It’s unfair to keep ‘pushing Obama’

On Sept. 20, you published a story, Palin’s timid act, etc.

On Oct. 2, McCain’s leadership was MIA on Monday.

How unfair; I would prefer a balanced reporting process.

If you keep pushing Obama, you will pay much higher taxes and have an unsound government. He is the one with no experience. Be a little fair!

JoAnne Hansen, Corvallis

McCain, Palin resorting to negative smears

I’m writing you to express my extreme disapproval of the recent actions of John McCain and Sarah Palin. The McCain-Palin campaign has launched a series of smears, turning their campaign into nothing more than a negative, destructive attempt at character assassination.

Top advisers to John McCain have been quoted, some by name, in both the Washington Post and the New York Times detailing the new strategy being followed by Sen. McCain and his campaign. These advisers bluntly said that they wanted to “turn the page from talking about the economic crisis, so they were going to launch a barrage of negative, character-assassination attacks on Barack Obama.”

It’s clear that our country is in the middle of an enormous financial crisis — the worst in nearly a century. The decisions made by the next president will shape the economic future for us and our children for decades. For John McCain to try to divert our attention with spurious character-assassination politics does a disservice to all of us.

I hope that you will not follow along with John McCain’s gambit and will stay focused on the issues that matter to all of us.

Lynn Dierking, Corvallis

Hate speech, tactics from Palin are shameful

It is wrong to criticize Obama for Bill Ayers’ evil acts that occurred when Obama was a child. Fugitive Ayers was not charged when he surrendered in 1980. When Obama first met him he was an education reform academic and today he is a distinguished professor at the University of Illinois. Obama has denounced the violence of Ayers’ past.

Gov. Palin’s husband was a long-time member of an organization advocating Alaskan secession from the United States, and as a sitting governor she addressed this separatist group’s convention, in 2008, saying “Keep up the good work.”

Palin’s inflammatory language, calling an opponent a “terrorist,” or “un-American,” and whipping her followers into a frenzy until someone screams “kill him!” and with silence condoning this response, is shameful. Refusing scrutiny by the press, vilifying questions she didn’t like, and again not reacting when followers scream obscenities at the press covering her events, is unworthy of a national candidate. Little known, she reveals herself.

The hate speech that has come from the Palin/McCain campaign recently has no place on the national stage and certainly isn’t “Country First.” It’s the kind of language that leads to violence. The far right of the Republican Party is unhinged and if the “Grand Old Party” wants to stay grand, it should insist on respectful behavior of its candidates. Inciting crowds to the verge of violence IS terrorism. Intimidation has NO place in this countries political process.

Change the political landscape — vote hope, not hate.

Toni Hoyman, Philomath

Book depicts Obama as a ‘scary guy’

Earlier this year, your newspapers had a feature called “What are you reading?” I don’t remember seeing any responses in later issues, but I have been busy and there probably were some that I missed.

I write to contribute to that feature and the Opinion pages. I am currently reading “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate,” written by David Freddoso.

Holy smokes! This guy Obama is scary. If the book is factual, and the text appears to indicate that it is, Obama is a way-left-liberal, bordering on a socialist-communist-radical. I urge you and your readers to read this book before you vote. Ignorance is bliss, but it can also lead you astray.

Joseph Earls Worth, Philomath, Oregon

Obama is the leader we need right now

With all the financial uncertainty facing us today, we need a leader who understands what economic downturns mean in terms of buying food, paying bills and having a sense of personal security about one’s future.

Only Barack Obama is paying attention to the issues that really matter. In his economic plan, he directly addresses the housing aspect of this crisis and proposes substantive relief for families struggling to protect their primary investment.

Sen. Obama has proposed a three-month moratorium on foreclosures by giving banks and lenders money from the financial rescue plan. That’s a good start! Homeowners in Oregon and everywhere will have a chance to get back on their feet.

Obama has the vision and the right priorities to help our economy get back on track. That’s why I’m voting for Barack Obama!

Barbara Landau,Corvallis

No way, no how: No to John McCain

After John McCain’s performance in the last presidential debate, he should lose his Senate seat. His outrageous and now infamous air-scare quotes and clearly sarcastic manner as he mocked that concerns over a mother’s health are extreme, will in due time disqualify him from representing anyplace in America where mothers are members of his constituency.

John McCain doesn’t seem to understand that women’s health matters.

I already view as unacceptable that McCain has voted to cut or eliminate or restrict health insurance coverage for low-income pregnant mothers and children. That is just one example of his 26-year record of voting against the interest of families.

I was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton in the primaries. I view McCain’s cynical move to attract my vote by choosing an unqualified, poorly educated person with whom I disagree on almost all policy positions as his running mate as the ultimate insult.

A bipartisan 12-0 vote of the Alaskan Legislative Council found that as Gov. Sarah Palin violated the state’s executive branch ethics act. This is one Hillary Clinton supporter who will never vote for any ticket that has Sarah Palin running on it.

I am forced to agree with Cecile Richards: “My mother would have said that a woman voting for John McCain would be like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders.”

Tina Empol, Corvallis