Responding to Mrs. White's critique of my previous letter (Nov. 30 Manhasset Press), may I say I am happy to entertain opposing viewpoints, but her characterization of my comments as arrogant, elitist, and condescending is nothing more than name-calling. If Mrs. White has a counter-argument to my view that voters erred egregiously by installing the criminal and incompetent regime of George Bush and Dick Cheney, let's hear her evidence.

My views are drawn from a copious and growing collection of books and publications that document the incompetence and criminality of the Bush/Cheney regime to an extent rarely seen in modern history. See, particularly, James Risen's State of War, Thomas Ricks' Fiasco, Michael Isikoff and David Corn's Hubris, Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine, Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein's Vice, George Packer's The Assassin's Gate, Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Bob Woodward's State of Denial, and Seymour Hersh's Chain of Command. All of the authors of these books are respected investigative reporters, who write for outstanding American newspapers and magazines, including the NY Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New Yorker. They are among the titans of American journalism. They are clearly in a different category than that of Michael Moore, who Mrs. White appears to hold out as some kind of monstrous liberal liar, a point of view that tips off her own political orientation as that idea is found only in the right-wing domain of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's radio show. The conclusion that Bush is both incompetent and a breaker of laws is not one that can be avoided if the aforementioned authors' reportage is true. Having read all of these books and many others on the subject, I am voicing what to me are obvious conclusions. That is not arrogance; it is simple deductive reasoning.

I'll grant that my letters may be difficult to stomach for the dwindling group of those who voted for Bush/Cheney twice and won't admit they made a mistake, but in none of my letters have I referred to any of these folk as "the dumbest people on earth" or "idiots." Unlike Mrs. White, I don't believe in calling those who disagree with me names. What I do believe in is explaining political viewpoints that I think are important. If you don't happen to agree, don't read them.

Robert C. Carmody, Jr.