Arianna Huffington Beats the Bushes for Fanatics

Re “A White House Fluent in Language of Fanatics,” Commentary, May 21: Arianna Huffington’s insightful comparison of the Bush administration to the movie “The Matrix Reloaded” is well founded. Remember the movie craze when audiences wore special glasses to view 3-D films? The picture was fuzzy if the glasses were taken off. If our nation removed President Bush’s rose-colored glasses we would not only see a different color alert for our economy, health care, Social Security and civil rights, we would see a frightening “reality film” instead of “Top Gun.”

Jerold Drucker

Tarzana

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Don’t be so sure that all the Bushies are so fanatically delusional they don’t realize they’re lying. Consider a scarier thought: Many of them do know they’re lying but they’re doing it intentionally because they believe they’re doing it for a “higher cause”; and they’re cynically selling out to wealthy and corporate interests for future money and positions. Shades of Osama bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh and other true believers and crooks throughout history.

Why won’t some Democratic candidate make a list of the lies we’ve been told and hammer it over and over in every forum possible? Seems like Robert Scheer, John Balzar, Steve Lopez and The Times are the only Americans willing to tell it like it is who have access to the remnants of the media that are not controlled by the far right (News Corp., Clear Channel, etc.).

Lynwood Spinks

Los Angeles

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Take away his platitudes and Bush has nothing to say to us.

Marion Lewish

San Diego

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Huffington once again goes off the deep end, repeatedly calling Bush and his administration “fanatics” and concluding that they suffer from “insanity” merely because they happen to disagree fundamentally with her newfound leftist ideology, particularly when it comes to such major issues as the war on terror and taxes.

No doubt Huffington is an expert on fanaticism, because she herself is obviously fanatically anti-Bush and anti- Republican (since abandoning her ‘80s and ‘90s social-climbing Republican conservatism for 21st century, social-climbing, Westside Democrat limousine liberalism). She has also engaged in a truly fanatic campaign against automobile companies and all Americans who choose to drive an SUV (just like what Huffington used to drive before she “saw the light” -- do we perhaps see a pattern here?).

She writes, “A popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Arianna and her fellow unreconstructed “tax and spend” Democrats fit that diagnosis to a T.

J. Peter Rich

Los Angeles

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Huffington’s commentary reminded me of the words that Finley Peter Dunne put in the mouth of his character, Mr. Dooley: “A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks th’ Lord wud do if He knew th’ facts iv th’ case.”

John Sellars

Torrance

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Every day I read some story in The Times detailing another abuse being perpetrated by the current administration in Washington. A surplus in the budget? Gone, and worse debt to come. The environment? Sold off to election contributors. Friends overseas? Worse than ignored, vilified. Civil liberties? Attacked in such a fashion that it makes one wonder.

Remember that $300 tax rebate that was all the rage in 2000? It looks a lot more like 30 pieces of silver now, doesn’t it?

Lawrence

Schaumburg-Hinson

Long Beach