Even though the result of the presidential election has been decided, I would like to respond to the letter of Laura DeRuve, dated Oct. 30, with an old joke in mind. An aspiring politician tells his constituents, “My grandfather was a politician, my father was a politician, and I ain’t going to work for a livin’ either.”
I greatly admire John McCain, the man, and I am confident he will be a fit leader, even as I plan to pray for his health every day if he has been elected. I met him back in 2000 and supported him then. Like many of us, I only found out in the last few years how viciously that campaign against him was waged. And by his own party no less.
Ms. DeRuve resents the fact that some people will vote for Barack Obama based on their criticism of the last eight years under the stewardship of George Bush. Do you think? I guess its possible.
She goes on to say how he’s kept us all safe since 9/11, all of us except the brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the record, I voted for President Bush, so I feel I really have the right to complain. I sense Ms. DeRuve voted for him as well, but I wonder if she knows that his name was mentioned only once at the Republican convention. So she’ll excuse others if they exercise their right to vote for something different.
In one fell swoop, she blames a Democratic Congress for our current mess. I don’t know which mess she means. It could be the two-front war mess, one started with faulty intelligence (falsified or not, we’ll leave it to historians to decide), or the financial mess, which can probably be better traced back to Bill Clinton and the Newt Gingrich Congress.
At McCain headquarters, we learn from the letter, people didn’t want to be bothered on the phone. Come on. It seems Obama supporters are the only folks without caller ID.
Ms Deruve writes that she was appalled by the low mentality and discourteousness of these Obama supporters. I think I agree. I think we should cast these impudent snobs off to some faraway land. Like Alaska, for instance.
Ms. DeRuve opines that feminists are envious of Gov. Palin. She has a great career, a nice wardrobe, a beautiful family and a macho husband. Huh? I don’t think I know any feminists. I just know a lot of opinionated ladies. I do know that feminism grew out of the suffragist movement, which gained a woman’s right to vote. Sarah Palin’s, Laura DeRuve’s, my mom. Even my wife, who adores Sarah Palin’s clothing, by the way.
Next, Ms. DeRuve goes on to tell about a campaign worker, a Chinese-born American man, who she overheard talking about national health care. He was explaining that in China their are long lines to see a doctor and we wouldn’t want that here. He probably failed to tell them that in China you can have a tooth pulled or stuff extracted from your ear for pocket change right on the street. I don’t know much about the health insurance business, but to draw a parallel to China when a few million more kids could use it here seems amazing.
I’ll agree with Ms.DeRuve that the mainstream media leans perhaps a bit too left. Being the Fourth Estate it is probably a consequence of its evolution (these darn freedoms at work again). But there are choices in what we watch, read or listen to. I watch a business channel most of the day and you would not believe the lashing Barack Obama receives.
Ms. DeRuve concludes her letter with confiding that she “fears greatly” for our great nation if, then she drops the playbook bomb, Barack Hussein Obama is elected president. Hussein. The Muslim fear factor rearing its ugly head.
This is the problem with the current state of affairs in government today. The Republicans have become, on the national level, the party of fear. They want to spread fear throughout the electorate. For goodness sake, this is currently a party so resentful of any logic and so ambivalent about their own candidate that it had to name Sarah Palin as his running mate to appeal to its base.
The Democratic tent is big, but I for one just can’t wrap my head around this party’s core right now. I have that right. This country was founded on a bedrock of logic and reason. It was born during the Age of Enlightenment. Those lights quickly dimmed as party politics took hold.
I, for one, have never registered with any party. I don’t know how people can support all the policies of any one party. I like walking down the center of the road. You can see both sides very clearly from there. I’ll neither have fear of or resentment for our newest president.
Now, relax Ms. DeRuve. It’s only politics. The Mayan end times are still to come.
Daniel Kragh, of Kendall Park

