Letters to the editor July 20

Pull plug on 'gotcha' politics

|

7/20/2008 - 7/20/08

Your July 15 story about John McCain's visit to New Mexico contained the zinger quote from the candidate: "We've got to let 1,000 flowers bloom ..." That is the common misquote of Mao Zedong's invitation to the Chinese intelligentsia in the summer of 1957 to criticize his government: "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend." Of course, many of those who took Mao at his word were executed.

Is John McCain a Maoist? I don't think so. But if Obama had been the one to drop the "1,000 flowers" phrase into an interview, the disinformation machine that has been plying us with innuendo about his leftist sympathies would have gone into overdrive.

Let's cut out the gotcha politics already, and pay attention to the candidates' records and stated intentions about their plans should they become chief executive. Especially the part about McCain's now seeing the possibility of withdrawing from Iraq in 2013 versus Obama's commitment to "tough diplomacy."
Paige Grant
Santa Fe

Nader nobody's pawn

Requiring corporate behemoths pay a royalty for gold, silver and other hardrock minerals mined from public lands should be a litmus test for presidential candidates seeking votes in the West. It's unsettling that Barack Obama stands against a reasonable royalty in a mining law reform bill sponsored by fellow Democrat Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

Obama figured he'd pay no price from Westerners in favor of ending this giveaway, a wrong assumption in my case. I'm supporting Ralph Nader, who has never yielded to the corporations, or surrendered his principles. If you want see Ralph in the presidential debates this Fall airing such issues go to www.votenader.org.
Sam Hitt
Santa Fe

Bad Company

As the presidential elections loom, we should evaluate the candidates' views on the war in Iraq, the economy, Social Security, the environment, health care and gas prices.

I have a serious concern about John McCain's chief campaign adviser, Charlie Black, Jr., who has a long history of involvement with the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Moon's Unification Church (not the Unitarian) is deeply entrenched in influencing American politics. Charlie Black organized the 2004 Washington D.C. "coronation" of Rev. Moon as King of America. Should McCain win, Black would hold a high position in that administration.

Both Bush administrations received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Rev. Moon. Because of Bush's faith-based initiatives, Moon has received millions in return.

Black's lobbying firm has promoted business deals with some of the world's most skulduggerous despots. To get the full story go to www.
kingofamerica.com or read John Gorenfeld's book Bad Moon Rising.

As for McCain, shouldn't one way to judge him be by the company he keeps?
Warren Dunn
Santa Fe

Both bouncers

Referencing "The Obama flip is almost complete," Charles Krauthammer's July 8 column: He examined the pot pretty carefully, but nary a look at the kettle. John McCain has done a few backward somersaults himself — the Bush tax cuts were once bad, but now good; the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons of the world were once "agents of intolerance," but now they're huggable; his immigration bill was once good, but now not good; and getting elected pretty much makes it prudent that the right journalists "earn" their seats on the Straight Talk plane ... or the "Suck Up Express," as one comedian labeled it. So, Charles, the kettle's as black as the pot.
Bonnie Leon
Santa Fe

Betrayed by Obama

Unbelievable. Barack Obama, the great, um, hope of the Left, appears splashed across the front page of the New York Times (not The New Mexican, by the way) walking out of the Senate after voting for the bill he pledged to deny. A bill that, for starters, guts the Fourth Amendment, giving retroactive immunity to corporations for intercepting communications of U.S. citizens without our knowledge. As if to say, "you know who I am really working for, when it comes down to it."

Depressing. So much for an inspiring candidate. Now it's back to voting for "anyone who's not" Bush (oops, I meant McCain). We do not need any more rights taken away in the name of "security" (please), or any other ploy. Please write Obama and take him to task for this betrayal. Oh yes, and Sen. Pete Domenici too. At least Sen. Jeff Bingaman showed some spine!
Peter Jacobson
Santa Fe

Enabling addiction

The logic of President Bush never ceases to amaze me. Recently he said that the United States is addicted to oil (one of the few statements he's made that I agree with). Now he has lifted the ban on off-shore drilling and is asking Congress to do the same.

Isn't that like giving an alcoholic a bottle of scotch for a birthday present?
Jerry Bober
Santa Fe

Dollar drain

In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that $1.6 trillion was needed over the next five years to bring America's existing infrastructure into good repair.

Where would the money come from? Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz have a pretty good answer, summed up nicely in the title of their book The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. She's the former chief financial officer in the Commerce Department, now teaching at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and now is a professor at Columbia University.

We're devastating Iraq and Afghanistan in two disastrous wars while our own infrastructure is crumbling around us.

Now the Bush administration is beating the drums for a third world war — with Iran! Congress needs to act on the articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. We citizens need to urge Congress to get busy.
Marvin A. Van Dilla
Santa Fe

Deferred payment

The July 13 article, "U.S. stalls talk on troop withdrawal from Iraq," states that, according to officials, President Bush is "effectively leaving timeline decision and the development of a concrete agreement (on troop withdrawal) to the next administration."

Leaving others to deal with our mistakes is, in my opinion, unethical and if it is our president who is the perpetrator of such moral weakness, I feel ashamed for him.
Fabio Macchioni
Santa Fe