Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

In October 2012 the United States faces economic collapse and radical religious attacks. Instead of a cooperative search by all our best minds to find the wisest solutions, we have an election, with partisan politicians contending for power. In a political battle as in war, “truth is the first casualty.” It would help voters if we could watch non-partisan TV news channels, but we have only Fox and what it calls the “mainstream” — everyone else.

The Fox network desks are staffed by a uniformly conservative corps of newscasters, all using the same approved words to describe national and world affairs. By no coincidence, the words are those used by the Republican Party, for whom Fox is the tireless advocate.

One such word is terrorist, inaccurately applied to enemies of America such as Al Qaeda, whose aim is to kill, not merely to frighten. The mainstream more accurately calls them Islamic radicals. Nevertheless, Fox insists that failure to use their term shows the President’s inability to understand the world; whereas Governor Romney’s habitual use shows his brilliance.

Since Fox’s vocabulary and its most frequently consulted commentators are from the Bush era, why don’t the Republicans bring back W himself, as the Democrats have with Bill Clinton? Fox’s dilemma is that a Bush appearance brings memories of gross Republican mismanagement, while his non-appearance suggests that his legacy is best forgotten.

W.R. Deeble, West Tisbury