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No choice among Republicans; Thomas M. Finch; Beaver County Times; March 6, 2016.
The BCT has published at least 40 letters from Mr. Finch since December 2004. At least 31 of these letters were anti-Bush and/or anti-Republican and they never disappoint. Here is one example. You can find the remaining Finch letters I critiqued in the critique archives. As usual, this letter is little more than a string of leftist talking points. I wish he could get a regular column in the BCT. I also wish he could get at least five minutes per day on a local radio and/or TV station. The most recent letter was “Koch brothers deserve criticism they receive.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“What a joy — I’m being sarcastic — for me to see two letters in Feb. 23’s Times: One trashing President Obama from Joe Boscia (which was expertly refuted by Lonzie Cox the following day) and one from Rita Gavert disparaging the two Democratic candidates for president. I guess it’s safe to say she votes Republican.”
[RWC] If by “expertly refuted” Mr. Finch means everything Mr. Cox wrote was false, then I agree.
“Let’s examine her choices. The Donald? Please...there are so many reasons why he’s not suited to be president, I can’t even consider it. All of his ‘I’m gonna make America great again’ rhetoric is a page torn from Hitler’s propaganda from the 1930s — just substitute ‘America’ for ‘Germany.’ I’m sorry, but do you want that egotistical, megalomaniac’s fingers on the nuclear launch codes?”
[RWC] I agree “there are so many reasons why [Donald Trump’s] not suited to be president,” along with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
As for the Hitler mention, here’s what I wrote in a previous analysis:
“It never ceases to amaze me how easily images of Hitler - and Nazis in general - slip off the tongue, keyboard, or pen to describe political opponents. Regardless of ideology, it seems like someone is always claiming someone else is a Hitler or a Nazi. To do so exposes a person’s ignorance and/or is an admission he can’t successfully debate an issue. The objective is to demonize an opponent so a debate never happens. That’s what happened in this letter. Instead of identifying and debating the specific Trump policies she opposes, Mrs. Douglas chose the much easier smear route.”
“Finally, invoking Hitler in this way trivializes the horrors he and his allies/supporters unleashed. Mrs. Douglas once wrote, ‘The combined total of years of successful teaching within my immediate family, including my late husband, daughters, son-in-law, sister and me, numbers nearly 200.’ She should know better.”
I’m sure Mr. Finch remembers Nazis were members of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party), a variant of leftism and the party of Adolf Hitler.
“As for the duo of Cruz & Rubio, they’re both one-trick ponies who play the same song. Both propose to be the second coming of St. Ronnie the 1st — every faithful Republican’s super hero. They propose that ‘conservatism’ somehow equals ‘good;’ and the lie that letting Wall Street and the corporate elites run the country will somehow benefit everyone. Sorry again — it’s already been proven that Reagan’s ‘trickle-down’ economics don’t work.”
[RWC] “Trickle-down” is a political term, not an economics term, meant to denigrate a group of economic positions. You’ll note Mr. Finch gave no specifics when he asserted “it’s already been proven that Reagan’s ‘trickle-down’ economics don’t [sic] work.” Why not?
I must have missed when Sens. Cruz and Rubio claimed “letting Wall Street and the corporate elites run the country will somehow benefit everyone.” This is an example of the straw man tactic. In this tactic, an opponent claims someone did or said something they didn’t do or say and then attacks them for it.
My positions are unabashedly conservative; I am not a centrist, compassionate conservative, or Rockefeller Republican. “Letting Wall Street and the corporate elites run the country” isn’t part of conservatism. My choice for an economy is a free market. Here’s an excerpt from my paper “Economics”:
“Advocating a free market doesn’t mean there is absolutely no role for government. No one suggests there should be no civil and criminal legal environment. Free speech provides an analogy. Even the most ardent supporters of free speech agree libel and slander laws are appropriate. And what about the classic example of yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater? A free market requires consumer and supplier confidence and this doesn’t happen in a lawless marketplace. We saw the effect on the marketplace of low confidence in the wake of the Adelphia, Enron, Global Crossing, et al scandals. That said, we need the minimum regulation required to achieve the desired effect. When we pass the ‘sweet spot,’ we start getting some of the same results as a government-directed economy.”
As for the idea “Wall Street and the corporate elites” = Republicans, Mr. Finch needs to pay attention to his own party’s primary. Does Mr. Finch think it was Republicans on Wall Street who paid Mrs. Clinton’s six-figure speaking fees? FYI, billionaires George Soros (Wall Street hedge-fund manager) and Tom Steyer (Wall Street hedge-fund manager) are big Democrat contributors and supporters. Democrats are in a revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, DC.
My current preference for the Republican nominee is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). A lefty unintentionally produced a Ted Cruz campaign ad. Among other things the author thought were “bad” but were really “good,” the producer said,
“Cruz is razer-sharp: It’s not just his degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law, along with an impressive record at Harvard, or even his winning arguments before the Supreme Court. For his entire adult life he’s been a fierce debater with a [sic] intensely-logical debater’s mind.”
The producer eventually realized his “mistake” and the “5 reasons Ted Cruz is even more dangerous than Donald Trump” lost a reason and became “4 reasons …”
As I noted in my analysis of that piece, “The last thing Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders want is to get into a debate with Mr. Cruz.” Of course, the real millstone around the necks of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders in a debate is they must lie to defend their positions. Conservatives don’t have that problem.
“It’s been said that if you want to move forward, put it in ‘D.’ If you want to go backwards, put it in ‘R.’ I’ll take either Hillary or Bernie — every day of the week — over the parade of right-wing clowns that Republicans consider electable. Why not just draft Sarah Palin? Or talk George W. into another run? How soon we forget, just how bad they really are.”
[RWC] I’m glad Mr. Finch cleared up speculation he would vote for a Republican. <g>
Mr. Finch apparently flunked his civics classes. George W. Bush cannot run for president again. The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
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