Anna Quindlen: A thoughtful voice

As long as an election year looms, the war will be massaged into slogans, bumper stickers and advertisements for political parties.

"The sad thing is that everyone now knows how this is going to end: little by little, acknowledging a stupendous error in tactics and judgment without ever acknowledging it at all, the United States will pull its troops from Iraq, leaving advisers and aid workers. The civil war will continue. So will the killings. There will be chaos no matter when we leave. But the Republicans will find a way to claim victory, and the Democrats will do the same. Iraq may even be better off. But will the United States? The deaths of nearly 3,000 American women and men have been turned into a wedge issue, used for purposes of posturing and politicking. For shame." —— Anna Quindlen

Too often strident voices dominate political rhetoric on the radio (Limbaugh et. al), on TV (O'Reilly et al.), in print (Ann Coulter et al.) and in the blogosphere (too numerous to even list one example). That is why a thoughtful, calm voice analyzing the issues is such a breath of fresh air.

Perhaps the most outstanding of these is Anna Quindlen. Yes, she has strong opinions, but contrary to many (perhaps most) opinion writers/givers, she states her ideas in a calm, straightforward, here's-the-facts manner.

Her most recent article in NEWSWEEK, "The War as Wedge Issue," is an excellent example. For Democrats and Republicans and everyone else, for Bush supporters and loathers, this fine piece is a must-read.

The article is here.

LP