Partisan Plea
As an avid reader of New York, a native New Yorker, and a lifelong Democrat, I say Amen! to James J. Cramer’s “Party, Over” [“The Bottom Line,” August 25– September 1]. Even if Democratic lawmakers think it unpatriotic to speak out against the Bush administration’s policies, they should still be using their platform to offer strong, proactive alternatives to our current course. Please, please, please—I don’t want to be an independent, or to have to choose not to vote because of the lack of Democratic leadership.
- Jason Osher, Manhattan
Absentee Voters
I enjoyed and agreed with James J. Cramer’s “Party, Over” until the very last sentence. Because the Democrats are “beyond pathetic,” Mr. Cramer asserts that he “just might be forced to abstain from voting next year,” thereby perfectly encapsulating the attitude that led to our having a brain-dead religious zealot in the Oval Office at present. Only fools imagine that they are punishing Democrats like Al Gore for being poor candidates by staying at home on Election Day. The American people—not to mention the rest of the world—are the ones who truly suffer the consequences of this self-indulgence.
- Mark Solomon, Forest Hills
Spoiling For a Fight
Michael Wolff’s portrait of Bill Clinton as a passionate partisan who cares about the issues [“This Media Life: This Isn’t War,” August 25–September 1] is a sharp contrast to the media image of Mr. Clinton during his presidency as a calculating, poll-driven politician. I wish more of the Democrats displayed this combative quality when dealing with the Republicans and George W. Bush.
- Reba Shimansky, Brooklyn
Cult of the Multiculti
It’s amusing to hear Michael Tomasky imply that Al Sharpton, the Mark Green–Freddy Ferrer kerfuffle, the Korean-deli boycott, etc. are minor aberrations of liberalism [“The City Politic: The Windmill Factor,” August 18]. On the contrary—the flaw is structural. Since the sixties, there has been no claim by a victim group that liberals have found too outlandish, too much an affront to common sense, to go along with—that would be “blaming the victim.” We see this reconfirmed quadrennially at the Democratic convention, whether by Mr. Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. Having eschewed nondiscrimination for the tawdrier charms of reverse discrimination, Mr. Tomasky and his liberal cohort have made their bed, and they should know what happens then.
- Jeffrey Gross, Brooklyn
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