Gore Advisor

* Have you no decency, Mr. Pinkerton? (“Al Gore’s Not an Alpha Male? Well, Duh . . .,” Commentary, Nov. 4). Your partisan attack attempts to smear Al Gore’s reputation by repeatedly comparing Naomi Wolf to Monica Lewinsky. I don’t think Wolf’s writing is very illuminating or interesting, but where is the scandal in getting her advice? By the way, Gore says her total fee was nowhere near what is reported.

I don’t know yet what candidate I will vote for, but a small-minded desire to smear the reputation of someone is another factor in turning people off politics.

MADELINE MARK

Altadena

*

I think what shocks me the most about James Pinkerton’s hit piece on Wolfe is his comparison of her to Lewinsky. Is he kidding? On the one hand, you have a brilliant writer and thinker who’s been hired by a major politician as an image consultant, presumably because her insights have been deemed to be valuable. On the other hand, we have a woman who schemed to seduce a major politician in order to write a book.

But he doesn’t stop there. He then goes on to describe Wolfe’s facial features, as if they have a bearing on her ability to think clearly. And of course he must play the masturbation card and liken her to Joycelyn Elders, who we all know was an evil woman who dared to suggest that teenagers be taught about masturbation. Finally, he describes her as too close to middle age to be sexual, even as a writer or thinker, as if only men like Newt Gingrich and Bob Livingston can be lecherous into their twilight.

It’s a great thing that, for all his flaws, at least Gore can look at a woman and see beyond her exterior, and even (gasp!) pay her more that her male counterparts. Hooray for Gore!

ALEX BOGARTZ

Van Nuys