Party pooper.

• Author: Blum, Rod
• Position: Letters - Letter to the Editor

How can Grover Norquist ("The Democratic Party is Toast," September) call the Democratic Party the party of government when the growth of government and government spending have exploded under the control of our modern GOP? Little did I know four years ago that "compassionate conservatism" were really code words for more government.

Rod Blum

Conservative columnist for

The Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa

Norquist is one of those puzzling people who is obviously smart but who makes illogical connections like attributing the drop in crime to the increase in the number of states that allow people to carry concealed pistols. His triumph is in belief over fact, or rather in shaping facts to his beliefs. I don't disagree that the reelection of Bush/Cheney will demolish the Democratic Party as we blow it today, but it will happen only if delusions like "progress in Iraq" trump fact.

Peter Page

Via email

I am not familiar with Grover Norquist, so perhaps I'm missing some form of satire, but I'm genuinely perplexed by his statement: "Bush wants to create Retirement Savings Accounts to allow every American to sock away up to $5,000 for retirement tax-free; similarly, the president has proposed Lifetime Savings Accounts allowing Americans to save $7,500 for education, housing, or health costs during their working lives."

Bush doesn't need to "create" RSA's--we already have them: They're called IRAs. So, is the proposal just to increase the amount that can be...