But Will the Newspaper Editor Print My Letter This Time?

This shouldn't loom too large in anyone else's mirror, but it does in mine anyway. This bump-in-the-road MidWest town has a weekly newspaper with amazingly wide circulation, so it's a good venue for getting the Democratic message out in a blood-red area. The publisher/editor, although an arch conservative himself, has always printed my letters. Perhaps because he then gets hysterically furious letters from others to print in reply? Keeps the paper popping.

But although he's published every letter I've sent in for the last 7 years, I don't yet know the fate of this last one on the ACA controversy. Among other stuff I'd written something to the effect that the company which designed the healthcare.gov website was a major contributor to the worst enemy of ACA and the President himself. Therefore I didn't entirely trust their motives either.

Now I sent that in via email yesterday well before the deadline and never gave it another thought. Spoiled, I guess. Never do check my email more than once a day at most, so it was late today when I opened the first return email I'd ever received from Editor/Publisher. It asked for a clarification of exactly who I meant by the 'worst enemy of the ACA and the President himself'. I thought to myself, who the aitch could you think I meant? He included a report from some alleged fact checker website that said CGI gave somewhere around 4 times as much to the Republican Governors Association as it did to the Democratic counterpart. So even if he is besotted with conservatism, surely he knew exactly who I meant. Then why did he ask?

I wrote back very politely that the figures he quoted illustrated my point clearly, and I hadn't thought it necessary to say "GOP"; but that's exactly who/what I meant and I didn't mind saying so. Haven't heard back from him, might not ever, and if he prints the letter I don't know if it would be in time for this week's edition. So now I'll probably have to wait until at least Thursday this week or even next week to know its fate. Am I too egotistical to call him up or even email again and ask what he decided? When hell freezes over! I'll just have to wait and stew.

In my reply I did point out also that I heard President Obama saying yesterday that insurance companies would be allowed to apply directly for subsidies for qualified clients. Although between you and me and the gatepost, I'd trust those insurance companies to handle my subsidy application about as much as I trust the whole blasted GOP.

To give you an idea of what this place is like, when I went to the library this afternoon on other business, I happened to glance through some recent editions of the paper, and there was a letter from my main screaming TP guy explaining how Obama had refused to negotiate and therefore Obama had caused the government shutdown and this ACA debacle was God's judgment upon him for it. That's the way these people 'think'! Somebody has to tell the truth around here, and apparently I'm the only one willing to do so at least in public. It's beyond vexing.