Although Jonathan Thompson's politics and mine are identical, I think that he does our cause a disservice by injecting ad hominem throwaway lines that detract from his excellent points. In the Dec. 7 editor's note, he simply does not need the cracks about John McCain or Sarah Palin. For better or worse, McCain is doing only what that great deliberative body, the United States Senate, permits in its rules. As for Palin, if we liberals have the discipline to hold our fire, she will either self-destruct or simply fade away.

An interesting contrast appears on the opposite page. Ray Ring's observations about Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are not throwaway lines but virtual statements of fact, powerful because they are appropriate and substantive.

Please don't give our critics grist for their mills. Make them invent and synthesize their own arguments.

Dick Shohet
Carlisle, Massachusetts