Letter: Why would any Nevadan ever vote Republican?

Thursday, Aug. 1, 2002 | 8:44 a.m.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that there is even one Nevadan who is still a registered Republican.

Can they not even see the evidence that our five electoral votes are just so much garbage to their appointed administration's politically motivated, oil-oriented public servants?

We heard President Bush promise to first determine if there is solid scientific evidence that it is safe to dump nuclear waste at earthquake-prone Yucca Mountain. This comforted only the most naive and uninformed. The majority of intelligent Americans realized that President Clinton's eight-year long fight against this horrendous hazard would soon be history.

Then the grinning, insufferable Spencer ("Screw Nevada") Abraham, Vice President Dick Cheney, nuclear power lobbyist John Sununu and countless other Republicans who visited Las Vegas promising to "look into this serious matter," pretending to be concerned -- hurried back to Washington, D.C., where they promptly voted with their leader Dubya, to turn Nevada into America's radioactive trash can.

It is alarming but not surprising to hear the ridiculous excuses from Republicans attempting to slither out of this latest outrageous deception by their party, money always being the bottom line to these "compassionate conservatives." And this catastrophe was forced upon us despite the courageous efforts of Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Shelley Berkley and our other decent Democratic representatives who care deeply about our children and the safety of our environment.

The only logical conclusion is that some Nevada Republicans are afflicted with what is widely recognized in psychiatric circles as a "martyr complex." This of course means that they actually enjoy being lied to and betrayed. How else can we explain the phenomenon of one single Nevada resident ever voting Republican again? It does not compute.

RUTH DI MAGGIO