Letters to the Editor

Getting out the vote

To the Editor:

"Gone but not forgotten," Mara Gordon's column (DP, 2/1/07), ignores the tremendous past and present success of the Penn Democrats. With a little research, Ms. Gordon would have learned that the Penn Democrats are one of the most active collegiate political organizations in the country - and one of few that have tangibly affected an election.

In 2006, the Penn Democrats endorsed Patrick Murphy for Congress. In addition to calling and writing thousands of voters, we knocked on over 15,000 doors for Mr. Murphy, a progressive Iraq War Veteran. Mr. Murphy won by just 1,521 votes in one of the closest elections in the country.

We single-handedly brought Nancy Pelosi, Edward Rendell, and Bob Casey to campus. Our efforts helped ensure that approximately 90 percent of Penn voters chose to re-elect Governor Rendell and send Mr. Casey to the U.S. Senate.

For 2007, all five of the mayoral candidates are presently seeking our endorsement. Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, and Dwight Evans will all visit campus in the next two weeks.

The irony here is unmistakable. Ms. Gordon, a self-described "lazy" member of Penn Democrats, is attacking the most active political organization at Penn for not doing enough. Rather than spilling ink on unfounded attacks, why doesn't Ms. Gordon use her bully pulpit for the constructive purpose of raising awareness about the mayor's race?

After all, Philadelphia's next mayor can directly affect the lives of Penn students by improving our dismal public-transportation system, putting more police on West Philadelphia's streets, cleaning up corruption in City Hall and improving Philadelphia's failing public schools.

The Penn Democrats have never been stronger and Philadelphia has never needed us more. We will knock on doors, write letters and call voters. We will help students register to vote and then assist them in getting absentee ballots.

This monumental effort will begin on Monday, Feb. 12, when the Penn Democrats officially endorse a candidate for mayor. We invite The Daily Pennsylvanian, including Ms. Gordon, to cover this event, publish our official letter of endorsement, and cover our activities in this election.

The Penn Democrats will be a force in this election - we promise.

Clayton Robinson & Joseph Gross The authors are President and Vice President of the Penn Democrats, respectively

Politics, 24 style

To the Editor:

Claims by Muslim student activists that Fox Television's "24" is discriminatory are absurd ("Popular show, 'negative stereotypes,'" DP, 1/31/07).

The fact of the matter is that a relatively small handful of Islamic radicals have resorted to terrorist attacks against the United States, Spain, Great Britain and a host of other nations in recent years.

Most Americans understand the fact that most Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding. However, political correctness should not blind us from the recognizing the identity of the most prevalent anti-American terror groups.

Scott Kahn College junior

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