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Media must contest GOP exaggerations; William A. Alexander; Beaver County Times; January 27, 2011.
Mr. Alexander has written at least 31 letters (See the archives for more examples.) since December 2004, and all but three (one fawning over Rep. Jason Altmire [D-PA], one critical of local funding for JROTC, and another upset about the Air Force awarding a contract to Airbus instead of Boeing) bashed Republicans for something. Another letter was entitled “Blame Republicans for today’s messes.” Despite this record, Mr. Alexander is a Democrat/leftist who wants us to believe he’s really a disenchanted Republican. In “Can’t wait for Hart to lose,” Mr. Alexander told us he was a “registered Republican.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I am weary of the GOP politicians and Fox New [sic] continually exaggerating/lying about unsubstantiated facts that much of the U.S. public then accepts as fact.
“Journalists must call them on these falsehoods.”
[RWC] Does Mr. Alexander not read the paper that publishes his letters? You’ll note Mr. Alexander doesn’t mention Democrat politicians or any news outlet other than FNC. Does Mr. Alexander believe Democrats and outlets other than FNC don’t need to be called on falsehoods? Apparently unlike Mr. Alexander, I want the truth regardless of the source. I suspect Mr. Alexander’s definition of “falsehoods” and “exaggerating/lying about unsubstantiated facts” is anything counter to his beliefs.
Given his letter-writing body of work, you have to give Mr. Alexander credit for chutzpah when he complains about “falsehoods” and others allegedly “exaggerating/lying about unsubstantiated facts.” Keep reading and you will see what I mean.
“A GOP representative recently stated fraud in Medicare is $80 billion a year. The total Medicare budget for 2010 was $510 billion. That one in $6.25 dollars spent was fraud is totally unbelievable and unsubstantiated.”
[RWC] Actually, this fraud assertion goes back to 2009. In fact, no one knows the extent of Medicare fraud. Estimates range from three percent (unbelievably low) to 20% (probably too high).
“Where were these GOP congresspersons when little Bush championed and passed Medicare Part D prescriptions and never paid for it?”
[RWC] I wondered when Mr. Alexander would get around to name-calling.
I opposed Medicare Part D and still do. That said, this program has actually come in significantly under estimates, from $694 million over 10 years to about $395 million over 10 years.
I might take his criticism seriously, but where was Mr. Alexander when his fellow lefties are/were spending hundreds of billions of dollars we don’t/didn’t have?
“Not to mention Rep. Michele Bachman’s [sic] position on slavery given out the other day. She was the tea-baggers rebuttal person for the president’s State of the Union speech. She said the founding fathers worked tirelessly and eliminated slavery in the late 1700s.”
[RWC] More name-calling.
You won’t be surprised to learn Mr. Alexander misrepresented Ms. Bachmann’s statement. Here is what Ms. Bachman really said: “I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly — men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.” This was in a speech Ms. Bachman gave in Iowa, not in the SOTU rebuttal.
As you can see, Ms. Bachmann did not say “the founding fathers … eliminated slavery in the late 1700s.” First, “forbearers” is not a synonym for “founding fathers.” Our forbearers include everyone who came before us. The Founding Fathers are a unique subset of our forbearers. Second, “worked tirelessly” does not mean a person accomplished a goal during his lifetime. If a person dies before he accomplishes his goal, does that diminish his effort? What was Mr. Alexander saying above about “falsehoods” and others allegedly “exaggerating/lying about unsubstantiated facts?”
This paragraph is an example of the straw man tactic. Mr. Alexander claims Ms. Bachmann said something she did not and then attacks her for it.
“I don’t know which history books she studied, not to mention somehow getting a college degree. How could any graduate of the U.S. school system believe this? If that were true, we lost 600,000 soldiers in the Civil War in the 1800s for what?”
[RWC] Again, Ms. Bachmann didn’t say what Mr. Alexander asserts.
“And don’t recite the GOP southerner’s position that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.”
[RWC] This is the second letter within a week talking about people claiming “the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.” As I wrote before, I have to admit I haven’t heard “the GOP southerner’s position that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.” Am I missing something? Since Mr. Alexander is concerned about history, he should know Democrats ran the South until recently, not the GOP.
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