A life in letters.

In your January 28 issue ("The Week"), you refer to a letter to the editor that I wrote to the New York Times, published on January 3, 2008. You state that my claim of being "a life-long Republican until the candidacy of George W. Bush" is a lie. Where do you come off calling me a liar, when my published letter clearly states that I was a lifelong Republican before the candidacy of George W. Bush? I am extremely proud to be an activist and an independent voter in 2008. I am also quite proud of the fact that the Times (and other papers) have published 27 of my letters since 2003.

I voted for Ronald Reagan twice and George H. W. Bush twice. When the younger Bush became a candidate, I could not in good conscience continue to support the Republican party. I demand that you publish this letter with an apology, and refrain from calling people liars without any basis whatsoever to do so!

Henry A. Lowenstein

New York, N.Y.

THE EDITORS RESPOND:

Consider a few more nuggets from Mr. Lowenstein's missives to the Gray Lady. He says that "the money spent on the war in Iraq could cover a national health care program for all Americans." If only America had courageous leaders, he claims, they would "impose a $1-to-$3 increase in the tax on gasoline." He praises as "exemplary" John Kerry's "record on health care, the environment and jobs." He condemns the administration for trying to make sure that "every worthwhile, successful and fair entitlement program is eliminated." He decries "the folly of tax cuts." Yes, these letters were written after 2000; and yes, political allegiances change. But could a man who now favors higher taxes, nationalized health care, and John Kerry environmentalism have once supported Ronald Reagan or the Contract with America? Only if his political philosophy had undergone a radical shift. Of course, it would then be of no significance that the shift coincided with the ascendancy of George W. Bush, since Bush's policies on taxes, health care, entitlements, and the environment do not differ makedly from mainstream Republican positions of the past three decades. By calling himself a "lifelong Republican until the candidacy of George W. Bush," Mr. Lowenstein means to imply that he would still be one if not for that nefarious Dubya. We leave our readers to decide for themselves whether this is honest. They may wish to know that the New York City Board of Elections has records for only one Henry A. Lowenstein; that he registered to vote as an independent in 1998; and that there is no record of his voting in any Republican primary, or being registered as a Republican, between 1992 (the first year for which archives are readily accessible) and the present.