Finally mad enough

Well, it finally happened. I finally got angry enough about a moronic letter to the editor that I wrote a response. Who knows if it'll get published, but I did my best ...

Here's the winning letter from today's Palm Beach Post (fourth letter at link), titled "Two-faced Democrats thrive on double standard:"

The Democrats never cease to amaze me. When someone blows the whistle on Democratic administrations, as in the recent Vanity Fair Bill Clinton piece or the shady Cabinet members in his administration, or the Chinese arms deals, or the women victims he left behind, the Democrats come out of the woodwork to defend themselves. "He's a scumbag," they say, or James Carville's famous "Drag a dollar through a trailer park and there's no telling what you'll find," etc. etc. There is no end to the vilification of these people. But let a Republican such as Scott McClellan say something negative about the Bush administration in like manner, and the Democrats will call them very honest: "They were in the inside and know what their [sic] talking about"; "These are real decent people and are only speaking the truth." What rot.

JOHN DARCY

West Palm Beach

Yeah, I know -- too stupid to breathe, right? I do hope the "their/they're" mixup was a direct quote and not an editing issue -- it would be a fitting reflection of the intellectual power of the letter writer.

Anyway, here's my response, sent in this morning:

In response to the June 28 letter "Two-faced Democrats thrive on double standard," while I appreciate the letter writer's strawman, his clumsy comparison simply doesn't hold water. The writer criticizes Democrats for what he perceives as hypocrisy by congratulating Scott McClellan for blowing the whistle on Bush White House misdeeds while defending "Democratic administrations." But, like all Republican apologists and sycophants, the writer can point only to Bill Clinton as an example of "shady" Democrats.

The difference, of course, is that while Bill Clinton certainly committed some personal transgressions while president, his mistakes did not lead to the deaths of thousands of Americans and millions of Iraqi citizens. Clinton's errors were personal and individual, while the corruption of the Bush administration is pervasive and endemic. Bill Clinton continues to repair his image with humanitarian outreach and a charming, ingratiating demeanor, while George W. Bush's image of incompetence and malapropisms is irreparably destroyed and Dick Cheney uses anger and intimidation to achieve his nefarious goals.

The letter writer concluded, as to the Democrats, "What rot." But, as all observant Americans can see, it is the Bush administration that is rotten to the core.

Okay, maybe I was a little more complimentary than necessary of Mr. Clinton. And maybe it'll get published, maybe not. But even if it doesn't, it would be nice if Mr. Darcy saw this sometime ...