YOUR COMMENTS

Ken Burns may be a great film-maker, but when it comes to politics, he's not merely a complete ignoramus, but a radical, left-wing LOON! He ought to leave NH (the birthplace of the Republican Party), and go back to Hollywood--where he can associate with Sean Penn, et al.
- Douglass Knight, Salem, NH

Mr. Burns I really enjoy your documents but find them to be like your column here, not entirely accurate. I am far less concerned with the idea of Sarah Palin as a Vice President than I am with the idea of Barack Obama as the President. Sarah Palin held the highest office in a city government and she held the highest office in a state government. That Mr. Burns meets the definition of qualifications by experience in a related position. Barack Obama has never even held a leadership position in any office he has been elected to. That Mr. Burns does not meet the definition of qualified under any definition. It's kind of like saying a maintenance person would be a qualified replacement for a school superintendant.

That isn't enough for you however, you feel you need to suggest that John McCain is ready to kick the proverbial bucket. The mans mother is still alive. His chances of not making it through the next four years are just about as good as Barack Obama's chances.

Mr. Burns you worry about the possibility of Sarah Palin becoming Vice President in the unlikely event that we loose John McCain in the next four years and fail to mention that the democratic nominee for president has no real qualifications so whose side are you on? Quite frankly what I'm embarrassedd about is you sir.
- Don Diamant, Milton, NH

I was happy to read this opinion in the Union Leader online. After last night's debate it is clear that McCain will not be making it to the White House if Americans paid attention to what was said as well as what was not said. McCain has no regard for the middle class (he didn't even mention them last night!) and he has neither said or done anything to make us believe he ever will have regard for us. The middle class is so helpful when bailing out financial failures (and footing the bill when AIG throws a retreat for their high-ups) but McCain has no plans for stimulating our economy by helping us. Although McCain has a history of standing up for America, it is the past he has to stand
- Tomi Phillips, The Woodlands, TX

I'm sure all we need is less regulation and more tax breaks for the wealthy and our economy will be back on track. But rather than point fingers and call people names who see things differently. It would be nice if we could all agree to disagree about our political choices. People like Rush and others, I won't mention have helped to divide our country and I don't see that day coming back in my lifetime. Our country is in a very sad state right now, its people are so divided, how can we expect to be one nation under God when we can't even have an intelligent discussion about whats best for our country. So you can tell me to move to Canada or France if you want but sooner or later we are going to have to fix
this problem together, the red and the Blues.
- Frank Jones, berea, Ky

I suppose we are fortunate in this country that opposing parties are not lobbing molotov cocktails at one another when they disagree. That marks the difference between our nation and others. So if casting aspersions of each other is the worst we can expect, then go for it. Is it not in the public's best interest that they know who is running and why? Sure, John McCain is no prize, but there seems to be an excess of defensive posture raised when one questions the legitimacy of Barack Obama. Why would anyone suggest that probing deeply into one's background is divisive and, dare I say it, racially-tinged. The mainstream media has seen fit to accost Mrs. Palin and her family in the most egregious of ways, accusing them of the most vile invective and the left is oblivious to it. Mention the association(not accidental)of Sen. Obama with a known terrorist and hue and cry is heard across the land. I think they dost protest too much.
- David Lyons, Alton, Illinois

I was an avid McCain supporter in 2000. That was when he was the straight talker, that was before he sold his soul to the Bush-Cheney cabal.

That John McCain valued his honor and sought to protect it after it was tarnished by the Keating 5 affair. That John McCain would not engage in Swift-Boating.

The new John McCain is no maverick. He has ceased looking forward, ceased seeking innovative solutions to current problems and has resorted to the worst kind of campaigning.

His advertisements are all filled with intentional misstatements of Obama's positions - so misleading and so viciously crafted as to constitute outright lies. Sarah Palin's use of the tenuous connection to Bill Ayers is an outrage. It is the equivalent of Obama using McCain's denunciation of the United States while he was a POW or of Obama insinuating that McCain is a Manchurian Candidate.

No this is not the John McCain of old, this one is a phony.
- Stillman Rogers, Richmond NH

I have never liked McCain. He is always throwing his POW expericence in our faces, anti-MLK birthday,calling Americans lazy and wanting to turn this country over to the illegals.

And most recently, choosing a running mate because she is a woman, white woman at that. This woman cannot deal with her own family so how will she be able to lead a country? Her daughter needed her and she was not there and looked what happened.

The debate was not a debate it was merely SP reciting talking points that were fed to her.

I am neither a soccer mom nor a joe 6 pak.

So now she and grandpa want to paint Obama as a terrorist. Well I ain't buying it. This republican is voting for Obama.
- Gina Millard, New York, NY

As is very common among internet commenters, many of you appear to not have actually read what Mr. Burns said in his opinion piece.

Others bring out the old and discredited claims that Barack Obama has no experience, is a great speaker but has no plans for the country, is a dangerous socialist, or is unfit to govern because of his middle name.

If you'll take the time to read about Obama's platform, you'll find that none of this is true.

I agree with Mr. Burns. John McCain has abandoned his principles in his pursuit of the presidency. He is using the same tactics against Obama that were used against him in 2000 by George W. Bush's campaign. This is unfortunate, because Mr. McCain used to be an admirable independent voice in the Senate.

Finally, on Sarah Palin:

Do you really, truly, want someone who just got their passport last year to be in line for the presidency?
- Ben Seigel, Madison, WI

Why do people keep insisting Obama was ONLY a community organizer? He did that for three years before law school. Following Harvard he practiced civil rights law for three years, lectured in Constitutional Law for 12 years at University of Chicago, and served in the Illinois legislature for eight years and as a state senator for four. He has more experience than Lincoln did in 1860.

Geez. Do your homework, people!
- Steve Scott, Bloomington, Indiana

As General Editor/Director of Publications of the Saint Vincent College Center for Northern Appalachian Studies, my colleagues and I can attest to Mr. Burns' remarks: "My experience interviewing heroes of war is that most prefer to deflect attention from themselves and let their record speak for itself. McCain seems to think that it buys him a permanent pass...."

Our staff as interviewed nearly 300 veterans from across the country and published those interviews in three volumes to date. Never has one of them used their experiences, including the POWs among them, for self-aggrandizement. In fact, most of them were reluctant to talk, and many of them never even told their wives about their experiences.

Mr. McCain (and the public, apparently) seem to have forgotten the 600 or so POWs in Vietnam who shared a common experience. Mr. McCain seems to be the only one to have become a "Professional Prisoner of War."
- Richard Wissolik, Greensburg, PA

I don't know what's scarier this time of year, the Haunted Happenings of my city, the prospect of John McCain and Sarah Palin getting elected, or the fact that there are so many stupid and racist people in this country, as proven by the comments to Ken Burns' editorial. Someone in my family will not vote for Obama only because he is black, no other reason needed. He will vote against himself, his beliefs, his former union, his neighbors, his grandchildren, and ultimately, against this country. I saw this yesterday and it made me sad to know that this is happening everywhere. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/union-president-defends-o_n_131954.html
- Meeche Bucco, Salem, MA

Your liberal bias comes through clearly. I am a conservative and not really a John McCain fan. I would vote for a democrat for president if I thought he or she was the right person to lead this country. However, I will vote for John McCain this time - Obama is not the person that should be trusted to run this country. He is so far left that he cannot be seen looking westward from the California coast.
- Phil Dover, Stockbridge, Georgia

Mr Burns,

When your say "And in the most important decision of his candidacy, he cynically and irresponsibly chose the supremely unqualified Sarah Palin, cheapening the race as if it were some high school popularity contest or the latest "American Idol" competition" I hope you also believe that Mr Obama is not qualified himself. Look at the comparison of these two individual.
http://www.ffrw.net/mccainpalin/whoismorequalified.html
If you don't take the position he is also unqualified then your credibility with me is naught!
- Jerry Friedrich, Brookfield, Ct

Ken Burns is from New York. He lives in New Hampshire, but he is just another liberal from out of the state.
Ken, please don't tell us how we feel about McCain. It is okay for you to tell us how you and your people feel but you do not speak for us.
- Mike, Dover

no McCain won,t win obama knows more than he does and palin likes to talk but you can tell she dont know much biden is a way alot better.
- Harold G. Dudley, Marion iowa

If you really want to know what happened to John McCain, please Google and read the story of McCain's life, "Make-Believe Maverick" by Tim Dickenson. John McCain is a complete fraud!
- Ilene Sternberg, West Chester, PA

Hey, Ken I forgot to ask - when are you going to be doing that documentary on the Weather Underground?
- Richard H. Robinson, MD, Merced, CA 95340

Golly, Ken, I too can't understand why John McCain doesn't just give up like you want him to. What a bunch of drivel:


"But it is impossible to know how to fight the new wars if you are hopelessly lost in the old ones." - And neither Obama nor Biden has a clue as to how to fight for anything except their own careers.


"My experience interviewing heroes of war is that most prefer to deflect attention from themselves and let their record speak for itself." - I guess you never interviewed John Kerry. I suppose Obama is a hero for once, maybe, perhaps, considering joining the military but then realizing it would might require serving a cause greater than himself.

"By ridiculing his opponent's commitment to public service, he has undermined the very reason we were drawn to McCain in the first place." - McCain was not ridiculing Obama's commitment, just his absurd claim that this somehow constituted experience that would qualify him for the office of President.

"irresponsibly chose the supremely unqualified Sarah Palin" - But then, the Democratic Party chose the even more supremely unqualified Barack H. Obama for an even higher position.

"When Putin acts up, who do you want whispering in your President's ear: Joe Biden or Sarah Palin?" - This is a trick question, right? Easy - Sarah Palin.

"make the crucial decisions of our democracy behind closed doors with the same cronies who got us into this mess in the first place." - Like Raines, Johnson, Frank, etc. I guess. I would trust John McCain behind closed doors or covering my back long before I would trust Obama.

"And his old strong suit, foreign policy, is slipping away too, as gaffe after gaffe displays his fundamental shortcomings." - Another trick question, I guess. Obama luckily has Biden to tutor him on issues like the U.S. and France kicking Hezbollah out of Lebanon or dividing Iraq into 3 separate states.
- Richard H. Robinson, MD, Merced, CA 95340

Say it aint so. Ken, you must have gotten to close to the koolaid at PBS. You are willing to take a chance with a "community organizer" vs the experience of McCain. Well I guess you have to be loyal to your meal ticket at BS. The ultimate outrage is that tax dollars support your kind. Ken you are a very small man.
- Mike Allen, Edina, MN

And in spite of all you've said Mr. Burns, you yourself as a teller of the deeds of truly great Americans throughout our history, would find yourself stymied to reveal to your audience any actual accomplishments of Mr. Obama's worthy of a Ken Burns film. Zip. Nada. Nothing. It is all smoke and mirrors and will someday make a future subject for you as the greatest gap of a mans actual experience and his desperate yearning for the White House. Now, that's a movie.
- Mike Scully, Larchmont, New York

By selecting Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running-mate, John McCain demonstrated that he had sold his soul to the extreme right of the Republican Party. His campaign is being run by the same people who smeared him in 2000. This is no longer the McCain who reached across the aisle, and bucked the GOP when he felt it was necessary. He has changed his positions on significant issues for which he used to fight. The reason he seems erratic and confused these days is because he no longer knows what he is fighting for, other than himself. It has been sad to witness.
- J. Zander, Manchester

Hey Ken,
What happens if your dear socialist becomes president? Do you think for one second he will spare you? Remember the movie Doctor Zhivago? You liberal fools blindly walk your way into extinction. One day when the real Americans win this war, your name will be on the wall of shame, and all your work relegated to the dust bin of history like Karl May'.
- John Davis, Concord, NH

Thank you, Ken, for expressing a feeling so many in NH have felt since the day McCain's campaign ran the ad claiming Obama wanted to teach sex ed to kindergarteners. I'm a liberal school teacher and even I was saying I would be OK with McCain as president. Not any more.

Thanks too for your incredible body of work. I'm sharing one of your fine documentaries with my students this week.
- Fred, Amherst

What a good article and hurray that the Union Leader is demonstrating bipartisan thought. I am sorry to read some of the unAmerican comments from people who are have some clear religious and racial bias. I guess they forget that we are a country based upon those freedom principles.
- corey d., manchester, nh

It's a good thing mr. burns makes outstanding documentaries but he hasn't learned anything from the characters who's lives he portrayed.

I can't visualize obama in a position of washington at valley forge, lincoln after shiloh or the wilderness, roosevelt after pearl harbor or kennedy during the bay of pigs.

Chicago politics teaches one many things, but i suspect duty, honor, country doesn't make the list.
- william west, ctr barnstead

When Burns went in the tank with his planned parenthood documentary I lost all interest in this left wing bottom feeder. His failure to address the reason for planned parenthood's founding showed he would write anything to support the lefts point of view.
- Joe Conway, Charlestown, NH

KEN BURNS SUNDAY COLUMN

Mr. Ken Burns is a masterful creator of media programs, but look what he has produced for “The Story of the 2008 Election”. Wonderful story tellers weave together often disjointed threads to produce a beautiful, almost hypnotic, tapestry that seems to portray something in a cohesive, coherent, flowing unity. Are we in New Hampshire alert and awake, or has Mr. Burns’ embarrassingly ridiculous version of history lulled us into mindless acceptance of what he wrote?

In Mr. Burns’ version of the 2008 presidential race, it is Senator Obama who is the real maverick! Why he has bucked his party’s establishment and now more and more politicians (even Republicans!) are adopting Senator Obama’s positions.

Mr. Burns’ version of Senator McCain portrays him as (and these are the phrases and words used by Mr. Burns): frightening in the extreme; demonstrating instability; cynical and irresponsible; showing profound indifference and startling ignorance; shameless; risky; and the propagator of a soulless far-right agenda.

Do you buy that? Does this portrayal of both Senator Obama and Senator McCain ring true with the New Hampshire voters who voted for Senator McCain and Senator Clinton?

As an independent voter (formerly registered as a Democratic voter), I see that Senator John McCain is a real leader. Senator Barak Obama is an untested rookie who has demonstrated nothing except a speaking ability to lull people into a fantasy world of thinking. When Senator Obama in fact had an opportunity to team with Senator McCain and be a maverick in pushing for some unpopular reform legislation, Senator Obama caved in to his party’s establishment, withdrew from that effort, and voted against that legislation. Real leaders clearly see the path ahead and communicate that path in clear and straight talk. Real leaders do not equivocate. They never say, for example, that when a Rev. Jeremiah Wright condemns America that those words are really no different from some comments about blacks made in private by a Grandmother (and so we should be happy that one treats the former like he treats the latter). One wonders: what other examples of behavior and speech are really the same kind of things and, hence, we ought all just to accept them? Would Senator Obama also need to equivocate and struggle with what the meaning of the word “is” is? Real leaders – the President of the United States – know that there are no pay grades higher than his when it comes to protecting this country and its people. There are no issues of country or people for which he can defer to a higher authority. One wonders: how many other questions are above the pay grade of the Senator-who-wants-to-be-President, and what are they?

Many New Hampshire voters, regardless of party affiliation, admire and respect public figures like Senator McCain and Senator Clinton. The records of such leaders are plainly in sight. Like many New Hampshire PBS viewers, I admire Mr. Burns’ television productions. But this editorial in Sunday’s paper is downright insulting to one’s intelligence, almost condescending. It ought to be embarrassing to such an admired and respected public personality as Mr. Burns to have been a party to such an affront to the people of his state. In fact, it ought to be so embarrassing that Mr. Burns turns red.
- Charles Grubbs, Manchester

Clearly, Mr. Holdgate has tapped into the REAL issue: Obama's middle name! I, too, believe that the Constitution should have made one's middle name a qualification for president. Ridiculous!
- Jack Jeffries, Clinton, NJ

Ken Burns appears to need to look backwards, like the democrats in order to see and understand but also to be and hide. This 9/11 War is a real threat and danger, not lost in the dust of a history book for endless analysis. They attacked us and we are in it. We need John McCain to carry on the successful and reality based leadership he has been versus a candidate who poses and pontificates as a rock star. We need the continued serious performance of John McCain for this serious event. The financial challenges are part of the war my dear Mr. Burns. Working together we will get through this more quickly and better than we have been and far better than if we cave in to the cavemen with the Democratic Candidate at our helm.

John McCain is still here Mr. Burns and he has gotten better. He is not an actor taking on personas. I am grateful for John McCains guts and grit. We need him now. Really.
- Tony Fallon, Strafford, New Hampshire

Ken Burns is a great great documentary film maker, a NH treasure. I don't think anyone here can recount an example of Burns "burning" America, in fact I am sure everyone posting here has enjoyed Burns' work immensely. As a matter of fact most Americans understand our Civil War through Burns' eyes.

Yet here they come throwing vitriol ala our folksy Bill Howard of Exeter: "...a community organizer from a corrupt Chicago neighborhood with no record of your own, you need bottom feeders like Burns...." But we know Obama's Chicago Neighborhood was no more "corrupt," than Boston or NYC or anyplace else and Burns is as highly respected and and as far from a "bottom feeder" as any great NH citizen of the past or present.

So what does that make Bill Howard?
- T. Labrie, Rochester

Thank you Ken Burns for putting into words the sadness and disappointment both Democrats and Republicans feel at the decline of John McCain from a man of honor to a political hack. Politicians should know when to leave the stage and John McCain should have ended his pursuit of the presidency in 2000 when he still had integrity.
- Lenore Patton, Hampton

Hey Ken Burns, thank you for documenting so well your penchant for using the sinister tactics of personal destruction. Nary one sentence in your pathetic essay above is about the national issues of this campaign, or where the candidates stand on the issues. Instead, you have merely focused on their personal behaviors and relationships, and similar hollow abstractions.

You fancy yourself to be a documentarian, Mr. Burns, yet you have the gall to bash Sarahcuda Palin for being unqualified, without attempting to defend the "supremely unqualified" B. Hussein Obama that leads your chosen ticket.

Worse, Mr. Burns, I assert 'tis you who have betrayed John McCain. You document above how much you liked the John McCain of 2000. Now you support his opponent. The McCain you skewer above could be president right now if the country followed your advice from 2000. Since you admit you were wrong in 2000, why should we trust your (misguided) recommendation for Obama in 2008, Mr. Burns?
- Ed Holdgate, Sandown, NH

Rare indeed to see an opposing article in this newspaper. The cherry picker must be on vacation.

Ken Burns echo's my sentiments perfectly about John McCain

I am stunned at the how John McCain’s campaign has turned to dirty politics in order to get elected. In 2000, I thought this man walked on water, I would have crossed party lines in a heartbeat to vote for him. But after watching how his campaign has resorted to insults, lies and exploitation (of Sarah Palin) to get elected I have lost all respect for the man.
What happened to the “Straight Talk Express”? His campaign’s last tactic of trying to convince voters that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig was proof to me that he thinks women and all voters are stupid.

Look, at 72 years of age, I know that he’s aware this is his LAST shot at the presidency, but if he can’t win on the issues, he doesn’t deserve to be president.
The John McCain I knew and love is AWOL.

He would do well to lay off the prisoner of war stories, by now there isn’t a person left on the planet that DOESN’T know he was a POW.
- Dick Roux, Bedford NH

Obama is fraud who has little experience doing what he promises to do. Obama has set the bar for himself so high promising so much without the ability to carry it through. Be ready for Jimmy Carter 2. We will be going from bad to worse.
- Rich Sabud, Merrimack

The John McCain I admired and respected during his Straight Talk Express days of 2000, 2004 and the NH primary has disappeared. I am sorry to see his actions going against his campaign slogan "Country First" and his own repeated statements about honor. It's been especially saddening to see Senator McCain choose a running mate based on her partisan political talent rather ability to lead as commander-in-chief.
- Mark Vallone, Epping

Socialist looking for bigger government and more government control will vote for Barack Hussein Obama. Burns fits the Obama mold okay.

There is no need for Burns to criticize John McCain for "shamelessly" mentioning evens of his past. .... On the other hand, if you are a community organizer from a corrupt Chicago neighborhood with no record of your own, you need bottom feeders like Burns to slam the other guy's record.
- Bill Howard, Exeter

Headline: Radical leftist loves Obama! What's next - dog bites man?
- Leo Paradis, Canterbury

A media guy like Burns should know the difference between the heroic McCain of media and the self-aggrandizing super-fibber with concrete in his ears, and more ambition & ego than a mix of Donald Trump and Bill O'Reilly, of reality.
- Tom Brown, Reading

No surprises here, Ken Burns is voting for Obama. I would have expected, however, that such a talented and intelligent man would use something more than basic Obama campaign talking-points in a written piece.

McCain does not use his military record for blatent political gain -- review the Kerry '04 campaign for the best example of that behavior. McCain is not George W. Bush. The famous "McCain temper" has not turned up, in spite of blatent and pathetic Obama campaign efforts to bring it out.

McCain does, however, want to win -- against a man who promised "hope", but who's first ad featured a blatent, out-of-context distortion of McCain's words at a townhall, suggesting that the former POW wanted 100 years of war. Let it also be clear that John McCain never withdrew his offer to host 10 joint townhalls with his opponent. They were to even fly on the same plane, in a further effort to change the political tone. Obama rejected, simply and callously, because his strength is behind a teleprompter.

John McCain has not changed, but he refuses to let Obama simply push him over. Perhaps you would like him better if he did.

There is plenty of dishonesty and spin from both sides, including Obama's. But don't begrudge McCain simply because the old warrior -- ever the underdog -- is proving himself once again a formidable fighter for the ideas and the country that he loves.
- Sean Moore, Clovis, NM