Ed Hum – 3/23/06

This page was last updated on March 26, 2006.

Protesting incompetence; Edward J. Hum; Beaver County Times; March 23, 2006.

This is at least the 10^th anti-Bush/anti-Republican letter from Mr. Hum since July 2004.

Before I begin, I have a “told you so.” Mr. Hum led off his letter from September with, “Fellow Republicans, this is my last letter about George W. Bush.” I responded with, “Anyone taking bets?” This is Mr. Hum’s second anti-Bush letter within 15 days.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In reply to the two GIs in Iraq who wrote letters to the editor:”

[RWC] Is Mr. Hum slipping? He usually leads off his letters by claiming he is a Republican.

“We support the troops. We would have accepted President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq if it was a clear and present danger to the United States.”

[RWC] You’ll read below Mr. Hum’s claim to “support the troops” is hollow.

“However, before the first anniversary of the invasion, we realized Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld had no idea what they had gotten into. Their three years of incompetence have not helped us in the Middle East.”

[RWC] You’ll note Mr. Hum uses the new liberal word of the week, “incompetence.”

“Many of us from World War II, the popular war, were uneasy when people protested the Vietnam War. Kids protested on college campuses and went to Canada to avoid the draft. Kids like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney joined the National Guard or used educational deferments to avoid the draft, and people like Jane Fonda and others protested. I now believe those protesters were right.”

[RWC] “The popular war?” I didn’t know any war was “popular.” I never heard my parents or grandparents ever refer to World War II as “popular.”

You’ll note Mr. Hum equates National Guard service with running to Canada – or to England in Bill Clinton’s case – to evade the draft. Mr. Hum picked this up from the Democrat campaigns in 2004.

Mr. Hum tells us who he is. Whether or not you supported the Vietnam War, how can you possibly assert Jane Fonda was “right” to show her support for the enemy by having her picture taken on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun? In Mr. Hum’s mind, this probably demonstrated support for the troops. That it was support for enemy troops is probably just fine with Mr. Hum.

“Today, we protest Bush’s incompetence. I believed a year ago that the troops would be out of Iraq by the 2006 elections. I still think so.”

[RWC] Who are “we?”

Mr. Hum is rewriting history. His first prediction for when we’d be out of Iraq came in his letter of August 28, 2005, and it said, “the troops will be out of Iraq by next summer. You can bet on that.” and “all uniformed troops will be out of Iraq by next summer.” Last year it was “by next summer;” now it’s “by the 2006 elections.” When will Mr. Hum claim he told us the troops would leave Iraq by 2008?

“In the meantime, I hope they have officers who tell them to keep their heads down and not to take any unnecessary chances.”

[RWC] Translation: “I hope they have officers who will keep them from accomplishing their mission so my predictions will come true.”