Volume 17 • Issue 16 | SEPTEMBER 10 – 16, 2004
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Koch is lost
To The Editor:
Re “Why Democrats should vote for President Bush” (Talking Point, Aug. 20 – 26):
“How’m I doin’?”
Not very well.
Well, Ed, the sad truth is you’re doing rather poorly. You’ve lost your political compass.
Ed Koch continues to repeat the myth that he is still a traditional Democrat, and a liberal one to boot.
Yes, he really has been backing “Democrats” of late, like D’Amato and
Giuliani and Bloomberg and Pataki, now topped off by his endorsement of Bush.
As far as his claim to liberalism goes, he seems to think anyone to the left of Joe Lieberman is an “extreme leftist.”
Koch says domestic issues don’t count in this election. So he ignores the fact that Bush is the worst environmental president in history; that more than 42 million Americans now have no health insurance; that he is the first president since Hoover to actually lose jobs; and that on the so-called “family values” front he pandered to the Falwells and Robertsons on homosexuality, abortion and now stem cell research.
But Koch says only foreign policy deserves center stage.
So while the 9/11 terrorists who killed 3,000 innocents were part of Al Qaeda, anchored in Afghanistan, where their leader, bin Laden, was holed up, Bush misled the nation into attacking Iraq with an American army seven times the size that went after Al Qaeda.
He took us into Iraq under the false premises that we would find weapons of mass destruction, ready to be launched and threatening our national security, and that Iraq had been a collaborator with Al Qaeda in the 9/11 slaughter.
The neo-cons said we were bringing our style of democracy to Iraq, but so far Jefferson and Madison do not seem to have caught on there.
The war, we were told, would be paid for by Iraqi oil; so far it has cost us $200 billion with no end in sight.
A year ago, we were told, “Mission Accomplished,” and Bush challenged the insurgency to “bring it on;” they brought it on, costing us so far 1,000 lives and 5,000 wounded, not to mention the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.
It is sad that Ed Koch, who marched with King and against the Vietnam War, should cap a notable career by snuggling up to this ugly band who revel in preemptive strikes.
Ed Gold
Texas exchange
To The Editor:
My wife, Jane, and I attended the Republican National Convention in New York City, I as an alternate-delegate elected from Congressional District 6 and Jane as my guest. After attending the third session of the convention on Tuesday night, I went across the street from Madison Square Garden and awaited the arrival of Jane, who was seated in a different section of Madison Square Garden, and some of the other attendees from Texas.
While waiting for Jane’s arrival, I stood talking to a group of about six New York City police officers. I was telling them how much we appreciated all the work they were doing and how they were great ambassadors for the city of New York.
One of the police officers asked me if I would like to trade my Stetson cowboy hat for his police hat. I asked him if he was serious and he replied. “Yes”. We traded hats, which happened to be the exact same size, and I continued to stand there wearing my newly acquired police hat.
Shortly thereafter, my wife and several other delegates from Texas showed up. At first Jane didn’t recognize me with the police hat on so I called out to her. She, and the rest of the delegates heard the story of the hat with typical Texas enthusiasm, and a policewoman that was among the group asked Jane if she would like to also exchange hats. The officer turned her hat over and pointed to a pin she had attached to the inside of her hat. She told my wife that it was the pin given to her after 9/11. Jane smiled and said, “Let’s take this out because I’m sure you want to keep it.”
The officer looked into Jane’s eyes and returned the smile as she reached out and placed her hand on Jane’s arm and said, “No. I want you to have it.” Tears welled up in the eyes of the two new friends as they embraced. The story spread and created a bonding to where our delegation and the N.Y.P.D. were recognized with a special look you see between two special friends. The next night, a N.Y.P.D. detective recognized my wife and took her from the stands to meet the brother-in-law of the policewoman she had traded hats with and he then called the officer and Jane and the officer talked for a few minutes by phone. The last night of the convention other officers were having their pictures taken on the floor with cowboy hats and by the end of the night many other delegates had traded hats. It will be a long time before the N.Y.P.D. forgets the Texas Republican delegates. It will be even longer before the Texas Republican delegation forgets the N.Y.P.D.
Bill Burch
Christian president
To The Editor:
Greetings! I am Ellie and I am in the sixth grad [sic] at Kentucky Christian School in Campbellsville, Kentucky. I was wondering if you could help my class with an assignment. We have been asked to answer a question. The question is “ What do you think is the most important personal trait in a Presidential candidate?” Part of the project is to find out how other people would answer the question.
I believe that the most important trait is to be truthful in what he says because I want a leader who will not break his promises. I also want a Christian leader because if our leader is a Christian then maybe others in our country will want to be Christians. However, I would like to know what you think. Also it would be great if you could put this letter in your paper that way other people could respond to the question. We would love to hear from as many people as possible. I have listed our address below for anyone that would like to respond. Thank you very much and have a nice day.
Sincerely, Ellie
Mr. Ward’s Sixth Grade Class
Kentucky Christian School
1190 New Columbia Road
Campbellsville, Ky. 42718
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