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  What is a leftist exactly?
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ContributorEasily Offended Man 
Last EditedEasily Offended Man  May 11, 2004 08:45pm
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CategoryEditorial
News DateTuesday, November 25, 2003 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionBefore moving to Utah, I had been involved with politics in Florida for more than 14 years. I had worked on a number of campaigns on the local and federal levels. I had worked on Bob Graham's 1992 and 1998 U.S. Senate campaigns in Orlando. I also did an internship for Graham in Tampa in 1995.

During those times, both in the campaign and the Tampa senatorial office, I heard Bob Graham called a number of nasty things.

I have heard him called everything from a hillbilly farmer to a supporter of Slobodan Milosevic. But it took me moving to Utah to hear a term that I have never heard anyone in Florida use in describing Bob Graham.

Jasyn Jones referred to Graham as a "leftist" in his Nov. 20 column ("Another arrow in the left's quiver full of propaganda"). Even the most conservative politicians in Florida haven't even used this term in regard to Graham.

After reading this, I started wondering: What is a leftist?

Bob Graham supported NAFTA, supports the death penalty (and used it a number of times as Florida's governor), voted for the 1991 Iraq War (when many Democratic senators opposed it), endorsed the implementation of Bush's national defense system and a number of other Republican-led ideas.

Are these the ideals that define a leftist? I have always considered myself a moderate-to-conservative Democrat. But I guess now, according to the author, I am proud to be a leftist.

What puzzles me even more is: What does the author think a moderate is? Rush Limbaugh, Orrin Hatch, Pat Robertson?

And what even scares me more is: What does the author think a conservative is? The Ayatollah Khomeini and South African apartheid supporters come to mind.

Bob Graham is far from a "leftist" and is considered a moderate by many of his Republican counterparts in the Senate. So before the author writes another column stating something that isn't true, he might want to do a little research on the person he wants to degrade.

David Trotter

Junior, History
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