Pulse of the Nation, or Blind to the Truth?

Your statement in the lead editorial on Nov. 3 (“And the Winner Is . . .”) -- “this famously on-message White House has repeatedly opted for Panglossian deception over candor and truthfulness” -- shows again that none is so blind as one who closes his eyes to the truth. A majority of Americans have spoken to the integrity of our president. They say that George W. Bush can be trusted. Why not show a little grace? Poor losers demonstrate an attitude that is less than attractive.

C. Edwin Murphey

Apple Valley

*

The “uniter” has divided us again. The current administration will likely view this squeaker as a mandate. Exit polls indicated that voters made moral values the most important issue in determining their choice of president. When did lying to justify a war become a moral value?

If the punitive response to California after the 2000 race is any indication, we can expect a scorched-earth policy for our environment, economy and future during the next four years. To tear a page from the evangelical playbook, God help us because hell hath no fury like a president scorned.

Laurence Cohen

Los Angeles

*

The election proved one thing: Michael Moore and those outdated and forgotten celebrities could not bring to the polls the 18-year-old, do-nothing, couch-potato, Kool-Aid drinkers that John Kerry needed. Instead, the fear of that turnout spurred a return of responsible, Reagan-generation young adults who feared nothing more than Kerry being elected if they failed to get out the vote.

Republicans demonstrated again that they are the party of organization, clear values, strong beliefs and uniformity, something that the Democratic Party better find if it wishes to ever get a president in the Oval Office again.

Christopher Curran

Mission Viejo

Doesn’t anybody read George Orwell anymore?

Douglas Crews

Oceanside

*

In the next months and years, the Democratic Party will try to understand what went wrong in this election. It will try to figure out the issues it did not convey well to the American public.

I believe there is one key factor that has determined most presidential elections: Americans seem to choose the candidate who sees the glass half full and rarely vote for the candidate that sees it half empty. We are very positive people. To understand this concept, the Democrats need to look no further than Bill Clinton, who understood the power of being positive.

In this election, even though Bush was vulnerable, he did a better job of conveying a positive message. In 1980, when the news was just as bad, Ronald Reagan was able to convey a message of hope. That is why Reagan won, and that is why the Democrats will need to wait at least four more years. And it will be many more years if they ignore this concept.

Jack Feeney

Mission Viejo

*

In a few days there will be a ceremony near me to honor and remember our nation’s veterans. I was going to go, but I don’t see much point now. How can we honor the heroic sacrifices of brave men and women who still are bleeding and dying to protect our freedoms when we elect a man who never fought, never bled and cares only about his own ego, and oil?

Michael K. Walker

Goleta

*

It seems to me the issue of safety played very big in this election. As hard as the left tried to spin that we are not safer under Bush, the people weren’t buying it. The strongest signal to date of our increased safety seemed to come in the form of the recent videotape from Osama bin Laden. I bet the Spaniards would have preferred a videotape over a train bomb. What do you think?

Brett Dammann

Pasadena

*

There are two things I know for sure: (1) Those who voted for Bush will live to regret it, and (2) when historians chronicle the decline and fall of the United States, they will cite the 2000 selection of Bush as the beginning of the end, the invasion of Iraq as furthering our decline and the 2004 election as taking us beyond the point of no return.

Tama Winograd

Studio City

*

America should be ashamed. How, in 44 years, did we ever go from Camelot to Crawford?

Rick Trenholme

Tujunga