A war of words

Among my many duties is creating the editorial page every day. It's not something I normally would promote here, but I have to drop a quick plug for tomorrow's page.

Thanks to The Hartford Courant, I've produced what I would consider the epitome of a perfect opinion page. It starts off with a column by Sen. Joe Lieberman explaining his stance on health care reform, the "public option" and the national debt.

That's followed by a nice cartoon that relates pretty closely to the subject matter ... and a pointed rejoinder penned by Bill Curry, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, who just lets Lieberman have it. Some choice selections:

• "Lieberman spouted lots of other twaddle, but space is limited. In a perfect world, we'd just call him up on the phone and explain matters. It would change nothing, as extreme cases of willful ignorance need stronger medicine than mere facts."
• "Cameras are like crystal meth for Joe and knowing they'd be there when he jumped ship hardly would deter him."
• "Ever since Democrats rebuffed his 2004 presidential candidacy over the slight matter of his rabid enthusiasm for invading Iraq, Lieberman has smoldered."

Ba-zing. I don't care what your political leanings are — that's just good, old-fashioned barb-writing there. Our Founding Fathers, some of whom wrote the nastiest and most excoriating things I ever have read, would be proud.

Anyhow, it's a good and thought-provoking page, in my opinion. Rarely do you get to show both sides of an issue that are so diametrically and directly opposed — and in such proximity, to boot.

So check it out.