Palmer Events Center
Linda Curtis' Humble Opinion
RECEIVED Wed., Aug. 11, 2004
Dear Editor,
In response to Michael King's response to my letter last week ["Postmarks," Aug. 6], where he takes the opportunity to call my longtime independent political activist friends in New York (Jackie Salit and Dr. Fred Newman) "cultists," I thought better of you. Didn't you know the "writer" who first wrote this stuff on Newman, et al., was Chip Berlet, who is funded by a major contributor to the Democratic Party? The Nation magazine repeated the attack after numerous articles telling Nader not to run because we, independents, need to support the Democrats no matter who's on the ticket, no matter what their platform, repeating the mantra, "anybody but Bush, anybody but Bush, ABB."
Those who continue to spread this partisan nastiness about Newman, Salit, Fulani (who I helped make history in 1988 as the first woman and African-American to get on the ballot in all 50 states), in my humble opinion, have a "Gollum-like" obsession with their "precious" Democratic Party. That's the same Democratic Party which just held a huge "cult meeting," called a convention, which we taxpayers paid for, where no dissent, much less Ralph Nader, was allowed. Hey, they even let in some Republicans, but they had to chant "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry," or they would have been thrown out on their ears, too.
My point, Michael, is that "cults" are in the eye of the beholder. I thought better of your commitment to truth and fairness.
In response to Michael King's response to my letter last week ["Postmarks," Aug. 6], where he takes the opportunity to call my longtime independent political activist friends in New York (Jackie Salit and Dr. Fred Newman) "cultists," I thought better of you. Didn't you know the "writer" who first wrote this stuff on Newman, et al., was Chip Berlet, who is funded by a major contributor to the Democratic Party? The Nation magazine repeated the attack after numerous articles telling Nader not to run because we, independents, need to support the Democrats no matter who's on the ticket, no matter what their platform, repeating the mantra, "anybody but Bush, anybody but Bush, ABB."
Those who continue to spread this partisan nastiness about Newman, Salit, Fulani (who I helped make history in 1988 as the first woman and African-American to get on the ballot in all 50 states), in my humble opinion, have a "Gollum-like" obsession with their "precious" Democratic Party. That's the same Democratic Party which just held a huge "cult meeting," called a convention, which we taxpayers paid for, where no dissent, much less Ralph Nader, was allowed. Hey, they even let in some Republicans, but they had to chant "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry," or they would have been thrown out on their ears, too.
My point, Michael, is that "cults" are in the eye of the beholder. I thought better of your commitment to truth and fairness.
Linda Curtis
[Michael King responds: Despite Linda Curtis' eagerness to blame the decades-long bad reputation of the Newmanites on the current crop of Democrats, it just won't wash. Chip Berlet is only one of many writers who have documented that sordid history, which dates back to the Eighties, and includes the Fulani campaign of which she is so proud. The Newmanite technique remains to use apparently innocuous front groups, like the current "independent" effort for Nader, to build financial and organizational support for Newman-run enterprises. I would hope that Curtis' efforts in Texas are entirely distinct from that strategy, but her declarations of solidarity here are hardly reassuring.]