Campaigns’ culture clash

Re “Bringing us together,” editorial, Oct. 14

Normally, during the election season, I sit on the sidelines, only expressing my political opinion at the ballot box, but your editorial has lit a fire in me.

Let’s set a few things straight. It was not John McCain who stated, “Did I mention he’s black?” It was not McCain’s mentor, pastor and friend who spewed racial hatred during church sermons. It is not McCain supporters who claim that if Obama loses, it is because of the “Bradley effect.” These statements are dividing us along racial lines.

Second, it was not McCain who made mention of “cling[ing] to guns or religion.” Nor is it McCain supporters who speak in praise of putting an elitist in the White House. Blue must mean smart and red must mean dumb in the Democrats’ eyes.

I cannot sit on the sidelines any longer. Now it’s time to shout!

Dennis Eodice

Altadena

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It seems our national tribes, the red and the blue, are fearfully and aggressively reacting to the otherness of anyone thought to be outside their group. This has become painfully clear in the war of words between culturally conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in this year’s election campaign.

Let’s hope that this culture clash will not lead us down the road to violence. Even McCain seemed to recognize that possibility last week in the face of his angry supporters.

Yet in selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate and in other campaign decisions, McCain has, as you said, “lit this fire.” Palin, as McCain’s ideological spokesperson, has launched one divisive attack after another. If I blinked, I’d swear I was back in the 1950s.

Our economic and cultural crises demand that we learn to coexist peacefully with others different from ourselves.

Beverly Hammond

Westlake Village