy position he couldn't take if given ennough money from special interests. All you need to do is to look to who is running his campaign. Every one of his top "advisors" is a lobbiest. Top to bottom, all the way to the right. Electing McCain guarentees another four years of Bush economics, and foreign policy, and the American people simply can't afford it.
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Malamute
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09-13-08 6:18 PM
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The Misery Index is a better judgement in my opinion. We are at the worst since 1991. It adds Inflation and unemployment and in my opinion gives a better view of how tough times are. It is commonly used by economists. Look it up.
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PatrickMarble
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09-13-08 4:58 PM
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Unemployment stats 1992 - 7.49% 1993 - 6.93% 1994 - 6.10% 1995 - 5.59% 1996 - 5.41% 1997 - 4.94% 1998 - 4.51% 1999 - 4.23% Most of these are pretty high for non-war time economy. Where do you get the rose colored galsses? I could use them to change my perspective.
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PatrickMarble
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09-13-08 4:52 PM
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Didn't Obama's mother get remarried after the divorse? I could be wrong, but that was my understanding.
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