The Real Dirt on Slinging Mud

Re “It’s Much More Fun in the Mud,” Commentary, Aug. 19: As usual, Max Boot has it wrong. After a disjointed walk down a political memory lane of the early 19th century, Boot blithely pronounces that our current state of politics “have actually gotten pretty tame.”

Nope. In the last four years, as Boot fails to note, criticism of this president or his policies has become synonymous with hatred.

If you question the Iraq situation you “hate America.” If you question the bona fides of the prescription drug legislation, or the “Healthy Forests” initiative, or the “Clear Skies” initiative, or “No Child Left Behind,” you “hate Bush.” Talk about a dialogue snuffer.

But for Boot to acknowledge this, he’d have to journalistically deal with one of the root causes of the problem -- the high-decibel, in-your-face, dumb-it-down-to-short-sloganeering that is talk radio, augmented by its TV cohorts on Fox and CNBC.

Blaise Jackson

Escondido

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George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson seldom campaigned and didn’t publicly disparage their opponents. They also felt that a president who acted as a leader of a party signaled corruption.

It would be child’s play to use the methods of science and the culture of well-run corporations to modify elections into something more credible. Who would be against it? The two parties. If independent-minded people of merit were allowed equal opportunity, it would quickly end the reign of these outdated frauds.

David Dietrich

Temecula

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When Boot can find no defense for Bush’s smear campaign against John Kerry (as opposed to Kerry’s trying to run a clean campaign), he attempts to convince us that it is more “fun” and more “interesting” politics if something mucky is going on.

That’s a new low, even for Boot.

Shirlee A. Browne

Redondo Beach