John M. Tomaszewski – 5/8/08

This page was last updated on September 20, 2012.

U.S. needs a civilian president; John M. Tomaszewski; Beaver County Times; May 8, 2008.

Since September 2004, this is at least the 39^th letter from Mr. Tomaszewski with all but a handful spouting liberal talking points, with most bashing Republicans and/or President Bush.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“John McCain, the probable Republican Party nominee for the presidency, comes from a military family, back some three generations.”

[RWC] My position regarding military service is the same as it is for any experience. Whether military experience is an asset or not depends on the specific experience and, perhaps more importantly, on the person. You can have tons of experience, but it doesn’t do much good if you don’t learn the right lessons from that experience.

In any case, this letter is no more about military service than it is about growing corn. Since Harry Truman, all but one president (Bill Clinton) served in the military. (Note: When I originally posted this critique on 5/9/08, I erroneously wrote LBJ didn’t serve in the military. LBJ served in the Navy on active duty during WWII for about six months from December 1941 to June 1942. In 2009, President Barack Obama joined Mr. Clinton as the only presidents not to serve since Mr. Truman.)

“They were high-ranking commissioned officers, not non-commissioned officers. McCain himself is a former naval officer. Therefore, McCain for many years knew no civilian life but only military life.

“If elected president, McCain would have a government controlled by the military and munitions manufacturers. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who held the rank of General of the Army, on leaving office in 1960 warned against such a government.”

[RWC] “McCain would have a government controlled by the military and munitions manufacturers?” What’s the basis for that assertion?

“McCain as president would continue the Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Constitution has a civilian, the president, as head of the nation’s armed forces, not a military man.”

[RWC] This tactic is as predictable as the Sun rising in the East. When Republicans have war heroes as candidates vs. a Democrat with no comparable experience, leftists want us to believe military service is irrelevant at best, and detrimental at worst. We saw that when President Bush #1 and Sen. Bob Dole ran against Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. In 2004, however, Democrats kept reminding us John Kerry served in Vietnam for several months and how that was an important qualification.

If either of today’s Democrat candidates had military experience, you can bet Mr. Tomaszewski would not have written this letter, or at least he would have waited until the Democrat candidate with military experience had been eliminated. If the Republican candidate had no military experience but the Democrat did, you can bet this letter would have told us how important military experience is.