Letters

I must say, I found touching Bill Keating’s letter questioning whether in this newspaper “you could give almost any opinion that you wanted — but you couldn’t state things as fact that were not factual” and that “the editors would stop out-and-out lies from being printed” [“Just Not True,” Letters, August 27].

Mr. Keating might be forgiven for reaching for immutable “facts” and reassurance during the filth-orama of the Trumpian Republican alternate “reality” nightmare convention, featuring screaming hags in empty rooms screeching that brain-washing, mind control and Soviet-style occupation loomed if the savior who brought us to today were to be toppled. An indicted gun-brandishing couple — suburban vigilantes straight out of “American Gothic” — at their villa, ready to shoot passersby, were given a cameo. Seasoned political hucksters popped up emitting lies and spittle out of both sides of their mouths, and reliable Nikki Haley trotted out to both vehemently deny racism and take credit for overcoming it. And Lee Zeldin, too.

But Mr. Keating, who appears to be Republican by inclination, doesn’t scratch his head or raise questions about this maniacal propagandistic circus of lies, choosing instead to castigate Marlene Haresign [“Sinister Step,” Letters, August 13] as a liar who “should be ashamed” of herself for making up the “lie” published in this paper, that Republicans have wanted to end Social Security for years. And, further, the editors should have caught this “lie” and not printed it. (So, then, should the editors of every newspaper in this country for the past 50 years, by my reckoning.)

To refute her “lie,” he states categorically that George Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump never “called for the ending of Social Security.” In fact, Republicans have long been rapacious about raiding Social Security funds to pick up the tab for their wars and waste. It’s in their political DNA.

Facts can be strengthened, contradicted or refuted by other facts, as long as they are true, but not by the bald, uninformed assertions and beliefs that people like Mr. Keating spread.

I met Marlene Haresign years ago, when she was a measured, thoughtful, independent, intelligent, knowledgeable advocate for the community. Then she got smart and turned more to her garden than the cesspool of local government. Her views were hardly formed by hearing some “left-wing commentator.”

Rather, it is Mr. Keating, completely uninformed about the historical, ongoing and current actions of his party vis a vis Social Security (and probably much else) who should be ashamed to defend them blindly, and buoyed by ignorance. What “commentators” is he listening to? Who edits out their hideous, harmful lies? What is written and will be wrought by the banner he chooses to wave?

Frances Genovese

Southampton