Gino Piroli – 1/16/06

This page was last updated on January 16, 2006.

Dixmont’s demise brings up memories; Gino Piroli; Beaver County Times; January 16, 2006.

The subject column had three sections on three different subjects and I address the third section below. That’s why the column’s title doesn’t match the subject covered below.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject column.

“I’ve had communications from people who believe that events of the past year have validated criticisms about President Bush’s job performance. I’m not sure that’s totally [sic], but I have refrained from commenting because I don’t know where to start. Should it be the handling of Hurricane Katrina, Social Security, Medicare, CIA leaks, scandals, wiretapping without court orders or, the biggest blunder of all, the war in Iraq?”

[RWC] “People who believe that events of the past year have validated criticisms about President Bush’s job performance?” Anyone want to bet these are people who would rather die than admit a Republican did something right?

Mr. Piroli doesn’t “know where to start?” Why not start where the majority (all?) of his political columns start, with name-calling and/or unsubstantiated allegations? Oops, Mr. Piroli will probably consider that a personal attack.

“Scandals?” In which scandal has President Bush been implicated? The lack of scandal is one of the things that’s driving his opponents to try and manufacture a scandal. Rathergate is only one example.

“Public responses have addressed the issues better than I could, including many who have expressed their displeasure with what he has done and also words from his supporters. His supporters, however, rarely address the issues but invoke personal attacks. They’ve called U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a dedicated Vietnam war veteran and one of the staunchest supporters of the military, a traitor for criticizing the administration’s Iraq policy.”

[RWC] As I’ve noted in previous critiques, Mr. Piroli is obsessed with “personal attacks” despite the fact personal attacks generally form the basis of his political columns. Check Mr. Piroli’s columns over the past few years and you will find his columns have referred to President Bush and his administration as court appointed, dishonorable, dumb, incompetent, “geniuses” in a derisive context, liars, obsessive, and so on. Not once did the columns cite credible and verifiable evidence to support the name-calling. In addition to a blind spot for his own name-calling, Mr. Piroli also can’t see the name-calling by fellow travelers Avedon, N. Drobac, Kislock, R. Shannon, et cetera. I issue the following challenge to Mr. Piroli. Show me any liberal criticisms of President Bush that don’t resort to name-calling.

Mr. Piroli defends Mr. Murtha here, yet below agrees Mr. Murtha was “stupider, dumber and more moronic for voting to authorize [President Bush] to go to war.” Which is it?

For the record, I don’t believe anyone has called Mr. Murtha “a traitor for criticizing the administration’s Iraq policy.” From every report I’ve read or seen, the animosity toward Mr. Murtha is for how he is expressing his opinion.

“Another viewpoint supposedly supporting the president said that if members of Congress call him stupid, dumb and a moron, then they must be stupider, dumber and more moronic for voting to authorize him to go to war.

“I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. That’s why I wouldn’t support John Kerry, Hilary [sic] Clinton, John Edwards or anyone in Congress for the presidency.”

[RWC] If this statement is true, for whom did Mr. Piroli vote in 2004?

“I’m leaning to the moderate governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, rated by Time Magazine as one of the five best governors in the United States.”

[RWC] Mr. Piroli should keep up with current events; Mark Warner is the former governor of Virginia. Tim Kaine is the current governor.

Did you ever notice how liberals always refer to Democrats as “moderates?”