Charles Peters is a frequent email correspondent after each column gets published--and unlike many, he's both civil and thoughtful, even though we disagree strongly about almost everything. He sprang to my defense in the Tribune letters to the editor on April 5th:
In defense of Coppersmith
Tribune columnist Sam Coppersmith has received a good bit of criticism of late. Frankly, this reader thinks he does a first-rate job of representing his point of view, which, to no one’s surprise, represents the Democratic Party’s left wing. What I appreciate about Coppersmith is he formulates an interesting argument without ad hominem attacks on those with whom he disagrees. Further, he is an excellent writer who packages his ideas in lively and accessible prose. In short, he’s a smart guy who spins a interesting yarn every Sunday morning.
Am I just another liberal sticking up for his ideological buddy? Hardly. I am a right-of-center Republican who Coppersmith would no doubt consider a “’winger.” And I almost always disagree with his conclusions. I do, however, always enjoy “the journey.”
The Tribune doesn’t need to get rid of this controversial columnist, as one reader suggested. Rather, the newspaper needs to find a polemicist on the other end of the political spectrum who is as rhetorically skilled and enjoyable to read as the talented — albeit wrongheaded — Sam Coppersmith.
Charles E. Peters, Scottsdale
Given our society's priorities, where being entertaining is compensated so much more highly than being right, this is high praise indeed.
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