Spin vs Reality

I live in Placer County, California, which has a very loyal Republican base. I regularly send in letters to the Editor in two area newspapers, THE AUBURN JOURNAL, and THE SACRAMENTO BEE. The loyal Republican followers have been peppering the Editors with views on the Iraq war, and Attorneygate.

What has been trotted out recently are the following views:

"Clinton" fired all the U.S. attorney's when he was elected, so it should be ok, that Bush can do it."

"Clinton" fired attorneys who were investigating Whitewater, and Travelgate"

"Democrats are racist because they want to fire Gonzalez because he's Hispanic".

"People who protest the war encourage the enemy, and if protestors were active in WW2, we would be speaking German and Japanese today".

I have no problem with people expressing their opinion, as long as they do just a little homework. "My problem" is that there is too much intent to report on half truths, or just outright lies.

Example: Clinton fired all his US Attorneys when he was elected. It is pretty much a standard practice that all incoming president's replace during their first year in office. Bush did so, but the intellectually dishonest letter writers, and Faux News pundits, cherry pick their facts.

Example 2: Clinton fired US attorneys investigating Whitewater and Travelgate. Outright lies. Those investigations didn't start until after Clinton took office.

Public debate is great, it helps all of us. Let's just deal with reality, not fantasyland.