Left, right, and a missing middle

Re “Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme,” Sept. 14

It is said that certain members of the GOP are concerned about the extreme views being expressed by members of the Republican Party and that they are looking for “cooler heads” to urge the party members to calm down. Please. About 10 minutes after Ronald Reagan teamed up with Lee Atwater, the “cooler heads” in the GOP began to be shown the exit. It is too late to prevail on cooler heads in the GOP; none remain.

David B. Amos

La Verne

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Michael Goldfarb, formerly with the McCain campaign, is under this delusion, as quoted in your article: “Do we look crackpot? Yes. But that’s how the left looked to me in 2004, and in 2006 they took back Congress. Then they started marginalizing the lunatics.”

So he thinks the GOP extremists today may pull off the same trick in upcoming elections. What Goldfarb doesn’t realize is that, unlike the right, the left’s allegations against President Bush were based on fact. On the other hand, the wingers on the right are obsessed with “death panels” and “FEMA re-education” camps -- none of which exist in reality.

That Goldfarb thinks this is the GOP ticket to retake Congress shows just how out of touch his kind can be.

Tracy Culp

Valencia

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The left has been ramping up the rhetoric for years and now wonders why there is a backlash?

This administration and Congress are also governing from the left instead of being centrist.

Do you think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are middle of the road? I don’t. We are going to wind up with a very polarized and ineffective Congress because each party is too extreme to find common ground with the other.

Elaine Fleeman

Bakersfield

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Sorry Charley! The horses are already out of the barn. Look how the GOP has championed issues raised by the birthers, the deathers and the usual socialism and communism charges, in an effort to frighten the citizenry out of supporting needed healthcare reform.

The GOP has been transformed into the POP, the Party of Paranoia. And where did these ideas originate? From the fevered swamps occupied by the far right.

Paul McElroy

Laguna Woods

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It is laughable that David Frum, who made a career of spinning Bush administration words and phrases into fear and hate lines for the simple-minded, should suggest (now) that there are “wild accusations and paranoid delusions coming from the fever swamps.”

Albeit this time he is correct, Frum, nonetheless, is as much responsible for the growing hatred and gap between the parties as the politicians themselves.

Jeff Button

San Clemente

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What has the English language come to when radical extremists can be described as “conservatives”?

Sandra Wolber

Granada Hills

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Thank you for the article on GOP extremists. It would seem the “coarsening” of political debate has reached a new bottom. There are more moderates among us than at either fringe extreme. I’m glad you put this on the front page above the fold.

With the extreme elements “energized” against this president, it is responsible for you to investigate and educate.

Julie King

Playa del Rey

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Among the thousands of conservative Republicans marching on Washington recently, I saw seniors and people in wheelchairs carrying signs saying they want less government in their lives.

What I didn’t see was any of them tearing up their Social Security checks or their Medicare and Medicaid cards. Where were they when George W. Bush added so much to the deficit with a prescription drug plan? Conservative Republicans are out to destroy Obama.

Phil Wilt

Van Nuys

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I’m confused. When did I become a bad person? When did it become wrong to defend your point of view?

To read about the tea party protests in Washington this last week, I should be ashamed of myself because I sympathize with the protesters.

I do sympathize with the protesters. They feel disenfranchised and ignored. So do I. I don’t feel anyone in Washington represents or cares about my point of view.

So go ahead and shake your heads at another silly “right-wing” writer. The difference is, I respect your right to think I’m silly. Too bad you don’t afford me the right to think you’re wrong.

Maureen Ardron

Yorba Linda

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Often I see readers claim to be so disgusted with the Republican Party that he or she is now an independent or a Democrat. Well, I’m in an opposing camp.

When I was a college student in 1949, I was a loyal Democrat and a supporter of Adlai Stevenson. When I grew up and gained my senses, I became a lifelong Republican.

William H. Mattingly

La Habra Heights

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Both major parties are corrupt and, in the spirit of going “green,” both need to be recycled.

August Lightfoot

Newport Beach