Howard Dean’s Teflon: Some Things Do Stick

I would like to dispute that “Attacks on Dean Just Slide Right Off” (Dec. 27). Your article speaks of Howard Dean’s Teflon coating and implies that the candidate is impervious to mistakes. In backing this up, the article states that after Dean’s widely criticized appearance on “Meet the Press,” traffic to the candidate’s Web site “soared.” Indeed, this may have been one result, but another result of the interview was that Dean lost me as a supporter.

I had been one of those who had donated money to the former Vermont governor’s campaign and had attended rallies. However, after hearing his uninspiring and sometimes unintelligible answers to Tim Russert’s questions, I realized that Dean was not a man I wanted as president of the United States.

I would suggest that, in the future, articles on Dean tell the other side of the Teflon story -- the one where Dean’s words stick so glaringly that they ruin the taste for voters like me.

Beth Milstein

Los Angeles

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Just when did it become provocative or controversial for a presidential candidate to recommend that the rule of law be applied in dealing with criminals, even one as heinous as Osama bin Laden? Truly, if we have so lost our bearings as to consider our own country’s laws an impediment, Dean’s voice may be more sorely needed than I had realized.

Laurence Hauben

Santa Barbara