Ignore journalistic trivia

Journalists are having a wonderful time covering the presidential candidates. Every mistake, mispronunciation and exaggeration is reported and repeated over and over, leaving some gullible voters with the mistaken impression that our candidates are dim-witted and dishonest goofballs.

In the long run it doesn’t matter very much whether Al Gore read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” as a boy or whether George Bush, in a moment of exasperation, said something uncomplimentary about a New York Times reporter.

Here’s what counts: Which candidate has the most extensive foreign policy experience and the best understanding of the world and the U.S. role in it? Which candidate has the soundest and fairest economic policy? Which candidate best understands the health care needs of all citizens and especially the need of women for family planning and choice? Which candidate has the flexibility and vision necessary to lead in a fast-paced world of constant change?

These are the questions on which voters should focus and we should not allow ourselves to be led astray by journalists who prefer to wallow in trivia.

Mill Creek

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