I think I should start off this week by explaining that I'm a liberal.

Right-wingers like to call us things like "loony-left," but I'm proud to say I'm a liberal, and I won't let conservatives turn it into a dirty word.

I also want to point out that I'm proud we live in a country and have a newspaper like The Daily Collegian, where we can have diverse opinions.

It's great that a paper (and a campus) which many would label liberal, has a columnist like Joe Ramagli who can express his conservative viewpoint each week.

There is one problem with his columns though.

In my opinion, he's wrong.

Let's start by looking at Friday's column, "The United States needs another Reagan."

Joe longs for the days of the Ronald Reagan administration. One of the reasons he cites is the "scandal after scandal" recent presidencies have brought the country.

I guess Joe never heard of a little thing called Iran-Contra.

In 1986, members of the Reagan administration sold weapons to the Iranians, who were probably seen as more of an "enemy" at that time than now.

Iranian money then went to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, a guerilla organization that was attempting to overthrow the Sandinista government.

Numerous people within the Reagan administration were indicted, with Oliver North -- now a contributor on Fox News -- being the most infamous.

As usual with Republicans, these acts didn't go unrewarded. George H.W. Bush pardoned six people involved in the scandal and his son went a step further, appointing numerous others -- most recently new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates -- to positions within his administration.

So, we've had one president who acknowledged his involvement in the selling of arms to one of our enemies and another who had inappropriate relations with an intern. Now which one do you think went through impeachment hearings and which got an airport named after him?

But the thing I can't understand is the person Joe thinks can "restore honor to the White House," Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich rose to power in the 1990s by riding the wave of his "Contract for America" -- nothing more than a feel-good name for campaign promises that accomplished nothing of significance for the American people.

But Joe seems to forget that congressmen within the Republican Party attempted to remove Gingrich as Speaker of the House only three years after the "contract," and after four years in power, he was completely out of Congress.

In a previous column ("Hypocrisy discounts Clinton's political choices and platform," Feb. 7) Joe talked about Hillary's polarizing presence.

It's safe to say Gingrich is even more so. Newt built his reputation on being a polarizing figure. He's one of the people who have attempted to turn 'liberal' into a dirty word and is one of the sources responsible for revising the slur "Democrat party."

Although I watch the O'Reilly Factor often (mostly to yell at my television) he shouldn't be used as a credible source.

In Joe's Feb. 2 column ("Far-left protesters must stop criticizing and offer solutions"), Joe referenced a segment of a recent O'Reilly Factor episode.

Then in his Feb. 16 column ("Political correctness furthers social distress"), Joe used O'Reilly again, citing his book Culture Warrior to attack the American Civil Liberties Union.

I'll be quick in arguing his points regarding the ACLU and O'Reilly, and I'll employ a similar method: In his book, Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken adamantly points out that Bill O'Reilly is a pathological liar. In that same column, it's ironic that Joe references George Orwell's novel 1984. He claims political correctness is an example of the "newspeak" Oceania citizens spoke in the novel. In reality, "newspeak" most closely resembles the party politics of people like Gingrich and George W. Bush.

Those who remember reading 1984 in high school will remember one of the three slogans of the "Party:" "War is Peace." That seems to closely align with one of the Bush administration's mantras: "Fight them there so we don't have to fight them here."

Their idea is as long as we continue to have a neverending "War on Terror," we will keep the peace on our turf.

But the biggest parallel to "newspeak" is names W. has given to some of his major policies.

The best example of this is the 2003 Clear Skies Act, which has reduced caps on airborne toxins and allowed many companies to increase their levels of pollution.

I don't want people to get the impression that I am one of the screaming talking heads that you see on so many "news" programs today.

I think freedom of speech is wonderful, and in my opinion it's the most important freedom we have.

It allows us to all have an opinion, even if it's unpopular.

The fact that Joe has the freedom (and guts) to write a column that I assume is contrary to popular opinion on this campus is what makes this country great.

And we are lucky to have a news outlet like the Collegian that will allow columnists to express their opinion and allows readers to argue that opinion in the form of a letter to the editor.

As columnists, we can promote someone like Newt Gingrich for president, we can assail an organization that raises $5.2 million for charity or we can encourage people to give up their cell phones for a day.

And, as any true advocate of the right to free speech, I hold to the Voltaire's quote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."