John Kerry's speech at the Museum Center this week amounted to "Monday morning quarterbacking" of the war effort in Iraq. It is so easy to stand at a distance and say, "Well, I would have done that differently" when hard times hit. Every war has setbacks and things that don't go as planned. The outcome is what we are after.
It's easy to point a critical finger. It's hard to bring freedom to an oppressed people. It's easy to say "woulda, coulda, shoulda." It is hard to stand up for what is right even when the cost is great. It's easy to shake your head and say, "Wrong! wrong! wrong!" It's hard to stand on a pile of rubble in the midst of a mourning nation and say, "We are going to get it right." Kerry is doing the easy things. Does anyone believe him capable of effectively handling the hard ones?
Timothy Tripp, West Chester Township
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Bush team still wrong on tax votes
While the Bush-Cheney team has decreased the number of factual errors in their presentations, Vice President Dick Cheney was still way off on John Kerry's votes for taxes when he spoke in Cincinnati on Thursday. In March they claimed Kerry voted some 350 times to raise taxes over 20 years.
In the latest rewrite of history, Cheney dropped the number to 98. According to the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, 43 of those 98 votes were not votes to enact tax increases, but on budget target levels. If you're doing the math, we're now down to 55 votes over 20 years.
The senator has stated consistently that he will not raise taxes on the middle class but only those whose incomes are $200,000 or more. If folks such as President Bush and Cheney think it's a "burden" to pay their fair share for living in the United States, they don't deserve my vote.
John Burik, Mariemont
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Bush played on false choices with Iraq
The editorial stance in "Kerry position in sharper focus" (Sept. 9) echoes President Bush's false dichotomy of choices - that he could only rush the country to war or believe a "madman." In casting his vote for the resolution, Kerry said of inspections, "We have an obligation to try that as the first course of action before we expend American lives in any further effort." In spite of the tip-off that intelligence was faulty when many of the "leads" our CIA gave Hans Blix came up empty, Bush yanked United Nations inspectors out of Iraq before they could reveal what we found out the hard way. Go to war in haste; repent at leisure.
Linda Gross, Western Hills
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U.S. must rebuild world trust, respect
We all can agree that the threat of terrorism is a global threat. Should our response not be a global one, by building a coalition of other nations, instead of alienating our friends around the world? Our arrogance of entering practically alone into war in Iraq has cost us the respect and trust of the very countries that we need to be working with in this time of danger. Our standing and respect in the world has never been so low.
The United States must begin to realize that we cannot win the war on terrorism unless we build a response that includes all peace-loving countries in the world. We can't do that unless we rebuild the trust and respect that was once was ours.
Betty L. Bryant, Villa Hills
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Zell Miller sure flip-flopped on Kerry
Regarding the letter "Miller shows thinking typical of age of duels" (Sept. 8): The writer points out Zell Miller's archaic mindset when he challenged Chris Matthews to a duel. The senator must also be suffering from a major memory loss. Just three years ago, he introduced John Kerry as "one of the nation's authentic heroes and greatest leaders - and a good friend." He also stated that "John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment."
Last week Miller delivered a vicious personal attack on his "good friend." Sounds like heavy-duty flip-flopping to me.
Kathy Helmbock, Oakley
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Happy birthday; God bless America
Peter Bronson asks in his Sept. 9 column, "Where do you plan to be this September 11?"
Our answer: celebrating our daughter Natalie's first birthday. When people ask when she was born, and we answer Sept. 11, nine times out of 10 their response is almost apologetic or sad. Quite the contrary, we see our daughter's birth on Sept. 11 not only as a celebration, but also as a reminder of our patriotism and what this country stands for - strength, unity and freedom. Never forget Sept.11. God bless America.
Dan and Christy Cooper, Mount Lookout
