Alex Yawor – 6/29/08

This page was last updated on July 2, 2008.

Obama has Carter, McCain has Bush; Alex Yawor; Beaver County Times; June 29, 2008.

7/2/08 - In his comment on the Times website about this letter, William G. Horter posted (Jun 29, 2008 @ 10:27 AM) the following: “Is it possible that there was some hanky-panky going on with Iran about the arms sale? Mr Yawor, there is a book about this very subject, called ‘October Surprise’ written by a lady who served in Reagans [sic] administration. If her version of events is true, Reagan and friends did indeed engage in ‘hanky panky’ before the election, and some might even call what they did as treason.” Mr. Horter followed that up (Jun 29, 2008 @ 10:32 AM) with, “‘October Surprise’, the book about the Iranian hostage situation, was written by Barbara Honegger, a former aide in Reagans [sic] Whithouse [sic]. (1989)” Mr. Horter posted nearly identical conspiracy theory comments in a different letter thread.

In the other letter thread, I posted the following comment (Jul 1, 2008 @ 6:42 PM). “Mr. Horter, the debunked ‘October Surprise’ conspiracy is very old news. The first to talk about a conspiracy was Lyndon LaRouche in 1980 and Ms. Honegger published her book in 1989, three years before two Congressional inquiries determined no such conspiracy existed. Except for those on the fringes, the following excerpt from Wikipedia appears to sum up the consensus. ‘After 12 years of news reports looking into the alleged conspiracy, both houses of the US Congress held separate inquiries into the issue, and journalists from sources such as Newsweek and The New Republic looked into the charges. Both Congressional inquires [sic], as well as the majority of investigative reports, found the charges to be groundless.” At the time of the Congressional investigations, Democrats held the majority in both houses.”

Mr. Horter’s response (Jul 2, 2008 @ 4:31 AM) was “Ms Honnegers [sic] book was written well after the ‘hearings’. But Mr [sic] Cox, you don’t find it ‘strange’ at all that the hostages were released the day of Reagans [sic] inauguration? You say her book was ‘debunked’, I think it was more ‘ignored’. Media has a way of ignoring unwanted information. Blix’s reports, about finding no WMDs, were also ‘debunked’ by the administration, and the media, but they were no less true.” Actually, I wasn’t claiming Ms. Honegger’s book was debunked, though that may be a distinction without a difference. When I referred to “October Surprise,” I was referring to the conspiracy theory, not the book.

You have to give Mr. Horter “credit.” When he gets committed to a conspiracy theory, he’s in for the duration and won’t left facts get in the way. For example, despite the fact the Congressional hearings took place in 1992/1993 and Mr. Horter correctly noted Ms. Honegger published her book in 1989, Mr. Horter asserts “Ms Honnegers [sic] book was written well after the ‘hearings’.” I don’t know if that’s an outright lie or just the result of shoddy due diligence. It’s easy to understand, however, why Mr. Horter would want us to believe the book came after the Congressional inquiries and reports. You see, if the book came after the Congressional inquiries, Mr. Horter could claim the book presented evidence not seen by the Congressional investigators. Note, though Mr. Horter recommends others read the Honegger book, he never claims to have read it himself.

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.

“John McCain is linking Barack Obama to former president Jimmy Carter and says that is bad.”

[RWC] Actually, Mr. McCain did this in response to Barack Obama trying to link President Bush and Mr. McCain. So, in words Mr. Yawor can probably relate to, “but your guy started it.” <g>

“McCain has gone along with George Bush 95 percent of the time. Wouldn’t you call that linking on to Bush? So, is that good?”

[RWC] Mr. Yawor is on message with William A. Alexander. Do these guys circulate a talking points memo? <g>

With an ADA liberal quotient of 98%, how often has Barack Obama “gone along” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid?

“McCain says Carter’s presidency was marred by economic turmoil, high energy costs and foreign policy. What does he think Bush is doing to the economy with plants closing down and millions of jobs being shipped out to foreign countries?”

[RWC] To be more accurate, what we had during the Carter years was “stagflation.” The misery index (inflation rate + unemployment rate) was 12.72 Carter’s first month in office and got as high as 21.98 during June of his last year in office. By contrast, the peak misery index for President Bush was 9.79 immediately after the major 2005 hurricanes. As of May 2008, the MI was 9.68, primarily a result of energy-based inflation. You know, the high prices Democrats told us they had a plan to address if we made them the majority in 2006.

While it’s not completely correct to blame Mr. Carter for high energy prices, his policies eventually hurt domestic oil production. Why? If you recall, that’s when a so-called “windfall profits” tax was imposed on domestic oil production. Though not the intent, the effect was to discourage domestic oil and gas exploration and production.

“Energy costs are going through the roof with no stopping in sight. People in every country in the world hate us, except maybe for Israel.”

[RWC] “People in every country in the world hate us?” What a crock! Even if it were true, who cares? We have to do what we believe is right. Whether or not someone will be our fair-weather friend should never be a factor.

Maybe I’m overreacting. Perhaps Mr. Yawor meant there’s at least one person in every country that hates us. I’m sure that’s always been true and always will be true.

“Not only are things just as bad today as when Carter was president, but even worse. The national debt is higher than it has ever been ($9.2 trillion and counting), the value of the dollar is down. We are at war with thousands of our young killed and thousands more maimed. And don’t forget about the thousands upon thousands of Iraqis being killed, or doesn’t that count?”

[RWC] “Not only are things just as bad today as when Carter was president, but even worse?” Mr. Yawor appears to forget gasoline lines and rationing, 7.8% unemployment, 14.8% inflation, and 13% mortgages.

Regarding the “the thousands upon thousands of Iraqis being killed,” I guess Mr. Yawor hasn’t been paying attention to the news for a long time. In any case, who was killing “the thousands upon thousands of Iraqis?”

“I guarantee you that when they grade presidents years from now, Carter will be higher on the ladder than Bush.

“Talking about foreign policy, when there was the stand off with Iran over the hostages, Carter failed to have them released. Credit was given to Ronald Reagan. I wonder how many people know that the hostages were released two hours after Reagan’s swearing in, and we started to sell arms to Iran, which Carter was against when he was president.”

[RWC] Sorry, Mr. Yawor, but the Iran-Contra affair didn’t begin until 1984/1985 and those sales were made to get the release of American hostages from Hezbollah. Regardless of the good intentions, it was not a smart thing to do.

“Is it possible that there was some hanky-panky going on with Iran about the arms sale? Shame on me for even thinking that Republicans would ever do anything like that. After all, aren’t they the we-do-no-wrong people?”

[RWC] “Is it possible that there was some hanky-panky going on with Iran about the arms sale?” Other than innuendo like Mr. Yawor’s, no one has presented any credible evidence there was any deal to get the original hostages released. Then as now, I believe Iran knew Mr. Reagan wasn’t Jimmy Carter and wouldn’t tolerate Iran holding U.S. hostages.

Mr. Yawor seems fixed on the “do no wrong” BS. Mr. Yawor made this comment at least once before (“Dragged through the mud,” 8/30/06).