Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks Wednesday at a campaign event at Wollard International in Eau Claire, Wis.
Vance and Spiro Agnew
J.D. Vance is proving himself the incarnation of a once-invoked Republican insult: “nattering nabob of negativism.”
Baby Boomers will recall that phrase as Spiro Agnew’s slur on the media, whose coverage of the Nixon administration was negative indeed. Boomers might also laugh, since both Nixon and Agnew, his vice president, went down in disgrace (thus demonstrating how important the press is to keeping the public informed).
Vance’s negativity shows not only in his degradation of women (“childless cat women”) but also in his scurrilous attack on Simone Biles, our Olympic champion, for withdrawing for a year to attend to her mental health. Thank you, Simone, for following your healthy intuition.
Now you Republicans can boast of two outstanding candidates: one who molests women and the other, his Silicon Valley Hillbilly sidekick who shows no respect for our Olympian heroine. Not a good sign for women of whatever party.
Judith Koffler
Northeast side
Believe them the first time
The infamous quote by Maya Angelou has received much attention during the current political campaign. The question to ask now is what has happened to Trump’s view of Project 2025 and abortion rights due to a more “unfavorable view” of these issues have generated of late.
Trump’s supposed change of support only occurred when the unpopularity of the above issues began to get more negative attention (such as the number of states that protected abortion rights through a direct vote of citizens). If these issues had not generated as much negative attention as they did, do you really believe he would have “changed” his public stance? The simple answer is “no”.
There are two things that Angelou’s quote often reveals about people: 1) their true nature is revealed and 2) believe their actions the first time they show them. Let’s not be fooled by Trump now.
Craig Whaley
Oro Valley
Constitutional dilemma
There is a dilemma in the offing. In early January of ’25 a joint session of Congress will count and record the electoral college votes. Presiding over the ceremony will be the president of the Senate, VP Kamala Harris. She would be counting and certifying her own votes. Or will she defer that responsibility to the president pro tempore of the Senate? All would be well if the Senate, sworn in on Jan. 3, has a Democratic majority. But what if the Senate has a Republican majority? The president pro tempore of the Senate would be a Republican. Would that Republican be loyal to the Constitution or to Donald Trump? If the latter is the case that president pro tempore could refuse to accept the votes and throw the election into the House of Representatives which would assure Trump a victory. It’s alarming and in these times it could happen.
Jon Langione
Marana
Re: Female athletes of color face gender scrutiny
This front page article was unbelievably offensive. To take a serious issue like biological men competing against women (especially in a combat sport!) and attempt to twist it into “just white people being racist again” is beyond absurd. It has nothing to do with race whatsoever. Does the name Lia Thomas ring a bell? It should, it was the biggest “transgender competing against women” story of the last few years. What is Thomas’ skin color? Also, this is not journalism. This was an opinion piece and did not belong on the front page.
Alyn Lawson
North side
Candidate Harris
A recent letter asked why Democrats weren’t more outraged that someone “nobody voted for” could run for president, so I want to explain my reasoning.
From the beginning, everyone knew that Kamala Harris was Biden’s choice for vice president. There were no scandals (remember Spiro Agnew?) or personal reasons for her to step down. Plus, they got along. Biden never once called her a wimp, a coward, or suggested she deserved hanging.
So, when I marked that oval by Joseph Biden’s name, I assumed they were a package deal. If Biden had proposed some other candidate, then yes, I might feel I had lost my vote. However, Kamala Harris is the logical successor, just as J.D. Vance would be for Donald Trump. There’s no need for outrage, unless someone just wants to muddy the election waters and set up potential court challenges. The rest of us are fine with it.
Gail Gibbs
Oro Valley
Harris and chewing gum
Some people claim that they can chew gum and walk, too. How about Kamala Harris? Can she do that? I bet she would claim that she could chew gum while walking backwards. But can she do it while being Black, and Asian Indian, and American all at the same time? Could she possibly do all this while being POTUS? Inquiring minds want to know! Join me in my vote in November just to find out.
Olivia Browne
Northwest side
Childishness
It’s interesting in all the talk of symptoms of age in this political season, no one has pointed out how childish Donald Trump appears. Calling people names like Kamabla, Crazy Nancy, Cryin’ Chuck, and all the other derogatory names he continues to use to diminish his opponents, he sounds like a third-grade playground bully.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer to vote for the adult in the room.
Beth Dingman
Green Valley
Attack ads only work if you let them
Attack ads often work. That’s why you will be deluged with them for the next 3 months — maybe beyond tolerance levels for even your own chosen candidate’s attack ads. While they might possibly be relevant for character, they generally so mischaracterize the opponent that even that measure is suspect. And we all know or should know that. One side often uses its issue strengths to attack the other side’s weakness on those issues.
This time it’s different. You’ve got Trump attacking Tim Walz on his military record. You’ve got the only president in U.S. history without prior military experience, who has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of military service members, who has called our fallen heroes “losers and suckers,” who has asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, who while President canceled a visit to honor WWII veterans because he feared his hair would become ruined, saying “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
And this is the guy questioning Tim Walz’s military record?
Rick Rappaport
Oro Valley
Harassment of Lee unacceptable
The harassment against Councilwoman Nikki Lee at her home by pro-Palestinians on Aug. 2 is abominable behavior that must not be tolerated. All should have the right to have peace in their homes and neighborhoods, whether City Councilwoman or member of the public. It is just plain wrong for Councilwoman Lee to be terrorized in her home at 6 in the morning by these insolent adults acting like spoiled children banging pots and pans and disturbing the peace of Ms. Lee, her family, and neighbors because they don’t like how she voted on a particular issue. This type of bullying behavior cannot be normalized and must be called out.
Tony Zinman
Midtown
Talking over each other
I have a solution to the problem of the debaters trying to talk over each other and never really responding to the questions. Place them both in a soundproof booth a la the “$64,000 Question;” after they respond to the question shut the microphone off and let the other person have their turn without concern of being interrupted. Maybe that will force them to speak to the issues.
James Doyle
Northwest side
Upcoming elections
I wonder if everyone’s memory is failing, or just the leaders of the Democratic Party.
Just weeks ago, the leaders of the party promised the continued good health and leadership of Joe Biden. Of course, the incompetent border Czar was lacking all of the confidence of the party leadership. Kinda hard to forget, but for everyone that has a memory the images are indelibly imprinted.
Almost overnight, as a result of the last debate, the Democratic Party flipped their perspective, Joe went from dynamic to doddering. Over a weekend, Joe was convinced that he would not be capable of serving for another term and should, for the good of the party, drop out and turn the future over to his running mate so she would have access to the campaign funds. Now, we are subjected to commercials claiming that the Czar is ready, ignoring the past claims and memories. The problem is a vast collection of videos but claim it loud and often and everyone will forget.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
Donald’s naivete
Donald Trump is in a lose-lose situation. If he fails to get elected this time around, he will predictably challenge the result and lose in court, followed by criminal trials and probable convictions. If he wins, it will be on the backs of the religious right and the Heritage Foundation authors of “Project 2025.” He will be the property of the likes of Steve Bannon and Kevin Roberts. Donald doesn’t understand that dictators can’t stay in power without the support of the people who made them. In his case, those people will abandon him as soon as he outlives his usefulness.
Morton Cederbaum
Green Valley
