Gingrich on Slaying

Just when we thought we had become inured to Newt Gingrich’s sanctimonious posturings, he comes up with yet another speech that doesn’t just raise our eyebrows but turns our stomachs (“Gingrich Links Slaying of Family to ‘Welfare State,’ ” Nov. 22). Although he’s always ready to preach the importance of individual responsibility, he doesn’t hesitate to blame any crime on the proverbial “system,” rather than its perpetrators, when it suits his demagogic purpose.

To try to score political points from such a tragedy is unspeakable. To do so and then claim the moral high ground in doing so is absolutely repugnant.

TOM HART

Costa Mesa

*

* Even the most casual reader of your newspaper or occasional viewer of network news programs must be aware of the recently publicized gaffes of Gingrich. The speaker has made terrible errors in judgment when referring to the Susan Smith case and a recent multiple-murder tragedy in the context of politics. His mistake was his failure to realize that the major media would never present his remarks in their proper context, choosing instead to make him look ridiculous for “blaming” liberals for these horrible acts.

In fact, the speaker was trying to point out that these and countless similar violent crimes are symptomatic of a culture that has sunk so low over a period of time during which the welfare state has mushroomed, illegitimacy has become the rule rather than the exception in many communities and the philosophy of the ACLU has thoroughly saturated our criminal justice system.

PAUL SIMON

Arcadia