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Enough with disrespect; Jewel Robertson; Beaver County Times; September 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.
Until January 2007, Ms. Robertson’s letters (here, here, here, and here) focused on bashing President Bush. In her first letter, Ms. Robertson opined that President Bush could be listening to Satan. That tells us much of what we need to know about Ms. Robertson. Since January 2007, race has been a regular feature of her letters, though Ms. Robertson reverted to Bush bashing in “‘No one can be as bad as Bush was’.” As I wrote about another serial Bush-basher, I guess some addictions are too tough to overcome. More recent Robertson letters I critiqued were “Reagan hurt veterans,” “Boils down to hate,” and “Attacks on president disrespectful.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I have complained before about the disrespect shown the president of the United States of America. For instance, when President Obama was delivering a speech to Congress and Rep. Joe Wilson yelled out ‘liar.’ This has never happened before my lifetime. Men are supposed be more intelligent in these times.”
[RWC] Ms. Robertson wrote, “I have complained before about the disrespect shown the president of the United States of America.” That is not exactly correct. Ms. Robertson “complained before about the disrespect shown” President Obama, not the office of “the president of the United States of America.” Based on this and previous letters, you’ll find Ms. Robertson worries about “disrespect” only for those whose policies she supports. As I’ve written before, Ms. Robertson is one mean-spirited woman when it comes to her ideological opposition.
Ms. Robertson is referring to Mr. Obama’s 2009 healthcare speech. Mr. Wilson shouted, “You lie,” not “liar.” In any case, it was poor behavior on the part of Mr. Wilson. According to CNN, “Shortly after Obama’s speech, Wilson called the White House and issued a statement apologizing for his ‘inappropriate and regrettable’ comments.” Mr. Wilson apologized only for a breach of etiquette (where and when), not for what he said.
In 2005, Congressional Democrats booed and heckled then-President Bush during his State of the Union address. I’m sure that was an exception. Oh wait, again in 2005 during a civics discussion, then-Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told a gathering of high school students, “I think this guy is a loser” in reference to Mr. Bush. Another exception I’m sure. Oh wait, in 2004 Mr. Reid said “President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country.”
“Again, when Obama making another speech and Supreme Court Justice John Roberts made comments under his breath about him. If this isn’t racist or hate just what do you call it?”
[RWC] Ms. Robertson is referring to Mr. Obama’s 2010 state-of-the-union speech. During that speech, Mr. Obama said:
“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”
While Democrats were cheering and clapping, Justice Samuel Alito, not Chief Justice John Roberts, mouthed “not true.” Why? Because Mr. Obama had lied.
The case Mr. Obama referred to, Citizens United v. FEC, 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. Obama’s comments, direct contributions to federal candidates remain illegal for corporations and labor unions. The same is true for “foreign entities.” Mr. Obama knew this.
While it was fine for Mr. Obama to disagree with the ruling, it was pretty cheap to bash the justices in an environment in which the justices could not respond. In an April 2011 speech, Mr. Obama pulled a similar stunt on Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Unlike Mr. Wilson, Mr. Obama didn’t apologize for his lack of manners.
“One thing for sure is it makes these men act ignorant. It brings out how they really feel. Then, just recently, Romney, who isn’t even president, made his comments about Libya before the President opened his mouth. Never in history is that been done. They simply continue to ignore President Obama as if he is not even here. It also makes our country look bad. One thing I can say is that President Obama remains calm through all of the hard knocks he receives, which is remarkable. We are living in a generation of vipers and people with no compassion. Saying that, I will close and look for my comments.”
[RWC] As noted in another critique, Mitt Romney did not issue a statement until after the State Department had issued at least one statement about the Cairo and Benghazi incidents.
“It also makes our country look bad.” This was not a concern for Ms. Robertson during the Bush administration.
“We are living in a generation of vipers and people with no compassion.” Read her letter-writing body of work, especially her letters bashing Mr. Bush, and you find Ms. Robertson knows whereof she speaks.
Did you note what you did not read in this letter? Ms. Robertson didn’t list any reason why we should vote for Mr. Obama.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.