Letter to William Safire

[libertango]

Mr. Safire:

When Mr. Kerry spoke of "These guys" being "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," it's fairly obvious that he's being very specific. He is clearly referring specifically to the Bush Administration, not to Republicans generally.

Choosing to interpret his comment as being a slur on Republicans as a whole, rather than a legitimate criticism of the Bush Administration is... well, crooked and lying.

More than that. You appear to take umbrage at Mr. Kerry's comments. But nowhere do you say you actually disagree with him when it comes to this Administration. Surely I don't need to remind you, of all people, of the phrase, "non-denial denial."

Mr. Kerry's words are not "phony toughness". They are a forceful cry that the Emperor wears no clothes.

200 bodies lie in the rubble in Spain because 911 days after 9/11 this Administration is more interested in counting coup against family enemies than in acting effectively against terrorism. 11 out of 12 US carriers are in port because this Administration doesn't know how to manage a war. North Korea and Iran almost certainly now have the bomb because this Administration was too cowardly to confront them when it would have mattered. Israel and the Palestinians continue to give each other the death of a thousand cuts because this Administration lacks the moral courage to lead them to peace. Army Times has termed this Administration's policies regarding military pay and benefits in a time of conflict "An Act of Betrayal".

There is indeed a candidate in this election who shows "phony toughness", every day.

His name is not John Kerry.


Sincerely,

etc.

Comments

[scottscidmore.livejournal.com]

But you have it all wrong:

Despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that Iraq was "the most dangerous regime in the world" -- even more dangerous than North Korea, which is suspected of having nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/03/15/us.iraq/


So you see, taking down Saddam was much more important than facing a country that says it'as building nukes, and only "may be ready to flight-test its Taepo Dong-2 missile, capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear payload."

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=834008&tw=wn_wire_story

That's much less of a threat than Saddam's short range SCUDs...

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I read his essay this morning, and had much the same reaction.

Good for you for writing the letter. Do you ever get replies from any of your letters?

B

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

When they get printed, usually, but sometimes, not even then.

The NYT has never printed a letter of mine. But the LA Times, the Seattle Times, and the Financial Times all have, among others.

In fact, the FT letter led to a grandly fannish moment. The FT is old fashioned enough that they print your address, just like in the old days of SF magazines. So sure enough, I received a "postcard of comment" from the UK following that one.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Good letter. Go, you!



Yes, there I go, leaving the smooch tags open again.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Just to pick a nit, Leap Day made it 912 days.

On a serious note, in that vein, I don't think the 911 days has any real value to it, that is I don' think Al Qaeda, et al., are using that sort of symbolic factor as part of their planning.

We just happen to see patterns, and it will muddy our thinking for the future if we start to try seeing them in advance.

TK