Letters to the Editor
September 9, 2007
Would support woman for president, but not Hillary
A caller, Tracy Simonelli of Crest Hill (OpenLine Aug. 26), had quite a need to correct comments by Art McKay, saying the presidency is built on education and what they know.
Perhaps she needs to check the educational background of Hillary Clinton before touting Clinton's qualifications for that office. According to people who have worked for the Clintons as advisors during Bill Clinton's term as governor of Arkansas and as president, they described Hillary's educational qualities as being in the lower third of her class and she failed the bar exam. She finally passed the bar after Bill Clinton was made attorney general of Arkansas. She then got a job through him.
The same advisor to the Clintons say they are both power hungry and driven by greed and depend on lies and deception to achieve their goals.
As for Hillary's being elected to the office of president, McKay, I believe, is correct. Hillary Clinton's congressional voting record and her comments are a list of contradictions. She voted for the war in Iraq, then voted to withdraw our troops. She made statements that she would back our troops, and then voted to cut off funding for the war effort. Her record also reveals that she was for the Immigration Amnesty bill and against anything brought before Congress that would be good for the security of the country.
I have no problem with a woman president, but that woman should be honest and have the best interest of this country in mind above all, not just personal gain. That is not Hillary Clinton. If voting for a woman as president gives other women a boost in their self-esteem, then there is something lacking in those women. To vote for a woman for president just because it's a woman borders on stupidity.
Andrew Ottaino
Shorewood
Letters to the Editor
September 16, 2007
Hillary comments incorrect
I sometimes think I could make a good living correcting the factual content of Republicans' letters to the editor.
For instance, Andrew Ottaino in The Herald News on Sept. 9 described Hillary Clinton's educational qualities as "being in the lower third of her class."
The fact is she attended Maine East High School, where she was in the National Honor Society and Maine South High School, where she was a National Merit Finalist. Hillary was selected valedictorian at Wellesley College and graduated with departmental honors in political science. At Yale Law School, she also graduated with honors.
Ottaino is correct when he says that Hillary failed the D.C. bar exam on her first and only attempt at it. The failure rate in D.C. then was about 50 percent. She then passed the Arkansas bar on her first attempt. Ottaino's unfounded insinuation that Bill Clinton had any influence over the grading of her bar exam reeks of conservative blogger shrieking.
It's true that Hillary Clinton's record and comments contain many contradictions. What politician's doesn't? But to particularly fault her for her changing war stance is nonsense. Especially considering her vote, along with many others in Congress, was based on false and misleading evidence concocted by a corrupt administration hell-bent on war. And to say she isn't supporting the troops simply because she wants to force President Bush to bring them home safely is ingenuous and misleading.
Ottaino was wrong about her educational qualities. He overreacted to a common occurrence of failing to pass the bar on the first attempt. He made baseless accusations concerning her bar exam success in Arkansas. And he faults her policy changes, while completely ignoring the reasons for those changes.
(So, would I choose a president be based on anything Mr. Ottaino says? Now,
that would border on stupidity.) This sentence edited out by paper.
Paul Winkelmann
Romeoville
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/opinions/letters/558384,4_4_JO16_LETTERS_S2.article