GOP big spenders out to protect the rich

To the editor:

I used to be able to vote Republican, not anymore. Sadly, a once mostly honorable party has devolved into demagogues peddling gross deceptions.

The first deception is that wealthy people are overtaxed and if we just lowered their taxes lots of jobs would be produced. It's just not true. The wealthy have gotten dramatically wealthier all while the middle class has plummeted and jobs have evaporated.

The second deception is that they are fiscal conservatives. How does anyone buy this anymore? A Republican president hasn't submitted a balanced budget since the 1950s. The only ones who have are Democrats. Even Ronald Reagan, the last good salesman of this fiction, elicited laughter from his own party as he shamelessly called for a balanced budget all while submitting budgets with massive deficits.

The third deception is really a set of extreme social positions on abortion, immigration, guns, etc. I admit it is quite cunning to pound away at these emotionally divisive views. It causes many people to embrace the current Republican Party even though doing so is to their financial detriment.

These deceptions result in Republicans arguing ludicrous positions. Thus, Mitt Romney says both that government doesn't create jobs and that once he's president he will create 12 million jobs. What?

He argues that he'll cut taxes, increase defense spending and magically cut the deficit by closing mysterious loopholes which, of course, he refuses to specify. What?

Their deceptions cause Republicans to blame President Obama for not fixing fast enough the economic catastrophe they had a big part in causing while simultaneously fighting against his every effort, including the adoption of President Bush's own solution, to save our economy. Please vote for President Obama.

ROD GLASGOW

HENDERSON

Returned to base

To the editor:

Regarding your Thursday editorial on Benghazi and the buttressing columns on the facing page by Thomas Sowell and Oliver North: The early withdrawal of adequate security, the refusal to correct that error and the refusal to activate and deploy reaction forces in time to forestall attacks were all bad enough. These were apparently brought on by a denial of reality - narcissistic incompetence run rampant.

All of which pales in view of the final act: That AC-130 gunship was finally dispatched for the express purpose of giving fire support to Americans under full-scale military attack. Under long-standing rules of engagement it did not need prior approval to open fire. All it needed to do was to confirm that such an attack was under way and that the target(s) were in fact part of enemy capabilities. This was easily done. It was apparent, both to those on the scene and those in Washington, that a battery of enemy mortars was critical to enemy capabilities, had been laser-illuminated, and was in AC-130 sights. One volley and that fight was going to be over.

At that moment, an order countermanding the rules of engagement was sent and the AC-130 had to hold fire and return to base. The enemy was granted a victory and American defenders were abandoned to their fate.

Said order was not issued by any uniformed member of the military nor by the secretary of defense. It came from a sniveling coward who currently infests the White House. Now draw your own conclusions as to what is required for our very survival as a free, independent and self-respecting people.

DAVE HANLEY

LAS VEGAS