‘Reckless’ Speech and Bombing

Re “Clinton Denounces ‘Reckless’ Speech on the Airwaves,” April 25:

It is indeed a shame President Clinton has abandoned the high road of national leadership for the low road of seeking political advantage from a tragedy. What happened in Oklahoma City was mass murder, an act of anarchy. For the President to imply that his critics are responsible for this crime should be beneath the dignity of his office. Debate about the role of government did not cause this crime, nor should it be stifled.

MICHAEL LAWLER

Los Angeles

Re “Talk Radio in Spotlight, Hosts Must Walk Fine Line,” April 26:

It’s obvious to many people that G. Gordon Liddy, Oliver North and their co-conspirators, Rush Limbaugh et al. are in no small way responsible for the bombing in Oklahoma City. These people are making millions of dollars spouting their opinions and if only one thing is clear, it’s that their unchallenged power has corrupted them.

So they blame the President. Not for idealistic reasons, but because they are worried. They’re afraid that the American people will wake up to the bombastic trash mixed in with their legitimate opinions. They’re worried about losing their jobs. They’re afraid of the truth.

RONALD R. KEMP

Fullerton

As a conservative Republican, I have to agree with President Clinton’s remarks that the airwaves are full of the “rhetoric of hate.” I had my fill with the ultra-liberal fringe element performing illegal acts during the ‘60s. Now I see the same illegal acts being performed by the ultra-right fringe elements.

There was a time when we could disagree with our political opponents without resorting to hatemongering. Perhaps the violence we see on television and in the movies is a root cause.

There are a few conservatives in the media, such as William Buckley and George Will, who have espoused the conservative cause long before it became the in thing, and have never resorted to name calling and bitter rhetoric. The media needs more of them.

RUDOLPH A. MAGLIN

San Juan Capistrano

Over the next weeks, President Clinton and his liberal followers in the Congress, the media and others should be very careful in direct, or indirect, political labeling. The temptation will be great.

I’m an admitted, unabashed, Republican conservative. I also think I’m a good, law-abiding citizen. I abhor violence of any kind, for any purpose, and like millions of other conservatives I refuse to have the bloody, soiled cloth of “right-wing extremism” draped over my head.

THEODORE TAYLOR

Laguna Beach

Having lived through all the years of the so-called Communist threats to overthrow the government of the United States by force and violence, and what that accusation did to many good Americans, it is ironic that the militant right, with its avowed purpose of destroying our legal government, is not excoriated in the same terms and without the same concerns. Which is and was the greater evil?

SIDNEY W. KAHN

Monarch Beach

Watching the events in Oklahoma City on TV with pain and horror, there is one outstanding thought: It’s happened, yes, but the country and the vast majority of its people are equally overcome with sympathy, outrage and--hopefully--a resolve to not let it happen again.

Immediately and competently, Oklahoma and U.S. law agencies have moved swiftly and efficiently to find the perpetrators in a fine spirit of cooperation and amazing success.

I have a special reason to be impressed, indeed grateful. You see, 56 years ago, I came to the U.S. as a refugee from Nazi Germany, where Hitler and his cohorts--elected by the German people--had began to persecute the country’s Jewish people. By the thousands German men and women became members of the National Socialist Party, with right-wing “militia”-like entities taking over.

By the time I and my only brother left, the systematic persecution and eventual destruction of the country’s half-million Jews was under way.

In America now, an ugly snake has raised its head and shown the beginnings of hate and rage that threaten its government, perhaps even its civilization and very existence. But the government, and hopefully the majority of American people, have said: “No!”

As a naturalized U.S. citizen, I am grateful to support those who hold the reins and who have said: “No, not here! Let’s stand together against the evil that has raised its head.”

GRETA STEWART

Temple City

Nowhere has it come up that the casualties of the Waco debacle had 51 days warning, while under siege, to leave the compound peacefully. Those admirers of the men who planted the car bomb in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City should be reminded that no such warning was given to their innocent victims.

MARIA DENKER

Studio City