MEET THE LOONEYS
REGARDING Matthew Continetti's "The Full Schumer" (Feb. 19): Senator Charles Schumer should not count on his imaginary friends, the "Baileys," to show up at primary elections. It is, rather, their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Looney, and their zealous political friends, all holding views abhorrent to the Baileys, who regularly vote in Democratic primaries. Chuck can check this out with his colleague Joe Lieberman, who is no longer a Democrat thanks to the Looney clan.
ROD ROGGENSACK
Lancaster, Wisc.
MY OLD SCHOOL
AS A 1948 GRADUATE of Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, I take issue with Andrew Ferguson's characterization of the school that Barack Obama attended as "a fancy prep school in Waikiki" ("The Literary Obama," Feb. 12). The oldest private school west of the Rockies, Punahou was founded in 1841 by Christian missionaries to provide schooling for their children in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii, an essentially non-English speaking society.
I attended Punahou as one of a contingent of "military brats," children of people serving at various military posts on the island of Oahu, and we were bused in to Honolulu. While it is true that today Punahou prepares students for college, to label it "a fancy prep school" sends a completely false message. By the way, Punahou is not "in Waikiki." It is almost three miles inland in the Manoa Valley. In the years when I attended the school I lived in Pearl Harbor, some seven miles away, and I don't remember ever setting foot on Waikiki beach. Other than these concerns, Ferguson's review was beyond criticism.
ISAAC SHAPIRO
New York, N.Y.
IGNOMINIOUS INCUMBENTS
WILLIAM KRISTOL is exactly right concerning the ignominy of several supposedly Republican senators who appear determined to undermine any chance to win in Iraq ("A Terrible Ignominy," Feb. 12). I, too, hope that a "victory-oriented" challenger will step forward to oppose Warner, Smith, Collins, Snowe, Hagel, and any others who choose to quit the fight. I fear, alas, that I already know what would happen in such a case. The GOP's senatorial campaign committee would dutifully back the incumbent, just as they blithely supported Lincoln Chafee and Arlen Specter. They would once again savagely attack a true conservative, such as Stephen Laffey in Rhode Island.
BILL BROCKMAN
Atlanta, Ga.
THEFT OF THOUGHTS
I ENJOYED Joseph Bottum's "To Borrow a Phrase" (Feb. 19), an entertaining commentary on the problem of other writers plagiarizing his thoughts before he actually puts them on paper. "So influential are my thoughts and phrasings that a great number are actually pre-stolen--taken by other writers before I can even get around to thinking or saying them," he writes. Over a decade ago, Kris Kristofferson recorded Robert Earl Keen's "Corpus Christi Bay," which is a sort of unofficial Texas collegiate anthem. Upon recording Keen's work, Kristofferson remarked that he had intended to write the same song, but Keen had written it before Kris could do the same. Another case of "pre-stolen" plagiarism.
GREGG GEIL
Austin, Tex.