Velma Berger – 8/13/07

This page was last updated on August 23, 2007.

There is no vacation from war; Velma Berger; Beaver County Times; August 13, 2007.

This is the latest in a series of at least 21 Bush and Iraqi-bashing letters written by Ms. Berger dating back to February 2005. In one letter, Ms. Berger told us she was proud of John Murtha.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“I recently saw pictures of the president as he viewed the site of the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis.

“It took him four days to get there.”

[RWC] What’s Ms. Berger’s point? Was President Bush supposed to don diving gear or work the debris removal equipment?

“It took him three days to get to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, another opportunity for more pictures. One woman who was interviewed said people are still homeless and that the president did not follow through with help as he promised.”

[RWC] I’ve got $5 saying Ms. Berger would have complained even if President Bush teleported to the sites within minutes.

Ms. Berger can complain all she wants about President Bush and New Orleans, but the fact remains the feds provided more money than state and local officials have used. As a reminder, Democrats have been in control of Louisiana and New Orleans since forever.

“As he has said before, ‘I am a war president.’ Well, he’s not doing well at that either.”

[RWC] Oops, Ms. Berger isn’t paying attention. Even Democrats and the press are conceding the troop surge in Iraq is working.

“Now, members of the parliament in Iraq are taking the month off on vacation. This while our troops are dying. As I write this letter, we have lost 19 so far this month.

“I think the Iraqi officials are following the example set by our president. Bush is either at Camp David or Crawford, Texas. It’s too warm in D.C.”

[RWC] I lived in Houston, TX, for nearly 19 years. I hate to break the news to Ms. Berger, but normally it’s a lot hotter in Crawford during August than it is in DC.

Why no criticism of the Democrat-majority Congress? For all intents and purposes, Congress is also “taking the month off on vacation.”

“There is no such thing as a vacation from war.”

[RWC] Apparently Ms. Berger doesn’t pay attention to the news. A “vacation” for administration officials at this level – and especially the president – simply means they are working from somewhere other than Washington, DC. That’s true for all administrations.

“Total troops lost is now 3,679.”

[RWC] Given Ms. Berger’s fixation with body counts, let’s look at previous wars.

50,000 U.S. servicemen died during the Korean War, around 200,000 were killed in action during The Civil War (over 45,000 at Gettysburg alone), over 400,000 died during World War II, and over 110,000 died during World War I.

“As U.S. Rep. John Murtha said, this is a civil war. He was right. Bring the troops home now.”

[RWC] You can see my response to the “civil war” comment in my critique of Ms. Berger’s previous letter.

Regarding the “[b]ring the troops home now” comment, even if you disagree with Ms. Berger’s letters, you have to give her credit for staying “on message,” or for being a broken record.

“We now have 529 more days of George Bush.”

[RWC] Though he will not be president, I believe we have a lot more than “529 more days of George Bush.” I hope that’s true of Ms. Berger as well.