LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

If Tom Johnson had not encouraged comments on KOCE in his Aug. 25 column, I wouldn’t bother. But, just as he hated to say he told us so, I hate to say, “You asked for it.”

Regrettably, his column continues to obscure what everybody “in the know” states: The “sellers” of our local TV station would have been willing to sell it to any buyer, and at any price, as long as the buyer was not a Christian-religion-based owner. The results, so far, could be summarized by a modified quote from Winston Churchill: “Never have so few stolen so much money from so many.”

Johnson’s new proposal only perpetuates the shameless thievery, and it promotes fixing one wrong deed with another wrong deed while pretending that there’s been nothing wrong. But this king has been stripped of his clothes some time ago (the “deal” was quite transparent from the start) and the courts have confirmed it.

Furthermore, although I am not a member of any religious organization, I find it offensive on the part of a bona fide publisher to describe TV evangelists as Johnson did: “… bearded guy that used to rant on hour after hour … or any other zealot …”

Not infrequently, I see bearded guys on CNN, FOX, MSNBC and CNBC sounding like zealots while ranting on hour after hour, and pontificating on globalism, crime, the stock market, morality, education and health. They also push their political ideas and convictions plus, yes, religion.

Why, then, are the promoters of Christian faith — even if they might be misguided or irritating to some — a special target of Johnson’s scorn and derision? The probable answer lies in the same rationale as that used for making a scam of a TV station sale.

Therefore, instead of closing the Fair Game column with a George Bush parody of “with me or against me” (it appears that I am against Johnson), Johnson might have ended it more effectively — and more truthfully — with a famous Woody Allen declaration: “OK, I admit that I am a bigot … but for the left.” And the people will leave you alone.

By the way, I do not sport a beard.

RICHARD A. FINN

Newport Beach