Since you profess to present the facts as they unfold, how about considering the vast numbers of those who don’t wish to be labeled as belonging to the extreme side of either party and wish to vote strictly on the merits of each candidate?

When I get solicitations with appeals for money addressed to “Dear Fellow Conservative,” and also an almost weekly appeal from the ACLU, I often go to the trouble of stuffing their postage-paid return envelopes with their counterpart appeals and letting them pay the return postage. I wish that many others who are equally turned off with such extremist monetary appeals would do the same.

It is sadly amusing to observe that a majority of the presidential candidates appear to kiss up to where they think the money is. As an example, Mitt Romney suddenly has become an ardent supporter of the pious right-to-life faction, and has even gone so far as to recently join the National Rifle Association even though he admits to not owning a gun. Do those of us who have witnessed the TV debates truly think Ron Paul, with his whiny voice, would make a good president, regardless of the merits of what he says? Recently the press revealed that the leading Democratic contenders are bashing NAFTA in a pronounced attempt to kiss up to trade unions and create fear of job losses, even though unemployment is at an all-time low. Then there are those who would put fear of illegals in our hearts, even though our local economy would collapse without these hard-working people doing the kind of work most of us reject.

Might I call attention to the fact that our country has been and hopefully will always be ruled with checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial, and in no way should religion enter into our political governing system. I do not judge any candidate by his membership in a church, but when we have a preacher such as Huckabee running for president, to me that is suspect. I further note that the Democratic leading candidates, especially John Edwards, want to tax the rich at a higher rate to pay for more benefits to the “middle class.” It sounds good to many, but to me it sounds like a step toward socialism. To quote Churchill, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. Socialism is the equal sharing of misery.” A good example would be Venezuela.

It has been said that there are those who praise and promote a candidate from the opposing party in the hope that person will get the nomination and lose. By ridicule, slander or other means, the independent voters are being deliberately misinformed to the point of being completely confused. I find your cartoon depicting the leading Republican candidates as animals in a pet store for sale to the highest bidder completely disgusting, and also your far right William Rusher editorial damning Giuliani and promoting Romney equally out of line.

I doubt the Republicans can win with a far-right candidate. They would end up shooting themselves in the foot because there are just too many believers in a “woman’s right to choose.” Religious fanatics have caused most of the wars throughout history and I believe our country can avoid condemning others because their religion is different from ours.

In my opinion, the only presidential candidates left in the pack with broad appeal to warrant my support are John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, because neither adheres to a hard line, extremist point of view. Who knows what further media attempts or manipulations by political handlers to confuse, will be put upon us? Somehow, I trust we can separate reality from distortion and we will survive!

(Schaaf lives in Napa.)