Edward Hum – 8/19/08

This page was last updated on August 26, 2008.

Let’s bring back the good old days; Edward J. Hum; Beaver County Times; August 19, 2008.

Mr. Hum was a regular contributor (at least 28 letters) from mid-2004 through September 2007. After about 10 months, Mr. Hum came out of “retirement” to bash President Bush’s Air National Guard service with two letters in less than two weeks. It will be no surprise most of Mr. Hum’s letters are no more than exercises in bashing President Bush and/or other Republicans. Mr. Hum’s letters are also flame-throwing exercises. I don’t know if Mr. Hum actually believes what he writes, or if he simply likes to stir things up to call attention to himself.

Mr. Hum is one of a group of local Republican impersonators (The group also includes Messrs. William A. Alexander, Arthur Brown, William G. Horter, and George Reese.) who write claiming to be disgruntled Republicans. You have to give Mr. Hum “credit,” however, for going the extra mile to further his impersonation. As of September 2006, Mr. Hum was actually registered as a Republican despite the fact he’s no more a Republican than is Dennis Kucinich.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In the last 25 years, dozens of politicians from both parties have had consensual sexual relations reported in the news.

“Somehow, I don’t think their private lives are any of my business. I want them to be honest as they do the people’s work.”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. A person who cheats on her/his spouse is likely “to be honest as they do the people’s work?” Anything’s possible, but I suspect those who cheat on their spouse also tend to be dishonest in their dealings with other people.

“My biggest worry is that sometime in the future a straight-laced politician will get us into a dumb war, and 4,000 of our troops will be killed and 10,000 will lose arms and legs and suffer massive head injuries. It could happen.”

[RWC] I know Mr. Hum is referring to President Bush, but when did the left begin referring to Mr. Bush as “straight-laced?” Historically, the left referred to President Bush as a drunk and a druggie.

“Fifty years ago, we had no idea what John F. Kennedy did in his spare time or whether Dwight Eisenhower’s female driver had other duties. We wanted them to serve the United States to the best of their abilities.

“We wanted our clergymen to serve our spiritual needs. We knew they were flawed, as were we, and we knew which ones to keep our little boys away from.

“If a preacher had a heart attack and died in a house of prostitution, we didn’t want a sensational news story. We wanted his obituary to tell about his many years of faithful service to the Lord.

“Bring back the good old days.”

[RWC] Hmm, then why did Mr. Hum bring up Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) in “Grim predictions?”

I believe this letter falls into the “stir things up to call attention to himself” category. You see, Mr. Hum knows full well the vast majority of recent high profile cheating spouses have been of the Democrat persuasion. We have two governors of New York (Spitzer & Paterson), one governor of New Jersey (McGreevey), one President of the United States (Clinton), one candidate for President (Edwards), and probably some I’ve forgotten. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t believe Democrats are more prone to infidelity than Republicans. It’s just that recently, Democrat politicians have been going through a bad spell.