Jonas M. Rushman – 10/30/05

This page was last updated March 12, 2006.

Media: Godly leader’s lap dogs; Jonas M. Rushman; Beaver County Times; October 30, 2005.

03/12/06 - When I originally wrote this critique, I incorrectly wrote that this was the first letter I noticed from Mr. Rushman. In fact, I had critiqued two previous letters from Mr. Rushman. The first letter tried to tell us there is no liberal media bias while the second letter told us “Fahrenheit 9/11” was a good source of facts.

As you will read, Mr. Rushman is like most of his cohorts in that he doesn’t let facts get in the way of a rant.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In response to Thursday’s letter to the editor by Jeanne Lane ‘Bush is a Godly leader’:

“First she asks of the paper, ‘Please do not make negative statements concerning his ratings in our land.’

“It is the role of the press to point out when the emperor has no clothes, and this emperor has had none from the beginning.

“Contrary to your belief, the media have failed us miserably. They have soft-balled every question and buried the many scandals of this president.”

[RWC] Amazing! Has Mr. Rushman ever listened to White House press conferences? Perhaps he hopes we haven’t. On the other hand, perhaps he’s only following the lead of Lonzie Cox who recently claimed the press has been easy on President Bush. I’m wondering if this is a new liberal talking point.

“As one Republican senator stated in regard to the White House CIA leak, ‘If this were a Democratic administration there would be congressional hearings in a heartbeat.’”

[RWC] I can’t verify Mr. Rushman’s claim. I Googled the quote (and even fragments) and received no relevant hits. It’s too bad Mr. Rushman didn’t provide the senator’s name.

Mr. Rushman fails to note that Republican appointees in the Justice Department recused themselves from the investigation and a career Justice Department staffer appointed the special prosecutor. During his press conference of October 28^th, special prosecutor stated unequivocally there had been no political interference in his investigation.

“But a recent poll showed that more than 50 percent of Americans didn’t even know who Karl Rove - President Bush’s lead character assassin and CIA operative leaker - is.”

[RWC] If Americans don’t know who Karl Rove is, don’t blame it on the press. The press and Democrats have incessantly focused on Mr. Rove for two years.

It could change, but as of this date, the special prosecutor for the leak case did not indict Mr. Rove. So far, Lewis “Scooter” Libby is the only person indicted, and it wasn’t for illegally leaking an agent’s name.

“Many Republican faithful buy into the ‘liberal media’ fallacy immediately regurgitated by every Republican caught in a scandal.

“There is no ‘liberal media,’ just sheep that blindly believe every word the morally bankrupt architects of the right tell them.”

[RWC] Hmm, Mr. Rushman would be surprised to learn that many liberals in the media readily admit a liberal media bias. Go to here for more on this topic.

“These people denigrated and cast aspersions on the patriotism of true war heroes such as John McCain, Max Cleland and John Kerry while making Dubya into some kind of hero for deserting as soon as the National Guard began drug testing.”

[RWC] Is Mr. Rushman kidding? The press did and does everything it could/can do to build up the military careers of Messrs. McCain, Cleland, and Kerry while doing all it can do to disparage President Bush’s National Guard service. Has Mr. Rushman forgotten the forged documents Dan Rather and CBS tried to use to bring down President Bush? Has Mr. Rushman forgotten the press touted Kerry’s “band of brothers” when they supported him, but denigrated those “brothers” who told a different story?

“‘We are blessed with a Godly leader.’ The man consciously lied to get us into a personal oil war in which all his buddies are getting rich, a war which has killed more than 2,000 of our fine young men and women, not to mention over 30,000 Iraqi civilians.”

[RWC] As his fellow travelers, Mr. Rushman fails to provide evidence to support his “Bush lied” allegation. If President Bush lied, so did the Clinton administration, the UN Security Council, and the intelligence agencies of most countries in the free world.

I’d also like to see evidence for Mr. Rushman’s comment about “a personal oil war in which all his buddies are getting rich.”

“Yes, President Clinton lied about consensual sex between adults. ‘Godly’ President Bush lied, and that lie has taken the lives of more than 32,000 human beings (and still counting). How godly.”

[RWC] President Clinton did a lot more (perjury, contempt of court, etc.) than lie “about consensual sex between adults,” but that’s a discussion for another day.