Joe Lapatka – 9/28/04

This page was last updated on September 28, 2004.

Look at what Bush had done; Joe Lapatka; Beaver County Times; September 28, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“As with many things that appear to be difficult, with a little thought they can be made much easier.

“Take, for instance, the upcoming election.

“Both candidates are, in effect, turning in their resumes to the American people. Most employers would begin by asking, what you had done at your last job.

“Bush could say, ‘I turned a surplus into a deficit, lost more jobs than created, left more people without health care, let higher education prices skyrocket, and, above all, led us into a war based on lies.’”

[RWC] I guess President Bush could say all those things, but that would be lying.

Let’s look at the facts. Democrats like to say we lost 2.7 million jobs since President Bush took office. What they don’t tell you is that we also generated 1.8 million new jobs. Therefore, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) payroll survey, we lost a net of 0.9 million jobs, 1/3 of that claimed by Democrats. I don’t claim this is cause for celebration, but even this doesn’t tell the whole story.

Each month the BLS actually conducts two job surveys, the household and the payroll surveys. Historically, the payroll survey underestimates employment because it doesn’t count the self-employed or those persons who work at home or on farms. When you use the household survey data, there has been a net employment increase of 1.9 million jobs since President Bush took office.¹ The household survey is also the basis for the official BLS unemployment figures. Now you know why Democrats like to quote the payroll survey.

Regarding the “more people without health care” BS, please go here.

Regarding higher education prices, how would the President control that? To the best of my knowledge, the feds don’t run any colleges except for the military academies. The real culprits are the states; they need to cut grants and subsidies so the free market can get prices under control. That said, the President could help a little by eliminating fed grants and low-interest tuition loans.

If Mr. Lapatka is going with the “Bush lied” tactic, for whom will Mr. Lapatka vote? Remember, John Kerry sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee for eight years (1993 – January 2001), saw the same intelligence reports as President Bush, and concurred with President Bush’s prewar assessment. That said, Kerry could probably claim ignorance since he missed over 76% of Intelligence Committee public hearings during his eight years on the committee. Even that holy of holies, the United Nations, agreed with our pre-war assessment of Iraq.

“He could proudly say he gave his 1 percent hefty tax cuts and made millions for companies like Halliburton. It was ties like these that enabled Bush to get into the National Guard, which back then was a haven for people to avoid the draft and Vietnam.”

[RWC] Though partisans like Mr. Lapatka like to claim the Bush tax cuts were only for the wealthy, nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone received tax cuts. In some cases, even those low-income persons without a tax liability received a “refund.” Getting back to the wealthy, while they received cuts along with everyone else, when all was said and done the wealthy paid a higher portion of income taxes after the cuts than they did before. Mr. Lapatka doesn’t want us to know that.

Democrat claims about Halliburton are the result of desperation. Go here to learn about Halliburton.

Below, Mr. Lapatka claims to be a combat veteran, but considers serving in the National Guard to be draft dodging. Maybe that’s OK for a combat veteran to say, but I wouldn’t. I never flew fighter jets as George W. Bush did, but I’ve never heard anyone claim that was a safe haven.

“While having nothing positive to run on, he and Vice President Dick Cheney, a fellow draft dodger, want to run as strong leaders and want people to believe they are their only choice.”

[RWC] Dick Cheney received deferments, but did nothing illegal. In Mr. Lapatka’s mind, does he consider every man who received a deferment to be a draft dodger? Did he feel that way about Bill Clinton?

“They are wrong.

“John Kerry, while never elected or appointed president, has a plan to create jobs, lower health care and higher education costs, tax cuts for the middle class while regaining our respectability.”

[RWC] You have to be in awe of people who cling to the 2000 election myth.

If anyone looks to government to generate jobs, they will look for a long time. All government can do to encourage employment is to encourage free trade and minimize regulation and taxes, and you know that’s not part of any Kerry “plan.” The same is true for education and healthcare prices. The only way government can make improvements in these areas is to get out of the way to the maximum amount feasible. For example, eliminate the Department of Education. States can screw up education enough without the feds throwing their monkey wrench into the works.

Regarding tax cuts for the middle class, Bush delivered on that issue at least twice during his administration and last week Congress passed a bill last week to make the cuts “permanent.” I guess Mr. Lapatka forgot about this.

When did we lose our respectability?

“Each man has one highly publicized event in regard to leadership that stands out. Kerry has his heroic rescue of John Rasserman [sic], substantiated by Naval records, while Bush has the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, in which he did nothing for several minutes but stare stupidly while the twin towers were destroyed.”

[RWC] Who is John Rasserman? Kerry helped James Rassmann out of the water after he fell in. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth dispute Kerry’s account of the rescue, though that doesn’t make Kerry’s service any less honorable. For what it is worth, the “Naval records” mentioned by Mr. Lapatka were based on then-Lt. Kerry’s report.

“Stared stupidly?” I thought Michael Moore “Kool-Aid drinkers” were upset President Bush kept reading to kids. Which is it, staring or reading?

Since Mr. Lapatka is wound up about Bush’s seven minutes, what about John Kerry? John Kerry is on the record as saying he couldn’t think for the time between the second crash into the WTC and the crash into the Pentagon, a period of 40 minutes.² So, even if you buy the “Bush froze” fantasy, Kerry was 5.7 times worse.

When asked about this by Larry King, here was President Bush’s response. “Well, I had just been told by Andrew Card that America was under attack. And I was collecting my thoughts. And I was sitting with a bunch of young kids, and I made the decision there that we would let this part of the program finish, and then I would calmly stand up and thank the teacher and thank the children and go take care of business.”³ Sounds like grace under fire to me, and to the principal who hosted President Bush.

“As a combat veteran, I know when lives are at stake every second counts. Before you cast your vote, ask yourself if you were going to war who would you want as your commander?”

[RWC] For those of us who were never in combat, that’s a tough question. That said, Kerry turned on his “band of brothers” after he left Vietnam and appears to be on every side of every issue. With respect to national defense, Kerry opposed Ronald Reagan’s strategies to topple the Soviet Union and Central American communists and opposed the 1990/1991 war to throw Hussein out of Kuwait. President Bush, however, has demonstrated during the last 3+ years he is a decisive and strong leader.

1. Why Are the Dems Griping About Jobs?; Robert J. Barro; BusinessWeek; October 4, 2004. A subscription is required to access this web site.

2. Kerry 'couldn't think' on 9/11; Bill Sammon; The Washington Times; August 14, 2004.

3. CNN Larry King Live - Interview With George W. Bush, Laura Bush; CNN; August 12, 2004.