Chain of LTE letters

Those of us on both the Left and Right consider the editorial pages to be the street where we engage in mortal combat. My friend Bill Jenkins laughed at me when he saw me buy a paper and go to the opinion pages first -- even skipping the front page. He does the same thing. I think we all do. I have heard it is the most read part of the paper and I don't doubt it.

So here is a nice chain I got involved in. There may be yet another letter which I will post it is materializes. I highly suspect that the second letter and the forth were written by the same person -- Marianne Jenkins. I don't think I needed two bites at the apple to make my point. Ms. Jenkins apparently does not have the same confidence.

They are signed by different names but both letters made the invalid assertion that Democrats and Republicans who are not Obama fans are simply uninformed.

I find that to be none to arrogant.

* * *

Of Course Obama Knew Of Wright's Sentiments

Sen. Barrack Obama has been attending a church that spews hatred for America, particularly against whites. Liberals say go to the Internet to learn about Sen. Obama not being a Muslim. Well, go to the Internet and learn about Sen. Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose church gave a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan.

The senator's friend and adviser says America created the AIDS virus to kill blacks, puts blacks in prison rather than killing them and that America deserved to be attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, because of its racism and policies around the world.
Go to the Internet and listen to this racist reverend spewing hatred for “white” America. Sen. Obama at first said he was unaware that his friend had given such hateful sermons and he never attended a service where hatred was spoken. Who believed that Sen. Obama was one of only a few uninformed in the Chicago area of Rev. Wright's denunciations of “white” America and Israel? If Sen. Obama didn't know, would you want him to be president when he doesn't even know what is going on in his own back yard?

Can you imagine what the media would do if Sens. John McCain or Hillary Clinton had a close priest friend who gave racist sermons against blacks and had given a lifetime achievement award to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke?
If Sen. Obama can't disown the Rev. Wright or racists in his black community, why should white people disown David Duke? The gullible will accept Sen. Obama's brilliant rhetoric as the compass to his thinking. They can try to convince themselves that a man who continues to belong to a church that describes itself on its Web site as “unashamedly black” will unify the country.

Frank Ricci

Groton
3-21-08
The New London Day

Obama Denounced His Pastor's Words

In response to the letter titled “Of course Obama knew of Wright's sentiments,” published March 21, regarding Sen. Barack Obama and The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I suggest the letter writer listen carefully to Sen. Obama's speech given in Philadelphia last week.

Sen. Obama denounced the angry words of Rev. Wright, as most Americans hoped he would. And, I believe he would also denounce the angry words of the letter writer. Such incendiary talk, of both the letter writer and Rev. Wright, do nothing to unite our country.

Much has been said about words during Sen. Obama's campaign, even to the point that “words mean nothing, action is everything.” Yet, the pen can be mightier than the sword, both for good and bad. Sen. Obama has shown how words can unite a country that hasn't been this divided for decades. Young and old alike have become engaged in the political process with the hope of a change — a hope that Sen. Obama has inspired.

We can talk about race and division and outrage and oppression. All of these have a place in our history. We can be angry about who said what and who hates whom. This is the norm. This is what we've been doing for years. Or, we can decide to retire that script and begin with something new, something that speaks of coming together and treating others well and seeing a new point of view.

We, black and white, male and female, rich and poor, are fatigued with the status quo of America. We long for the days when America was a world leader exemplifying integrity and honesty. Sen. Obama gives us hope for the return of such days.

Marianne Jenkins

Madison
3-26-08

Obama Only Denounced Pastor Out Of Shame

This “typical white person” must respond to the ridiculous presumptions in the letter titled “Obama denounced his pastor's words,” published March 26. It was in response to a letter titled “Of course Obama knew of Wright's sentiments,” which was published March 21.

To state the obvious, the only reason Sen. Barrack Obama distanced himself from his own reverend's inflammatory, racist remarks was because he was shamed into it. The fact his supporters can't hide is that Sen. Obama willingly chose to have his young, impressionable daughters listen to this sort of speech every Sunday.

The true test of character is how a man acts when he thinks no one is looking and clearly Sen. Obama flunks. Let's look at the facts. Sen. Obama's wife stated she was only “proud of her country for the first time in her adult life” when she thought she was being crowned first lady. Sen. Obama's reverend is a race-baiter by the apparent admission of the author of the letter titled “Obama denounced his pastor's words.”

I was always taught that birds of a feather flock together. Sen. Obama's views can't be that far different than his wife's and reverend's. Sen. Obama is just cleverer at hiding it

— until now that is.

John R. McCommas

Willimantic
4-1-08



Female President OK If She's Not Clinton

In the letter titled, “Obama only denounced pastor out of shame,” published April 1, the writer clearly doesn't have all the facts he claims to have. The rest of us [sic] have accepted Sen. Barack Obama's explanation of where he stands on the issue.

The writer implies that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was making comments such as those all the time. He was not, and the letter writer would know that if he had actually done any research as opposed to trusting in conservative talk radio hosts. The comment by the senator's wife was taken out of context [no it wasn't!} as well and its true meaning was adequately explained (at least for the rest of us).

Regarding the letter titled, “Men a political failure, so consider Clinton vote,” published April 1, I'll admit I support Sen. Obama. However, my reasons are related to policy, not gender. I find it hard to believe that so many women are supporting Clinton based on gender. Vote the issues.

I speak for a lot of voters when I say I support the idea of a woman president, just not this woman. There are many others who would do a better job.

Bob James

New London
4-3-08