Seductive speech is a smoke screen

Re “Defiant Palin comes out swinging,” Sept. 4

The acceptance speech I heard Gov. Sarah Palin give did not acknowledge a single problem or offer a single remedy for the millions of Americans who are struggling single parents, dual working parents without child care, laid-off workers, seniors on fixed incomes, families suffering from the mortgage debacle or our overburdened hospital emergency room system.

She did nothing but compare herself to a pit bull with lipstick, mock the life stories of her opponents, glorify war and warriors, speak for “the people,” refer to her “servant’s heart,” expose her five children to a media she does not trust and demonstrate her lust for office.

It was the most seductive political speech I have heard this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It is time to be very scared -- of this atavistic Diana who shoots wolves from airplanes and harasses librarians.

Jean E. Rosenfeld

Pacific Palisades

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That Palin is a formidable opponent is not an issue. What is an issue is that she is a bright, shining, political red herring. Her homespun, down-home personality and adroit quipping is a mighty smoke screen behind which the McCain campaign can hide the intention to continue the Bush administration and obscure its narrow social vision.

She speaks of a government that does not exist; as if the administration in power has not been there for eight years shredding the Constitution, killing regulations that permitted the real estate and energy abasement of our economy, sent American employment abroad and Americans to food pantries as they lost their jobs and homes.

Make no mistake, voting for this pair is a vote to continue what President Bush hath wrought and is a vote against the lives of our daughters and granddaughters.

Elaine Madsen

West Hollywood

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I have three granddaughters, ages 21, 15 and 11. They were taught an interesting lesson by Palin, her daughter Bristol, John McCain and the Republican Party.

Practice abstinence only. If you become pregnant, keep the baby and marry your 18-year-old boyfriend. You will be praised as a hero. You will get national TV coverage for your family. Your mother will be praised as an example to follow. A presidential candidate will welcome you and give you publicity for your fortitude.

Are these the family values that I should by teaching my grandchildren? When will we be outraged that the proponents of “family values” have become outrageously hypocritical?

Arthur Friedman

Newport Beach

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Shame on Palin and Rudy Giuliani! There are plenty of policy issues on which they can fairly disagree with and criticize Barack Obama. But to mock his public service as a community organizer is to demean the thousands of community-minded people across the country who give something back by helping communities face and deal with their local problems themselves.

Most of these people, like Obama, come equipped with high-powered college educations but pass up fast-track career paths in Washington and on Wall Street to help their friends and neighbors make a better life for themselves -- for a whole lot less money than they could make in industry. They deserve our congratulations and our gratitude, not the mockery offered by these crass Republican partisans.

Steven J. Dzida

Costa Mesa