To the editor:

I was pleased to see that the Journal-World covered John Edwards’ visit to Lawrence on Aug. 8 with, if not the euphoria surrounding that generous gesture, at least the equanimity it would behoove any paper of record to employ during the most heated election this country has seen in decades.

So it was with disappointment that I opened the Aug. 10 paper to discover that Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Lawrence had been printed as news, comments that if one were to assess their total news value one would have to precede them with the headline: “Man says stupid things on radio.” (professors sleep with students there … etc.)

I was surprised that the J-W published his crass remarks about our fair city without indignation or anger, as though we should have been pleased to be slandered by Limbaugh. So it was simply insulting when, the following day, you published his quasi retraction where he, without a trace of irony, drew a distinction between Lawrence the town and Lawrence the university (needless to say his insults were directed at the institute of learning).

Were we meant to feel relief? If the J-W, during a time when disappointment and insult are common currency, wants to rise above the level of tabloid, it would do well to learn the distinction between news and opinion and keep opinion confined to the opinion section. Shame on you.

Zachariah Rockhill,

Lecompton