Contra Costa Times Prints My Letter

Whilest rummaging through my local paper at work a few weeks back looking for the New York Times crossword I stumbled across a letter in the Op/Ed page about the presidential candidates that I considered both ignorant and ill-informed. Not one to suffer political fools lightly, I took the page home, popped a nice bottle of Chardonnay and emailed my response. First, the offending screed:

What is possible

Change? You want change? I say John McCain introduced the only real change in this race when he chose Sarah Palin as running mate. Obama's 100 percent liberal voting record (on the rare occasions he bothered to vote) is evidence of the same partisanship that has plagued Washington for decades. His affiliation with convicted felon Tony Rezko and "pastor" Jeremiah Wright give a sobering glimpse into his backroom politics.

Leaving the smoke-filled room behind, we find in Sarah Palin a breath of fresh air. She is the one who gives us hope for real change. She has demonstrated with actions, not just words, that she stands up against corruption wherever she finds it, even if it is within her own party.

I am awestruck by Palin's ability to hold a wide range of executive positions, from mayor to governor, while still managing to maintain a foundation of unconditional love for her family. As a result, her 17-year-old daughter did not feel compelled to hide her pregnancy by having an abortion.

No wonder some are trying so hard to destroy Palin. They don't want Americans to see what's possible when a woman is determined to do the right thing.

Carol Trebes

Livermore

Now for some reason the paper doesn't post all of their letters online so I can't link to my response but the Op/Ed editor assured me that it was printed in the Oct. 1 issue so here it is reproduced from my email with the editing changes I suggested to her (my original letter was too long):

In response to "What is possible" from Sept. 22:

The fact that Ms. Trebes regards McCain as "change" for choosing Palin as his running mate would be laughable if it weren't believed by so many in the electorate. Palin got elected governor of one of the most corrupt states in the country, put the town of Wasilla into massive debt in her time as mayor, abused her position of authority to get her sister's ex-husband fired (then lied about it) and while governor requested four times as much in federal "pork project" earmarks per capita for her state as Obama (did I mention that eradicating pork is one of McCain's central campaign platforms? And that he lied about her record when he was on "The View" last week?).

Tossing out right-wing talking points like "100 percent liberal voting record" and Obama's "affiliations" without any cited documentation might have worked thus far but it's obvious that the sheen on Palin and her admittedly unique biography is already starting to tarnish as the American people and the media find out more about her. Oh, and finding out more about an unknown candidate and her record doesn't mean that "some are trying to destroy her", it's just the standard process of vetting and due diligence that the McCain campaign neglected to do before they chose to throw a Hail Mary pass, trying to win this election on personalities rather than the issues. I hope the American people are smarter than this, and I hope that my fellow readers are as well.

James B. Webb

Danville

So there it is, if you read it thanks for indulging me. This is actually my second letter to be printed in a Bay Area newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner printed a letter I sent them about the Supreme Court Justice selection process a few years back but that link is dead now as well so you'll just have to take my word for it.