Look left too

Al MARTINEZ’S claim that the left has traditionally advanced its arguments with “grace,” “subtlety” and “civility” while the right “bludgeons” its intellectual opponents is utterly laughable and so typically self-serving of liberals [“No Grace, No Civility, Just Anger,” July 9]. Was Huey Long a model of civil and gentlemanly debate or a power-hungry sociopath hoping to use populist anger to further his own ambitions? How about the radicals of the 1960s -- does Martinez consider them to be representative of enlightened discourse? Were the James Carvilles and Sidney Blumenthals of the Clinton administration shining examples of fairness and tolerance of other opinions?

Try to rewrite history if you wish, but those of us who don’t receive our marching orders from the Nation, the Democratic National Committee or The Times’ editorial page know that Michael Moore is simply the latest in a long line of mean-spiritedness within the left.

John Ward

Redondo Beach