Letters to the Editor

To the Daily:

Every four years people put themselves through a year-long
circus as a way to delude themselves that electing a different
president will actually bring about change. For over two centuries,
the pattern has repeated itself, with only a small handful of
elected officials actually making significant deviation from the
plans of their predecessors in office. This is due largely to the
fact that elections amount to little more than media-driven
popularity contests, rather than elections based upon merit and
effort.

As Super Tuesday draws to a close, it is unfortunate for the
American people that the media chose to anoint the Democratic
nominee for the presidency following a come-from-behind, surprise
victory in rural Iowa. For whatever reason, the media took it upon
themselves to place the decision of the sparsely-populated
agricultural communities of this small midwestern state onto a
pedestal that is supposed to be reflective of our nation as a
whole.

The man they now treat as a media darling, was only six months
ago viewed as too liberal to defeat the incumbent President Bush in
a general election. Now, he is being painted in a different light
by the media, one that shows him as the bringer of hope for this
nation.

Watching Kerry change stances on a weekly basis, depending on
the makeup of the community in which he is campaigning, sickens me
quite frankly. This is despite the fact that many of the policies
and issues that he campaigns on this week were ideas taken from the
other candidates. This will likely change as we shift from Super
Tuesday to the South, because industrial trade agreements mean
little when trying to get elected in the South. His failure to take
a firm position on anything is all too reminiscent of the last New
England liberal to run successfully for the nomination.

The Democratic Party has failed itself again. It has failed to
capitalize on the resurgence of membership and new voters that
Howard Dean brought to the table. It failed to support a proven
warrior for the working class in Dick Gephardt. And most recently,
it failed to nominate a man in. John Edwards who had a plan for
changing America, but was not given the opportunity.

The point is likely moot, as Osama bin-Laden will probably be
miraculously arrested about a week before the November election,
sending Bush’s approval rating through the roof. So, when the
Bush-Cheney war machine rolls through for the next six months,
shredding the Kerry campaign to bits, Democrats should think to
themselves, “When will we learn?”

Robert Devore

LSA senior

Co-chair, Students for Edwards

 

Jesus not exempt from lampooning; captions not as serious as
others think

To the Daily:

The Daily has always used photo captions to cleverly lampoon
films. That is what photo captions are for — for the editors
to drop clever one-liners to supplement the reading. The wit in the
use of quotes from other movies is usually quite hilarious, even
more so if the movie itself wasn’t very good.

To think that just because Jesus is a religious figure he is
somehow exempt from this lampooning when he is featured in a film
is a ridiculous assertion. That’s like saying you can’t
criticize the president when there is a war going on. The only
thing more ridiculous is the assertion in yesterday’s letter
to the editor (Caption inappropriately makes light of crucifixion,
03/03/04) that the Daily somehow “did a disservice to the
University … by making us all look ignorant and
hypocritical.” I was personally unaware that the dignity of
our entire university rested on the laurels of the photo captioning
in the Daily, but with this knowledge, perhaps in the future I will
take these matters more seriously.

Chad Pryor

LSA sophomore

 

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