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Prove it; Donald M. Gentzel; Beaver County Times; July 12, 2012.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“In response to ‘Poor can’t create jobs,’ it is painfully obvious the letter writer does not understand that whoever asserts the positive bears the burden of proof.”
[RWC] When I searched the BCT website for the article or letter to which Mr. Gentzel referred, I could not find it. Likewise, Google and Yahoo searches came up empty. Therefore, since I can’t verify what Mr. Gentzel wrote about that alleged article or letter, I won’t comment about his allegations of the letter’s content.
Warning, major hypocrisy ahead.
“‘(President Carter) was arguably the worst president in U.S. history.’ Prove it.
“‘(President) Obama is closing in on that distinction.’ Prove it.
“‘Our military was in a shambles (under Carter).’ Prove it. And by the way, what was the name of the country that conquered us during the Carter administration?
“‘The unions ran industry out of the Rust Belt, not Republicans.’ Prove it.
“And one more thing -- in my humble opinion Ronald Reagan was a grade B movie actor and grade C president, and I will prove it.”
[RWC] Mr. Reagan was also President of the Screen Actors Guild (1947-1952) and a Democrat at the time.
“Reagan presided over the demise of the domestic steel industry.”
[RWC] Preside means to control, lead, et cetera. In any case, the idea Mr. Reagan had anything to do with the demise of the steel industry is a popular local lefty myth. I guess it helps them sleep at night. As other folks who make this assertion, you’ll note Mr. Gentzel didn’t tell us what Mr. Reagan did to kill the steel industry. Blaming Mr. Reagan for steel’s collapse is like blaming an emergency room doctor for the death of a DOA patient. Lefties like Mr. Gentzel want us to believe the steel industry was strong and vibrant until the day Ronald Reagan took office and he somehow managed to kill it within a few years. The U.S. steel industry had been displaying serious problems since at least the mid-1950s.
“Reagan presided over the Iran-Contra scandal.”
[RWC] Again, preside means to control, lead, et cetera. According to Wikipedia, “Several investigations ensued, including those by the [Democrat-majority] United States Congress and the three-man, Reagan-appointed Tower Commission. Neither found any evidence that President Reagan himself knew of the extent of the multiple programs.”
“Reagan ran record budget deficits. He was the president who decided the United States would no longer tax and spend, it would borrow and spend.”
[RWC] Excluding the World War II years, Presidents Johnson, Ford, and Carter all “ran record budget deficits” before Mr. Reagan took office, as did Presidents Bush (41 & 43), Clinton, and Obama after Mr. Reagan.
Mr. Reagan invented “borrow and spend?” When Mr. Reagan took office in 1981, there had been only eight non-deficit years since World War II and none since 1969.
By Mr. Reagan’s last budget (FY 1989), tax revenue had increased from $599.3 billion in FY 1981 to $991.2 billion. That’s a tax increase of $391.9 billion, or 65.4%. The problem was spending. Mr. Reagan couldn’t get Congress to go along with spending cuts and as a result spending increased $465.6 billion, or 68.6%.
“Reagan was probably the least informed of any president. He was not intellectually qualified to be president. He was merely a front man. The government seemed to be coming from behind the scenes. Maybe Nancy Reagan’s astronomer was running the country?”
[RWC] Mr. Gentzel repeats the old “Reagan was stupid” BS. If Mr. Reagan “was probably the least informed of any president … [and] not intellectually qualified to be president,” what does that say about the opposition he dispatched? That rock Mr. Gentzel threw bounced back and hit him right between the eyes. In any case, scan the paper entitled “Whose Ideas? Whose Words? Authorship of Ronald Reagan’s Radio Addresses.”
Remember, the last five paragraphs were written by the same guy who above wrote, “it is painfully obvious the letter writer does not understand that whoever asserts the positive bears the burden of proof.” Did anyone see Mr. Gentzel prove anything he wrote? All Mr. Gentzel did was what he accused the other author of doing.
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