Letters to the Editor: Election Results Repudiate Democrats

Election Results Repudiate Democrats
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The Virginia and New Jersey governor's races ended in failure and disgrace for the Democratic Party and the president. These were not ordinary political contests, as the Democratic Party would have you believe. These defeats were mandates from the people to step aside and get out of the way.

The economic situation is bleak; unemployment continues to worsen. The stability and value of the dollar as the international currency is coming into question. I can't think of a single accomplishment by the Democratic Party that has helped the nation. Apparently neither can the majority of Virginians. Harold T. Lipscomb. Henrico.

Is It News Or Is It Opinon?
Editor, Times-Dispatch Is

Times Dispatch staff writer Jim Nolan a reporter or a political commentator? I ask because of the following sentence from a recent front-page story: "Kaine did his best to endure if not embrace the criticism and speculation that his party has lost its grip on the commonwealth and the nation." I must have missed it. Who is speculating that Virginia's election means the Democratic Party has "lost its grip" on the nation?

Not Gov. Kaine, whom Nolan paraphrases as saying the election "hinged on local issues." Not political analyst Robert Holsworth, who merely questions whether Kaine "is the best fit" for DNC chairman. And not presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs, who states that "if you look at the record again, of the president in these special elections . . . the results are very positive for the DNC."

So if Nolan isn't quoting or paraphrasing anyone, is he putting his opinion in a news story?

That's a no-no. Editor of the Editorial Pages Todd Culbertson gets it right on the Editorial Page: "Virginia is competitive, neither red nor blue, but purple." If Nolan wants to share his opinion, he should write a letter to the editor.

Douglas Jones.
Bon Air.

Health care is not rocket science, and there are at least five or six points that 90 percent of all politicians should be able to agree upon. Eliminating pre-existing conditions, portable coverage, tort reform, affordable coverage for everyone, and being able to keep dependents past the age of 23 are just a few.

Unfortunately, the lobbyists are running our country. The 535 jobs in Congress were not meant to be lifetime appointments; in fact, many of our congressmen and -women are millionaires and don't even need the salary that they are "earning." But they do want the power and they never want to relinquish it. Name one Fortune 500 company that has anyone working for it in his 70s, 80s, or 90s.

Health care is in dire need of reform, but we don't have the right people to get the job done. We don't need trillions more dollars heaped on the backs of our children and grandchildren, but that is what's about to happen unless the American people rise up and speak as one. Congress is so septic that we couldn't even get members to agree that the sky is blue. The Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves.

I hope Congress will come to its senses and pass a bill that will reform health care and reduce the costs. Having six politicians meeting behind closed doors to rewrite health care and not letting the American people look at the bill before it is voted on does not illustrate the transparency that this administration promised.

Bill Baldacci.
Richmond.

Not only does the federal government have to pay fines for this, it is also not clear that nuclear facilities -- the clean power source -- will be able to continue to operate. Certainly no new facilities will be built. Obama wants to tax coal facilities out of business and, of course, no new drilling for oil. So just where is our electric power going to come from?.

Larry Starbuck.
Chesterfield.