CORRESPONDENCE
Correspondence BEAUTIFUL BOMBERS In his article on airplanes, art, and manliness, David Gelernter is on the right track, but gets too serious and front-of-the-classy ("Men at War and the Planes...
...May 3...
...Readers should be assured that the bizarre five-engine aircraft in the picture bears little resemblance to the thousands of graceful Flying Fortresses that devastated Germany in World War II...
...JOSEPH ST...
...No, I am a Taft Republican...
...Enough damage has been done by bombs and missiles in an area where no damage should have been done in the first place...
...This attack on a sovereign nation by what was supposed to be a defensive alliance is outrageous...
...The battle over vouchers is now one of the most hotly contested in the country...
...Furthermore, the attack has precipitated the horrible refugee situation we now see in the countries bordering Kosovo...
...The ugly duckling shown was one of only three B-17s that were modified for use as flying test beds for aircraft engines—with one engine in the nose and the flight deck moved toward the tail for stability...
...It depresses our base while providing no protection against the inevitable Democratic charge that all Republicans are extremist Republicans...
...Clever and enterprising guys in barns and garages all over the country began to develop designs for one purpose or another: some for speed and maneuverability, some for carrying capacity and durability...
...We should have positioned ourselves to help those who either wanted to escape or were forced out by Milosevic's scourge while at the same time doing all the economic and diplomatic arm twisting possible...
...JOHN MICHELL GREENACRES, FL THE MYTH OF THE BIG TENT Jack Cashill is correct about Republican moderates and the religious Right, but I have little confidence that the party will follow his advice ("Memo to GOP Moderates: Be Nice to the Right," May 3...
...They have no problem enthusiastically joining with a notorious liar and race baiter if it helps the party shore up its left flank and hurts a senatorial candidate from the GOP...
...CRAIG DOUGLAS HENRY WAUNAKEE, WI As a Republican political operative in the Northeast, I see the damage from what Jack Cashill describes every day...
...When Democrats were embarrassed by Clinton, they attacked Ken Starr...
...Gelernter rightly cites the B-17 as a beautiful machine, but he means the B-17E and later models...
...JUSTIN COFFEY CHICAGO, IL...
...Contrast that with the way Democratic moderates like Ed Koch have flocked to Al Sharpton's demonstrations against the New York Police Department...
...Am I a "McGovern Republican...
...Party leaders who speak of the big tent need to remember that inclusion goes both ways and that social and religious conservatives remain an important part of our winning coalition...
...No fighter pilot ever looked at his new ride and thanked the designer for making it pretty...
...FERGUS CULLEN WEST HARTFORD, CT POST PLAID I was disappointed to see Matthew Rees describe presidential candidate Lamar Alexander as the "plaid-clad former secretary of education" ("Lamar...
...Flying was manly because, with some notable exceptions, it was predominantly a man's world and it was enjoyed because it was—and remains— the second most enjoyable activity there is...
...It amounts to a gang attacking the kid they don't like in order to force him to do what they want...
...Surely Rees, as he met and talked with Alexander, must have recognized this, but perhaps he missed it...
...It is much simpler than he makes it seem...
...STEVE MOORE WEST OCKBRIDGE, MA The World War II fighting and bombing aircraft described by David Gelernter were not only efficient instruments of death but also, as he noted, graceful, beautiful works of art— beloved by the men who flew them and still admired today by millions at air shows and in museums...
...But in virtually all cases, form followed function...
...Republican candidates who try to establish moderate bona fides by demonizing religious and social conservatives remind me of something Reagan once observed: It's like feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last...
...Although they are called pragmatists, GOP moderates have not learned to play the game the way Democrats have...
...The changes came not to make the plane look better, but because the tail needed more beef at high altitudes for stability...
...The B-17 Flying Fortress was one of these aircraft, but one would never know it from the illustration of the B-17 shown in Gelernter's article...
...After all, Rees completely missed what might make Alexander appealing to voters come the primary season...
...Billy Mitchell, who paid dearly for his prescience...
...But others were ugly and flew well, such as Grumman's TBF Avenger...
...The Matthew Shepard case and the Teletubby tempest are only the two most recent examples...
...Governor Alexander has discarded the red-and-black plaid shirt he donned four years ago for more appropriate attire...
...RICHARD BRASHARES GLENSIDE, PA I cannot believe that William Kristol and Robert Kagan still support the disastrous war being carried out by the United States and Britain under the auspices of the NATO alliance...
...Isn't that bad enough...
...GEORGE E. RUBIN NEW YORK, NY TAFT REPUBLICANS While hammering at conservative readers who disagree with their support of our curious war to end Yugoslavia and embitter our uncertain relations with Russia, William Kristol and Robert Kagan should try to avoid name-calling ("All Necessary Force," May 3...
...In "polite" society, Jerry Falwell is anathema—so much so that he is not defended even when his actions are wildly, sometimes viciously, distorted...
...The billions of dollars spent prosecuting the Clinton-Blair war could have been better used to ease the refugees' pain...
...A reader of the article would come away with the idea that Alexander is focusing on themes that don't much concern Republican primary voters, such as education...
...The dismissive, caustic tone of the article is the kind I would have expected from the members of the national media, who Rees correctly notes, dislike Alexander...
...In fact, many were ugly and flew poorly, such as the Brewster Buffalo, which looked like its name suggests, and of which it was said that the only time it flew with its wings level was as it passed from being unstable to the left to being unstable to the right...
...Airplanes early on were correctly projected to have efficient and effective military applications principally by Gen...
...Correspondence BEAUTIFUL BOMBERS In his article on airplanes, art, and manliness, David Gelernter is on the right track, but gets too serious and front-of-the-classy ("Men at War and the Planes they Loved," May 3...
...Now that so much life and liberty have been lost due to this ill-conceived attack, the only honorable thing to do is pull out...
...Lamar...
...the planes were designed to work and if they looked good, fine...
...Ask George Bush...
...When moderates are embarrassed by conservatives, they ignore us—or pile on...
...But education is of large concern to the public, as evidenced in the current battle in New York City...
...The B-17D and its earlier incarnations had a skinny and disproportionate empennage...
Vol. 4 • May 1999 • No. 33
