By Jerry Drucker

Re: your Feb. 15 story, "GOP race turning into dysfunctional family feud":

Donald Trump's attacks on Sen. Ted Cruz and former Gov. Jeb Bush were astonishing.  However, Trump was correct in citing that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were on George W. Bush's watch.  They had nothing to do with President Obama.  The CIA had given the Bush administration 56 warnings about Bin Laden and pending terrorist attacks that the Bush Defense Department ignored.

History will show that in 1997, a group of Republican neoconservatives, inspired by Dick Cheney, created a 90-page white paper detailing how the U.S. could enter and take over Iraq by using regime change and eventually control the Middle East.  On page 51 of the Project for the New American Century, there was an addendum suggesting the American people would object to an invasion unless there was another Pearl Harbor, or maybe like a 9/11.  Gov. Jeb Bush was one of the paper's signers, along with Dick Cheney. 

By Carolyn Crandall

​The establishment has trained the base not only to reject compromise but also to stop listening, start smirking and mocking any time the possibility is brought up. Compromise has become a dirty word in their world. Their animosity is holding them hostage, as the reaction following Mr. Scalia's death clearly shows. It was no more rational than the barking of a dog.
 
The Republicans are about creating an entire political movement based on ignorance and resentment. Case in point: The surge of supporters who stand with Donald Trump aren't interested in policy, and neither are those who favor Cruz. These voters are the result of the evolution of the low-information voter into the no-information voter. They're energized by simple-minded platitudes that don't pretend to make sense. It's all about spitting out talking points with an angry sneer. The intelligence and strength of character that it takes to run a country is trivialized and rejected. Any idiot can do it. This makes idiots feel empowered, and they rally to Trump, Cruz and Rubio.
 
During this election, the Republicans get to choose between a carnival barker, a religious zealot who equals anything ISIS can bring, a snarling little puppy dog with no tricks to his credit, a scion of the family that has brought us at least three wars and four invasions the last three decades, and a doctor zombie.
 
The Republican leadership has no need to ask how the GOP lost its way as a cohesive credible political force focused on financial conservatism. The answer is clear. It is both the massive amount of dark money supporting the expansion of the Tea Party extreme right and the growth of ISIS-style religious fundamentalism.
 
Republicans are now focused on racial hate mongering, Islamophobia and disrespect for a woman's rights to seek healthcare on her own terms. They do not believe that women should have any individual rights and the GOP women go right along with it.
Trump attracts the populists with his anti-immigrant rhetoric and holds them by not threatening to take away Medicare and Social Security. Seniors beware. When was the last time you drank the snake oil and all of your ailments disappeared?
 
Patriotism is a lot more than cheering for any war, any time. It's service to country. Patriotism appreciates the need to sometimes sacrifice for the greater good of the country. Republicans understand none of that. Their country is non-identifiable.
Trying to intellectualize handing the reins of control over to the inmates in an asylum for some short term peace and then being surprised that dinner is served at breakfast, the meds have run out, and the staff is locked in a closet, is the GOP’s failing. They don’t offer an alternative plan as much as it offers an alternate universe.
 
Consumed with hate and resentment, encouraged by an entire cable news network and radio spectrum, carefully propagated by its leadership, the GOP ceased being a capable party who could govern and legislate the day Obama was elected. That is the modern Republican Party. They even reject their own programs if President Obama has the audacity to agree with them.
 
We're witnessing the devolution of America. It's interesting from a sociological standpoint, but from the perspective of those of us who actually care about this country, not so much.
 
The Democratic Party, and the country, need healthy competition, not a dog fight.