Edward Hum – 12/11/09

This page was last updated on September 20, 2012.

Someone needs a better memory; Edward J. Hum; Beaver County Times; December 11, 2009.

Mr. Hum has written at least 47 letters since early 2005, though he took a 10-month hiatus from September 2007 to July 2008. Mr. Hum came out of the hiatus to bash then-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 have been 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 frequently includes “fellow Republicans” or something similar in his letters and 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.

Given his body of work, for a while I wondered what Mr. Hum would use for subject matter now that Barack Obama is President. Though his previous three letters were in support of a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly (here, here, and here), this letter indicates Mr. Hum apparently needed a Bush-bashing fix.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Someone said this commander-in-chief could not lead a bunch of ants to a picnic.”

[RWC] You’ll note Mr. Hum never tells us who “someone” is. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Mr. Hum dreamed this up so he could get back to his favorite topic, Bush bashing. You’ll see what I mean below.

“That’s funny.

“But someone forgot how the previous commanders-in-chief screwed up in Afghanistan for seven years without getting Osama bin Laden - dead or alive.”

[RWC] There was a single commander-in-chief.

By the way, in his December 2008 letter Mr. Hum said we should get out of Afghanistan. You’ll note Mr. Hum fails to mention that position in this letter and fails to criticize Mr. Obama for escalating the war in Afghanistan. Does anyone care to guess why?

“Someone forgot that five years after starting their unnecessary, six-week (their prediction) war in Iraq, it was still not safe.”

[RWC] Sorry, Mr. Hum, as Americans all wars in which the U.S. is involved are OUR wars, not “their … war.”

“Someone forgot there was no provision to pay the trillion dollar cost of these wars.

“About 2.5 million served in Vietnam, but not the previous commanders-in-chief, one of whom got five deferments and the other a position in the stateside National Guard.

“Don’t forget that in order to win an election, they supported the Swift Boaters who disparaged Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who had volunteered, served in Vietnam and got shot at.”

[RWC] Oh I get it, Mr. Hum apparently believe the President and the VP are co-commanders-in-chief. Too bad for Mr. Hum that’s not what The Constitution says.

Mr. Hum is a broken record on this topic. Since 2005 this is at least the ninth letter from Mr. Hum complaining about Mr. Cheney’s deferments, Mr. Bush serving as a fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard, and/or Mr. Kerry’s alleged unfair treatment. My critiques covering the previous eight letters are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

It’s funny how military service is a selective issue for many lefties, including Mr. Hum. You’ll note the lack of military service was not an issue for FDR, Bill Clinton (an actual draft evader), VP Joe Biden, and Mr. Obama. (Note: When I originally posted this critique on 1/2/10, I erroneously included LBJ in this list. LBJ served in the Navy on active duty during WWII for about six months from December 1941 to June 1942.)

Mr. Biden had five education deferments (Mr. Cheney had four plus a marriage deferment.) during the Vietnam War and then was disqualified from service in 1968 (at age 25 or 26) because he allegedly had asthma as a teenager. Let’s also remember Jimmy Carter obtained a draft deferment and chose to attend college and then the Naval Academy during WWII and never served in WWII. I don’t have a problem with these situations, but shouldn’t Mr. Hum if he’s going to be consistent?

“Someone should help the previous commanders-in-chief look at themselves in the mirror.”

[RWC] Blah, blah, blah. Mr. Hum kept writing “Someone forgot,” all the while displaying his own selective memory.