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Put the blame where it belongs; Lorraine D’Eramo; Beaver County Times; January 20, 2011.
In previous letters, Ms. D’Eramo said Sarah Palin wasn’t “a decent mother to her special-needs son and other four children” and “agree[d] with everything letter writer Lonzie Cox Jr. wrote in his May 26 letter to the editor (‘Democrats must act like Democrats’).” I didn’t critique the second letter (“Democrats should emulate tea partiers,” 6/6/10) and it’s no longer on the Times website. Other letters were entitled “Helping others is Christian to do,” “Place the blame where it belongs,” and “Don’t overlook Democrats’ good.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I wasn’t going to make any comments about the results of the November election immediately.”
[RWC] Though it’s my experience the Times provides the title, this is the second letter from Ms. D’Eramo with almost exactly [“Place” vs. “Put”] the same title in the last six months.
“I was going to wait until the Tea Party people had a chance to see the results of their foolish actions.
“The multi-millionaires get them all riled up, and the Tea Party does all their dirty work. They don’t have the sense to realize the results of their actions until it directly affects them.”
[RWC] Who are the “multi-millionaires” Ms. D’Eramo is wound up about? I’ll go out on a limb and guess Ms. D’Eramo’s definition of “multi-millionaires” is anyone on the right. You see, lefties like to ignore their own “multi-millionaires.” I get a kick out of folks who would like us to believe Democrats are poor and Republicans are rich. Of the top 10 wealthiest members of the House, five are Democrats [including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) at #6] and five are Republicans. Of the top 10 wealthiest members of the Senate, the top six are Democrats and the remaining four are Republicans. Democrats were seven of the top 10 until Edward Kennedy (MA) died in 2009. Perhaps being wealthy is bad only if you’re a Republican.
The second sentence is the old “those on the right are stupid” mantra. Does Ms. D’Eramo realize the Founding Fathers as a group were also on the right?
“The multi-millionaires get huge tax breaks and ship our jobs out to other countries. The people who voted from [sic] them and the rest of us pay higher taxes and lose our jobs and Social Security. Thanks a lot.”
[RWC] Again, who are the “multi-millionaires” Ms. D’Eramo is wound up about? Could they include George Soros, Peter Lewis (Progressive Insurance), Jon Corzine (former U.S. senator, former NJ governor, and former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs), Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Rahm Emanuel (Mr. Obama’s former Chief of Staff), and on and on?
As for “multi-millionaires get huge tax breaks … and the rest of us pay higher taxes,” quoting the Tax Foundation, “Despite the charges of critics that the tax [rate] cuts enacted in 2001, 2003 and 2004 favored the ‘rich,’ these cuts actually reduced the tax burden of low- and middle-income taxpayers and shifted the tax burden onto wealthier taxpayers.” The TF further stated, “7.8 million low and middle-income families had their entire income tax liabilities erased by the cuts.” Based on 2008 income tax data, the top 1% of filers paid 38% of the total and the top 5% paid 59%. This soaking of “multi-millionaires” apparently isn’t enough for lefties like Ms. D’Eramo.
Who is losing their Socialist Security? Does Ms. D’Eramo just make this stuff up?
“Most people think the Tea Party and Sarah Palin are a big joke. The hate and prejudice they produce are certainly not very funny. They are very dangerous.”
[RWC] If “Most people think the Tea Party and Sarah Palin are a big joke,” why do lefties like Ms. D’Eramo spend so much time attacking them? You ignore those whom “Most people think … are a big joke;” you attack those you fear will expose your policies for what they are.
As for the rest of the paragraph, does Ms. D’Eramo read her own letters? As I noted above, in one letter Ms. D’Eramo alleged Mrs. Palin isn’t “a decent mother to her special-needs son and other four children. She’s completely self-centered and egotistical.”
“Wake up, Americans. The Democrats didn’t get in this mess. The Republicans and Tea Party are going to make things worse.”
[RWC] Though Ms. D’Eramo claims “The Democrats didn’t get [us] in this mess,” she never tells us which policies did. Ms. D’Eramo also doesn’t tell us how “The Republicans and Tea Party are going to make things worse.” Why not? Ms. D’Eramo appears to forget Democrats were the majority party in Congress from January 2007 (when the deficit was “only” $161 billion) to January 2011. Before this, Democrats could have filibustered things they didn’t like even before they were the majority in the Senate because Republicans didn’t have a filibuster-proof majority. For the last two years the President was also a Democrat. Democrats did nothing to address out-of-control spending and it was Democrat policies and programs that led to “this mess.”
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