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Columnist RUBEN ROSARIO on-line is opposite columnist and radio talk show host JOE SOUCHERAY.

I think that it would be interesting to compare & contrast JOE & RUBEN’S writings. It seems to me that over the years, Joe has written and said his share of things.

It seemed to me that it used to be that Gerald for was a former President, while Richard Nixon was an ex-President. However, lately those terms have seemed to have been interchanged a bit.

To my way of thinking Spitzer is an ex-governor in that he did not complete his term. When office holders are no longer in office, I don’t recall if they are designated by party.

I don’t really know what the protocol is on that.

What a typical elitist statement. I once worked with many talented, brave,intelligent people who lacked a college education. We all wore uniforms that said “U.S. Army.” But I guess John Kerry beat you to that one, Yutzi.

By the way, where did Sen. Keith Langseth earn his degree, for example?

Over on the news pages, it is standard editorial policy to put (R-Edina) or (DFL-Minneapolis) after the politician’s name. There are no such policies, however, with respect to the letters to the editor.

That’s for two reasons. First, the letters editors don’t expect letter writers to conform to the paper’s internal standards with regard to what the paper prints on its news pages. Second, the letters editors don’t want to be in the habit of editing letters to make them conform to the standards of the news pages.

Moreover, the letter identified Carey as the chair of the Rebublican party. One finds it hard to believe that readers would reasonably think that Seifert is a DFLer.

Finally, given el presidente’s agnst about the lack of a party label next to Seifert’s name, perhaps he can join me in my criticism of the mainstream media in the Spitzer case. There, the MSM did not identify Spitzer as a Democrat. And this was on the news pages, not the editorial pages.

So….

el presidente, can I count on your support?

I found it interesting that the Carey’s article made mention of Rep. Marty Seifert but, Carey’s article did not contain the usual tag “R” for REPUBLICAN, after the name of Seifert, and the political [city] area that Seifert represents, or lives in, or the type of office that Seifert holds.