Readers React: Beware the deal-making candidate trying to buy your vote

To the editor: Matt Latimer is right about Jeb Bush failing to understand that “running for president has evolved into a performance.” I have a warning for anyone who might be fooled by a candidate’s “performance.” (“Where Jeb Bush went horribly wrong,” Opinion, Feb. 3)

Several years back while vacationing with my wife in Cancun, Mexico, we were approached by a man who said he wanted to give us something for nothing. Having previously been warned, I thought this guy was most likely a “snagger” for a time-share sales presentation. But my wife said, “How can it hurt us? We can always say no.”

Anyone who has attended a time-share presentation will tell you these people are aggressively smooth (think Donald Trump) and use every tactic to get you to sign a contract. We did just that, and I still wonder how I got suckered.

Americans should be careful. “The Art of the Deal” doesn’t care about buyer’s remorse. Once you buy, you’re stuck.

Bob Ginn, Arcadia

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To the editor: Latimer’s depiction of the president as the competent parent driving the car through ice while we sing songs in the back seat is interesting but laughable when applied to his former boss, George W. Bush.

My experience during his presidency was of a 6-year-old stealing the family car because his 18-year-old friend Dick told him to. They were speeding uncontrollably through a snowstorm with zero visibility, and I was screaming from the back seat, “Let me out!”

Thomas Sexton, Huntington Beach

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