After Orlando, who’s on autopilot — the president or his conservative critics?

To the editor: In a classic example of being on autopilot, Jonah Goldberg did exactly what President Obama predicted the Republicans would do. (“After the Orlando shooting, pundits on both sides read the same tired lines from their scripts,” Opinion, June 13)

The president said that if he mentioned gun control, conservatives would say he was ignoring the issue of terrorism. He rightly pointed out that it is not an issue of either-or, but a case of both.

While acknowledging that the president called this an “act of terror,” Goldberg criticized him for suggesting that more information would be forthcoming. Obama’s measured tone cannot compete with the instant analysis available from the Donald Trump camp.

Goldberg disagreed with Trump’s idea of banning all Muslims from the U.S., but he seemed to be slipping into that murky area of innuendo so beloved by The Donald. He implied that Obama does not want to fight the war on terror. This is the president responsible for killing Osama bin Laden.

Goldberg may not agree with Trump’s policy statements on terror, but he seems to like the political smear tactics employed by Trump.

Dorothy Gravino, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Leave it to Goldberg to criticize politicians for “going on autopilot.” Ironically, he turned on his own autopilot in criticizing calls for gun control and wanting to call the shooting “Islamic terrorism.”

Later, Goldberg appears to criticize a revival of the House Un-American Activities Committee, suggested by Newt Gingrich, as a stale GOP response. But Goldberg shoots himself in the foot by saying Gingrich is pointing to “the real problem.”

Goldberg may think he is pointing out stale responses, but his knee jerks are just as predictable. He doesn’t write one word about the failure of the surveillance state to do what it was intended to do, the flawed judgment of the FBI, or how a private security firm tolerated an employee like Omar Mateen even after it was aware of FBI inquiries.

The situation is more complicated than the statements of the politicians Goldberg criticizes or his own simplistic tenets suggest.

Tony Litwinko, Los Angeles

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