Little slice of heaven
Years ago, I had a TV that had "picture-in-picture." I could watch two football games at the same time. I was thrilled. Now, with my new Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette iPad and a Cox Contour app, I can easily watch Fox News, placing the picture-in-picture in the lower right-hand corner, watch a press conference with Donald Trump speaking about how things are getting done to affect the coronavirus, and simultaneously read about Joe Biden saying, with the perfect vision of 20/20 hindsight, how he would have saved us all if only he had been in office. Thank you, favorite paper, for bringing this little slice of heaven into my home.
Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to Doug Thompson. I miss our little chats while attending Steve Womack town halls. Seems they don't have them much anymore because people of a certain political party can't quite grasp the concept of civil discourse in a public setting. Sound familiar? Stay gold, America!
J. STACY COX
Bentonville
Nation can do better
The experience of the last four years indicates that we all can do and be better. I think a good first step involves choosing a different president.
No one would choose a car if the only thing that worked in it was the horn. Unfortunately, this is what we have in our president--someone who can make a lot of noise but cannot move our country forward. Horn blaring continuously, he will say anything as long as it serves his purpose of the moment.
The president shows no loyalty to anyone but himself. He treats our friends and allies with contempt and cozies up to dictators. He has shown that he can only disrupt; he cannot build. Order and progress are built one thoughtful step at a time, not through the perpetual chaos the president creates and feeds on.
Our freedoms and rights have been purchased at such a high price. After so much time, we all still know they are imperfectly and unevenly protected and advanced across the nation. This is part of the good work we still have to do. But this work can't be done in the midst of the turmoil and disorder our president promotes.
Many folks around the world don't have our same freedoms and rights; in other places, these freedoms and rights are under attack. Our country's contribution to building a more stable, freer world is far from perfect. But whether we like it or not, a more stable, freer world--something that is in our own best interest--depends on American leadership. Our president has shown he cannot provide this leadership.
We can do better. First and foremost, we need a different president--one who seeks to lead, build and unite. This is why I support Joe Biden.
KEN ALLEN
Fayetteville
Brought out the worst
The current debate about how RBG's vacancy on the Supreme Court should be filled has brought out the worst on both sides of the aisle, but it certainly appears that the Republicans' have lowered the bar the most by far. Let's ignore the duplicity of their pronouncements after their previous mental gymnastics saying that they would oppose a president in either party who was in their lame-duck year nominating a candidate.
They now maintain that because they hold the presidency and the Senate, it is OK to reverse their prior position. This argument presumes that the "advice and consent" is automatic rather than individually given following a careful review of the candidate's credentials by each senator. If they had any moral consistency to argue in favor of Trump nominating a candidate before the election and their approving that candidate after the appropriate hearings then, at the least, they should have agreed to allow Merrick Garland's nomination to advance. They could have then stated their reasons for voting it down in the Judiciary Committee or on the Senate floor.
The problem that course would have caused was that Garland was a centrist, about as liberal as Chief Justice Roberts is conservative. That would have been embarrassing and a hard vote to defend. One also wonders whether Majority Leader McConnell's real fear was that a few members on his side of the aisle might have voted their conscience resulting in Garland's confirmation since he had been previously confirmed 76-23 for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
PHILLIP PETERS
Little Rock
Take the opportunity
I am shocked that politics is being played in appointing a successor to RBG. Just kidding. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was respected by the right and the left. Her closest friend on the court was Antonin Scalia--a staunch conservative. Yet she was a staunch liberal. Now Democrats are upset that President Trump would even consider filling her position on the court.
President Obama said "Elections have consequences." Truer words have never been spoken. President Trump is still president until Jan. 20, 2021. Should it be a surprise to anyone that he would take this opportunity to appoint a staunch conservative to the court? I believe Democrats would do the exact same thing if they had the opportunity.
RUSS BAILEY
Little Rock
Who's the hypocrite?
Brummett predictably makes much hay over Republican "hypocrisy" in filling Justice Ginsburg's seat. And what of the Democrats on record in 2016 defending the president's prerogative to nominate a justice whenever a vacancy should arise? They sing a new song today.
ANDREW HUDGENS
Fort Smith