Letters: The puppets keep dancing; Oldsey works for positive change at PSU
The puppets keep dancing
Have we ever before seen a group of candidates more shamelessly groveling for an endorsement than is currently exhibited by the five leading Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for governor?
Recent polling showed Jake Corman in fifth place with a mere 4% support. An article in the April 12 Centre Daily Times reported Corman struggling to keep financial pace with his opponents. The same day Senator Corman filed the required paperwork to formally drop out of the race. The double whammy of low poll numbers and a low bank account balance certainly make such a decision logical.
But then Senator Corman had a conversation with his puppet master, and immediately reversed course.
The puppet master has not yet endorsed a candidate in the governor’s race, but has publicly “unendorsed” candidate Bill McSwain, due to the latter’s refusal to investigate the “massive voter fraud” nonsense. Is Corman still seeking that endorsement?
The more the strings are pulled, the more the puppets dance.
Oldsey works for positive change
First, I want to urge all PSU alumni to vote in this round of trustee elections. I also urge them to vote to re-elect Bill Oldsey for trustee. Bill works tirelessly for the betterment of Penn State. He is one of the few BOT members that has a 100% record of attendance at BOT meetings, no matter where they are held. Bill works on ten committee assignments including the Presidential Selection Committee and is proud to have been involved in the selection of our new president. As an alumni elected member, Bill has worked to bring important change to the BOT. Unfortunately, the “Old Guard” board members have sought to minimize alumni involvement by increasing the number of non-alumni elected members. Important decisions are facing PSU, keep Bill Oldsey in place to make these changes positive.
Shameful votes against ballot boxes
Shame! Shame on the Republicans who, during the pandemic when many of us are trying to avoid crowds and standing in line, voted to remote ballot drop boxes, simply for the purpose of reducing votes by Black people. The party of Trump, the party of insurrection shows such contempt for Pennsylvania voters that it is prepared to sacrifice their health and safety to gain power. Shame!
Like attracts like
Republican Senatorial candidate Dave McCormick recently ran a TV ad blaming President Obama for the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and President Biden for their more-recent invasion of the rest of Ukraine. The two Democratic presidents were responsible for Russia’s actions because they were not “strong,” the ad stated. This is nonsense!
In addition to being illogical, the message mocks the suffering of the Ukrainian people in order to score a cheap political gain.
In the April 8 edition of Centre Daily Times, a front-page story lists some of the national Republican figures who have endorsed McCormick’s candidacy. The list includes Sarah Huckabee Sanders (who spent months as Press Secretary defending Trump’s lies), Mike Pompeo (who waxed eloquent about his “respect” for Vladimir Putin), Ted Cruz (whose long list of demerits is legendary), and Elise Stefanik (who lied her way into replacing the honest Liz Cheney as No. 3 in the Republican House Leadership Team).
The same article lists some supporters of Mehmet Oz, including Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent, Rick Perry, and Ryan Zinke, Trump supporters all, and hardly a cast with any more integrity than has the McCormick bunch.
An old adage states that a man’s character can be judged by the company he keeps. It might also mention the quality of the people who endorse his candidacy.
More meaningful munitions?
The U. S. has been sending small munitions to the Ukrainians. Maybe it is time to end something more meaningful: if the Ukrainians were given an ICBM it might occur to them to aim it at the Kremlin and stop the awful mess quickly.