On the 9/11 election, Austin, etc.

Just as Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” was defined by its resolve in combating a previous axis of evil, so today’s generation will be defined by its approach to terrorism. Either we will respond by committing ourselves to wage war against terrorists and their state sponsors, or else we will display timidity, weakness, and cowardice in the face of those who are already waging war against the United States.

Var White

Birmingham, AL

Lone Star Hate

AS ONE OF THE FEW REPUBLICANS in the People’s Republic of Austin, I’d like to say kudos to Andrew Ferguson for his dead-on accurate “The Birthplace of Bush Paranoia” (Oct. 25). Austin is indeed a hotbed of Bush bashing, going back to the 1994 gubernatorial race between George W. Bush and Ann Richards. Actual facts do nothing to dissuade the characteristic Austin Bush-basher.

For example, ask a typical Austin Democrat to name a significant bill that John Kerry introduced during his 20 years in the Senate, and you’ll get a blank stare. Ask an Austin Democrat what specific piece of Bush-backed legislation they oppose, and you’ll also get a blank stare.

But ask one to explain why he or she has an abject hatred for George W. Bush, and you’ll get a frothy, scripted response: Bush is dumb, Bush is Hitler, Bush wants to destroy the environment, etc.

While I love Austin itself–including the great music scene and the beautiful Texas hill country that surrounds the city–the majority of its citizenry sure has some distasteful political inclinations.

Those inclinations lie somewhere between the bizarre paranoia displayed by former Vermont governor Howard Dean and the cradle-to-grave nanny statism advocated by Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich.

I just hope WEEKLY STANDARD readers keep in mind that Austin is an anomaly in Texas. Most Texans are in fact normal, rational folks with good common sense and the ability to see through the spin and propaganda that emerges from Austin.

David J. Fox

Austin, TX

ANDREW FERGUSON has written an outstanding article on just what it means to be a Bush-hater in Austin, Texas. His observation that Texas liberals evince a peculiar brew of condescension and contempt is right on the mark.

(In my view, Texas “progressives” also appear somewhat desperate, kind of like those self-absorbed high school girls who are bitter because they weren’t invited to the prom.)

I am a native Texan, but just recently became a resident of Austin. I was initially surprised by the attitudes I found here. Not any more. Ferguson is correct that Austin seems to be populated by Texans who, well, really don’t like Texas. Their condescension is often palpable.

No matter. I am thoroughly enjoying their pain!

Len Denton

Austin, TX

The Kid is All Right

AS A HIGH SCHOOL-AGE Republican, I can identify wholeheartedly with the isolation Dan Gelernter relates in “An Army of One” (Oct. 25). I also share his frustration at having to deal with the inaccuracies and outright distortions many of my liberal classmates employ in debate.

Their extremism is truly astounding. Even more astounding is their ability to make various off-the-wall arguments (“Bush’s actions in Iraq are just as bad as Hitler’s aggression,” for example) with a straight face.

Yet whenever I become frustrated by such virulently anti-Bush remarks, I simply remember the words a very wise man once spoke: “It’s not that our liberal friends are ignorant, it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Geoff Smock

Steilacoom, WA

Errata

IN WILLIAM TUCKER’S “La Grippe of the Trial Lawyers” (Oct. 25), vaccine- maker Chiron should have been identified as a U.S. company. Although its vaccine plant is in England, Chiron is actually headquartered in Emeryville, California.

“Tir’d nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,” cited in the Oct. 25 CASUAL, comes not from Shakespeare but from 18th-century English poet Edward Young’s “The Complaint and the Consolation, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality.”