More Morse Code: Whatever it is blame it on Republicans.

The letter below was submitted to the Cabinet Press on 9/27/08 in repsonse to a letter from Fred Morse: “Letter writer says don’t blame him; he didn’t vote republican.”  Fred, using his trademark incomplete facts and gross abuse of suppostion, takes the opportuntiy to blame Bush and Republicans for [insert issue here] the housing credit crisis. I don’t mean to keep picking on him, but he makes it too easy.  Fred is probably a great guy, and maybe someday we’ll have a beer together, but I can guarantee we won’t be talking politics.

 

To the Editor:

 

In the September 25^th Merrimack Journal Fred Morse states that “people paying attention know the origin of the sub-prime mortgage disaster.”  Well let’s hope so, because Mr. Morse would like you to believe that it was the “American Dream,” legislation passed by a ‘Republican controlled congress’ in 2003.  He claims they passed it because the “Bush GDP was sinking fast,” indicating that it provided free taxpayer money to people who couldn’t afford a down-payment on a home.  The assumption here is that increased home sales would drive up GDP.   But Mr. Morse was a bit thin on details so let me elaborate for him.

 

S.811 was passed in November of 2003 by the Senate of the 108^th congress, a senate with 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 1 independent.  If you are not overwhelmed by the 1% Republican majority in the Senate, the House had an enormous 2% Republican majority.   You might also want to know that the measure passed unanimously in the Senate, and skimmed straight through the House without objection.   

 

This “crisis creating” legislation included housing assistance for grandparents who are raising grandchildren, renewed ‘HOPE VI’ main street revitalization money, and included a maximum of 200 million annually for each of the following 5 years to provide down-payment assistance block grants to be administered by the States in amounts not to exceed 6% of cost or a maximum of $10,000 dollars per applicant. 

 

Money could also be allocated from the grant pool for low-income home improvement assistance at the States discretion so the money wasn’t all going to first time home buyers.  Mr. Morse rightly ignores all the other limitations because they just make his argument untenable.  

 

So how much impact do you think 200 million might have in a 12-14 trillion dollar economy? Not much.  Oh, and those of us paying attention also noticed that GDP grew steadily for 25 consecutive quarters, from July of 2001 until October of 2007, but then dropped a bit, but only for one quarter.   The only thing sinking fast here is Mr. Morse argument.

Carol-Shea gets some Flood insurance

This weeks Merrimack Journal again has a “Letter to the editor” from another relatively well connected democrat who is endorsing another democrat—Carol Shea-Porter—without any specific mention of his party particulars.  Peter Flood has a distinguished list of credits including service to his country as a 1^st Lieutenant in the 82^ndairborne, had Dick Gephardt campaign for him in his 1998 loss to Sununu for NH-01, once had the now newly minted Obama VP Joe Biden over at a House Party, and most recently lost to Shelia Roberge in the 2006 district 9 race for State Senate.

 

Hardly a disinterested party, Democrat Flood comments on the advantages to veterans of having Carol Shea-Porter re-elected and not Jeb Bradley.  Mr. Flood makes a plea to fellow veterans not to be duped by anyone with veteran’s credentials who claims to support candidate Bradley.  One might say the same of Peter Flood in this case, particularly since he made no effort to contest the Veterans policy positions of John Stephen, who also has a shot at challenging Carol for NH-01.   Candidate Stephen has a better plan than either Bradley or Shea-Porter, and his is spelled out in significant detail, a benefit Ms. Shea-Porter does not currently come equipped with. (Not that I could find, anyway) So is the Journal showing a preference again?

 

Trapped in a ‘Webb’ of deception

Merrimack, August 7th: In a letter by Fred Morse, posted at the Merrimack Journal on-line (I don’t know if it made the print edition) Mr. Morse quotes the BBC’s Justin Webb to justify his interpretation of some things McCain has said that they (Fred and Justin) both seem to believe only serves the terrorist’s warlike nature. That because of this McCain could be a dangerous president to have.  He quotes Webb…

“Islamic terrorists want war.  They want suffering – among others and their own people alike. They would surely surmise that McCain will give them what they want. I think al-Qaeda would back McCain.”

Justin isn’t even equipped to get it, and Fred can’t be bothered to do more than quote the man to justify his own agenda.  Learn why on the jump…

All the opinion that’s fit to print

Letters to the editor are probably the simplest way for a publication to openly express its actual opinions on matters of policy.  Opinion pages are popular.  Using its editorial prerogative the paper can publish letters by “concerned residents” that might just happen to represent some of their own personal opinions without troubling themselves over the need for balance.   They can simply ignore any letter that might rebut those “opinions” effectively, claim it was too long, too short, inappropriate, or that it was an attack on another letter writer, so that few readers ever see a lucid opposing opinion.   The editors might excuse this practice with a perfunctory nod to some opposing viewpoint by publishing any number of badly written responses which could possibly strengthen the position the editor(s) favors while still pretending to offer the much sought after balance they claim to live for.

 

This recent item I pulled off the Merrimack Journal web-site, dated August 14, was posted at the bottom of their front page (today), and presents a political opinion that favors Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen.  I have no issue with that.  My problem is that the Journal fails to mention that the author is not just some local Jane narrating a pithy yarn about her medical travails, but appears to be a long time, currently active, Democrat campaign worker, who was once (wait for it) the office manager for Jeanne Shaheen’s 1997 campaign. 

Morse Code

Fred Morse continues his campaign of class warfare against Senators Gregg and Sununu, this time in the July 5th Union Leader. He insists that they are elitists because they had “a disingenuous reason” for voting against “emergency food for the needy” and “food stamps allocations for the poor.”  That reason was, to quote Mr. Morse, “that somewhere in the bill there were benefits for a few rich farmers.”  He never mentions that “the bill” was the 290 Billion dollar pork-laden farm bill or that the “benefit” was 25 billion dollars.

 It might have hamstrung his objections to site specific details, like that the bulk of recipients don’t even earn their living as farmers, or that most of that 25 billion will go to corporate farmers who earn $200,000 per year or more.   He must believe we are incapable of funding these necessary programs for “the poor” without a 25 Billion dollar tip to an industry flush with cash.  This is the fiscal equivalent of hiding weapons in orphanages to protect them from attack. 

Mr. Morse’ hypocrisy can be further demonstrated;  Imagine if our Senators had voted for a 290 billion dollar funding bill that included 25 billion dollars in subsidies to the oil companies, but just happened to have a food stamp appropriation tied to it—would he be praising them for having the sense to “provide increased food stamp allocations to people who need it?”  He’d be burning them in effigy.  And they’d still be elitists.

So what other detials did Mr. Morse leave out?