Letter: Put country ahead of political opportunism

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

"Do you feel safer today than five years ago?" What a stupid, inane question. Yet it poured from the mouths of "reporters," pundits and, the silliest of all, politicians.

It masked real thoughts by posing an unanswerable question. How I feel cannot be measured by any reasonable scale other than that of emotion. And that is interior and has little relationship to actuality.

We know that we have suffered no internal attack since the infamous 9/11. But we also know that we are subject to a repeat attack at any time. All we can do is bolster our defenses, increase our intelligence capability, and continue our international intelligence cooperative efforts.

As to the politicians who fall back on this phrase during their campaign slogans and speeches, shame on you! Spend your campaign time proposing concrete solutions to shore up our defenses and protective measures. Propose rather than disparage! I want to see positive, productive action, not negative attacks.

Wouldn't it be nice to have candidates who put their country first rather than their political advantage?

William F. Brennan, Las Vegas