Letter: Romney cartoon was misleading

Walt Handelsman's cartoon of Mitt Romney saying, "I fired my mouth" [Opinion, Jan. 11] may be humorous to some, but people should know the former Massachusetts governor's whole statement. Disingenuous critics are using a small snippet of the statement to make him seem like a callous elitist.

Romney was speaking about getting rid of a health insurance provider if its services are inadequate. The actual quote was, "I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means, if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."

Most people would probably agree that they would like to have the right to stop doing business with someone who is not meeting their expectations.

But there is no real headline in that statement, so it doesn't generate editorials, cartoons, campaign attack ads or television news fodder. People who did not see the whole statement and relied on news accounts have been misled by this. I was one of them, until I watched the clip on YouTube.

News outlets have a responsibility to present the news factually, without an editorial slant.

Don Karlsen, Farmingdale