Opinion

LETTER: I don’t agree with Bill Post on debate

To the Editor:

I write to agree, then immediately disagree with Bill Post’s Oct. 3 assessment of the first presidential debate (Letters, Keizertimes).

 First, I agree it was a “hot mess.” But then he pretended there was an equivalency in the bad behavior. Mr. Trump interrupted more than 125 times. Mr. Biden could barely finish a sentence without encountering a boorish cavalcade of verbiage designed to confuse and cloud the issues. 

And to complain that Mr. Biden was not authentic? This while defending a “reality” TV star who has made a career of inauthentic activities— a college that wasn’t, a “charity” that benefited him, just as two examples. Many of us, in contrast, find Mr. Biden very authentic—a person with genuine empathy, concern for the welfare of the country and its citizens and alarmed at the state of discourse in the age of Trump. 

Trump has enabled all forms of bad behavior, mocking the disabled, denigrating our troops while elevating the worst kind of racist, anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant rhetoric and activity, such as separating children from parents at the border with no plan for reuniting families. He even criticized Mr. Biden for wearing a protective mask—which now seems a sad commentary given the president’s own diagnosis. 

But I would be remiss in not mentioning Mr. Post’s flagrant disregard for his duty as a state representative by leaving the state to avoid negotiating critical environmental legislation. This neglect resulted in the failure to pass solutions to other important issues facing the citizens. We can do better (and I’m surprised it took Mr. Post nearly 500 words to say that. I thought there was a 300-word limit.) My vote will go to RJ Navarro – a representative who understands duty and will represent all citizens of House District 25.

Tom Homan

Keizer