Alex Yawor – 10/9/09

This page was last updated on October 25, 2009.

Denmark trip not justified; Alex Yawor; Beaver County Times; October 9, 2009.

Mr. Yawor’s previous letters attempted to bash then-President Bush regarding Iraq and Iran, and then-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.” Two of Mr. Yawor’s letters tried to lift up Jimmy Carter (here and here).

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In an Oct. 6 letter John T. Haaf wrote about the trips of the president that may be justified, but there was one he did not mention that I feel was not justified. The trip to Denmark.

“I went to my computer to look up information about this trip, and this is what I found. Taking the lower figure of two, the plane the First Lady took cost $59,064 round trip, and Air Force One for the president cost $686,896. Yes, they took two planes.

“Then there are several cargo planes that also go that take bulletproof cars, security personal and other equipment.

“If I would use the higher figures, just for the planes, it would be $1,349,612, so you can see that it might have taken well over a million dollars. With the debt this country is in, to spend all of this money to get the Olympics to come to this country I feel is wrong.”

[RWC] Mr. Yawor didn’t cite his data sources, so I recommend some skepticism about his data.

“I am a Democrat and have given my opinion when I felt a Republican president was doing something wrong, but I also will give my opinion if I think a Democratic president is doing something that is wrong. Too bad some Republicans don’t do the same. But I guess Republicans never do anything wrong.”

[RWC] “I also will give my opinion if I think a Democratic president is doing something that is wrong.” Sure. Mr. Yawor has written at least 21 letters since early 2005 and all but three bashed Republicans in general and/or specific Republicans. In no letters did Mr. Yawor complain about anything done by Democrats in general or specific elected Democrats.

This “complaint” about the Obamas’ trip to Denmark is nothing but a throwaway criticism on an insignificant point so Mr. Yawor can imply he’s objective. It’s the same as if someone criticized George Bush because he mispronounces “nuclear” and then claimed that proved he wasn’t a partisan Republican.

Mr. Yawor wrote this letter before the announcement Chicago was eliminated on the first ballot. I wonder if Mr. Yawor would have written this letter if he had known the bid failed.