ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010092
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
I CANNOT help but comment on the terrible ambivalence shown toward our president in letters to the editor.
I am a Democrat and will vote for Bill Clinton. However, I admire and respect Bob Dole as a fine senator and gentleman. If he were elected president, I would be behind him and respect him as such.
However, these Clinton-haters seem to relish in every way their disrespect for our elected president. These people seem obsessed with their hatred for him and Mrs. Clinton.
The president and the first lady are both caring, compassionate people, and they don't deserve this disrespect. I have three daughters, and I hope they will be every bit as strong as Mrs. Clinton.
Please, you guys, tone it down a little. Your horns are showing.
BOB GREGORY
ROANOKE
White House has become a pigsty
IF THERE were any doubts before, the revelations in the book ``Unlimited Access'' make clear the necessity of getting rid of the unprincipled outfit that moved into Washington, D.C., after the 1992 election.
It appears this group of drug- and truth-abusers have had only two goals in mind from the beginning: to destroy the office of the president of the United States and to eliminate the United States as a world power.
According to the book, this group's first accomplishment was to turn the White House into a pigsty, throwing unemptied coffee cups and other debris on the floors, and then walking over the mess and grinding it into the carpets. Apparently, that was the lifestyle to which they were accustomed.
Where other administrations sought to preserve our property in first-class condition for us to enjoy forever, this group acted like the ignoramuses they are, and set about systematically to destroy our national heritage. What they have done is criminal, and they should be sent packing to the hovels from which they came!
Apparently, none of this group - including the president - has any idea of the meaning of truth. The way they see it, they're not lying, as we know them to be doing, as they consider the truth to be what they want it to be. The large number of Rhodes scholars in the group has given new meaning to the term Rhodes scholar. The term must now be considered the equivalent of ``idiot.''
JESSE H. GEARHART JR.
ROANOKE
GOP elite deserves Dole's downfall
IT IS OBVIOUS that Bob Dole cannot beat Bill Clinton. The president has held a sizable lead ever since it became apparent that Dole would be his opponent. Clinton is a relentless campaigner and an effective communicator. And because his willing allies in the liberal media don't report his lies and transgressions, he's unencumbered by any sort of moral or ethical baggage.
During the primaries, the Republican machine steamrolled over Dole's opposition. So intent were the Republican elite on getting Dole nominated that they managed to alienate Pat Buchanan's supporters, who constitute 20 percent of the party. The hatchet job included labeling Buchanan and his supporters as racists.
The Republican machine apparently thinks that Buchanan's supporters will forget the insults, and will rally behind Dole. Recent history contradicts this thinking.
When Buchanan delivered his ``cultural war'' speech in Houston in 1992, he was reviled for ``mean-spiritedness.'' George Bush initially endorsed his speech and rose 10 points in the polls, winning over many Buchanan supporters. Bush then found out from his handlers and the liberal media that the speech and speaker weren't politically correct, and began to distance himself. He lost the election, with many Buchananites voting for Ross Perot.
Dole has no agenda, and is incapable of generating one. Fellow Republicans are beginning to call for him to step down, and are looking for other candidates. But they don't want Buchanan.
Republicans place their party over the future of the country and substitute country-club elitism, intellectual arrogance and political expediency for ideas. It will be amusing to see the Republicans' spin when Dole manages to alienate everyone and loses in a landslide. They'll deserve what they get.
EDWARD J. KIRMSE
ROANOKE
Time for a new Warner - Mark
ROANOKERS should look and listen to Mark Warner. He will fight any cuts in education and will not agree to Medicare cuts that will shortchange Virginians. He's the founding chairman of the Virginia Health Care Foundation that provides health care for those who can't afford it. His credentials in the high-tech field make him knowledgeable about the future.
Let us toss out the Republicans' old John Warner, old ideas and proven failure and vote for Mark Warner for the U.S. Senate in November. The Democrats are taking back family values.
PEGGY HAMMOND
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB