Giliberti letter: Whittlesey approach disconcerting, frightening

Whoa! Just finished reading Franklin Whittlesey’s column in the Jan. 11 Gateway.
I made sure my fire extinguisher was handy, since that was one of the most inflammatory pieces of rhetoric I’ve seen since the days of the Vietnam War.
OK, so I’m a registered Democrat and have ideological difference with a lot of Republican positions, but I also have many Repuplican friends and we have had, over the years, many interesting and civil discussions over political talking points.
But Mr. Whittlesey’s approach to solving this country’s problems and differences is, at the least, disconcerting, and at the very most, frightening and even dangerous.
I can’t fathom why the recent crop of Republican talking heads (in media and in the political forum) can’t address national problems without offering concrete solutions without resorting to questioning the patriotism, birth place, religious affiliations and personal life choices of anyone who does not share their views.
I am the first to admit that President Barack Obama has not been perfect in his efforts to get this divided country on the right path, but it’s time for the loyal opposition to man up and realize that the problems in this country (from the 1980s financial deregulation to a pair of horribly ill-advised Middle East wars and the corporate and mortgage scandals of the early to mid-2000s) all percolated and boiled over under Republican watch.
And let’s not forget how quickly the 1997-2000 federal surplus evaporated after the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld triumvirate took over.
Oh, and one more thing, assigning a “patriotic” tag to a local real estate speculator/congressman who made his money in a cut-and-run development deal four years ago is an insult to the many veterans who returned, many missing limbs, many jobless, who fought valiantly under the American flag because it was their duty.
Bob Giliberti
Indian Land