WHITE HOUSE CLOWN

RE: ā€œNo, New York Times, I Will Not Give President Trump ā€˜a Chanceā€™ā€ [Feature, Nov 16]. ā€œGiving Trump anything is a ridiculous notion,ā€ wrote Calendar Editor Bobby Roberts. ā€œHeā€™s just been given the White House. Heā€™s been given everything heā€™s ever had, earned almost none of it, and lost most of it.ā€

After days of rehashing the repulsive travesty that we decent people are still struggling to come to grips with, I read your column and felt a flood of relief. Finally, someone articulated what Iā€™ve been trying to convey. The fact that Mitch McConnell explicitly promised to obstruct the appointment of [Supreme Court nominee Merrick] Garland and hold out until the next administration should be something we are all outraged about; if more excellent journalists wrote about bully tactics and normalization of racial superiority ideology instead of yet another piece on trying to ā€œunderstand the angry Trump voters,ā€ it would spread awareness on a similar scale.

E.B.A.


THE IDIOCY WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES

RE: ā€œWondering What You Can Do? A Lot.ā€ [Feature, Nov 16]. ā€œIf you actually care about cultivating and growing a viable third party, guess what? Oregon has one,ā€ wrote Senior Editor Megan Burbank. ā€œMaybe you could get involved with the Working Families Party and work for change in a sustainable way instead of just feeling righteous while fucking things up for the rest of us every four years.ā€

I have to take your writers to task for lambasting third-party voters for costing Clinton the election. They have no clue how many of those voters were Republicans who couldnā€™t bring themselves to vote for Trump.

The saddest fact is the perception that a third party vote is automatically an inferior vote. Until people realize they have more than two choices, this idiocy will continue.

Jim


STRONG, SMART, LOUD

RE: ā€œStrong, Smart, Loud: Hillary Clinton Is Everything We Have Been Taught Women Should Not Beā€ [Blogtown, Nov 21]. ā€œYou can listen to Michael Moore speak at length about how the Democratic Party didnā€™t connect to its base of working-class blue-collar men in the rust beltā€”or how Clinton didnā€™t campaign enough (or at all) in Wisconsin and Ohio and Pennsylvania. You can agree that perhaps Clinton didnā€™t do enough to connect with Joe the Plumber,ā€ wrote Tricia Romano. ā€œBut you are missing the key point: Clinton canā€™t connect because men like that are predisposed to not like women like her. Women from those parts of the country donā€™t like women like her. Clinton represents everything we have been taught women should not be: strong, smart, powerful, independent, loud.ā€

Hilary didnā€™t lose because sheā€™s a woman. Sure, it affected the opinions of a few million people who werenā€™t going to vote for her anyway, but thatā€™s all. She lost because she is the embodiment of the political establishment that has failed so many people, and Trump conned people into thinking that a billionaire is somehow ā€œoutside the establishment.ā€ Both the DNC and the RNC got stung this year because they live in their bubble in DC, and didnā€™t keep their fingers on the pulse of the rest of the country. She was the right candidate at the wrong time.

Stu


IMBECILE PARADE

RE: ā€œFrank Cassanoā€™s Imbecile Paradeā€ [New Column!, Nov 16], in which Mercury columnist Frank Cassano asked local imbeciles who was to blame for the 2016 election. To Felicity Charmichael of SE Portland, who ā€œlodged a protest vote for Jill Stein,ā€ Cassano suggested she take ā€œyour conscience, your Jill Stein, and your protest vote and cram them inside the ballot box of your ASS.ā€

Iā€™d have thought Our Frank would be gloating about Trump sneaking in.

AlaskanNow

FRANK CASSANO RESPONDS! Iā€™m so glad you took the time to inform me of my political views, you anonymous imbecile. For the record, ā€œAlaskanNow,ā€ the only time Iā€™ll gloat about an election is when itā€™s won by MEā€”and also for the record, shut your fucking face and go jack off to Northern Exposure! Oh, Iā€™ve just been informed that this space is where the Mercury awards a ā€œletter of the weekā€ and gives out tickets to the Laurelhurst Theaterā€”but since none of these stupid letters are worth a single shitstain, Iā€™ll be keeping these tickets for myself. Happy holidays, turkey fuckers!


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