State of the Union Address by Bush

Re “Bush Vows to Take War on Terror to Hostile Nations, Calls for Unity,� Jan. 30:

To accomplish several highly diverse, ambitious (and probably conflicting) goals, the president calls for bipartisanship. As our representatives attempt to resolve just how those initially appealing goals are to be interpreted and achieved, deep divisions are bound to exert powerful forces.

It appears that the president has not visibly recognized that the influence of big money has heavily distorted the democratic voting process in government. We have seen the nation’s resources of all kinds increasingly stolen away from the public good and wasted. Campaign finance reform is a most essential first step that can restore some of the influence of the ordinary voting citizen on his or her representatives, and I am convinced that until major reform is brought into effect the state of the union will have a disastrous future.

Robert A. Willett

Manhattan Beach

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President Bush’s speech consisted of boasts and promises made with transparent intent. Where is the honor in boasting that our nation’s military defeated an unsophisticated, little-trained, under-armed, loosely assembled militia? Where is the dignity in a promise of deficit spending followed by proclamations of increased domestic funding for social projects?

John Waters Jr.

Palm Springs

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After the State of the Union address, Democratic congressmen were falling over themselves praising the president’s speech in ways reminiscent of “the emperor’s clothes look wonderful.� Aren’t there any real Democrats anymore who aren’t afraid to speak their minds?

Pete Xander

Lake Arrowhead

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Huh? I too applaud President Bush’s State of the Union message. A strong military, beefing up Social Security, better pay for teachers, help with medical drugs for seniors, protecting workers and their retirement funds. Sounds like a Democrat to me.

Stanley Gold

Van Nuys

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After listening to the State of the Union address, it appears that this escalating war is really the Bush reelection campaign.

R.M. Draner

Huntington Beach

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Once again Bush is waving the flag over the war he doesn’t have the guts to come out and declare. Let’s remember that the administration doesn’t want an overt war because it might mean giving those nasty “rights� to people Bush has personally decided are subject to secret trials. Just because we catch someone and put him in a cage in Cuba doesn’t mean that person is guilty of anything. I am tired of seeing this undeclared war used as a cover for every controversial and scurrilous position that politicians of both stripes want to push through.

David Hood

Granada Hills