To the Editor,

My Grandparents passed this adage down to me when I was young: “If you can’t say something nice about somebody, don’t say anything at all.” I have a deep respect and admiration for President Bush and I wish our country’s Liberals had Grandparents like mine. Our Congressional leaders in particular have been the most egregious violators of their old principle. Senator Kennedy has called him a “liar” about a thousand times when the worst that can be said about his comments on Iraq seeking uranium was that he might have been wrong. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called him a “liar” and “a loser” in front of elementary school children. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called him “incompetent” and “irresponsible”. I am sure that some of them, Ted Kennedy in particular, are simply projecting their own guilt.

Liberal followers, having taken their cue from their leaders, have said much worse. Some want to impeach him and others have gone so far as to publicly suggest that the President should be shot.

What impresses me about President Bush is that he has never responded in kind. There have been many, many times that I have wanted to respond to those insults but I see that President Bush doesn’t do so and I bite my tongue. In fact, when the Swift Boat Vets criticized Senator John Kerry for his Viet Nam war record, President Bush admonished them. The same thing happened when Congressman Murtha wanted to “cut and run” from Iraq and was subsequently criticized by some of the President’s supporters.

So I have come to admire President Bush as a confident man who leads by example. I don’t always agree with every policy he proposes but even then I am going to try to show him the same respect that he shows his detractors. I also understand that I, like the aforementioned Liberals, don’t know as much about the factors that lead to the President’s policy decisions as he does. So, if for no other reason than to protect my own credibility, I will at least wait until some of those policies have had a chance to bear fruit before passing judgment.

I also remember something I learned from a prominent area realtor during my training as a real estate agent some thirty years ago. He warned us not to engage in criticism of competing agents. He explained his variation of The Golden Rule this way: If you try to ingratiate yourself with clients by pointing to the faults of your competition, you risk convincing them that all agents possess those faults. This is because when your accusation gets repeated to others your name may be forgotten and potential clients are likely to simply remember that real estate agents in general possess those faults. You won’t get credit for being different, and the industry as a whole will suffer the consequences.

I think of this when gloating Liberals point to President Bush’s approval ratings hitting the low thirties as a result of their efforts. The Liberals in Congress don’t seem to recognize the correlation to their own approval ratings falling very nearly into the single digits. It’s a consequence of reaping what they sow. Whenever you here someone say that all politicians are the same, in a derogatory way, this is largely the reason why.

 DRC