Jerry Miskulin – 10/13/06

This page was last updated on October 15, 2006.

What did Bush really mean?; Jerry Miskulin; Beaver County Times; October 13, 2006.

In his letter of three days ago, Mr. Miskulin told us the Chicago Eight were “patriotic.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The other day President Bush said that Republicans would be better at homeland defense than Democrats.

“Since the Office of Homeland Security, the CIA, FBI and other law enforcement agencies are responsible for our safety, is Bush implying those agencies only work hard while Republicans are in power?

“Bush’s comments are very sinister indeed.

“To think that in electing a Democrat to the White House we transfer our security is very disconcerting at best. To think that our intelligence agencies are politically motivated is something thought but usually never said.”

[RWC] Mr. Miskulin appears to forget the president appoints the heads of these agencies (the Cabinet), and the President along with the Cabinet members set policy. You can have the greatest CIA and FNI agents on the planet, but if the President implements policies that work against those agents, it doesn’t matter how good those agents are.

Second, the majority party in Congress generally determines program funding. Therefore, even if you have a president who’s strong on national defense, a Congress that refuses to provide proper funding can thwart him.

“I also believe that if this is so, it opens up a much larger can of worms. Persecution of certain individuals and groups could take on the status of ethnic intimidation and retard their ability to live a good life.”

[RWC] Huh?

“As we enter the 21st century, I thought abuses such as these were in the past, but maybe they’re not. If Bush knows the intelligence agencies work harder for him than for President Clinton, we’ve got more problems than just the Muslims. We got problems with him.”

[RWC] How do writers like Mr. Miskulin dream up this stuff?