Letter: The real joke is the GOP

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006 | 8:05 a.m.

John Kerry tells a joke about the sitting president. The Republicans falsely claim that it is a joke about the military and force Kerry to apologize.

The Republicans support an occupation based on false information and allow select corporations to become extremely wealthy on the taxpayers' dollar and the troops' efforts. The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Construction has exposed shoddy construction and overcharges by Halliburton and Parsons. They recently told of hundreds of thousands of weapons that cannot be accounted for and have probably been sold on the black market and are being used against American forces. And investigations have shown at least $15 billion of taxpayer money is unaccounted for in the Iraq occupation.

So what do Republicans do? In closed-door sessions, they attach a clause to a House bill dismantling the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Construction. This is the party that always parrots the tired phrase, "Support our Troops." Actions speak louder than words. And removing a watchdog office that was put into place to ensure that the troops and the taxpayers are not cheated shows that they support special interests more than they do the war effort.

The difference in the two events mentioned above? John Kerry told a joke, the Republicans are a joke.

Randall Buie, Henderson