Presidential ‘Dirty Campaign’

The “Making of Quayle,” by Times staff writer Robert Scheer (Part I, Oct. 21) characterizes Republican presidential campaign strategy under the direction of political gunslinger Stuart K. Spencer better than anything I’ve read all year. It also depicts a very real threat to American democracy that even the cynical Spencer acknowledges.

This campaign may not be won on how each candidate plans to deal with the issues facing this country: the huge budget deficit, the trade deficit, health care, national security, etc. Instead, the race will probably go to the one who has hired the best image makers--those who have a proven ability to most effectively warp issues and distort an opponent’s record, and who believes that the American public can be manipulated and duped to act like well-trained bears in a circus. Is that to be our future? Or can we rise to the occasion and prove we “cannot be fooled all of the time.”

ALEX CLONER

Palm Springs