The Sport of Bashing the President

Former Sen. George McGovern (“This Political Sport Has Gotten Out of Hand,” Commentary, July 7) traces and condemns the “sport” of president bashing through Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln and then through some good Democratic presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, Harry Truman and Bill Clinton. His appeal to stop this “sport,” to declare a truce and to protect Clinton and the first lady would seem fairer and more bipartisan if he had managed to try to tell the whole truth. He could have detailed the horrible bashing that the Democrats inflicted on President Reagan and his first lady.

SIDNEY REACH

Santa Monica

* Get real, George! Consider if George Bush or Ronald Reagan were surrounded with events such as Travelgate, the secret health-care task force, 900 missing FBI files, Craig Livingstone, lost Rose law firm billing records, Webster Hubbell, Vincent Foster’s mysterious death, the rental of the Lincoln Bedroom, Charlie Trie, John Huang, the Susan McDougal conviction, the Buddhist monastery money-laundering, drug dealers invited to the White House for photo ops and Hillary Clinton’s top aide receiving a $50,000 campaign contribution from Johnny Chung in the White House. Liberals and their accomplices in the press would have called for their impeachment long ago.

So, George, get used to it. Now it’s our turn.

MICHAEL DUFFY

Thousand Oaks

* McGovern quotes George Washington as saying, “I had rather be in my grave than endure another four years in the White House.” Never happened. Washington never lived in the White House. He did not want another term, true. He probably said so many times. But he never said what was attributed to him in that quote.

GEORGE RIGGS

Walnut

* I rang doorbells for McGovern in 1972 during the heat of the Vietnam debate. Although several doors were slammed in my face, I never heard of any vicious personal attacks like the ones being hurled at Clinton and the first lady. Ironically, many of these attacks are from right-wing extremists who have the nerve to call themselves “Christians.” After all the ballyhoo about abortion and prayer in school, it seems the unholy alliance between the religious right and Republican Party is now held together by a single thread--their hatred of the Clintons.

Republicans can keep on spending tens of millions of dollars to “get” the Clintons, but the American people will always be able to see through it.

JOHN L. UELMEN

Newbury Park