THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 8, 1995 TAG: 9504060011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
As a Democrat, I have followed with no little amusement the exploits of the hierarchy of the Virginia Republican Party as it attempts to destroy the only credible statesman/candidate for national office it has.
John Warner's refusal to support Mike Farris, an ineffectual puppet of the evangelical right, and Oliver North, whom only a legal technicality kept out of a seat in the prison cell he so richly deserves to occupy, has angered the GOP powers that be.
They feel Warner's been disloyal to his party. They seem to believe fidelity to an organization should come before fidelity to the truth or one's own conscience. Rather than accept responsibility for running candidates whose rigidity, inability and lack of ethics have made their opponents look good or at least palatable (no mean feat), they blame the senator for standing by his convictions.
I disagree with 75 percent to 80 percent of Senator Warner's views on everything from military spending to specific cuts in social programs. But come November, I will vote for him over candidates fielded against him for the simple reason that, although our views differ on many subjects, I respect Senator Warner's courage, honor and integrity - three items sorely lacking in most political candidates and officeholders.
I prefer a candidate of honesty and conviction whose politics I disagree with over one who pays continual lip service to personal ideals while secretly selling them down river. I would ask the Republican Party (as well as my own) how many candidates it has handy who fit that bill?
JONATHAN M. MARTEN
Norfolk, April 4, 1995 by CNB