Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘Honest Abe’s Dark Side’
In his otherwise sensible review of the History Channel’s “Lincoln,” William Bryk states:
“It’s Gore Vidal , however, who steals the show. … Often, his politics have seemed nearly paranoid. Yet his commentaries in ‘Lincoln’ are statesmanlike – mellow, good humored, and ultimately moving” [“Honest Abe’s Dark Side,” Arts & Letters, January 16, 2006].
But the only Vidal comment that sticks in my mind is his disparagement of the War on Terror, calling it a War on “Dandruff” when compared to the Civil War.
He said this after pointedly noting that “right wingers” may think they can use Lincoln’s very Draconian restrictions on civil liberties during the Civil War to justify what President Bush is doing fighting the War on Terror, which they cannot because it is only a war on dandruff.
Mr. Vidal could have simply said that the Civil War was so momentous a threat to the country that Lincoln’s action could be excused. But, no, the “non-paranoid” Mr. Vidal had to turn it into a dagger against the hated Mr. Bush. This is statesmanlike?
DAVID M. O’NEILL
Manhattan
‘What the Democrats Fear’
In The New York Sun’s editorial, “What the Democrats Fear,” this statement is made: “Their [Democrats] presidential candidates have failed to win support from more than half the popular vote for two cycles in a row now” [January 16, 2006].
The implication here is that in the cycle before that, the Democrats had more than half of the popular vote.
The fact is the last Democrat to have more than 50% of the popular vote was Jimmy Carter in 1976, with 40,831,881 votes, or 50.08%.
Republicans, meanwhile, have exceeded 50% of the popular vote four times out of the seven elections since 1976, five out of eight, if you back up to 1972.
* 1980 Ronald Reagan 50.75%
* 1984 Ronald Reagan 58.77%
* 1988 George H. Bush 53.37%
* 2004 George W. Bush 50.73%
Bill Clinton never won a majority. It has been seven elections in a row, or 30 years, since a Democrat has won more than 50% of the national popular vote.
My data is taken from “Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections,” which may be viewed at www.uselectionatlas.org.
ROCKY CHAMBERS
Passadena, Texas
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