By Carol Lucas
Ask anyone who decides to write a column for public consumption. Are you ready for the blow back, the responses that are positive and negative? If you aren’t, then to quote Harry Truman, “Get the hell out of the kitchen.”
What I write is mostly political because there is a plenitude of material from which to draw. With this abundance, however, is the certainty that in today’s environment, I can count on responses – all kinds.
Let’s be clear. I take every response I receive to my writing seriously, especially when it is well-thought out. Such was the case when a reader recently took me to task for addressing the topic of J.D. Vance without having read the book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
I admit to starting it when it first came out, but found it to be rambling and tedious. My critic was affronted by my negative assessment of Vance’s name changes, explaining why these happened, and why the name Vance was taken, to solidify his relationship with his much-loved grandparents who “essentially” raised him. I’m not sure of the qualifier ‘essentially,’ but the argument has its merits.
It’s worth noting that Vance only spent summers with his grandparents in Appalachia, hardly making him the supreme authority to be the voice of the region that he eventually became. (Piper Hansen, AZ State, 4/21/2020)
The letter then submits that News Nation reports Vance’s stance on abortion has “moderated.” I might suggest he has done so for political expediency. Furthermore, I ask this: What options do you have when you have said, “society shouldn’t view pregnancy or birth, resulting from incest or rape as an “inconvenience”, and go on to say “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Vance’s “moderation” also included his assessment of Donald Trump.
“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon, or that he’s America’s Hitler,” he wrote on Facebook in 2016.
In citing a source I used, my critic alludes to Jay Kuo, CEO of The Social Edge, playwright, and board member of the Human Rights Campaign which supports LBGTQ+ issues. I can only assume she sees this as a negative.
Shortly thereafter, I had a second experience that falls pretty much into the same category. I was sent (by an intermediary) an article to read. Of course, I was interested, and so I accessed the selection which addressed “the mudslinging and coarseness that drives political drama.” I will quote the author, Christopher Rufo, under whose picture reads, “Leading the fight against the left-wing ideological regime.”
At that point, I knew what I was about to engage; despite that, I soldiered on. The following provides parts of the article, along with my response.
It began by referencing the nastiness of prior campaigns.
“The 2024 presidential election, between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, is no different. Vice President Harris began her political career through a high-profile affair with the powerful San Francisco politico Willie Brown. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, cheated on his first wife with their children’s nanny, whom he subsequently impregnated. Harris’s running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, has embellished his military service to the point that some critics have accused him of ‘stolen valor.’ And since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Harris has changed her positions on multiple issues.”
As for Emhoff’s affair, consider this:
Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement, “Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago. He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together.” (Edward- Isaac Dovere, CNN)
Regarding the high-profile affair of Harris:
She was 29 in March, 1994 when a San Francisco Chronicle columnist described her as Brown’s “new steady,” going on to say that she was “something new in Willie’s love life. She’s a woman, not a girl.” At the time, Brown, who was then 60 years old and speaker of the California State Assembly, had been estranged from his wife for more than a decade.
Perhaps the most egregious statement is the “stolen valor” quip. At no time did Walz “embellish” his time in the military. What he told was fact. Indeed it was J.D. Vance who used that phrase incorrectly. The term actually means wearing combat ribbons although never having served in actual combat and pretending to be a combat veteran.
As for Rufo’s contention that Harris has changed her positions on multiple issues, need I mention, “J.D. Vance?”
Mr. Rufo continues.
“Former president Trump, too, has survived a protracted sequence of personal scandals. His romantic life has splashed through the tabloids for decades, with multiple marriages, accusations of infidelity and womanizing, and an alleged tryst with a pornographic actress.”
Let me interject here to say that what people do in the bedroom and with whom, is of no interest to me. I don’t ask, and I don’t care. That applies to Trump as well.
What I do care about is the morality exhibited by an individual that directly affects someone else. For instance, lying – more than 30,000 provable. Or cheating – on every wife and Trump University. Stealing – boxes of sensitive secret documents. The list is larger, but you get the point.
Rufo contends:
“Trump surpassed his scandals through strength of personality; Harris, through the power of the national media.”
I suggest that rather than “strength of personality,” perhaps it is through the willful blindness of his cult. As for Harris, rather than insinuating that national media favors Harris, Rufo might want to view her rallies leading up to the convention, as well as the convention itself. Furthermore, the latter showcased high-ranking Republicans who openly support Harris.
It was the former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, who stated it best when he said, “If you vote for Kamala Harris, you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot.”
Rufo’s article concludes with this: “I can’t tell anyone the precise formula for making a choice. But I might suggest that the scandals of this campaign do not indicate a clear moral choice.”
Surely you jest! I think the choice is crystal clear. Set the bedroom activity aside or to quote Gov. Walz, “Mind your own damn business.” Focus on the other aspects of morality, such as human decency and honesty.
As I said earlier, I do not discount any communication a reader might send my way. After all, this is what a democratic free press is all about. I certainly didn’t toss aside the one letter that called me gorgeous, saying he loved me. I questioned his vision, not his affection.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
