The Power of Words, and the U.S. President Who Contorts Them

I was interested to read author Mark Crispin Miller’s comments in “Activist to Bush: Wait Till Voters Wake Up” (Aug. 22) because his comments on Republican “paranoid conviction” seemed so autobiographical.

According to the article, Miller has a book on propaganda forthcoming. Perhaps he was simply trying his hand at creating some with this last book.

I was particularly amused by the idea that Bush’s verbal gaffes were somehow intentional and a way of saying “the rules don’t apply to me.” Please. It is too bad right-wing nuts already have all of the good compound space in Montana. Left-wing loonies like Miller should consider the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There they could serve double duty: guarding the tundra from oil companies while escaping the syntactical assault of “dangerous” George W. Bush.

FLYNN J. CRATTY

Durham, N.C.

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Mary McNamara found a way to tell the truth about George Dubya.

Just preface each statement with: “If Miller is right,” and, of course, he is.

JAMES ASHLEY SHEA

Topanga

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There was some irony in reading Mary McNamara’s excellent piece on President Bush’s inability to use English correctly while on the opposite side of the same page columnist Chris Erskine writes: “Me and my three co-voyeurs.”

The sloppy English used by President Bush is shocking and offensive, but he alone creates the problem when he speaks.

Erskine, on the other hand, supposedly has his copy edited by others before it is printed, which means that he shares the problem with others.

I hope neither the Times nor Mr. Erskine consider sloppy language a “guy thing,” which apparently may be considered part of the justification for President Bush.

CHARLES M. WEISENBERG

Beverly Hills

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Imagine the surprise by many of us who have given up on the current controlled press to read Mary McNamara’s story about Mark Crispin Miller’s book on Bush Jr. in Southern California Living. What Miller has written is known by millions of us who read, on a daily basis, many different news sources, from here and around the world about this diabolical little man acting as president of the U.S.

I congratulate McNamara, but why not mention by name the lawyers who have written books about the loss of our democracy? I have purchased a half-dozen each of the two books that should be required reading for all: “The Betrayal of America” by Vincent Bugliosi, and “Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000” by Alan Dershowitz.

JOAN MAGIT

Northridge