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Trump and Palin: Hillary’s dream ticket; Oren M. Spiegler; Beaver County Times; January 24, 2016.
Mr. Spiegler is such a prolific letter writer the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review gave him a little tribute back in 2003. Google “Oren M. Spiegler” and you’ll get more hits than you know what to do with. Unfortunately, prolific is not a synonym for competent. Mr. Spiegler claims to be a Republican. In my critique of “Breathing more freely,” I cited reasons why I was “beginning to believe Mr. Spiegler is simply another Republican impersonator,” but he sealed the deal with “Greatest foreign policy debacle.” Subsequent letters provided more confirmation. The group of local Republican impersonators also includes Messrs. William A. Alexander, Arthur Brown, Edward J. Hum, Bill Ralston, and George Reese, all claiming to be disgruntled Republicans. While he has previously claimed to be a Republican, this appears to be the first time Mr. Spiegler claimed to be a registered Republican in a BCT letter. If true, Mr. Spiegler joins Mr. Hum in going the extra mile to further his impersonation of a Republican.
ALERT! Though I missed it by several months, Mr. Spiegler finally did the honorable thing and ended his charade and deregistered as a Republican.
You can find links to previous critiques of Spiegler letters I critiqued here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The BCT has or had a limit of 12 letters per writer per year. In 2014, the BCT either ditched that limit or made a huge exception for Mr. Spiegler. By my count, the BCT published at least 25 Spiegler letters in 2014. Mr. Spiegler and/or the BCT dialed things back a bit in 2015; the BCT published only 15 Spiegler letters.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Just when it seemed that failed vice-presidential candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had gotten off the public stage, she emerges to endorse the irrepressible, irascible Donald Trump.”
[RWC] Mrs. Palin is not a “failed vice-presidential candidate;” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a failed presidential candidate. Though both are on the same ticket, people vote based on the presidential candidate, not the VP candidate. Mrs. Palin is the only reason the McCain defeat wasn’t worse.
“No wonder Trump was beaming upon receiving Gov. Palin’s imprimatur. The union of two know-nothings is no doubt gratifying for both.”
[RWC] Though I’m no fan of Mr. Trump, consider him and Mrs. Palin to be “know-nothings” at your own peril.
“I would not be at all surprised to see Palin named Trump’s running mate if he should receive the GOP nomination, a ticket which would pave the way for a 2016 General Election suicide, all but certain to place Hillary Clinton in the White House, turn the United States Senate over to the Democrats, and vastly diminish the majority of the GOP in the House of Representatives.
“Trump is the king of liars, an area in which I do not believe Gov. Palin can match his ‘expertise,’ but the pair is well-matched in the ability to deliver insults and to be mean-spirited: just what the country needs to further divide us.”
[RWC] When it comes to accusing someone of lying, Mr. Spiegler lives in a glass house. As noted above, Mr. Spiegler was a Republican impersonator for many years. During the 2008 campaign, Mr. Spiegler lied about a comment Mr. McCain made about Iraq.
As for mean-spirited, lefties made fun of the way Mr. McCain carries his arms, the result of injuries he received ejecting from his plane during the Vietnam War and no/poor medical treatment from the North Vietnamese.
Attacks against Mrs. Palin and her family didn’t stop after the election. During one of his shows, David Letterman said, “Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment during the seventh-inning stretch: her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” The only daughter at the game with Mrs. Palin was 14-year-old Willow. When presented with the inconvenient truth he was joking about statutory rape, Mr. Letterman claimed he meant Bristol Palin, an 18-year-old unwed mother, as if that would have made the comment okay. The guy who poses as the NY Times “ethicist” ruled Mr. Letterman had nothing to apologize for. Oh yeah, the “ethicist” won three Emmy Awards writing for “Late Night with David Letterman.” It’s interesting the “ethicist” didn’t see any conflict of interest ruling on the ethics of his buddy. Can you imagine what would have happened had Mr. Letterman made the same comment about either of the Obama girls?
“Trump/Palin in 2016: Hillary Clinton’s dream ticket!”
Now let’s take a look at excerpts of comments made on the BCT website.
jackson4570 Jan 24, 2016 9:22am
“While I would agree with you [Mr. Spiegler] that a ticket with Palin on it would be toxic, Trump is not that stupid. He knows what buttons to push in the Republican primaries and has been doing a spectacular job. Hillary is not invincible. Her arrogance if not in the primaries could do her in in the general election. I wouldn’t discount Trump against her. I am starting to sense an appeal in him that Reagan had in 1980.”
[RWC] Comparing Mr. Trump to Ronald Reagan? Not even close. In his speech, “A Time for Choosing,” Mr. Reagan said,
“Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, ‘We don’t know how lucky we are.’ And the Cuban stopped and said, ‘How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to.’ And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.
“And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.
…
“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down: [up] man’s old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
…
“‘the full power of centralized government’ -- this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don’t control things. A government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.”
There’s no way Mr. Trump could write a speech like that and mean it.
“The Cuban’s” comment above increasingly applies to things the government takes over, like medical care. When the private sector runs a business, people can sue if the business fails to live up to an obligation. When the government fails to meet an obligation, it serves as “judge, jury, and executioner.”
carldavidson Jan 25, 2016 6:47am
“Good argument for going with Bernie, THughes. Why vote for a candidate who thinks you’re stupid and stokes up all your resentments accordingly? … In reality, he [Mr. Trump] manipulates all your fears, and plays you for a sucker.”
[RWC] “THughes” is a “flamethrower.” In his responses, KD appears not to notice his description of Donald Trump also describes himself and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT). Otherwise, why would KD and Mr. Sanders lie day after day? Only a handful of examples are here, here, here, here, here, and on and on.
As for “stok[ing] up all your resentments accordingly,” elsewhere KD wrote, “I just organize, educate and agitate.” I guess two out of three isn’t bad. It’s three out of three if you know by “educate” KD means propagandize.
“In reality, he [Mr. Trump] manipulates all your fears, and plays you for a sucker?” That’s exactly how lefties sell their policies. Remember the idiotic “war on women?” In the 2000 and 2004 elections, lefties claimed electing a Republican was tantamount to burning black churches. Election after election, lefties claim elected Republicans will cut off Medicare and stop sending Socialist Security checks.
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