Media discredited

It's 1:20 a.m. Wednesday. The Gore-Lieberman-Media ticket appears to have just lost the presidential election in spite of their news anchors' attempts to piously, albeit prematurely, "poll" their candidate into office. This shameful performance which depicted a runaway victory in the making from the outset for Al Gore was soon to be discredited by candidate George W. Bush himself. The calm, intelligent and responsible manner in which Bush, at a time of tremendous stress, took it upon himself to explain to the media and to the world, the error of the media in their assessment of the voting tallies should further reinforce the wisdom of the voters' ultimate choice. This memorable act of leadership and decorum by Bush tends to contrast that which we've sadly experienced for so long and highlights those traits to which we can anticipate with thankfulness.

ARMOND SIMMONS

Pell City, Ala