To paraphrase John Houseman, you get respect the old-fashioned way, you EARN it. McCain and Palin haven't.

Sure, just as soon as you respect Obama and Biden. Pop quiz: At whose rallies are people shouting about wanting to kill the opponent?

And Google Phil Gramm if you think that this economic mess is somehow all Bill Clinton's fault.

So let's see if I understand this. George W. Bush, even though he has been president for the last eight years isn't in any way responsible for the current crisis. Please, don't insult my intelligence.

I'm just going to assume that this whole letter is a joke, and the last two sentences are the punchline.

To try and claim that our current problems are not at least partly caused by the current administration is ridiculous to the point of absurdity.

No, sorry, I just can't generate any respect any more for the old man and his hillbilly sidekick.

Mr. Green
Everyone has acknowledged Sen. McCain’s military service, but even Fred Thompson (at the RNC) stated this did alone qualified him for the presidency. As a voter, I have the right to question whether a man of his age and health concerns should be president. Gov. Palin has been found guilty of abuse of power in her own state’s Republican lead, bi-partisan investigation. McCain/Palin has been inciting people to violent expression against Sen. Obama. Supporters at their rallies are yelling, “Kill him!” “Bomb Obama!” etc.

Nothing seems to be the Republican’s fault. Pres. Clinton was blamed for 9-11,even though Pres. Bush was 20% through his first term and had received intelligence about possible terrorist activity 30 days before. The Republicans held the congress for 12 years and the presidency for 8 years, but blame the Democrats, who have a SLIM majority in congress for 2 years.

Political parties, like people, are not all good or all bad. There are righteous people in BOTH parties. We, as citizens, need to get back to a two party system and restore the check and balance of our system of government. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I respect them. I just won't vote for them.

Allright, another political letter to the DN. Let the bashing begin! 20 liberal replys to every conservative reply. #1 bash Bush, #2 Bash McCain, #3 Bash Palin. Venom Vitriol and downright rudeness. Then we can do it all again tomorrow and the next day, to infinity and beyond!. WooHoo, we sure are teaching those nasty neocons!

Eric Green is obviously working for the "Metal of Hate" given out by the Conservative Republican part of our society.

When our civil war between the liberals and the conservative starts Eric will try to be nominated for general.

The Republican candidates have been trying to encite hate and probably violence. They have no choice. They can't win with ideas, they need smear.

They're sins are worse. McCain's personal life is less than the 'family values' w/r to his wives. Pahlin has just been found to have abused her power as governor by a board of mostly Republicans.

Everyone's sick of the religious right and their self-riteous, judgemental ideas.

Maybe he deserved it in the past, but now he is acting like a five year old. Respect is not what he deserves.

Sarah Palin is a complete failure at the national political level. Her knowledge of national and world affairs and the ability to address technical questions on most subjects is flawed and singularly narrow and without any depth of understanding. She is a puupet at best only able to recite talking points without substantial knowledge to field any substanive questions about the subjects she parrots. McCain failed to properly vet Palin before selecting her as his running mate, which has now come to light with the Alaskan Legislature finding she abused her power as govenor in the troupergate episode. Am I surprised....absoluely NOT!! McCain is desperate and all of over the park, befuddled and lost with failed attempts to get back on course. It is time for him to retire to Arizona and write his life story again. He is a tired old man with an uncontrolable temper brought on by his belief that he should be president of the United States because of his years in congress.

What, are they the pity ticket now? I do respect the contributions of mccain has made and I think he's a decent chap. I especially respect his trying to calm the mobs down at campaign events. And palin, well, she dresses up pretty good. But, the democratic ticket probably isn't 'feelin' the love' from the other side right now.

Please show respect to President Clinton. I'd like to see you be president!

And Watergate was somehow FDR's fault right?

I can see the mean-spirited comments creeping into the Deseret News now. I thought the people commenting in the SL Tribune forums were pretty low class. But I can see the same thing happening here - if you don't agree with the opposition, then insult them. Honest discourse and debate in this country are pretty much dead!

And LOL - Would it be appropriate to insult Obama about his race and Joe Biden about his age and apparent inability to remember facts?

One has to earn respect it is not a guaranteed right because of your party or position. It goes both ways and with what we have witnessed in recent of these two people they have created their own situation being a governor or senator or President does not automatically give you the respect. We are not serfs to bow down to the next one appointed we are people in our own rights and deserve respect also. McCain/Palin have not shown respect to the American people with their behavior

that is one of the most pathetic letters I have ever read. I do not owe John McCain any respect whatsoever. His ideology is no different than Bush's. And I have nothing but disgust for it.
And as for your assertion that somehow the democrats are to blame for the current situation, that is just DELUSIONAL. Bush is in power for the last EIGHT YEARS, and you somehow still think it's the democrats who did this? When Clinton left office, the country was still enjoying an unprecedented era of economic wealth and stability.
I will be voting for the people I respect. Their names are Obama and Biden. And as for the people I have no respect for, you name will be added alongside McCain and Palin in my book.

Everything is the Clinton's fault? Utah republicans are delusional. In fact all republicans are delusional. Their candidate's only them is that Obama is a terrorist. What tripe. The republican party should be shut down. The smart ones have already gone home.

You want us to respect these two? Please. Let them show us something to respect. And please, it's now been 8 years of the current occupant and his cronies. Can we please stop blaming Bill Clinton?

Okay, so we give the septuagenarian with PTSD a break. We overlook the fact that Palin was found to have violated ethics in AK.

But I draw the line at blaming this disaster on Clinton when the R's have had a majority in Congress and the Whitehouse six of the last eight years and a filibuster-proof obsruction the last two.

Right...I'm going to jump on the McSame respect express wagon.. As long as you are so impressed with his military experience, which we are reminded about adnauseum, lets check it out..Gets into Nav.
Academy because dad is admiral. Graduates fith from bottom in class of 890. Leapfrgged into flight school leaving a qualified candidate out, dad is admiral. Loses five planes, 3 to pilot error, no prob. dad is admiral. Any military pilot who loses a plane to pilot error flies no more. Don't forget he was a POW! Oh, someone already told you?
Thats just the military, we won't get into his marital shennanigans which I assume you believe deserve our undying respect. Sorry! I am 70 years old and will be voting Demo for the first time since JFK, and the reason is I have no respect for him. He nor the debacle, Palin have come close to earning it.

I've had my chuckle, now I can get on with my day.

Good letter to the editor.

Lew, if you've missed all the analyses about how Democrats for decades pushed for greater and greater expansion and risk-taking by these mortgage giants, and the CRA initiative, then let me recommend you research that a little bit.

Democrats are, perhaps, full of compassion for the little guy, and the poor; and that compassion motivated them. But now the folly in their thinking is obvious. Compassion and "economic affirmative action" cannot displace the laws of economics, though they tried mightily (and will probably keep trying).

I couldn't have said it better myself, and thats with both my hands untied.

I respect McCain for trying to calm down the crazy crowds who come to cheer him on. To one supporter who claimed Obama is a Muslim terrorist, he replied "No, he is an honorable man with whom I have differences in political positions".

Palin on the other says nothing to the crowds when they get out of hand. Almost as if she is egging them on and liking it. I have no respect for her.

She is no reformer. She threw out Gov. Murkowski's cornies and put in her own crew. Her best friend from Wasilla HS became Agriculture Secretary despite having NO agricultural experience. She collects $70/day per diem (20K a year) from the state for the ten months per year that she works in Anchorage WHILE STAYING IN HER OWN HOME...because she's "away from the capital of Juneau working on official business". Yesterday the Troopergate investigation concluded that she violated ethics laws by firing the head of the state troopers, who failed to fire her ex brother in law.

She is ruthlessly ambitious and has succeeded in fooling some Alaskans, but only a minority of those in the Lower 48.

So does "honest discourse and debate" mean blindly believing anything a Republican tells you?

Lets have a contest here today to see who has the most original name for Obama today.

Compare the civility of Obama vs. McCain's civility in the last debate.

Respect a man who would leave his disfigured wife for a younger trophy? Respect a woman who would use her power to have her former brother-in-law fired? Thanks, but no thanks. They get no respect because they command no respect.

"Sarah Palin has been despised by her opponents, die-hard Democrat fans and detractors. They considered her as a narrow-minded and know-nothing person, weak, poor, a liar and with no experience. This is unfair unto the eyes of God. Did you know that the Almighty God has chosen and called Sarah Palin from His flocks to be the running mate of John McCain? God called her to confound the wise, to confound the things and those people who considered themselves mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, yea to bring to nought things that are. (I Corinthians 1:26-28).

-- Ron G. Tomines

Anchorage"

I'm a republican but you can't lay all the blame for this on Clinton. The buck stops with the President and Bush should have been shouting from the rooftops that Fannie and Freddie were going to collapse. He also shouldn't have appointed that knucklehead Chris Cox to head the SEC.
I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, we all need to admit that Federal spending is out of control. If it isn't slashed (and soon) we're going to have currency that is inflating like Zimbabwe's. And this country will be a nightmare.
Republicans: the military needs a haircut and this "nation-building" business has to stop. Democrats: You can't have every feel-good spending program you want like school lunch, universal healthcare etc. I wasn't born American so I could spend my life working for the Government.

yes to the letter writter and steveD you are all victims, when did the repub's become the victim party? your more like the bully party. Repubs are like a little bully that pocks a dog with a stick then runs home crying to their mother when the dog bits them. grow-up

People, being a republican is not supposed to be like being a Cougar fan. Why? Because football is a game, politics is not. You don't pick a team and root for them no matter what. With politics, it's healthier to look at them objectively (not biased) and make independent decisions. That's going to mean you switch sides over and over again (since neither party is going to have the superior candidate in every race). I really wish my fellow Utah voters would stop putting people in office who harm me and hurt my life, for nothing more than the sake of wanting your "team" to win.

Aside from the fact that the letter does not address the inflammatory rhetoric of the McCain/Palin campaign in stoking the animosity of the people towards Barack Obama, one suspects his objective is to say: "don't hit my guy, but it's okay for me to hit the other guy!"

You can't have it both ways, soft kid gloves for your candidate and bare knuckles for the other candidate. Sure, making an issue of John McCain's age is only of concern with the selection of a VP candidate that many Republicans question. Beyond that, it is as irrelevant as Obama's pseudo-associations and assumed character flaws. It is all grist for negative campaigning.

Listen to John McCain when he tries to quiet the crowd and say that Barack Obama is a good and honorable man. He gets booed. One suspects these folk would rather have Palin to be first on the ticket because she is a "pitbull with lipstick". Doesn't matter that she has no background in either domestic or foreign policy and can see Russia from Alaska.

What chutzpuh to blame Clinton for the mess created by the Bush/Cheney administration. From 9/11 to the recent financial disaster, take some responsibility.

Hey, oh please, how am I in anyway saying I am a victim? This vitriol goes both ways, but You Libs are just more vocal. and I'm not a repub, or a Lib. I look at each issue and don't agree with either party on many. I am just tired of the bickering and I have noticed U an several others lead it. You need to grow up!

The republicans don't seem to have a heart

The democrats don't seem to have a brain.

Is there a party with both somewhere outthere?

To Re: Darn Mad - No "honest discourse and debate" does not mean blindly believing anything a Republican tells me. I am not even a Republican. "Honest discourse and debate" means just that - being able to openly discuss both sides of an issue in a rational way without resorting to name-calling and insults.

didn't you mean to say? ...

"I couldn't have said it better myself, and thats none of my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair".

Palin critisizes Obama for serving on a charity board, when a former terrorist was also serving on this board.

Yet Palin stayed married to her husband who was encouraging Alaska to succeed from the United States, this after we bought and paid for it.

What gives?

Biden occasionally gets a fact wrong, whereas Hillbilly Sarah not only doesn't know any facts, she's PROUD that she doesn't know any facts.

And no, I don't think anyone should hold it against Obama that he's half white.

Respect McCain and Palin?

I despise everything the right-wing stands for.
We are as close to fascism that this country has ever seen.

How can you muster up any respect for that?

When the writer says "current problems", is that a reference to JUST our little current economic implosion, or to ALL social, economic, military, law enforcement, alleged unfairness, criminal justice, immigration, environmental and diplomatic challenge of the last few years? Gosh knows we shouldn't judge the Bush administration unfairly.

Didn't any of you notice the letter writer's sarcasm? He even states that we should "RESPECT PALIN, FOR SHE WAS A GOVERNOR OF A STATE THAT IS MOSTLY WILDERNESS."

I applaud the letter writer, for
A. A creative letter that gave me a good chuckle. Seriously, many ultraconservatives feel that way.
B. Fooling all of you into thinking that he really felt that way.

Some of you need to lighten up and take things less seriously. The letter writer was obviously making a comedy. Sarcasm people, sarcasm!

Lew Jeppson | 1:49 a.m.:

"So let's see if I understand this. George W. Bush, even though he has been president for the last eight years isn't in any way responsible for the current crisis."

The problem children, Fannie and Freddie, are independent GSE's created and cut loose by the US Congress. Did Bush serve in the US Congress?

Please, don't insult my intelligence."

Assuming you have some intelligence to insult. Quantum leap.

Milady | 1:31 a.m.:

"Gov. Palin has been found guilty of abuse of power in her own state’s Republican lead, bi-partisan investigation."

How can a Governor's failure to restrain ones husband be considered abuse of power? Todd Palin was a private citizen. Had she restrained a private citizen she could have been accused of abuse. So it's damned of she does and damned if she doesn't. I guess she could have threatened to make him sleep on the couch.

"McCain/Palin has been inciting people to violent expression against Sen. Obama. Supporters at their rallies are yelling, “Kill him!” “Bomb Obama!” etc."

You mis-heard. They were really shouting "Bomb Osama." But, in reality there is little difference.

Darn Mad | 9:25 a.m.:

"And LOL - Would it be appropriate to insult Obama about his race and Joe Biden about his age and apparent inability to remember facts?"

I think Biden should be insulted about his hair plugs.

Gus Talynd | 12:24 p.m.:

"Listen to John McCain when he tries to quiet the crowd and say that Barack Obama is a good and honorable man. He gets booed."

Osama got booed because he is not an honorable man. He spend most of his career associating with terrorists who delighted in bombing US government buildings, and with America haters like Jeremiah Wright. And you want this guy for your next president? I'd vote for Al Gore, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, or Hillary before I'd vote for this turkey.

"I would like to see any of you be the governor of a state that is mostly wilderness and raise a family with kids."

Eric,
Wasn’t it her choice to run for public office and have a family? Unfortunately, she doesn’t appear to be doing either that well. When she took office as mayor of Wasilla, the city had a budget surplus; when she left the city was 2 million dollars in debt--this after hiring lobbyist to get millions in pork from Washington. She has been found guilty of abuse of power as governor.

As for her family, her son left home and got into trouble (vandalized some property) as was given the choice of military service or entry into the criminal justice system. Her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.

Gee, when I was a child my parents and church leaders told me, “No success can compensate for failure in the home.”

Hy PJ...How about telling us some specifics about Obama "SPENDING MOST OF HIS CAREER ASSOCIATING WITH TERRORISTS" his occasional involvement with Ayers is so minimal that it hasn't stuck yet, or you pubs wouldn't still be regurgitating it ad nauseum. We'll stick around awhile and wait for you to give us the real skinny on this issue you must know something the rest of the free world is not aware of yet....