Editor:

I’m not that familiar with The Post so I’m not sure if there is a “bias” in your reporting and writing. I do check the front page before filing, and my eye caught the headline “President’s visit elicits excitement, revulsion” [Aug. 8 edition]. Revulsion is a loaded word denoting nothing good. I read the story and also a letter to the editor from Adam Marletta. Bush must be really bad!

It seems the revulsion arose from some 50 Bush-haters doing their “civic duty” during the president’s visit with his family for a family wedding.

Protest organizer El-Shafei: “We feel that Bush is a war criminal and we want him to know that he is not welcome here in Kennebunkport.”

The Bush-Walker roots in Kennebunkport go back a long way; I know. I assume El-Shafei has roots in the community even deeper and therefore can pronounce who can come to her town. I live in Kennebunk. My wife’s family has been here for more than 250 years. We agree with President Bush’s foreign policy and applaud him for not allowing another 9/11. Should we be packing?

When a president takes the oath of office from the chief justice he pledges to do all in his power to protect all 300 million Americans. Quite a task. He pledged to protect the 50 folk marching in his family’s hometown. He also wants to protect Patricia Frost, who protests for “all the people who are not protesting [!] and having their constitution danced on by an idiot.”

Idiot is another of those words with little redeeming character. Patricia must be a member of Mensa to be qualified to classify another person an “idiot.”

Adam Marletta’s list of Bush sins is pretty thorough. But to say someone has “[given] up the right to ‘gather in peace’” - that’s pretty damning. Let’s see, George W. Bush should not come to Kennebunkport and should not enjoy any peace. Do I get that right?

A recent survey noted that liberals seem to have less fun and are less optimistic than conservatives. This Post article and letter to the editor seem to agree. What is it like to always lay in wait to ruin someone’s weekend (perhaps the wedding couple’s), to impugn another person’s intelligence, to tell any human he is not deserving of another’s respect? I don’t know President Bush personally, but I’ve read enough about him to believe he would probably tell the organizer and letter writer they are entitled to their opinion (our nation’s men and women have laid everything on the line to guarantee that entitlement) but they’ll have to excuse him now because he has to make constant decisions to guarantee their freedom and security - and mine.

Art Thoms

Kennebunk