Saturday, January 12, 2008

Politics for Children

KidsPost's Jan. 2 explanation of the election process was well done until it came to telling the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

The Iraq war is not the difference. Many Democrats support the war; many Republicans oppose it.

The difference in brief is the level of government. Democrats believe in large government with persons in government positions knowing what is best for the country and the individual. Republicans believe in limiting government power and in the individual knowing what is best for him or her.

-- Charles Spence

Gaithersburg

Fuzzy Math

On Jan. 4, reporting the results of the Iowa caucuses, you said, "Sixty percent of Republican caucusgoers described themselves as evangelicals, according to entrance polls. Those voters went for Huckabee over Romney by more than 2 to 1." Meanwhile, you also reported that Mike Huckabee received 34 percent of the total GOP vote. This seems impossible.

Even if Huckabee didn't get a single non-evangelical vote, his two-thirds-plus share of 60 percent of the voters would give him more than 40 percent of the total vote.

Can you explain this?

-- Robert S. McIntyre

Alexandria

It Didn't Start With TV

Tom Shales, reporting on the return to the air of original late-night talk shows, said that "Johnny Carson, following in the footsteps of Jack Paar, made 'the monologue' an American institution, a cultural artifact, a political barometer and a virtually guaranteed source of laughs with which to end a day."

The monologue, however, did not start with television. Renowned author Mark Twain packed theaters all over the world to hear his commentaries on politics and culture. And Will Rogers was equally adept at skewering American culture through monologues. History did not begin with television.

-- Peter F. Schaefer

Washington

You Missed It

I don't normally read the Sports section, but on Jan. 2 it was the first section I went to because the day before, the National Hockey League had its first game outdoors, in Orchard Park, N.Y., outside Buffalo. The game also set an NHL attendance record, at 71,000. I was disappointed to find a nice picture but no other coverage.

I expected more from The Post, given the large contingent of Buffalo Sabres fans who attend whenever their team plays the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center.

-- Bethany Hannan

Reston

Get the Lead Out

As an author and journalist, I was offended by Teresa Wiltz's characterization of the striking members of the Writers Guild of America as "picketing pencil pushers" [Style, Jan. 7].

"The WGA represents 10,500 people who write scripts for sitcoms, dramas, talk shows and movies for major entertainment companies," as Paul Farhi noted in another Style article the same day. That is hardly the work of "pencil pushers," described by the Oxford American Dictionary as clerks who perform tedious and repetitive work.

Nothing against those workers or Wiltz's pursuit of alliteration, but her characterization was inappropriate and derogatory.

-- P. Elizabeth Anderson

Arlington

Heating Vent

On the Dec. 31 front page, you trumpeted, "Not Maintained, Costly Heating Systems Fail in Droves."

According to my Webster's, a drove is a group or herd of animals, or even a crowd of people.

Political candidates are expected to fail in droves, voters may stay away from the polls in droves, but heating systems do not congregate.

-- Charles G. Owens

La Plata