BCT Editorial – 10/9/08

This page was last updated on October 9, 2008.

The bills come due; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 9, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Nation must find a way to pay for mess Bush is leaving behind.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“These aren’t necessarily the times that try men’s souls, but they do require Americans to get their act together on many levels before it is too late.

“The current credit crisis is a direct result of a false pursuit of happiness that led many Americans to live far beyond their means. Of course, it’s hard to fault them when the federal government during the Bush years has given new meaning to the word ‘profligacy.’”

[RWC] Finally, doesn’t the alleged concern about “profligacy” contradict the Times editorial history of supporting just about every new tax and/or government spending program that comes down the pike? For example, just a week ago we read an editorial telling us “State voters must approve borrowing for sewer, water systems.”

“It’s time for sacrifices, not vacations, as President Bush told Americans to do just two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. ‘Get down to Disney World in Florida,’ the Pied-Piper-in-Chief of the America said. ‘Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.’

“This approach to fighting the war on terror set the tenor for the administration and the country on the domestic front. Instead of buckling down and getting serious about the challenges our nation faces, we went on a shopping spree of epic proportions that might not destroy us but which will diminish us.”

[RWC] Surprise! The editorial took the words attributed to President Bush out of context.

President Bush was speaking to airline employees at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on 9/27/01 when he said, “When they [the 9/11 terrorists] struck, they wanted to create an atmosphere of fear. And one of the great goals of this nation’s war is to restore public confidence in the airline industry. It’s to tell the traveling public: Get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida. Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.”

It was part of a speech detailing the actions/plans to get air travel going again.

What’s sad is the editorial’s cherry picking wasn’t even original. Barack Obama cherry picked a similar quote earlier this week when he claimed President Bush’s response to 9/11 was to tell people to go shopping.

Did you notice the editorial doesn’t define what it means by “sacrifices?” I suspect you’ll find “sacrifice” means us paying more taxes, just as VP candidate Joe Biden believes paying more taxes defines patriotism.

As a reminder, our overall tax rate (33%) is already near its historical high (34% in 2000), and 25% higher than its highest point (26.1% in 1943) during World War II.

“This bleak landscape was described succinctly by Andrew J. Bacevich in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post. Bacevich, a longtime critic of the Iraq war, is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University.

“‘The 2008 election finds the Pentagon cupboard bare, the U.S. Treasury depleted, the economy in disarray and the average American household feeling acute distress,’ Bacevich wrote.

“‘Profligacy at home and profligacy abroad have combined to produce a grave crisis. This time around, telling Americans to head to Disney World won’t work. The credit card’s already maxed out, and the banks are refusing to pony up new loans.”

[RWC] Did I miss the Bush speech in which he told us to max out our credit cards, take out mortgages we couldn’t afford, et cetera?

“‘It’s not surprising that people don’t cotton to the idea of spending $700 billion to bail out Wall Street. Nor should they find it acceptable to spend as much as that, or more, to perpetuate a misguided and never-ending global war.

“‘But like it or not, the bill collector is pounding on the door. Bush’s parting gift to the nation will be to let others figure out how to settle accounts.’

“Americans still have a chance to live well, but only if they and their government learn to live within their means. That’s going to mean sacrifices that have been avoided for the last eight years. Whether we like it or not, the future is now.

“One final point about Bacevich: He is no ivory-tower academic. He is a graduate of West Point and a retired Army colonel. His son, 1st Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich, died in Iraq in May 2007. He was 27 years old.”

[RWC] The editorial failed to note Mr. Bacevich claims to be a conservative yet he supports Barack Obama for President. As I’ve written before, I don’t know how any true conservative could support a leftist. Of course, perhaps the Iraq war is Mr. Bacevich’s overriding issue and he believes Mr. Obama will get our troops out of Iraq sooner than Mr. McCain. That would be similar to Sen. Joe Lieberman’s support of John McCain for President.