Republicans

Republicans immediately pounced on President Obama's speech Monday as insufficient after the nation's credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history last week. In his remarks, the president declared that America remains a "triple-A country" and that the downgrade by Standard & Poor's would hopefully “give us a renewed sense of urgency" to tackle the nation's fiscal troubles. But with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 500 points after Obama's address, the head of the Republican National Committee said the markets had already spoken.

Re "Obama takes fight to social media," Nov. 29 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) once said that his most important job was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. He failed. Now, with the fiscal cliff ahead, perhaps he can accomplish something for the second most important thing to him: the American people. R. J. Cimiluca Los Angeles ALSO: Letters: A cop's reality Letters on letters: No room for the Nativity Letters: Pension reform without an election

Re "Angling for Catholic votes," Editorial, Aug. 26 I do not know if the Republican Party is aware of this, but when Cardinal Timothy Dolan, now the leader of American Roman Catholic bishops, was a young priest, he was sent by his archdiocese (St. Louis) to do a doctorate in church history. The subject of Dolan's dissertation was Father Edwin V. O'Hara, who became bishop of Kansas City. As a priest, O'Hara wrote the first minimum wage law to be upheld by the Supreme Court. Perhaps O'Hara's spirit will guide Dolan in his closing benediction at the Republican National Convention.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's proposal to create a Veterans Jobs Corps to stem high unemployment among recent military veterans was shelved Wednesday after Republicans in the Senate balked over the five-year $1-billion cost, giving both sides fresh ammunition for the November election. The measure had been on Obama's to-do list for Congress, a modest set of initiatives aimed at boosting the nation's sluggish economy that Republicans have largely rejected. The jobs bill would have hired veterans who served in the military since the terrorist attacks of Sept.

Since Mitt Romney lost to President Obama on Nov. 6, the conventional wisdom has been that the Republican Party is in trouble. The less conventional truth is that it is the Democrats whose chances many be more bleak. Yes, Republicans are currently engaged in a round of intraparty sniping between establishment conservatives and the militant, purist right-wingers who abound in the ranks of party activists. And, yes, the 2012 election exposed the GOP's profound unpopularity among rising voting groups, especially Latinos.

Re "Not a club for Christians," Opinion, Dec. 11 I applaud Jonah Goldberg for questioning the GOP's approach to non-Christians and other minorities. It is a positive development that he recognizes the exclusion so many feel from the GOP. But while the GOP may be very strong in proclaiming its Christianity for all to see, it doesn't fare as well in following many of Jesus' teachings, including helping the poor, healing the sick, turning the other cheek and valuing the peacemakers.

Re "For Hagel, opposition from GOP is personal," Feb. 15 Despite the fact that a Cabinet nomination has never in history been blocked by a minority filibuster, Republicans are filibustering Chuck Hagel's appointment as secretary of Defense. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most conservative of the Founding Fathers, decried minority rule in the Federalist Papers. Several Republican senators announced their opposition to filibustering a Cabinet nomination, and yet the Republicans filibustered anyway.

Republicans are the party of business and the rich. Democrats are for the working man. That's what my dad always said.   Dad, I think you were on to something. The Times reported Thursday that the Republican-led House approved a 20% business tax break for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Republicans say it will boost the economy, but Democrats say it will add $46 billion to the deficit and that it favors wealthier business owners, celebrities and sports teams.

Re "Gay Republican reflects on a quixotic campaign," June 15 Groucho Marx said that he'd never want to belong to a club that would have him as a member. If that leads to the idea that you'd only want to belong to a club that would not want you as a member, maybe that's the twisted reasoning for why any gay American would want to be a Republican. To Fred Karger I say this: become a fiscally conservative Democrat with socially progressive leanings, a place not that far from moderate Republicans before the extremists took over, and stop wasting your energies and talents trying to "feel the love" from a party that will never really love you back.