Letter to the editor: Republican candidates sound unsure, lack ideas

Does it seem a little unusual that the “chad” problem that was explained and counted in Florida in the first George W. Bush candidacy only happened in Florida and only in that instance? I had used the punch election system several times in Washington state and there was nary a “chad.” I am certain that other states also had punch systems and nobody heard of any such problem before the 2000 election, when Jeb Bush was governor of Florida (Bush’s little brother). Does it seem a little unusual that the high officials in the president’s cabinet were also important members of the cabinet of former President George H. W. Bush? Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld were all close insiders in that earlier presidency.

No wonder the Republican Party is concerned about “voter fraud.” Still, I hardly think that the hurried requirements for the ID are adequate to the task or properly available to all legitimate voters. It seems that the elderly, the poor and minorities will be the most confused as to what is required to get proper ID or how to go about getting that ID. Hopefully a state ID card will be an easy way to fulfill that need even for those who do not have a driver’s license. Many elderly women did not drive and do not drive.

Well, I am an elderly voter so perhaps that is why I’m concerned about these things.

I noted, also, that in listening to the debates (all of them), that Mitt Romney agreed with President Barack Obama in many areas. It seemed, at time, that his responses were often “me too.” For a campaign talking so often about Obama’s policies, why is it that the Republican candidate so often seconds those very policies?

It does seem that Romney wants to look less radical to those who are interested in watching the debates. When listening carefully to the first debates I heard Romney say he would give a 20 percent tax cut to everyone … except if that harmed the intake of revenue, in which case he would not give that tax cut. Hmmm.

In the vice presidential debate, Paul Ryan said that the Republicans would not send more troops to the Middle East, unless of course they felt they should and then they would send troops. Hmmm. Sounds a little like both are unsure of what they would do, and it also sounds like we voters can never be sure.

Marlene M. Stafford

Jamestown

Tags: opinion, letters, politics