Letters to the Editor for Tuesday — March 16, 2004

• He likes Bush

• September 11

He likes Bush

The upcoming election for presidency is near and just around the corner.

As a student and having an age less than the voting-age minimum doesn’t mean that I don’t care about what will happen.

The candidates that seem to be levitating and rising well above the other candidates according to the media are George W. Bush and John Kerry.

While searching the television news stations, there is a stir of who has the upper hand in the election, (and) I’ve seen more positive opinions for Kerry than Bush.

My opinion on the presidential election is that Americans shouldn’t change their views on President Bush because of bad publicity in the media.

Bad publicity during the 21st century is getting difficult to be believed in.

There could be briberies, scandals, false statements, edited coverage, or made-up information involved in the media.

The most recent ad opinion given about President Bush’s ads was given by a woman who opinionates that the ad is very offending.

She says he shouldn’t use the clips of 9/11, but I think that President Bush has every right to use the clips.

It shows that he did many things during that period of time. If by not using it, it’s like she’s asking him to forget about it.

There are a lot of people that find things degrading on television, but there will always be someone that disagrees.

President Bush in my opinion is a great president overall. I support his campaign of No Child Left Behind, though the standards aren’t really fair.

My teacher told me that Americans should ask, “Are you better off right now than four to 10 years ago?”

During the country’s time of need President Bush kept his cool and performed his duties well.

A president that supports education is a president for Americans, because the younger generations are the “future leaders” of America.

What does John Kerry have to show for? Does he have any past experience of being a president? Will you gamble your luck on a person who has had no experience of being a president? I inform American voters that question the slow campaigning of President Bush that President Bush is still president, and I’d rather have him focusing on his job than campaigning.

I ask that all the voters in the upcoming election to not focus on the negative attributes of President Bush, but focus on his positive attributes.

Politics will always be a very dirty competition, but overall if Americans look at the good things President Bush has accomplished, it will definitely come to an amount that will surpass the amount of the not-so-successful things he has done.

Sincerely,

Waimea

September 11

For those who complain that the U.S. is too terribly divided along partisan lines:

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, this country reached a peak of bipartisanship unmatched since World War II — a feeling that “we’re all in this together” regardless of party affiliation, religion, or any other differences. We all stood by the president and supported the invasion of Afghanistan as justifiable retaliation against the terrorists.

Unfortunately, this week we have reached the very rock-bottom, lowest depths of the worst partisanship I have seen in my lifetime.

Bush, apparently thinking we have forgotten what happened, now has the audacity to use graphic images of 9/11 in his first campaign ads. And we have his supporters loudly defending the use of those images in a political campaign (including Karen Hughes, who appeared simultaneously on all the major networks this week).

These Bush defenders (marching in lock-step, as usual) see nothing wrong with using 9/11 in such a blatant partisan manner, as a reason to vote for Bush!

They insult us all when they say that using the images was necessary “to remind Americans” of that day!

Mr. President — and all Republicans: I don’t think there is one person in the United States — or around the world, for that matter — who will ever forget what happened on Sept. 11.

We will never need “reminders” from anyone (and especially not from a political campaign) about those horrible events.

By the way, praising Bush for his handling of Sept. 11 still puzzles me. His supporters seem to think no one else could have handled it so well. Oh, really? I happen to think that anyone who had happened to be in his position would have responded appropriately to such a horrific tragedy.

I’ll never forget the sight of Bush, continuing to sit in that classroom with an emotionless face, after being told of the attacks.

Was he waiting for one of his handlers to tell him what to do? I would have been much more impressed with him if he had stood up and said to the children, “I’m sorry, but something important has come up, and I must leave now.”

And then, when he finally finished his classroom visit and left, did he appear in public to reassure the American people? No. He went into hiding! He seemed much more concerned with his personal safety than with leading his country. Somehow, I can’t imagine a leader like Churchill going into hiding.

Even when bombs were bombarding London relentlessly during World War II, he remained there and remained visible, as did the Royal Family with their two little daughters. Bush and Cheney went into their separate hiding places.

Is it any wonder that we are now so divided along partisan lines?

Barbara Elmore

Lihu‘e