This page was last updated on October 22, 2012.
No clear moral choice; Bill McClarey; Beaver County Times; October 21, 2012. At the time of this writing, this letter appeared only in the print edition of the BCT. I apologize for any transcription errors.
The only previous McClarey letter I critiqued was “Let’s talk about telling the truth.” I noted in that critique Mr. McClarey could be a Republican impersonator.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“In response to the letter, ‘Whom would God want,’ I will address Romney first since the writer clearly thinks he is the moral choice. When running for governor of Massachusetts he looked into the camera and said, ‘I support a woman’s right to choose.’ He also wrecked thousands of lives amassing his wealth as a corporate raider.”
[RWC] Mr. Romney “wrecked thousands of lives amassing his wealth as a corporate raider?” Until they were taken to the woodshed, several prominent Democrats expressed disappointment at this representation of Mr. Romney. Speaking about Mr. Romney, Bill Clinton said, “I think he had a good business career. There’s no question that in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically performing the essential functions of the office, the man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold.”
Does Mr. McClarey get his news from the Obama campaign, DailyKos (daily chaos), and so on?
“In his defense, I do not believe he would be the unmitigated disaster that was George W. Bush. For President Obama, he did the worst thing, in my opinion, that any president has done. That is to sign into law a bill lifting all restrictions on corporate donations. This makes politicians’ first priority their corporate sponsors.”
[RWC] Mr. McClarey didn’t tell us what made Mr. Bush an “unmitigated disaster.”
Regarding Mr. Obama, I don’t know what Mr. McClarey is writing about. If Mr. McClarey is writing about Citizens United v. FEC, he has the topic completely screwed up. Citizens United was about the ability of anyone (including groups of people) to take out their own ads, commercials, etc. expressing their position regarding candidates and issues. Sounds like a free-speech issue to me. As groups of people, the ruling applies to both corporations and labor union management. Contrary to Mr. McClarey’s comments, direct contributions to federal candidates remain illegal for corporations and labor unions.
“The people come second. In his defense, regarding Israel, the United States almost assuredly launched the Stuxnet virus which destroyed Iran’s centrifuges, setting their nuclear program back considerably, according to the April 2012 Smithsonian magazine.”
[RWC] This program allegedly began in 2006 during the Bush administration. Mr. McClarey left out the part where a bug in Stuxnet allegedly let it spread to non-Iranian systems around the world. In any case, everything publicly written about Stuxnet to date is conjecture so I’m in no position to comment, and neither is Mr. McClarey.
“The country is off track and neither party seems willing to tackle any problems. My response to Paul Strano is ‘Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and give to God that which is God’s.”
[RWC] Republicans are “willing to tackle any problems,” but Democrats insist on “solutions” already proven not to work. It appears fairly clear the Obama administration economic policies failed, which should come as no surprise. Consider the following quote from Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Treasury Secretary during the Great Depression. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in May 1939, Sec. Morgenthau said, “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises … I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started … And an enormous debt to boot.” Further, unemployment never got below 9.9% before the U.S. entered World War II. Sound familiar?
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.