Democrats showed courage; Republicans were cowards | Letters
All but a few of the 31 House Democrats representing districts where President Donald Trump is popular voted to impeach him. They risked their political futures to vote on personal principles and uphold their oaths of office.
Contrast this with House Republicans who parroted White House talking points during the debate before the vote, never even tried to refute the factual charges against Trump, and voted as a partisan bloc against impeachment.
The Democrats risked all and showed courage. The Republicans feared Trump and were cowards.
Instead of showing integrity, Republicans invoked Jesus, the crucifixion and Pearl Harbor in gross hyperbole to defend the lawless president. Shame on them.
JoAnne Gatti-Petito
Bluffton
Charges against Trump insipid, partisan
Rep. Joe Cunningham has every right to express his reasons for voting to impeach President Donald Trump, but he needn’t exaggerate for emphasis, as when he says: “... the president repeatedly abused the power of his office by coercing a foreign government into investigating his political rival.”
Hmm, repeatedly? Once at the most, and clearly even that’s been shown debatable, based on the extraordinary wastes of time, effort and especially taxpayers’ money to produce an insipid and totally partisan result.
What’s not debatable is the blatant quid pro quo that former Vice President Joe Biden proudly pulled off. How he could do that without any repercussions within the Democratic Party is quite astounding. Apparently, Trump thinks so too. If Biden weren’t running for president, he’d probably have never been exposed, and his scot-free would still be pocketing millions.
Kinda makes ya wonder if there isn’t more to this iceberg than this diversionary impeachment tip. Stranger “things” have happened, especially in D.C.
Herb Zimmerman
Bluffton
Truckers can do much better
At the risk of being called a “dummy,” I am going to write something offensive about large trucks on our highways. The first time I did this, I received many derogatory comments. most were anonymous and all were ugly. One letter I received was unsigned and arrived without a return address.
But that does not change the fact that too many highway road accidents are caused by careless truck drivers. I will admit that not all large truck drivers are poor operators, but at the risk of seeming foolish, I will say that too many of them are.
Some truckers drive like they are the only ones on the road — in and out of traffic with little concern for the poor fools in their way. Some drive trucks like maniacs: Fast and reckless. Far too many truckers demonstrate little awareness of the traffic around them. That’s a dangerous practice because the average automobile weights about 2.5 tons, while a tractor-trailer can weight well over 40 tons. Accordingly, a passenger car needs about 300 feet to stop while a tractor-trailer, at the same speed, will need more than 500 feet.
Also, too many truckers believe that the “passing lane” (the far left lane) in an “optional lane” and many truckers refuse to move over into the slower, right lane, where they should be. Result: Road rage for automobile drivers.
Truck traffic is moving the economy, fine, but at what price? Safety is everyone’s responsibility; no one should be immune.
Clifton Jester
Bluffton
A good resolution: More civility
Just because one person may have a different point of view from another person, neither person is a bad person merely because of it.
The acerbic tone so sadly common in contemporary discourse degrades those who state their view with vitriol and enmity. Such sarcastic tones inherently diminish the speaker’s effectiveness as well.
Good people can differ, listen to each other, and maybe even see an opportunity to learn from each other. No one is all right, and usually no one is all wrong.
A suggestion for a New Year’s resolution: exchange points of view respectfully; reinstate civility to our discourse. Make 2020 a genuinely “Happy New Year.”
Bob and Gretchen Gregory
Hilton Head Island
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This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Democrats showed courage; Republicans were cowards | Letters."