Alex Yawor – 6/10/07

This page was last updated on June 18, 2007.

No comparison; Alex Yawor; Beaver County Times; June 10, 2007.

Mr. Yawor’s previous letters attempted to bash President Bush regarding Iraq and Iran, and VP Cheney regarding his hunting accident. In a July 2006 letter, Mr. Yawor implied if you support our action in Iraq, you are “eager to send our young to die in Iraq.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In response to letter writers Charles Hagerty, Mary Smith and Elaine L. Oravitz and the nasty things they said about President Jimmy Carter.”

[RWC] As I noted in a previous critique, the target letters were definitely exercises in name-calling. I believe the authors would have been more effective had they simply provided an accurate picture of the results of Carter administration actions and policies and stayed away from personal attacks.

“I know they forgot about the true Carter, and I forgive them. So I am going to enlighten them on a few things.”

[RWC] As you will read, the enlightenment Mr. Yawor promises consists of half-truths at best.

“While Carter was president, there was an increase of eight million jobs, but the other guy (President George W. Bush) sent eight million jobs overseas. There was a decrease in the budget deficit on Carter’s watch, but the other guy has caused one of the highest budget deficits in our history.”

[RWC] What isn’t outright wrong is a tad misleading.

First, while the economy added eight million jobs during the Carter administration, the average unemployment rates for Mr. Carter’s first and last years in office were the same, a less than stellar 7.1%. Second, the unemployment rate was decreasing when Mr. Carter took office, but was on the rise when he left.

In comparison, President Bush inherited a recession and a low but rising unemployment rate. At 4.5%, the current unemployment rate is lower than the average of the 1960s (4.78%), 1970s (6.21%), 1980s (7.27%), and 1990s (5.75%) and it has been dropping (from a high of 6% for 2003) for three straight years. It’s also important to note we have this low unemployment even with 10+ million illegal aliens consuming jobs.

I don’t know where Mr. Yawor came up with his statement that President Bush “sent eight million jobs overseas.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added about 8.9 million jobs from 2001 through May 2007 (from about 137 million to about 145.9 million). The 137 million also represents the peak employment during the Clinton administration.

Regarding the deficit, Mr. Yawor stated, “There was a decrease in the budget deficit on Carter’s watch.” This was true for only one year. The only year in which the deficit was lower than when he took office was 1979 ($41 billion vs. $54 billion). Mr. Carter’s first budget had a deficit of $59 billion and his final two had deficits of $74 billion and $79 billion. During the Carter administration, Democrats held solid majorities in the House (64% - 67%) and the Senate (58% - 61%) so we can’t blame free spending Republicans this time.

As a conservative, I can’t defend the Bush administration deficits. This is what happens when we let government get involved in extraconstitutional spending (Medicare, Medicaid, Socialist Security, education, welfare, farm subsidies, pork barrel spending, et cetera).

“How many of our young were killed or maimed while Carter was president? How many have been killed and maimed and how many more will this happen to while this other guy is president?”

[RWC] If this is to be a true measure, where does it put presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, and LBJ?

“In 1946, Carter joined the Navy, became a submariner and served for eight years. The other guy joined the National Guard to get out of the Vietnam War.”

[RWC] Yep, flying F-102 fighter jets for the Air National Guard is a sure sign of cowardice.

If Mr. Yawor were consistent, he should also bash Mr. Carter for not serving during World War II. As a reminder, Mr. Carter turned 18 in 1942. Instead of enlisting, Mr. Carter apparently obtained some kind of draft deferment that allowed him to attend Georgia Southwestern College, Georgia Tech, and the Naval Academy until he graduated in 1946, nearly one year after WWII ended. In comparison, though he was only six months older than Mr. Carter, George H.W. Bush (President Bush #1) enlisted and became the youngest naval aviator to that time. While Mr. Carter was attending college during WWII, Mr. Bush flew 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

To bash Mr. Carter for his WWII choices would be wrong, however. I presented the above only to show Mr. Yawor’s inconsistency.

“Carter is a true humanitarian who wanted to help the poor and middle class and believed in human rights. The other guy believes in helping his friends and the rich and the heck with the other people. You do have to say that he does a good job of that.”

[RWC] Remember, this is written by a guy bummed that people are writing “nasty things” about Mr. Carter. What evidence does Mr. Yawor have to support his allegation? I’m no expert on Mr. Bush’s humanitarian efforts, but his federal tax returns for the last four years indicate he and Mrs. Bush gave an average of 10.7% of their income to churches and other charities.

“Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize. The only thing the other guy won was the right to say that he got the whole world to hate us.”

[RWC] Have you ever looked at some of the names of people who won the Peace Prize? In 2006, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams told a group of schoolchildren in Australia, “I have a very hard time with this word ‘non-violence’, because I don’t believe that I am non-violent. Right now, I would love to kill George Bush.”

If anyone believes Mr. Carter got the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, I have a bridge to sell you. Given his international relations record, it becomes obvious Mr. Carter received the award for his work as an international President Bush basher. It’s the same reason Al Gore was nominated this year.

“The other guy landed on a flight deck and said. ‘Mission Accomplished.’ (Mission: go out and do something; accomplished: done, completed; completed: finished, ended.)”

[RWC] President Bush never made that comment. The crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln hung the “Mission Accomplished” banner and it was in reference to their mission during the Iraq invasion.

“I will let the readers decide if the mission was accomplished and which of the two should be called those nasty names.”

[RWC] Finally, we have yet another example of “the pot calling the kettle black.” Mr. Yawor correctly criticized other writers for writing “nasty things,” then he went ahead and wrote things every bit as “nasty” as those he criticized.

Neither man deserves to be called “those nasty names.” What part of that don’t you understand, Mr. Yawor?