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Karen Tumulty's caricature of Obama's bitter-voters observation as a "dismissal of small-town voters as narrow-minded, churchgoing gun nuts" who are "irrational and bigoted" represents political spin rather than a fair reading of his words. He was explaining why some voters focus on social issues rather than on their economic interests. Tumulty's article does little to help us understand Obama's "mangled" meaning and instead carelessly perpetuates his opponents' spin. Brian C. Jones, WAVERLY, IOWA

Tumulty has joined the rest of the Washington press crowd in condemning Obama for comments that the rest of America, outside the Beltway, knows to be essentially truthful. Why else would Obama's poll numbers have remained strong despite the fury and umbrage of those in Washington most sheltered from what the rest of the country is going through? Maybe lapel flag pins are the only story they've come to understand. Jay H. Abrams, BOCA RATON, FLA.

In her story on Obama's "Bitter" comments, Tumulty refers to "downscale voters." Webster's defines downscale as "located or moving toward ... the middle or lower end of a social or economic scale." It would be interesting to know, in Tumulty's neo-élitist judgment, what constitutes a downscale voter. Frank Brodersen, FREDERICKSBURG, VA.

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