{"id":332367,"date":"2010-02-17T18:54:04","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T23:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011110110_palinforpresident.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-02-17T18:54:04","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T23:54:04","slug":"palin-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/332367","title":{"rendered":"Palin for president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Focus on policy, not personage<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDo us a favor, Sarah, and run\u201d [Opinion, Feb. 14] by Leonard Pitts Jr. is a prime example of blindness to one\u2019s own motives when addressing opposing viewpoints. This is the trap that befalls all ideologues: Their righteous indignation toward those who oppose their life perspective is driven by their certainty that they possess the ultimate truth regarding issues they deem important.<\/p>\n

Pitts\u2019 remarks also insult a large segment of the American population who do not share his sarcasm or many of his views. Rather than focusing on disagreements on the policies Sarah Palin espouses, many critics in the media \u2014 as well as other ideologues \u2014 resort to personal attacks on her and her family. Most of these critics don\u2019t have a clue about their own self-indulgent diatribes because their self-reflective skills regarding their base motivations are seriously lacking.<\/p>\n

It would be refreshing if political discussion focused on seeking out the common ground between competing political philosophies and promoting solutions to important issues. This requires the development of personal self-reflective skills so that participants can monitor their self-serving indulgences. Clearly, some antidote to the continuing gridlock that has been stifling local, state and national political effectiveness for too long is needed.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gene Harvey, Puyallup<\/em><\/p>\n

Stigmatizing elitism<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his letter \u201cNon-elitist language\u201d [Northwest Voices, Feb. 15], Michael Velikin asserts that Sarah Palin \u201cspeaks a language that the majority of Americans speak.\u201d Velikin would have us believe that we live in a time when anyone who speaks in complete sentences, knows basic historical facts and geography is an \u201celitist.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent poll shows that more than 70 percent of Americans feel \u2014 correctly \u2014 that Palin is not qualified to be president. This is comforting 10 years after many Americans \u2014 myself included \u2014 were aghast that someone as simplistic and inarticulate as George Bush could actually get elected president. I had a flashback when Palin became the vice-presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, enough Americans have learned from the destructive Bush years that there is a place for critical thinking, intellect and managerial skills in our government. Just being an average Joe or Jane doesn\u2019t qualify one to run this country.<\/p>\n

What puzzles me, though, is why Velikin and those like him try so hard to bring the rest of the country down to their level, rather than try to raise themselves and their children to the level of thinking that made this country great in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gary Gibson, Edmonds<\/em><\/p>\n

Get out of Mickey D\u2019s and get a reality check<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do find it just a little ironic that Michael Velikin mentions that the \u201caverage elitist goes to McDonald\u2019s once in a decade\u201d and directly across from his comments is an editorial titled \u201cPlay more, eat better\u201d [Opinion. Feb. 15].<\/p>\n

Does this equate to the average Joe and Jane going to McDonald\u2019s more than once in a decade and eating worse? Maybe if that average Jane and Joe get out of McDonald\u2019s and get some of that cholesterol out of their systems, it will become apparent to them that Sarah Palin really is a quitter, plain and simple.<\/p>\n

No all-beef patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. You betcha!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff Rash, Kenmore<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Focus on policy, not personage \u201cDo us a favor, Sarah, and run\u201d [Opinion, Feb. 14] by Leonard Pitts Jr. is a prime example of blindness to one\u2019s own motives when addressing opposing viewpoints. This is the trap that befalls all ideologues: Their righteous indignation toward those who oppose their life perspective is driven by their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}