GOP Debate

* In the Jan. 7 Republican-contender debate, Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch and Alan Keyes chewed up about 40% of the program time passionately expounding what I feel are wrongheaded points of view on gays in the military and gays in marriage. Why? Because of their religious or personal convictions? No. It was because they’re politicians.

Each of them understood the calculus that by investing their time on the these issues, they could polarize their audience and pick up far more votes than they would lose. And they understood that the time they used was at the expense of telling us what they might propose on broad and more relevant issues like education, health, poverty and national security, which have a critical bearing on our national future.

DONALD FUNK

Redondo Beach

* I don’t envy Ronald Reagan’s apostles having to debate the proper way to spend Bill Clinton’s hard-won dollars without ever discussing the trillion-dollar debt that made Clinton’s accomplishment all the more remarkable.

GEORGE LA FOUNTAINE

San Clemente