Weary of dirty tricks

Re “My dirty tricks,” Opinion, Feb. 3

Allen Raymond’s screed on the inevitability of nasty tactics reeks of a jaded cynicism that would as easily excuse a date rape by saying “she asked for it.” This dirty-trickster-turned-confessor also manages to glide through the revelation of the crime for which he was jailed -- jamming the phone bank of a Democrat running against his candidate -- without saying whether that maneuver swung the election in his candidate’s favor. That Raymond was jailed is somewhat moot if his blunt-force methods had their intended effect and were allowed to stand -- but he wouldn’t tell us.

If his bottom-line advice is to play dirty because it works, we’re in for one hell of a race to the bottom when all sides start shooting -- I mean, swinging.

Kerry Kugelman

Los Angeles

Raymond’s article is the classic braggadocio, justified by excuses why his doing political low-jinx is everyone else’s fault. He proudly, if not gleefully, lists several dirty tricks he, as a Republican campaign manager, or those like him, have played.

He crows that “like it or not, dirty tricks ... work,” then has the gall to blame voters for all of it because we don’t know how or how much we are manipulated. We must educate ourselves on their dirty-trick strategies, he says.

We who want, if not expect, honest campaigns, need to keep up with the devious “pros” whose business it is to stay ahead of us? Raymond is saying, essentially, that he is just doing his job and we deserve what we get, which is a manipulated election.

Karl Rovian ethics such as this on the heels of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, former Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay, etc., will, I hope, be enough to lead Americans and our newer and fresher electees to demand a much shorter campaign season (six weeks?) along with publicly financed elections.

Put the tricksters out to pasture, or more appropriately into a ditch with a shovel where they can have their fun without adversely affecting our lives.

Stephen Figler

Cambria, Calif.