Retired U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum’s obituary was in the Chicago Tribune

The Tribune picked up the New York Times version.

It was woefully inadequate.

Maybe it was because I attended Ohio’s Oberlin College that I followed Ohio politics more closely than most others in Illinois.

Certainly, it was not his liberal political stances that endeared him to me.

It was the way he answered letters to critical constituents.

I don’t have the exact words, but one went something like this:

“Madam,

“I regret to inform you that someone has written a stupid letter to me using your name.”

You can imagine that politicians all over the country sometimes would like to reply to critics in a similar devil-may-care vein.