To the editor:
I was reading the letter to the editor "Questions of trust," that appeared in the May 13 edition.
I happen to be one of those who were interviewed by the New York Times. My interviewer, Sabrina Tavernise, to her credit, asked deep and penetrating questions. Upon my response to those questions, she would ask, "What experiences or events led to that opinion," or "Why and how did you reach that conclusion?" Those are not the questions a correspondent with a preconceived agenda asks, but rather, they are the hallmark of a correspondent who is attempting to access and illuminate the truth.
I was, also, amused, by the example given by the writer, Philip Harold. The example was of Librarian of Congress James Billington, who taught George W. Bush at Yale. Billington said that he didn't think very much of him (Bush), and that he didn't think very much of anyone from that era.
Bush got us involved in the ill-fated war in Iraq, squandered a $3 trillion Clinton budget surplus, left office with a high rate of unemployment, took the economy to the precipice of depression and left a $10 trillion budget deficit for his successor.
What do you think of George W. Bush? I think Billington was right - not much. Sorry, no qualifying statement needed.
Louis Tripodi
Steubenville
