Madam, - From the vantage point of a two-week trip to Ireland, I rise to take issue with Patrick Rudden's letter of November 13th.
Contrary to Mr Rudden's experience, my wife and I found Irish people to be penetratingly analytical and uncannily accurate in sizing up the implications of the recent US presidential election.
Although the statement that "59 million Americans voted for Mr Bush" is true, it belies the closeness of the election. Mr Bush was elected with the smallest margin of victory in terms of popular vote percentage for a sitting president in US history. His victory margin was the smallest of any sitting president since Harry S. Truman in 1948 in terms of the number of votes. Aside from the 2000 election, it was the smallest victory margin in the Electoral College since 1916.
In the interest of full disclosure, I note that I cast my ballot for Senator Kerry. - Yours, etc.,
JAMES V. DOLSON, Springfield, Virginia, USA.