People who protect

In response to Ron Bandes' Feb. 1 letter ("Off-Base Column"): Conservatives are sometimes accused of being revisionist historians. I must say that I haven't seen a revisionist contemporary before.

Yes, Republicans attempted to keep Terry Schiavo's husband from killing her. You may prefer to hide behind sanitized terms like "intimate medical decisions," but let's be honest about what you're talking about. Michael Schiavo had his brain-damaged wife starved to death. That's what happens when you remove feeding tubes from people who are unable to eat for themselves. They starve to death. Please don't insult our intelligence by pretending that it's something else. Conservatives tried, in vain, to save her from that horrible fate.

In case you hadn't noticed, that's what conservatives do -- it's what they have done for quite a long time. Yes, abolitionists were conservatives. Women's suffrage advocates were conservatives. The most ardent supporters of the Civil Rights Acts were conservatives.

Give a voice to the voiceless. Stand up for the oppressed. Defend the innocent. Protect those who can't protect themselves. From the enslaved Africans of days gone by to the murdered unborn of today, that's what we do.

If "progressives" don't despise, as Mr. Bandes claims, can he explain the amount of pure vitriol that comes from them in reference to President George W. Bush or Sarah Palin? Have you read a liberal editorial or seen the daily kooks? I'm sure you have, but it's OK. "Progressives" aren't even honest about being liberals.

WALTER GIBSON
North Versailles