The Newsleader has received several letters to the editor lambasting this newspaper for expressing what they term partisan, name-calling articles on the newspaper’s “Opinion Page.” Some of these letters, ironically, use the same name-calling they claim to abhor.

Readers apparently miss the big bold words on the top of the one page where opinion is not only allowed but encouraged – the OPINION Page.

When complaining about the “biased” comments on that page, usually those letter-to-editor writers are referring to the “Dennis Dalman” column, most recently to Dalman’s taking to task presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s “advice” about children living in poor neighborhoods.

These letter-writers, of course, are entitled to their opinions, and so is Dennis Dalman. There have been many letters to editors published throughout the years in the Newsleader opposed to Dalman’s viewpoints, including many from writers who attacked Dalman with harshly critical comments.

Dalman, a left-of-center Democrat, writes some of his columns from that perspective. The Newsleader has published viewpoints from the right-wing on many occasions. In fact, former guest columnist Ron Scarbro, before moving South, wrote regularly for the Newsleader Opinion page, most often from a Republican perspective. As noted above, this newspaper has also published countless letters to the editor from writers who are Republicans and who slam Democrats (including Dalman) or who comment on issues from a right-of-center viewpoint.

Most of Dalman’s columns, by the way, are not political in nature. And, in his political columns and editorials he has sometimes also criticized Democrats, even in the recent column on Gingrich in which Dalman stated this: “And the ‘Newt’ is just one of many so-called representatives of both parties doing the same thing – bashing the people who are being hurt most by a lopsided economy.”

As an Opinion Page commentator, Dalman has long believed it is his duty to speak out on behalf of the poor, the dispossessed, the underdogs – those who don’t have the money, the class clout or the opportunity to get their voices heard in society or in the media.

“When politicians like Newt Gingrich can shoot their mouths off, telling hypocritical lies and insulting the working poor, I – and others – have a duty to toss his scurrilous words right back at him. I’m accused of using harsh words of criticism. Have these people ever listened to right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and all of the other extreme right-wing haters who spew vile words constantly in the news media? We who disagree so strongly with those haters have a right – even a democratic duty – to respond. And, yes, even with pointed, stinging words. I receive so many positive comments from readers, in fact more and more all the time, that I can’t be all that wrong.”

Some letter-to-editor writers have noted if the Opinion Page is so “opinionated,” then the rest of the newspaper must be slanted politically, too.

“People who read my news and feature stories ought to know by now I do not inject even one iota of political bias into those stories,” Dalman stated. “I keep my opinions on the Opinion Page – not in my stories.”

The Newsleader invites anyone, no matter what her/his political opinions – right, left or anywhere in between – to write for the Opinion Page. So, dear readers, let ‘er rip! Criticism, even stinging criticism, is fine, but trying to muzzle someone else’s opinions is not. It’s not the “American Way.”