Democrats ponder their approach

Re “Democrats: Get loud, get angry!” Opinion, April 10

Morton Abramowitz and Samantha Power said it loud and clear. I’ve been a loyal Democrat for many years, and I’ve been completely disappointed in the way Democratic politicians have stuck to being politicians, protecting their own behinds and whining about how they had no choice but to go along to get along.

Democrats, put your country ahead of your personal ambitions! Isn’t that what you got into politics for? Or was it to feed your ego, grab whatever power was to be had and retire on the public’s dime? Get real.

The Republicans now in power are ruthless, and if they’ll trash an amputee war hero like Max Cleland, if they have the chutzpah to compare George W. Bush’s military record to a veteran like John Kerry, they will do and say anything to stay in power. They will continue to lie, defame and steamroller every opponent.

We have been in a trance. We have to clean house or next year we’ll be in Iran or worse. Not to mention the financial mess these so-called grown-ups have perpetrated on us.

Grow a spine and we’ll support you.

ERIC JOHNSON

San Pedro

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Abramowitz and Power tell us Democrats to get mad at the incompetence and abuses of Bush and his fellow travelers.

With respect, the time for getting mad has passed. This is the time for getting even. And we need to be more than “mad” Democrats to do so. We were mad as hell in 2004, and yet the day after the election we woke up to find the objects of our scorn still firmly in control. A lesson we should have learned was that, to the kind of swing voters who will help return us to power, “mad” Democrats are often seen as “grating” Democrats.

This year, the number of those fence-sitters will be much larger, and more likely than ever to climb to our side. To them, the Bush policies and beliefs we are against are doing a fine job on their own of defining themselves as failures -- they don’t need our help.

Let’s offer a hopeful and positive alternative.

CHRIS DUFFY

West Palm Beach, Fla.