Vince Avedon – 7/1/05

This page was last updated on July 3, 2005.

Bush has hurt America; Vince Avedon; Beaver County Times; July 1, 2005.

This is simply another anti-Bush rant by Mr. Avedon.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“George Bush has made America weak. Bush cooked up a war that he wanted by blurring the WMD intelligence, terrorism and Saddam. Iraq was supposed to be a soft target and a quick victory. What exactly was accomplished when George announced ‘mission accomplished?’

[RWC] President Bush “wanted” a war? Comments like this illustrate how far off the deep end the left has gone.

When did President Bush or anyone in his administration ever claim or imply “Iraq was supposed to be a soft target and a quick victory?”

President Bush didn’t announce, “mission accomplished.” This was a banner on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln acknowledging the initial mission of booting Saddam Hussein out of power was accomplished. During his speech on the Lincoln, President Bush clearly stated, “We have difficult work to do in Iraq.”

“Bush continues to make America weak by failing to protect our borders yet some Republicans find the time to deny funding for ‘Big Bird’ and ‘Sesame Street.’”

[RWC] Perhaps Mr. Avedon can explain why the government needs to fund television shows.

“Iraq has demonstrated the limits of our power and done nothing but emboldened our enemies. Why should North Korea fear us when we can’t even secure the road from Baghdad to the airport? I’ll tell you why. Bush doesn’t have enough troops in Iraq. Poor, poor management.”

[RWC] “Emboldened our enemies?” Mr. Avedon apparently forgets North Korea signed an agreement with the Clinton administration regarding nuclear weapons development and immediately ignored it.

Not “enough troops in Iraq?” Is Mr. Avedon a military expert? Does he have the tactical knowledge to make such a statement? This is merely parroting the latest liberal talking point. If the military decided it needed more troops in Iraq, does anyone believe Mr. Avedon would support that move?

“The insurgents that freely cross over Iraq’s borders are another indication of Bush’s inability to understand security. If he did understand, then our own borders would be secure.”

[RWC] Just as his fellow traveler Nikola Drobac, Mr. Avedon made a serious tactical error. He admits terrorists “freely cross over Iraq’s borders.” That kills the “guerilla” and “insurgent” labels liberals like Mr. Avedon like to use. Oops.

I can’t defend the Bush administration’s record regarding border control. That said, don’t believe Mr. Avedon cares one whit about illegal immigration. If a non-liberal administration ever gets serious about border control, I can just about guarantee folks like Mr. Avedon will brand those efforts as racist, et cetera.

“But then Bush wouldn’t know about that since he was busy protecting Mississippi from the Viet Cong. Not only is George incompetent, but he is also negligent of his duties.”

[RWC] Before Mr. Avedon accuses anyone of incompetence or negligence, perhaps he should get his own facts straight. President Bush’s Air National Guard service was served in Texas and Alabama, not Mississippi.

“I find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada and her calves to their stalls in the state of Washington but is unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

“Bush continues to make America weak by not meeting recruitment objectives. For the past four months, recruitment results were 25 percent below objective. Who would want to enlist when Bush is cutting VA benefits? That clearly leaves us vulnerable to respond to a real threat like bin Laden and North Korea. Ah, if only Bush had a coalition of the able and willing instead of just a coalition of the willing.”

[RWC] “Cutting VA benefits?” A review of the 2006 federal budget shows Department of Veterans Affairs spending increased approximately 51% under President Bush (five years) vs. approximately 27% under Bill Clinton (eight years). Is it enough? I don’t know, but it’s incorrect to refer to a 51% spending increase as “cutting VA benefits.”

Regarding recruiting, what should we expect from the non-stop war bashing in the press and from Democrat leaders? Who would want to join when the majority of what you hear and read is negative?

Finally, Mr. Avedon has returned to the tactic of referring to our allies as incompetent.