Published: September 25, 2008 07:50 pm            

Letters to the editor - Friday, Sept. 26, 2008

What talk of war, columnist Rubin?

An article written by Trudy Rubin of The Philadelphia Inquirer was published in your newspaper on Sept. 19. It is my humble opinion that Rubin had severely misquoted and obviously misunderstood Gov. Palin on her stance toward Russia.

I’m puzzled as to whether or not this writer had watched the same Charlie Gibson interview as I had.

Gibson: “And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States, to go to war if Russia were to invade.”

Palin: “What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.

“And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.

“It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War. But economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control more than smaller democratic countries.

“His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, that’s a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.”

Rubin stated the following: “Yet talk of war on Palin’s part raises real questions about what the top of the ticket thinks.” Based on Gov. Palin’s clearly stated answers, I’m asking Trudy Rubin, what real question could he/she have based on the copied transcript above?

What talk of war? Gov. Palin again states her thoughts clearly during her interview by Charlie Gibson that we have to be “vigilant” (i.e. watchful) of Russia, and she went on further to say that we can show support to Georgia via economic sanctions toward Russia.

Do the answers by Gov. Palin to Charlie Gibson indicate that she wants to go to war with Russia? Anyone with common sense and average reading comprehension skills can answer that question.

In a recent interview of Gov. Palin by Sean Hannity, Gov. Palin had stated that one of her heroes was Ronald Reagan. We all know and remember what President Reagan did to stop the Cold War. Rubin’s article essentially suggests that Gov. Palin wants to undo everything that President Reagan had accomplished.

That isn’t what I would want to do to my hero’s accomplishments.

I think this article is a prime example of why we as Americans need to focus and listen carefully to the words, ideas and beliefs that come directly from each of the candidates and not the paid mouthpieces who appear unapologetically biased. That goes for both sides.

Lesley Downing

Miami County

Price will serve well as coroner

I have known Jay Price since I first came to Howard County over 20 years ago. We have been friends for many years. Jay is running for the office of Howard County coroner this fall.

As a paramedic in Howard County, I frequently interact with the coroner’s office. I strongly believe that Jay would serve as Howard County coroner with the honesty, integrity and diligence that such a position requires.

Kevin Humphrey

Kokomo

        

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