William G. Horter – 10/6/04

This page was last updated on October 6, 2004.

No good reasons to back Bush; William G. Horter; Beaver County Times; October 6, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“On Sept. 11, 2001, as George Bush had just been informed that an attack was being made on America, at the speed of jet aircraft, he sat immobile for seven full minutes, unable, unwilling or in fear.

“This is the sort of man the American people have seemingly chosen as their ‘brave’ commander in chief. Not a battle tested Vietnam veteran such as John Kerry, but one who is cowed to a stupor by bad news?

“How can this be? Why would Bush be so far ahead in the polls? From the very instant of the attack, this man showed his true colors.

“As Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying, ‘This seems beyond the pale.’

“This is not an attack on George Bush; it’s merely a statement of the facts. In those minutes, and first hours as a matter of fact, our commander in chief turned up ‘missing’ - again.”

[RWC] Only Bush bashers claim President Bush froze. Mr. Horter claims the above is “merely a statement of the facts.” The sad thing is Mr. Horter probably believes his claim.

Since Mr. Horter is wound up about Bush’s seven minutes, what about John Kerry? John Kerry is on the record as saying he couldn’t think for the time between the second crash into the WTC and the crash into the Pentagon, a period of 40 minutes.¹ So, even if you buy the “Bush froze” fantasy, Kerry – the “battle tested Vietnam veteran” – was 5.7 times worse.

When asked about this by Larry King, here was President Bush’s response. “Well, I had just been told by Andrew Card that America was under attack. And I was collecting my thoughts. And I was sitting with a bunch of young kids, and I made the decision there that we would let this part of the program finish, and then I would calmly stand up and thank the teacher and thank the children and go take care of business.”² Sounds like grace under fire to me, and to the principal who hosted President Bush.

“And it seems, after he regained his composure, he went off to attack Iraq, which we all know had nothing whatever to do with Sept. 11, or, as Hans Blix had told him, WMDs.”

[RWC] President Bush “went off to attack Iraq” “after he regained his composure?” Did Mr. Horter forget that we attacked Afghanistan in retaliation for 9/11, not Iraq? We didn’t attack Iraq for more than 18 months after 9/11 and it was not in retaliation for 9/11. Read the Iraq War Resolution if you don’t believe me.

Before the Iraq War, Hans Blix did not say Iraq had no WMD. Indeed, Blix reported to the United Nations that Iraq filed incomplete and fraudulent WMD reports and resisted inspection efforts at every turn. He also reported 10,000 liters of Iraqi anthrax were unaccounted for.

“Now, here we are, with more than 1,000 dead troops, more than 7,000 wounded with no end in sight.

“I haven’t touched on the record deficit or the negative jobs rating he has. I haven’t mentioned, as yet, his attempting to take overtime from hard-working people or his planned takeover of Social Security.”

[RWC] The deficit is only a record when measured in dollars. The relevant measurement is in relation to GDP and there were at least 10 greater deficits since 1962 when measured as a percent of GDP.

Regarding jobs, Democrats like to say we lost 2.7 million jobs since President Bush took office. What they don’t tell you is that we also generated 1.8 million new jobs. Therefore, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) payroll survey, we lost a net of 0.9 million jobs, 1/3 of that claimed by Democrats. I don’t claim this is cause for celebration, but even this doesn’t tell the whole story.

Each month the BLS actually conducts two job surveys, the household and the payroll surveys. Historically, the payroll survey underestimates employment because it doesn’t count the self-employed or those persons who work at home or on farms. When you use the household survey data, there has been a net employment increase of 1.9 million jobs since President Bush took office.³ The household survey is also the basis for the official BLS unemployment figures. Now you know why Democrats like to quote the payroll survey.

Regarding overtime, this is nice propaganda distributed by labor union management. A net one million workers will gain overtime protection.^{4,

5} Please read the papers referenced in the footnotes at the end of this critique. You’ll find far more detailed information in these papers than Mr. Horter would like you to know. It’s fine to listen to your labor union officials for information, but you must also reference other sources if you expect to get both sides of an issue.

Planned takeover of Socialist Security? Mr. Horter, the government took over Socialist Security in 1935 when Democrats led by FDR enacted this Ponzi scheme. President Bush wants to put more control in the hands of we the people.

“But I find myself really incredulous, why is this man even being considered for anyone’s vote? All the facts seem very obvious to me.”

[RWC] We’re considering President Bush for our vote because most of us know most of the truth. Most of us know that most of what folks like Mr. Horter are trying to sell is akin to animal generated organic fertilizer. The facts wouldn’t be obvious to Mr. Horter if he tripped over them.

1. Kerry ‘couldn’t think’ on 9/11; Bill Sammon; The Washington Times; August 14, 2004.

2. CNN Larry King Live - Interview With George W. Bush, Laura Bush; CNN; August 12, 2004.

3. Why Are the Dems Griping About Jobs?; Robert J. Barro; BusinessWeek; October 4, 2004. A subscription is required to access this web site.

4. Who Benefits From the New Overtime Regulations? (Center for Data Analysis Report #04-08); Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.; The Heritage Foundation; August 16, 2004.

5. Modernizing Overtime Regulations to Benefit Employers and Employees (Backgrounder #1789); Paul Kersey; The Heritage Foundation; August 16, 2004.