Vince Avedon – 10/1/06

This page was last updated on October 2, 2006.

Selective recall; Vince Avedon; Beaver County Times; October 1, 2006.

As you read this, remember Mr. Avedon once wrote that a high school student who showed interest in enlisting in the Marines as a “was probably brought up to be a two-faced traitor to his country.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In his letter of Sept. 27, I find Paul Dici’s attempt to be a Limbaugh-ette spinner rather amusing. His previous letter(s) wanted you to believe that all Democrats are un-American.”

[RWC] I have a hard time believing Mr. Avedon ever listened to Rush Limbaugh for more than a few seconds. Given Mr. Avedon’s liberal positions and penchant for name-calling, I’m sure Mr. Avedon’s head would explode if he listened to Rush Limbaugh for any length of time. It’s also clear Mr. Avedon – as his fellow libs – fears Rush Limbaugh.

“Now, Dici has broken the Reagan doctrine of ‘never bad mouth a fellow Republican’ by bashing letter writer George Reese. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

[RWC] George Reese is as much a Republican as Ed Hum and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

“Dici states that investing money in education is like ‘feeding that black hole’. Dici conveniently fails to mention the trillions of dollars thrown in the black hole of Iraq. He must assume that’s OK. True conservatives believe in fiscal responsibility, something Bush, Santorum, Hart, and Dici fail to understand.”

[RWC] “[T]rillions of dollars thrown in the black hole of Iraq?” Does Mr. Avedon just make this stuff up? I couldn’t find a definitive figure, but it appears we’re at somewhere around $300 billion. While that’s quite a bit and will obviously go much higher, it’s not close to “trillions of dollars.” Why does Mr. Avedon feel a need to exaggerate?

How would Mr. Avedon know what “[t]rue conservatives believe?” Based on a June 2005 letter, Mr. Avedon doesn’t even know what a Republican stands for, let alone a true conservative. This is another lame attempt to trick conservatives into sitting out the November election by telling them the Republican Party doesn’t represent their positions.

FYI, it’s people like Mr. Avedon who like to refer to President Bush, Rep. Hart, and Sen. Santorum as conservatives. In practice, the members of this group – and most elected Republicans – are simply Republicans who support more conservative positions than liberal. Check their records and you find they are Rockefeller Republicans, pretty close to JFK-era Democrats.

“Dici fails to mention the four years of balanced budgets of Gov. Ed Rendell, the budget surpluses under President Clinton and the associated prosperity of the middle class.”

[RWC] This is a nice little piece of campaign BS spread by the Rendell campaign, but Article VIII (Sections 12 & 13) of the PA Constitution requires a balanced budget. If the budget weren’t balanced, Gov. Rendell and the GA would be violating the Constitution. Mr. Avedon failed to mention Gov. Rendell and the GA balanced the budget with tax increases, not the least of which was the personal income tax, and managed to also increase spending.

Regarding Bill Clinton, with the help of a Republican-majority Congress, he had four of eight budgets balanced. That said, his last budget had a declining surplus and when he left office we were beginning a recession. I don’t blame Mr. Clinton for the recession; I’m just stating a fact.

“Dici would like you to believe that tax reform is Rendell’s fault. Nothing can be further from the truth. Republicans Jubelier [sic], Brightbill and Perzel refused to put the governor’s plan on the agenda. They found it more important to be a roadblock to reform than to put forth the best interests of Pennsylvania.”

[RWC] Given the Republican-majority GA gave Gov. Rendell most of what he asked for (tax increases, spending increases, et cetera) during his first term, I don’t know how you come to the conclusion “Republicans … refused to put the governor’s plan on the agenda.”

“Jubelier [sic], Brightbill, and Perzel were also the chief architects of the pay raise. The firs [sic] two lost in the last election.”

[RWC] If Republicans “never bad mouth a fellow Republican,” why did Republicans oust Jubelirer and Brightbill in the primaries? In contrast, Democrats kept their payjacking leaders.

Democrats keeping their bad actors is nothing new. Rep. John Murtha was an unindicted coconspirator in the Abscam sting (1978-1980), yet Democrats have continued to reelect him for 26 years. Washington, DC, mayor Marion Barry (1979-1991) was convicted on drug charges (possession & use of cocaine), yet after serving time in prison, Democrats immediately elected him to city council (1992) and again as mayor in 1994. Despite the overwhelming incompetence demonstrated before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, Democrats reelected New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

It’s a tad disingenuous to refer to “chief architects of the pay raise” without also mentioning Democrat leadership, Gov. Rendell (who also signed the pay raise), and PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy. Indeed, the only person to vote against repeal of the pay raise was Rep. Mike Veon (D-14), House Minority Whip.

I wonder why Mr. Avedon failed to mention Ed Rendell signed the payjacking bill and was involved in its formulation?

“Every spring and autumn, we are burdened with the costs of seasonal reformulating for gasoline except in this election year. Why is that? Could it be the oil company contributions to the likes of Santorum and Hart, or has Bush had a conversation with God about the winter weather forecast?”

[RWC] Actually, reformulated gasoline comes on the scene during the summer months, not “[E]very spring and autumn,” to cut evaporative emissions caused by higher summer temperatures. While there was no blanket waiver of the requirement as Mr. Avedon implies, President Bush in April directed the EPA Administrator to grant waivers when requested by state and local officials to avoid supply shortages. Here’s why.

First, we were still feeling the effects of lower inventories and lower production due to refinery outages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.

Second, this was the first year of a rapid changeover from MTBE to ethanol as an oxygenate. MTBE and ethanol have different properties and must be handled differently. As a result, local supply disruptions were likely during the transition period.

I’m sure Mr. Avedon would rather believe a conspiracy theory, however.