Will Washington Post Print LTE?

A supporter recently sent in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, let's see if they have the courage to print it. I'm guessing they won't print it, so I'll supply the letter below for you all to read.

To the Editor:
None of you folks on the Washington Post editorial Board who were involved with the recent editorial describing Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) as a “moderate” are Republicans from Davis’s Congressional District.

I know this because if any of you were Republicans -- with a “big R” -- from Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, you would have received the flyer from the Davis campaign describing his democratic opponent Andrew Hurst as an “extremist” because he is a “lawyer with a proven record of defending (gasp!) criminals.”

It used to be the case that “moderate” Republican lawyers like Tom Davis would stick up for what even they considered -- until now -- the noble calling of their fellow legal professionals who provide counsel for those accused of crimes.

Before he became our second President -- a 34-year-old John Adams successfully defended the British soldiers who fired on and killed a group of American patriots in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Adams later described this representation as “one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.” Apparently, Tom Davis would also describe John Adams as an “extremist.”

Representative Davis has his eye on the Senate seat that he hopes John Warner (R-VA) is going to leave vacant in 2008: perhaps this is just Davis’s way of showing that he can run a campaign as nasty as George Allen is in order to gain street cred with the “big Rs” who he would like on board for his Senate bid. Perhaps Andy Hurst -- an attractive democratic candidate in Davis’s predominately democratic district -- has got Davis worried, and his “big R” Republican campaign consultants advised him to sling a little right wing muck with targeted mailings that would go only to “big R”s. All the rest of us would get bright blue brochures with Davis’s smiling faces, bragging about the pork he brought home with no mention of Davis’s party affiliation, his “big R” voting record, or his apparent contempt for the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

Whatever the reason, its time we realized that anyone who slings muck at fellow lawyers because they “defend criminals” is no friend of the constitution, and no “moderate.” If we are stupid enough to pretend otherwise and re-elect Davis, we should expect much more immoderation from him as he sets out to convince his party faithful that he is enough of a Neanderthal to be their standard bearer in the Senate.

Sincerely,

Marc Greidinger
Springfield, VA
mpoweru@cox.net

Nate de la Piedra is the Online Outreach Coordinator for the Andrew Hurst for Congress 2006 Campaign. The ideas expressed herein belong to Nate de la Piedra and do not necessarily represent those of Andrew Hurst, his advisers, staff, or "The Campaign".