Harold L. Householder – 8/10/16

This page was last updated on August 11, 2016.

Republican goal was to divide America; Harold L. Householder; Beaver County Times; August 10, 2016.

The most recent letter I reviewed was “We no longer have Democracy.” The four previous letters I critiqued are here, here, here, and here, and one I did not (I was on summer vacation.) was entitled “Obama has right plan on health care” (8/19/09).

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“People wonder how our country has become so divided. I have three answers. When president Obama was elected in 2008, the Republicans decided to block all he tried to move us out of the mess he inherited. They even blocked rebuilding our failing infrastructure, a plan they once favored. Sen. Mitch McConnell said the goal was to make Obama a one-term president. During Obama’s second term, they continued blocking, and added attacking Hillary Clinton. The Bengazi [sic] hearings were probably the longest in our history and most costly, and found nothing to charge her with, but had success in turning people against her and further division.”

[RWC] Random lefty: “Capitalism has to go. Merely taxing/regulating always fails in the end.”

Randolph Shannon (RS): “Divide and conquer. Take down the crazy bankers first.” (9/27/11)

RS is treasurer of the local chapter (PA 12th Congressional District) of “Progressive” Democrats of America.

Mr. Householder (HLH) gave his examples of alleged Republican divisiveness. Democrat activists/lefties see us as groups of hyphenated-Americans and divide us into classes and grievance/victim groups along lines of age, education, ethnicity, income, religion, sex, skin color, wealth, et cetera and promise each group some kind of special treatment. Whether the special treatment is bad or good depends on the group. Democrat activists/lefties then pit those groups against each other. For example, many doctors were not big on Obamacare. In response, President Obama (BHO) demonized doctors by implying they use “the reimbursement system” to guide treatment in their favor, not that of the patient, using tonsillectomies (7/22/09) and diabetes-related amputations (8/11/09) as examples. The objective? To quell physician opposition and pit the rest of us against doctors. Remember 2004/2008 presidential candidate and former-Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and his “two Americas?” And who’s responsible for the 99% vs. 1% BS, the “war on women,” and so on? Though we don’t hear much about it, the Clintons (“dead broke” when they left the White House), Obamas, and Elizabeth Warrens are “one-percenters,” just like Donald Trump. “Poor” Bernie Sanders is only a “five-percenter.”

I don’t know what HLH expects. Those on the left and right have substantial ideological differences on the form and operation of government. I don’t expect leftists to support conservative positions and HLH should not expect conservatives to support leftist positions. HLH himself has been writing Republican-bashing letters since at least 2004 (“See through the deceit”), none of which complained about Democrat divisiveness.

As for “blocking,” HLH failed to mention President Obama had significant Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress for two years (2009-2010), including a period with a filibuster-proof Senate. As we saw with Obamacare, Republicans couldn’t stop anything Mr. Obama wanted even when not a single Republican voted for it. If something HLH wanted didn’t get passed during those two years, he can’t blame Republicans.

HLH failed to mention “the mess [President Obama] inherited” was the result of yet another lefty failure, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 which strong-armed lenders into giving mortgages to people who could never repay them. The program was a sacred cow to Democrats even after the alarms started going off. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) was a big defender of the subprime lending program. In 2003, Mr. Frank said, “These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis.” It wasn’t until he decided not to seek re-election in 2012 that Mr. Frank conceded, “In 2004, with regard to subprime loans, I was slow to see the crisis.” As a reminder, the Bush administration started raising alarms in 2001. Mr. Frank wasn’t “slow to see the crisis;” he and fellow Democrats simply chose to ignore the multiple warnings.

“They even blocked rebuilding our failing infrastructure, a plan they once favored?” False. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was enacted on February 17, 2009, less than a month after President Obama took office. Initially estimated to be $787 billion, the ARRA was later estimated to be $831 billion.

“Sen. Mitch McConnell said the goal was to make Obama a one-term president.” So what? Does HLH believe a Democrat goal wasn’t to make President George W. Bush “a one-term president?” HLH’s own goal was to make Mr. Bush “a one-term president.”

“Next is conservative talk radio. These people have one purpose -- keep the middle class divided, both Republicans and Democrats, so the top 1 percent can control government for their own gain.”

[RWC] If true, how does it differ from leftist talk radio? I don’t know about HLH, but I’ve found a fair number of those who complain about “conservative talk radio” and Fox News never listened/watched. Instead, they read what lefty media says and repeat it. You’ll see what I mean in the next paragraph’s review.

“Next is Fox. Notice I did not put the word ‘News’ with Fox. This network is so biased I can’t associate the term ‘news’ to it and I believe they have the same goal as talk radio -- divide middle America.”

[RWC] As all other “news” outlets, FNC offers both news and opinion shows.

Jeff Greenfield and Joe Klein are lefty journalists who chatted in front of a lefty audience in New York City (4/27/14 @ 92nd St. Y). Watch the video for their incredible opinion regarding where to get a “straight newscast” on TV and note the audience’s reaction. Below is a transcript of the exchange. Warning: If you suffer from FNC derangement syndrome, you may want to skip ahead to avoid brain damage. <g>

Joe Klein: “It is such an embarrassment to our profession that CNN has gone in the toilet the way it has. It really is … I’m … You know, I miss being able to turn on a straight newscast, and it turns out the only place you can go to get one at 6:00 at night is Fox.

Jeff Greenfield: “That’s right. Yes.”

Joe Klein: “It’s true.”

[The audience mumbles and groans in disapproval.]

Jeff Greenfield: “Don’t, don’t mumble, folks, he’s telling you truth. ‘Special Report’ by Bret Baier is…”

Joe Klein: “The other choice is to go to MSNBC and see the Rev. Al Sharpton, who I still consider to be a major criminal.” [Mr. Klein was referring to Mr. Sharpton’s role in the Tawana Brawley rape hoax.]

“But something went wrong with their plan. People were angry when Donald Trump became the Republican nominee. They tried to stop Trump, but when that failed, they decided to hold their nose and back him, putting the Republican Party ahead of our country.”

[RWC] Nothing says ideology must be a suicide pact. I know exactly what HRC appointees will do to the Supreme Court and the damage it will do to our country for decades. With DT there’s a chance our country won’t face that fate.

An HRC win likely means a Democrat majority in the Senate. Should that happen, our country is screwed for decades. HRC’s first Supreme Court (SC) appointment will take Justice Scalia’s seat, giving leftists the clear majority with five seats and no need to convince a swing justice to join them to get their way. After that, two of the next four oldest justices are Clarence Thomas (68) and swing justice Anthony Kennedy (80). Two (77 and 83) of the three oldest justices are lefties. Even if HRC never gets a chance to appoint another righty replacement, she will likely get the chance to cement a leftist majority for decades simply by replacing existing lefty justices with much younger lefties. Should this happen, the SC will turn into a de facto leftist legislature and the only way to overcome their opinions will be via amending the Constitution, and that’s impractical.

“Hillary Clinton could be the most qualified person to ever run for president. As for character, since high school she has fought for people in need, especially children. She has done so mostly without being compensated for her work. Compare that with Trump.”

[RWC] Who actually thinks “Hillary Clinton could be the most qualified person to ever run for president” and can back up the assertion?

“As for character,” HRC can’t seem to open her mouth without lying, especially when it comes to Benghazi and her personal e-mail server.

HRC lied over and over about the Benghazi attack, blaming a peaceful demonstration gone awry or an irrelevant Internet video. Before the attack was over, however, those stories became a lie when everyone in a position to know came to learn the attack was a well-planned terrorist attack, likely by an al-Qaeda affiliate. In fairness to HRC, President Obama also lied about the Benghazi attack up through his UN speech of 9/25/12.

It’s gotten so bad, HRC is now lying about what she said in previous lies.

Is HLH channeling Cindi Kincaid?

President Bill Clinton appointed his wife to head his Task Force on National Health Care Reform, the product of which became known as Hillarycare. Hillarycare was so bad, it went nowhere despite a Democrat-majority Congress (both House and Senate). Mrs. Clinton also spent a chunk of her time as FLOTUS dealing with her husband’s “bimbo eruptions,” blaming them on a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” The “vast right-wing conspiracy” theory fell apart when we learned of the blue dress. (Note: Readers may be surprised to learn I did not believe Mr. Clinton did what was claimed until the blue dress. I didn’t like Mr. Clinton, but I didn’t want to believe a sitting U.S. president would have such little respect for his country, his office, and his family that he would do what he did.)

Mrs. Clinton knew she had an accomplishment problem during her 2008 campaign. Mrs. Clinton tried to address this issue by lying.

Regarding Mrs. Clinton’s time as U.S. senator from NY, it was a gift from the Democrat party. Mrs. Clinton was a carpetbagger; she never lived in NY until she ran to replace the retiring Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D). When Mrs. Clinton announced she would run, previous frontrunner candidate Rep. Nita Lowey (D) stepped aside. What were Mrs. Clinton’s signature accomplishments as U.S. senator? I remember Mrs. Clinton voting for the Iraq War Resolution, then acting as if she didn’t for most of the rest of her time as senator.

Other than jeopardizing national security by employing a personal e-mail server, what were Mrs. Clinton’s signature accomplishments as Secretary of State? How did Libya, Syria, and HRC’s red “reset button” for Russia work.

Despite being the presumptive 2008 Democrat nominee for president, HRC lost out to a “no one.”