This is in response to Mr. Roepke’s questions regarding “liberals” attacking President Bush.

First, I don’t think that anyone has truly forgotten the lives of those who died on Sept. 11; nobody is calling for national surpluses, but we’ve gone from projected surpluses to record deficits in only three years. Granted, Bush has not been given the best of circumstances, but the tax cuts were too large and have provided moderate growth in the stock market, but only a negligible gain in jobs has occurred over the past year (130,000).

You are right when you say we are in a war on terror, but I’ll remind you Iraq had nothing to do with Sept. 11 (most of the attackers were Saudi), and the nation’s attention has been shifted away from Afghanistan, where the true enemy lies.

You also say that Bill Clinton was asleep at the wheel. However, after initial meetings of the Clinton national defense team and the new Bush team in 2001, the Bush people said that Clinton and his staff were “obsessed” with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, and mostly ignored the warnings they received.

In August 2001, Bush received a report outlining the possibility of attack on a major U.S. city using airplanes — this too was ignored.

You also assert that “the Democrats will raise an average American’s taxes by almost $2,000.”

This is completely false. Most of the candidates plan to raise the taxes of the top 1 percent of Americans to the levels they were in 2000 and close many of the corporate loopholes that have been opened up via the administration’s tax cuts.

I suggest you take your own advice (“give us issues that Americans can relate to, and we’ll give you a second look”) and give the Democrats a single look and then you’ll get the facts straight. bin Laden and al-Qaida, and mostly ignored the warnings they received.

In August 2001, Bush received a report outlining the possibility of attack on a major U.S. city using airplanes – this too was ignored.

You also assert that “the Democrats will raise an average American’s taxes by almost $2,000.”

This is completely false. Most of the candidates plan to raise the taxes of the top 1 percent of Americans to the levels they were in 2000 and close many of the corporate loopholes that have been opened up via the administration’s tax cuts.

I suggest you take your own advice (“give us issues that Americans can relate to, and we’ll give you a second look”) and give the Democrats a single look and then you’ll get the facts straight.

Joshua Olson

Graduate Student

Electrical Engineering