Ed Weaver Is A Nitwit 9.19.06

Ed Weaver's column appears every Tuesday in The Record newspaper in Troy, NY. I'd say he's a right-wing conservative, but all indications are that he's to the right of that. Sometimes his views are so skewed, and based in a reality that I don't even recognize, that I think he sees the world through fun house mirrors. Only it isn't funny.

He's proof of the theory that hindsight is 20/20, only his vision is 20/100...20 for those things that support his views, 100 for those that don't.

Here are some excerpts from his most recent article and my feelings about them:

In a discussion of the ABC movie "The Path to 9/11," Weaver claims:

"Bill Clinton wasn't moved to deal effectively with bin Laden."

It seems as though I've seen reports that former President Clinton was obsessed with bin Laden. Didn't he send around 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles and aircraft bombings to destroy training camps and the air defenses of the Taliban in Afghanistan back in 1998?

Still, remember that Clinton led the executive branch of a government where the legislative and judicial branches were controlled by Republicans. President Bush has never had to deal with an antagonistic legislature...not in Texas, not in Washington, D.C. If you think Bush is ineffective now, think of him governing where the Congress fights every policy decision at every turn whether the policy is correct or not.

Remember too that President Clinton had been excoriated for his bombings in Serbia to end the genocide there. These were aerial attacks and not a full scale invasion with tanks, infantry, special ops, etc. Congress was more interested in impeaching him for oral sex and "lying under oath" than cooperating and supporting him in making the world a better/safer place let alone catch terrorists. Yeah, invading Afghanistan to kill bin Laden was a possibility. Not! At the time, the country would have asked "We're invading where to capture who?"

The reality, harsh as it may be, is that the country wouldn't have accepted any military action against any other nation without such an incredible attack on our own soil.

Weaver continues on, trying to place the blame of 9/11 on the Clinton administration:

"Consider this, though, folks; had Rowley's superiors opened that computer without a warrant, the 9/11 tragedy could have been prevented."

Sure, this would have gone over well with a Congress that was trying to impeach him. Look at the mountain they made out of the "Travelgate" mole hill. Would the Republicans in Congress rushed to his defense, or used it as another way to weaken him, and as it turns out in the end, the country?

And, predictably, Weaver puts President Bush up on a pedestal:

"At least, though, this president has had the courage to take the fight to the terrorists and devote the rest of his term to the safety of the American people."

Yes, Mr. Weaver, I agree with you there. Too bad you wouldn't have supported Bill Clinton had he done that which you now cry he didn't. While I don't necessarily agree with all the decisions current President Bush has made or is making, at least he's doing something. The bottom line is that the U.S. is in a crappy situation without a silver bullet. All options available to us have detrimental consequences.