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4A ♦ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2006 Houston IJailu journal OPINION Daniel F. Evans Editor ami Publisher ♦Julie B. Evans Vice president Don Moncrief Managing Editor Just plain bad manners Well, it - voting will be over today and hopefully each of you voted. Over the years, political cam paigns have gotten less and l< re pectful of the intelligence of tin American voter, but in this last campaign Tl.it os were downright inconsiderate We are talking about on< campaign ideas ever h nl -d tele phone message. We all had that experie son - some of us repeatedly. We were in the privacy <>( om homes. Maybe we were talking v,ilb <>in families. Maybe we were watch in Tvonti* televi- sion show or reading a book. Maybe we were in the show er, or on the patio watering plants. The phone rang, and naturally, we stopped what we were doing and answered it. It was not a human being. It was a recording. Moreover, it was a left us no way to respond, r*' telephone numbei oi ( \ The message we \\ ■ political “operatives an< ” was that this wasjusl pi tin ■ ■ S an intrusion in our live It was sufficient < il ■ the endl< ■ charges and count re' ■ on television, and to receive high-priced junk mail every day once the campaign It was enough to see hundreds of political signs all along the high f which may still be there at To o.!, oo : But the phone call Besides, they weren’t . since most people were going t< down the phone the minute they realized a recording had called them. Your favorite candidate m< have won this election season hut a( 'east you can take solace in the small . knowing you won’t have to deal cessant calls (telemarketers aside) anymore. Letter to the Editor Lacking representation I recently received mv tax notice and I am passing notice on to any and all ek-Hed count'. oMicials that I have the opportunity to vote for. in the upcoming election that I will vote against all incumbents in any office until 1 start getting some representation i t taxpayer. lam tired of providing my hard ear ned money to provide new roads and schools for newcomers to this county. I am helping provide for all the improvements for the devel opers while the developers and the bankers are reaping the big bucks from these new developments. I think it is high time all of the county commissioners get their heads out of the sand and start eh. :mg the develop ers an impact fee or follow the lead ot Muscogee County and charge a fee per square foot sot a building permit. I strongly suggest that any person holding an elect ed seat in Houston County get a copy of the arti cle in the Oct. 18 issue of the Houston Daily Journal, written by David Wittenberg titled Put all Option on The Table and take heed of this article. I hope all voters will join me and start voting against every commissioner and other eh Mi i official in Houston County until we the taxpayer start yetting the represen tation we deserve from these elect ed officials. Jerry Waters, Perry Worth Repeating "■ “Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests. As long as ours is a representa tive form of government, and our legislatures are those instruments of government elected directly and directly representative of the people, the right to elect legisla tors in a free and unimpaired fashion is a bedrock of our political system." Earl W arren, 1891-1974 Chief Justice, V.S. Supreme Court Coventor of California (Republican) Republican Vice Presidential C andidate (with Dewey) Foy S. Evans Editor Emeritus We were in the privacy of our homes. Maybe we were talking with our families. Maybe we were watching a favorite television show or reading a hook. Maybe we were in the shower, or on the patio watering plants. Little things are what remain When I was a hoy so little could mean so much. For today’s children too much means so little. It was because I had so little when I was young that I appreciate every thing I have today ... plenty of food, good housing, good clothes, good trans portation and all the wonderful inven tions of the past half century that make like more pleasant and enjoy able. I enjoy and appreciate the simple things the most. I don’t believe that people can appre ciate their blessings unless they have done without. In my opinion, one of the best things that ever happened to me was being having so few material things when I was young. It gave me a perspective I hat today’s spoiled children and young people never can have. They don’t know that they should appreciate their good fortune because they have never known anything dif ferent t han it is today. A highlight of my youth was taking a H()-mile trip from Americus to Macon, where 1 visited with my Uncle Joe. There was a gas station about a mile up the road and every time I visited him he would take me there for a Coca- Cola. It was a memorable experience and something I looked forward to. His wife worked for one of the movie theaters in Macon and during some visits I could see a movie and that was icing on the cake. .fl, I WANT YOU Please... 'Halp us Jon Carry' Let’s not get lathered up worry ing about what Sen. John Kerry meant when he contrasted the value of book learning to the value of getting shot at in a foreign war. Instead, let’s assess the public reaction and its possible impact on Tuesday’s elections. Parsing Kerry’s words is a waste of time. Did he mean a lack of education might make one, like George W. Bush, an ignorant warmonger? Or only that hard work and hitting the books will keep one far away from the violent desert sands of volatile Iraq? Most informed speculators have adopted the second interpretation. But who knows? Kerry blundered badly, and that’s the point. He canceled campaign appear ances with Democratic candidate hope fuls. Even Sen. Hillary Clinton - prob ably for her own opportunistic rea sons - called for Kerry to apologize to American troops. Finally he did. By now, quick Internet distribution and TV broadcasts have made common currency of the photograph of U.S. troops forming a line in the sand (liter ally) and holding a banner that reads, “Halp Us Jon Carry We R Stuck (c and k printed backward) in Irak.” The soldiers’ message was clear, and apparently, so was John Kerry’s. Yes, he might have simply left out words from his statement that would have made it clear he was talking only about the president. No matter. These troops and their families took Kerry’s “joke” as a direct insult. Unfortunately for Kerry’s Democratic Party, a fair number of oth erwise unmotivated Republican voters, and some independent ones, likely took offense, too. The pregnant question now is wheth er the Kerry goof rescued an entire election for the GOP Perhaps not. Still, it unquestionably put the brakes on the alleged Republican freefall that pollsters and pundits have been declar- OPINION Christmas was something very spe cial. Usually I received one toy, one that was not very expensive. But there were oranges, tangerines, bananas, candy and nuts that we seldom saw during the rest of the year. Christmas was something special and I wouldn’t swap what I received then for all the expensive toys and gadgets children receive today. And 1 am sure they do not appreciate all their loot as much as I did that one toy and fruit and nuts and candy. An annual visit with relatives in Clayton, Alabama, was something to look forward to. I got to ride horses bareback. 1 got to go swimming in a pool. I woke up in the morning to the sound of guineas telling the world they were around. It was all so simple, but so memorable. I remember the occasions (a couple of times a year) when Mrs, Pillsbury, who shared a house with my family, would give me a penny to go across the street to Mr. Brown’s store to buy a piece of candy. ing for weeks. At the least, the senator’s remarks might have reversed Democratic for tunes in scattered close races, espe cially in the South. Look at the places President Bush campaigned in the last week. One key congressional race was in Georgia’s District 12. Our latest Insider Advantage survey showed former Republican Congressman Max Burns barely trailing incumbent Democrat John Barrow. In the same state, Bush also stopped off to help former Congressman Mac Collins as he tries to unseat Democrat Jim Marshall. As little as a month ago, neither of these Republicans was given a chance of winning. But both of these districts have strong military ties and big blocs of independent swing vot ers. Deft use of Kerry’s remarks could have been the fillip needed to energize disenchanted Republican or lethargic independent voters to weigh in for the pro-military Republicans. In Florida, the topsy-turvy race to replace resigned and disgraced Republican Congressman Mark Foley is suddenly being viewed by top politi cal analysts as up for grabs. That, even though Foley resigned too late to take his name off the ballot and substitute the name of the Republican replacing him as the candidate. That means state Rep. Joe Negron must persuade voters to check the name of the now-reviled Foley in order to elect Negron. But it’s a Republican district, and the electric voltage of Kerry’s misstep could per suade voters to reject the conservative Wmk- M ym'- r Foy Evans Columnist foyevansl9@cox net Matt Towery Columnist Morris News Service "Dyr '“***' HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL That really was something special. Families lived in neighborhoods and rarely ventured out of them for enter tainment, because transportation was rare. I remember neighbors gathering at the Olivers’ house on a Saturday evening in the summer for fellowship and entertainment provided by tal ented members of the families. There’s nothing today to take the place of this togetherness that turned neighbors into family. Once George Burt, an editor of The Macon Telegraph, invited me to visit him and he took me to the Georgia State Fair. That really was something special. I have gone to many fairs since, but that opportunity to go to the big city to the fair stands out in my memory. My father was a railroad man. He wore overalls to work. I remember when he splurged and bought me a pair of new overalls. I really was proud of them. Most of my clothes had patch es, but these overalls still had the new smell. A little thing, but it meant so much, Looking back, I can see that all my life the things I have appreciated the most have been little things. I feel sorry for today’s young people who have not had the experience and joy of appreciating the little things that can mean so much. They just have to get by with too much that usually means little or nothing to them. Democrat Tim Mahoney. Then there’s Tennessee. Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is in a nationally prominent battle against Republican and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. Within 24 hours of Kerry’s statement, Ford was distanc ing himself from Kerry’s remarks in a big way. Ford has slipped slightly in the last week’s polls. The last thing he needs is to be defending John Kerry instead of attacking Bob Corker. Complicating matters for Ford, he’s trying to become an African-American, Democratic sena tor in a Deep South state. That’s news in itself. He doesn’t need bad news creeping in from points north. In today’s political world, major gaffes become minor blips overnight. Kerry’s ill-spoken words may get drowned in a cascade of negative TV ads and the overwhelming volume of political news in these last days before the election. The task at hand for the Republicans is to be bold enough to take Kerry’s statement to the airwaves and into the field for grassroots, get-out-the vote efforts. They might do well to recognize the power of images over mere words, or, in this case, an image of words - misspelled words. Those soldiers’ banner could become histo ry if it makes for a surprise banner year for Republicans. Regardless, the Democrats aren’t likely to soon turn to John Kerry for any more “halp.” Matt Towery served as the chairman of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s political organization from 1992 until Gingrich left Congress. He is a for mer Georgia state representative, the author of several books and currently heads the polling and political infor mation firm Insider Advantage. To find out more about Matthew Towery and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com..