LETTER: In defense of Stout op-eds
In her May 7 letter, (“More positive commentary, please”), Rebecca Simpson targets Observer-Reporter op-ed writer Gary Stout, implying that his opinions are “unnecessary and unwarranted”, i.e., I do not agree with him.
She calls for setting our political differences aside. It is curious that there is no mention of columns written by county Republican Party Vice Chairman and Peters Township Councilman Dave Ball, who appears on the opinion page as often as Stout, if not more often. Ball is a partisan flame-thrower, attacking Democrats and often stretching the truth or engaging in outright fabrication to make the assertion that the nation as we know it will come to an end if Donald Trump does not win another term as president. Many readers of this page believe precisely the opposite.
The writer notes that Trump did not create the virus. She is correct, and no one says that he did. He has, however, mishandled it from the start, the only somewhat effective action he took having been to cut off travel by some Chinese nationals at the end of January. His concerns were the economy, the stock market, and his re-election bid, and with those in mind, he grossly miscalculated as the virus refused to be managed or bullied. From the outset, he has relied on lies, distortions, and aspirations, and now he wants to declare victory and accept that we will have to deal with the virus continuing to inflict misery and death on many Americans.
I am all for a return to the civility Ms. Simpson claims to desire. Should that not start with the president? Should he not set aside partisan sniping through tweet name-calling, and using his time to tout how wonderful the administration’s response has been, what a great leader he has been to bring us out of something he wrongfully claims no one could have imagined ever happening, and to tout his ratings and boost his re-election bid?
If we fail to learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. We cannot afford to repeat the history of the coronavirus and how it was bungled. Stout helps to keep the focus on where we have gone wrong so that it may never happen again. I will continue to look forward to reading his op-eds, as I take everything Ball says with a hearty chunk of salt.
I agree with Ms. Simpson in one area: “God bless our essential workers!”
Oren Spiegler
Peters Township