Kozinski's 'Being There' proves prophetic again
I admit it: During this presidential race, I've become a TV junkie, switching between broadcast stations every 60 minutes to meet the press, to hear political pundits discuss polls. I'm amazed that some 47 percent of voters consider McCain given his quick-draw, rapid policy changes, such as choosing an inarticulate running mate in two days, one most agree is ill-prepared to serve as vice president. Perhaps voters are too easily swayed by slick television ads and political strategies.
I'm reminded of a similarly media-dominated "presidential election" in Jerzy Kozinski's "Being There" (1970), in which an illiterate, TV-dependent gardener becomes Chauncey Gardiner (played by Peter Sellers in the movie version directed by Hal Ashby), the VP nominee whose hapless gardening advice is misconstrued as wise economic advice and who is considered a good candidate because "he comes across well on TV." Kozinski's Gardiner is a reminder of how vulnerable voters are if we rely solely on TV to form ourselves and to make political decisions.
Recently, an Obama supporter read his autobiography, "Dreams From my Father," and found him "brilliant, genuine and a leader who speaks a moral language that motivates people to work with those across the political spectrum." Another who had heard his 2004 speech and read at www.barackobama.com agreed with his stance on the environment, health care, use of diplomacy and plans for economic recovery.
With 18 percent of the electorate undecided and rapidly wavering polls, it is essential that we turn off the TV for a while and read more about the candidates. We can affect more than television polls. We can choose a true leader by voting early at the Missoula County Courthouse.
Carol MacIntyre, Missoula
PSC candidate Gutsche will defend consumers
In this critically important general election, don't overlook the importance of our representative to the Public Service Commission.
Think electricity deregulation and the tragic sale of our once state-owned generating capacity to out-of-state private interests. It's too late to fix that error in judgment, but it's not too late to be sure that we have more responsible leadership of the PSC as we face the local impacts of a continuing energy crisis.
Both Gail Gutsche and her opponent have served honorably in the state Legislature, and I believe both candidates to be good citizens who deeply care about their community. However, Gail Gutsche has a proven record of working hard for the interests of ordinary citizens, whereas her opponent has tended to follow the old-line trickle-down approach of trusting that what is good for big business will eventually be good for the ordinary citizen. In fact, her opponent voted for - and defended - the disastrous energy deregulation bill in 1997 when he was a legislator.
Let's make sure that the interests of ordinary citizens come first. Vote for Gail Gutsche for public service commissioner.
Chuck Sperry, Missoula
Palin isn't qualified for national office
John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate truly frightens me. Not only does Palin believe in the literal truth of the biblical "endtime" but she shows every indication of being willing to legislate from such notions were she ever to become president. Given McCain's age and health history, this is a real possibility.
While the folksiness of Palin's speechmaking often mutes the falseness of its content, it hints at a candidate whose essential shallowness is an ominous omen in light of a possible Republican victory. Her willingness to stoop to the ugliness of her recent sniping at Barack Obama (the charge, for example, that he is basically "subversive") reveals a person whose small-mindedness and mean-spiritedness emerge in stark relief to the more civil style of her adversaries.
I think McCain's selection of Palin was basically tactical, a gesture as cynical as it was insincere. Armed only with shaky "facts" and the intellectual depth of a college sophomore, and believing (amazingly!) that one "can't blink" when placed in a role that might be beyond one, she is truly out of her league. That her unearned cockiness and baseless certainties have not by now disqualified her in her supporters' eyes says as much about them as it does about her.
Angela Bennett, Ovando
Avoid buyer's remorse; research vote carefully
There should be some form of intensity felt in the city of Missoula. Some teeth-clenching realization to the upcoming horror and change from this historic election of 2008; however, in smoke-break discussions, random barroom chats and family "get-to-know-your-position" phone calls, it all seems the same: a younger generation in a purgatory state of alienation and stargazing affection. The older voters? Trying to pick apart the flaws of the fresh voice, I guess.
Older generations, as well as the younger, are feeding off the promise for something better. Hell, that's what campaigning is about. Currently, the Obama Plan is the new high. He is believed to contain the grit of producing the massive, essential change from the past eight years of Cold War politics.
If anything has changed in our political process of crazed American democracy, it is only the face. The color of the face, or the sex of a face being the main focus of this election; both sides are guilty of baiting the voting public to step in the snare of historic change.
Even though the dream of kicking President Bush out of the White House will become a reality this November, will any of the new candidates make a change? The change from a controlling, self-centered administration to an established, honored representation?
It is the responsibility of every voter to take careful consideration of the facts. With educated eyes watching all the misleading, flip-flopping, hope-crazed statements in speeches from all the likely suspects self-sentencing themselves in hope of the Iron Chair on Pennsylvania Avenue, do not be swept in by the good sales pitches. You never now what surprising and disappointing truths a product contains, until it's too late for refund.
A. Leland Locke, Missoula
Help undo decades of trickle-down policies
One needs only to look at the attack ads, letters to the editor or some of the vicious Web postings and e-mails going around to realize that the time-tested GOP campaign of fear and smear is well under way once again.
If you look just beneath John McCain's perpetual flip-flops and Sarah Palin's tag-line lie about the "bridge to nowhere," their campaign can be reduced to three simple, ominous threats: If the Democrats win the White House, our nation will be attacked on all sides by bloodthirsty terrorists. Barack Obama wants to take away all of your money and all of your guns. And a Democratic victory will mean that our families and values will be threatened by hordes of abortion-loving gay atheists.
You can't really blame the Republicans. Fear is a powerful motivator. In 2000 and 2004, just enough of us were frightened into electing the biggest bumbling incompetent ever to occupy the White House.
This year, more than ever, when we enter the election booth, hope needs to trump fear. Just for a change, instead of giving in to fear, why not vote with hope - hope that we can begin to clean up the financial disaster caused by 30 years of trickle-down Reaganomics; hope that America can finally join the rest of the civilized world in offering affordable health care to everyone; hope that we can revise our grossly unfair tax system and give poor and middle-class working families a break for a change; and hope that we can finally end our tragic, costly war of occupation in Iraq, put an end to "cowboy diplomacy" and once again become a respected member of the world community.
These hopes are among the centerpieces of Barack Obama's campaign.
Don Spritzer, Missoula
GOP challenged democratic principles
The GOP wisely turned tail on its plot to intimidate eligible registered voters by filing indiscriminate challenge lists. That's a good thing for Montanans, but it's no reason to stop questioning the motives of people who would embark on punishing any voters who filed change-of-address forms with the post office.
The list produced by the Montana GOP included friends of mine who moved in the last year and re-registered at their new address. One example that made the papers is former state representative and U.S. Army Lt. Kevin Furey, who was deployed overseas for military duty and forwarded his mail to his parents' house. And the tactic is not limited to Montana; suppressing votes through spurious challenges continues in other states.
As the GOP's retreat demonstrates, there was no voter fraud here - just discrimination based on "change of address." The Republican challenge list sought to obstruct the voting rights of renters, college students, Native Americans, low-income folks and our men and women in uniform. This challenge tactic is a low blow directed at democracy, voting rights and civil rights, harkening back to the darker days of America's history when political participation was dishonorably denied to people of the "wrong" race, gender or level of wealth.
Trying to block eligible voters from completing their civic duty under a false pretense of voter fraud is shameful. I hope the Montana GOP's aborted attempt at voter challenges has taught them that Montanans won't stand for undemocratic tactics. I'll even dare to hope that word gets out to Republican Party operatives in the rest of the country about Montana's success in stopping voter suppression in its tracks.
You can bet legislation will be introduced during the next session to make sure consequences follow frivolous challenges to voting rights in Montana.
Rep. Michele Reinhart,
House District 97, Missoula
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