You have run the dirtiest campaign I can remember. Your campaign’s lone issue/strategy has been a dishonest attempt to discredit Sen. Barack Obama’s character through nonstop lies and innuendo. You say you are not George Bush, Senator, but you campaign just like him.You lost the respect of many in your own party when you gambled on a woman for your running mate who believes foreign policy experience can be attained by looking at Russia from across the Bering Strait. You and Ms. Palin have encouraged hatred, racism and intolerance at your rallies at a time when the nation desperately cries out for unity and leadership.With one week to go, your campaign’s natural inclination will be to pull out every stop in a last-ditch effort to destroy and discredit your opponent. I urge you, John McCain, to do the honorable and decent thing and spend the last days of your campaign addressing the real issues that face this nation in crisis. Show some character, Senator. Go out with a little style and integrity. After eight years, the divided states of America want to be united once again.
Letters Election Protection
It seems we all sense what a critical election we have upon us. The last two presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 were—let’s just say it—corrupt. In 2000, we saw Bush get selected president as a result of a vote that hinged on a state where his brother was governor and the secretary of state, Katherine Harris, was co-chair of the Bush-Cheney election campaign, and by a Supreme Court majority known to have close ties with the Republican Party. Fifty-seven thousand voters (90 percent of them Democrats) were illegally scrubbed from the voter rolls. In 2004, virtually the same thing happened in Ohio, where the secretary of state, Ken Blackwell, was, once again, co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign and whose job was to oversee the elections in that state, the state upon which that election outcome hinged. And, as could be expected, thousands of registered Democrats were scrubbed illegally from the rolls, or their votes didn’t count for a variety of reasons. Lest we forget, New Mexico—one of the critical battleground states—saw its share of corruption in those last elections as well. Certain rural counties with high Native and Hispanic populations (who overwhelmingly vote Dem) were rife with creative disenfranchisement schemes designed to skew the state into the red zone of a Republican victory. This year, the interest group Common Cause has established Election Protection, a nationwide nonpartisan program to monitor these elections for problems on Election Day and provide election information beforehand to make the process smoother and easier and ensure that everyone’s vote gets counted. The have set up a hotline (866-OUR-VOTE), staffed by attorneys specially trained in election issues, and will be able to answer questions about registering. If problems occur on Election Day, they will be available to advise you on what to do. As a UNM student, I am not campaigning for any one candidate; I am putting my energy into doing what I can to make sure the election is fair this time and volunteering for Election Protection. We all know how much is at stake this time around.
Letters Obamania
I am a visitor to your beautiful state and have been enjoying the scenery, art, museums, culture and other activities. New Mexico truly is the Land of Enhancement.I must admit, however, that I have been taken aback by the predominance of Mr. Obama supporters proudly displaying their preference with cleaver signage in their yards, sides of houses and business storefronts.I have also overheard vendors in their stores, artists in street fairs and other merchants laughing it up and openly exchanging between themselves offensive quips and filthy analogies of the Republican ticket, particularly about Sarah Palin, in front of customers and other bystanders.OK, this is Obama-Bonama-Fee-Fye-Nonama, Yo-Mama land, but it still is a nice place to visit and each to his own. Then I discovered your wonderful periodical appropriately labeled the Alibi , which seemed to fit right in with the predominant hysterical political flavor.I refer to the Sept. 18-24 issue, which contained several rants from Mr./Ms. “Eat The Rich,” [Letters, Comment On Alibi.com, “Intelligence and Some Skank from A.K.”] and Ms. Lita Romero [Letters, “Sexism, Barracudas and Pitbulls”] from Albuquerque, who are showing early signs of PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome—I guess now that Bush is a lame duck, these people have had to rechannel their anger), and an excellent piece that could be a worthy candidate for a Michael Moore or Barbra Streisand newsletter by your very own Mr. Jerry Ortiz Y Pino [Ortiz y Pino, “Keep it Superficial, Stupid”].Jerry did a curious job of combining an Al Gore epiphany from last year about how the American political system is in complete shambles (especially since he got robbed of the presidency in 2000) with a complete insult to the entire Republican Party and half of the population of the United States, implying they are being stupid and only understand what they see on TV. This was combined with his own ignorant wisecracks about two Americans who represent honorable and traditional values in this country (I guess that is what Mr. Ortiz and Pino [sic] really finds distasteful).Then again, what do I know? I am just a dumb-ass redneck visiting from Georgia. But I have figured out rather quickly that there are many people here who clearly demonstrate that the Indians in this area did in fact have sex with the buffalos, and these are their decendents.
Letters Mcsame
The problem with John McCain is that he appears to be not only "still stuck on stupid" but is also betting the American people are "stuck on stupid" along with him! Unbelievably, he suggested that the only viable option in times of a sinking economy is to preserve Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and to hatchet programs that directly help the middle class. Under this platform, there is no real help for the average working person in the U.S. Moreover, his statements about how he intends to treat U.S. war veterans and his supposed plans to use diplomacy instead of military might are hollow and insincere because he has not supported such efforts in the past. Pair that with a VP who is, through no fault of her own, asked to perform on the world stage without proper preparation, and it becomes clear that he represents a real recipe for disaster. Clearly, there is only one viable choice for a president who will lead responsibly, and it is not John McCain.
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number via e-mail to letters@alibi.com. They can also be faxed to (505) 256-9651. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium; we regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. Word count limit for letters is 300 words.
