Quotes of the Day
I enjoyed the profile of David Cameron [Sept. 22]. I share the outlook of the article that, barring an economic miracle, his party will win the next British general election. The Conservative Party of Margaret Thatcher and John Major was torn apart by infighting, much like the Labour government is today. Families across many classes are feeling the credit crunch, and people will not tolerate the self-centered government of Gordon Brown while people suffer huge increases in the cost of living. The government of Major lost because of infighting. History is repeating itself. David Cameron could be what Britain needs, a confident and natural Prime Minister in the style of Tony Blair, but without the endless spin and arrogance that defined Blair's tenure as Prime Minister.
Jonathan Chapman, FORKHILL, NORTHERN IRELAND
What an informative and entertaining writer Catherine Mayer is! Apart from enjoying her article on Cameron, I now have a much clearer insight into the person most likely to take the helm as Britain's next Prime Minister.
Bob Buckley, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
Mayer omits to draw attention to the facts: first, that the United Kingdom is effectively governed by the European Union in that about 70% of the laws now enacted by our Parliament are required to comply with the European Union's directives; and, secondly, that our subordination to the European Union will be complete when the provisions of the Lisbon treaty are brought progressively into effect in the next few years. The Conservatives have consistently furthered the interests of the European Union in complete disregard of the interests of our own country. Mr. Cameron conforms to that Conservative policy. Even as Prime Minister, he will have no real power and will only be able to tinker with
peripheral matters and, like his immediate predecessors, will spend much of his time posing on the international stage.
Stanley Booton, SOMERSET, ENGLAND
What a shame that under your photograph of "green Londoner" Cameron commuting on his bike you forgot to tell us that a limousine follows him to carry papers he "cannot put in his pannier." Some "green Londoner," eh?
Dennis O'Grady, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND
Good Story, Bad Taste
I was impressed by Richard Lacayo's article on Britain's Damien Hirst and his $100 million Sotheby's auction [Sept. 15]. He is a great artist. TIME has, over the years, built itself a reputation of good story-writing and my family has been reading it for the past 20 years. I, a 13-year-old, have seen a flaw that has been bothering me for quite a while: the use of vulgar language (or evidence thereof). When I read TIME, I do not expect to read nonsense, and if I wish to read something with swear words, I would have done so. Can't you take the liberty of editing your own stories?
Dominic Daula, EAST LONDON, SOUTH AFRICA
The Coen Brothers Burn It Up!
Richard Corliss apparently does not have the same sense of humor my friends and I have [Sept. 22]. In the theater where I saw Burn After Reading, everyone laughed throughout. The Coen brothers are very smart about people who do stupid things. The scene in which the detective tries to speed away but has parked between two cars and cannot get out is right out of a Road Runner cartoon. Wile E. Coyote is alive and well!
Judith Canaan, KALAMAZOO, MICH., U.S.
Wasilla to the White House
The headline of Kinsley's essay "Alaskanomics" [Sept. 22] enticed me to read on, expecting a cogent article which would give me an insight into the current brouhaha surrounding Sarah Palin's entry into the White House race. However, by the final sentence I was wondering where you had dug up this misogynist ranter who also believes that all Alaskans are leeches and not "real Americans." I am going to guess that he is journalist who lives, or has lived, in Washington. Sarah has really got to those ol' boys. You go, girl!
B. J. O'Byrne, MEATH, IRELAND
Kinsley's essay left me wondering why a woman, with a history of doing her very best for the people who elected her at both local and state levels, would be suspected of becoming partisan once elected to national office? It seems to me that Alaskan Governor Palin would be just the person to help do for America what she has done for Alaska and Wasilla: increase revenues, decrease spending, tax windfalls and ensure greater dividends are returned to her present constituents. So what if she has found only 2% of Alaska's budget to be pork? No one else was looking. In Palin, America just may have a Vice President who knows how to exploit the national government's bureaucracy and lawmakers in favour of her constituents, and such a change, it seems to me, would be about time.
Peter Nortje, CAPE TOWN
The Palin Effect
I must confess I'd been struggling to understand the recent surge in the popularity of Sarah Palin until Joe Klein put it all into sepia-toned perspective [Sept. 22]. I realized that her appeal reflects a wistful desire for an abstraction, a wholesome place in our memory that is no more — and perhaps never was. We want to be reminded of who and what we think we were, not who we are. But yearning for our past, real or imagined, will not bring it back. And I fear that after the tribulations of the past eight years, we may not survive waking up on the wrong side of the bed for four more. I can only pray that by November we will stir from our sentimental slumber long enough to elect a President who has the vision and intelligence to lead us in the world in which we actually live.
Kevin Thompson, MAPLEWOOD, N.J., U.S.
Why do voters need to relate to the presidential candidates as if they were one of us? I don't want the President to be my friend, share a carpool or be a drinking buddy. I want my President to be qualified to lead the greatest nation on the planet. I want my President to bring all Americans back to playing on the same team, because I'm tired of the divisive anger and blame. We have a President now who seemed like one of us — and where has it gotten us?
L. Bonomi, PALO ALTO, CALIF., U.S.
Is it so hard to understand the nostalgia that many Americans feel for a return to the culture of small-town America — to its appreciation of education, traditional arts, the work ethic, hunting, community spirit and moderate churchgoing? Moderation and cooperation within the international community are what we so desperately need in the U.S. That is the change that McCain and Palin would bring.
Jim Clemons, FREDERICKSBURG, VA., U.S.
No one in the media would be calling it "touching and credible" if a teen pregnancy had occurred in the Obama family. Everyone would be writing about the tragedy of teen pregnancy in the African-American community, the high school dropout rate of teen mothers and so on. Barack Obama's career would be under fire, and no one would be spinning myths to stop it.
Catherine D. Nardi, CHICAGO
The hundreds of thousands of people who live in and around the many small towns throughout northern Ohio might be shocked to learn that "suburbanites and city dwellers do the fighting and hourly wage work now." Klein insults our intelligence, our work ethic and our values when he suggests that we live in a place where "myths are more potent than the hope of getting past the dour realities." Oh, I forgot — like our brethren in Pennsylvania, we embrace guns and religion to escape the harsh realities of our existence.
Steve Mohr, BUCYRUS, OHIO, U.S.
Palin's myth, as described, seems to appeal to racist and homophobic people. McCain is certainly not the honorable man he claims to be if that is how he intends to win this election. If ignoring people who suffer at the hands of injustice is part of the American Dream the Republicans want to bring back, then they need to wake up, because America is about freedom. It's not about everybody being just like you.
Lisa Toms, CINCINNATI, OHIO, U.S.
Klein's article demonstrates what is wrong in America. To vote for a fantasy is ostrich politics; in other words, to ignore reality like massive national debt, the Iraq debacle, global warming and the fact that as a nation you are neither invincible nor infallible. Rather vote for a person who is willing to deal with reality and treat all nations and ideologies as equals, and in so doing live up to your constitution and the great American Dream.
Eric Nobbs, GEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA
A Woman in Charge
American voters know that the U.S. is way behind other countries at having a woman as leader of the nation [Sept. 22]. The quickest way to remedy that is to vote Republican this time. If the next President is a Democrat, in four years he will still be young and surely will seek re-election. However, John McCain, after reaching the high point of his ambitions, will be fading, opening the Republican ticket for Palin. Furthermore, with Obama losing in 2008, Hillary Clinton will come back unstoppable, next time around. Then, whichever way it goes, we will have a woman in the White House.
Pedro J. de Rezende, SAO PAOLO, BRAZIL
- Good Story, Bad Taste; The Coen Brothers Burn It Up!; Wasilla to the White House