William A. Alexander – 9/12/07

This page was last updated on October 6, 2007.

Liberals damaging America?; William A. Alexander; Beaver County Times; September 12, 2007.

Mr. Alexander has written at least 26 letters since December 2004, and all but two (one fawning over Rep. Jason Altmire [D-PA] and another critical of local funding for JROTC) bashed Republicans for something.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“Monday’s letter to the editor ‘Liberals are damaging America’ has a few inconsistencies.

The pilot plan with the Mexican truckers was submitted, passed and championed by the Shrub and his conservative appointees, who are all shills for big corporations.”

[RWC] Gee, Mr. Alexander didn’t start the name-calling until the second sentence. Could he be slipping? <g>

“The original NAFTA was not formulated and passed by liberals, but by President Clinton, a centrist, and the conservative Republican House and Senate that were in control of both sides of Capitol Hill at that time.”

[RWC] Note the “centrist” BS. Here’s what I wrote in a comment I made on the Times website. “As used by many on the left, ‘centrist’ (and ‘moderate,’ etc.) is simply a euphemism for liberal/progressive/socialist/et cetera. Here are examples of what I mean. The Times editorial ‘Road to ruin’ (8/16/06) implied Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) was in ‘the middle.’ With the sole exception of the war on terrorism, Sen. Lieberman has a voting record consistent with the most liberal members of Congress. For example, Sen. Lieberman’s 2005 Americans for Democratic Action (a ‘liberal lobbying organization’ in its own words) voting record was 94% and he was the VP candidate in 2000. The American Conservative Union gave Sen. Lieberman a 2005 rating of 8%. Therefore, a person with a nearly 100% liberal voting record – and a near zero conservative voting record – is what the Times appears to call ‘the middle.’

“Of course, the Times isn’t alone. During last fall’s campaign for House Majority Leader, the press labeled Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) a ‘moderate’ despite a 2005 ADA rating of 95%. That was exactly the same as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).”

Regarding the comment about “the conservative Republican House and Senate that were in control of both sides of Capitol Hill at that time [1994],” Mr. Alexander is wrong. NAFTA was passed and signed in 1993 and at the time Democrats had the majority in both the House (258-176) and the Senate (56-44). NAFTA took effect on January 1, 1994. Republicans didn’t become the majority until the November 1994 elections and didn’t take office until January 1995.

“This pilot plan is only the tip of the iceberg of what Bush wants to do. He has been meeting with Mexico and Canada trying to get a United North America with essentially no borders, tariffs, etc., similar to what the European Common Market has done. He is doing this without any congressional oversight or input. Fortunately, it looks like he will not be able to pull it off before he leaves.

“Since I can only assume that the letter writer is a conservative, he represents anti-union, little or no oversight of business by government (i.e., truck inspections, truck driver requirements, limits on hours at the wheel, minimum rest, etc.), let business run free and that will solve all problems. The Mexican trucker pilot plan should fit his conservative beliefs like a glove.”

[RWC] Mr. Alexander clearly doesn’t understand conservatism, and apparently has a problem with reading comprehension. Other than whom to blame, Mr. Alexander and Mr. Kahr appear to be in agreement on the NAFTA and Mexican truck issues.

“It will only be a question of time until there will be a major accident by one of these Mexican trucks and the program will receive its proper review and will be scrapped.

“Just from the standpoint of homeland security and drug enforcement, it is hard to see how this program could ever be a good thing for U.S. liberals or conservatives.”