Unplugged Mike

Sunday, August 17, 2003

A new letter today in the Guardian. There's not really much I can say about it. It was in response to another letter that was written in response to a piece by Timothy Garton Ash, a Guardian columnist, praising racial diversity on American college campuses. I liked Ash's piece, and disagreed with Chatterjee, but Chatterjee's letter first caught my eye because it had so many factual errors.

Monday August 18, 2003
The Guardian

Dr Aroup Chatterjee's rant against America is inaccurate (Letters, August 16). Of the judges who voted for Bush in Bush v Gore, only Clarence Thomas was an appointee of Bush's father. David Souter, Bush Sr's other nominee, voted for Gore. Michael Dukakis ran against the elder Bush, not Reagan.
While it is a universal truth that the rich have certain advantages in politics, Bill Clinton is living proof that people of modest backgrounds can and do make it into the White House. The same was true of Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman (who failed in business and left the White House broke), Abraham Lincoln, and many others.
Michael Brenner
New York

You can find the letter at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1020650,00.html

Chatterjee's original is available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1019918,00.html