Edward Hum – 4/13/11

This page was last updated on April 13, 2011.

Vacation criticism was undeserved; Edward J. Hum; Beaver County Times; April 13, 2011.

Mr. Hum has written more than 60 letters since mid-2004, including a 10-month hiatus from September 2007 to July 2008. 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 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, George Reese, and Oren M. Spiegler) 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. Mr. Hum wrote three letters in support of a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly (here, here, and here), then he reverted to his Bush-bashing habit, as in “Bush earns status as ‘most liberal.’” I guess some addictions are too tough to overcome. Mr. Hum’s last letter was entitled “Where’s fiscally correct GOP?”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I must respond to Thursday’s letter to the editor ‘Voters must not get fooled again’ from Dan Sainovich Sr.”

[RWC] The relevant portion of the subject letter is “Some guy runs for president on hope and change, but then sends the country down the toilet, plays golf, lives lavishly and vacations too often.”

“As a Republican, I don’t appreciate the writer complaining about the many weeks George W. Bush spent on vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, or, for that matter, the eight-week safari in Africa for Laura Bush and their daughters.”

[RWC] I always get a kick out of it when Mr. Hum refers to himself as a Republican. Mr. Hum wrote no letters objecting when some of his fellow travelers complained (Some examples are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) about Mr. Bush’s vacations. Will Mr. Hum write a letter taking William A. Alexander to task for his comments in his letter of today?

Mr. Hum is being cute and taking advantage of the fact the subject letter’s author didn’t mention President Obama by name, only by implication.

I didn’t know Mr. Bush ran “for president on hope and change.” As for playing golf, Mr. Bush gave that up in 2003.

The “eight-week safari in Africa for Laura Bush and their daughters?” According to the AP, “Mrs. Bush and her 23-year-old daughters, Barbara and Jenna, spent the weekend at the Madikwe Game Reserve on the South African-Botswana border.” This was part of an official three-nation trip to Africa by Mrs. Bush on behalf of the U.S. As for the daughters, Jenna “had accompanied her parents to the Scotland [G8] summit” from where the Africa trip began. “Barbara, who [had] been volunteering to help with young AIDS sufferers and other patients at a Cape Town children’s hospital,” joined her mother and sister at the game reserve. I don’t know if staying at a lodge in a game reserve counts as a safari or not, but I’m reasonably sure African weekends aren’t eight weeks long. I’m also pretty sure you can’t go on an “eight-week safari” during a one-week or less trip.

“Like the rest of us, they deserve vacation time.”

[RWC] As I’ve written about other presidents including Mr. Obama, the President of the United States is never really out of the office. A chunk of the White House staff travels with the President and Air Force One is equipped with enough communications capability so the President can conduct business while he travels.

“Next, we’ll be hearing again about Bush’s unnecessary trillion-dollar war in Iraq or his trillion-dollar Wall Street bailout.”

[RWC] Mr. Hum would be on firmer ground if Mr. Obama had not supported the “Wall Street bailout” and followed the Bush administration’s plan for Iraq. Further, Mr. Obama pretty much doubled down on the $700 billion TARP (not “trillion-dollar”) with his own $850 billion “stimulus” bill.

“Enough!”

[RWC] Agreed, but will Mr. Hum take his own advice?