Garrison Keillor
In the spirit of bipartisan understanding, Mr. Keillor admits that the Democrats weren’t 100% right and the Republicans weren’t 100% wrong about the Cold War. I suppose this is about as close as we’re ever going to get at hearing from Democrats that they were wrong, but I’ll accept it. However, he then begins with the assumption that George W.
And now George Bush is on the right side of this one, and Democrats are fighting him tooth and nail. They sold the Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians down the river, and are now wanting to join Western Europe in doing the same to the Muslim world. We would be wise to ignore the Democrats, and not turn our backs on another enemy bent on world domination and violent conquest.
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Jeff,
Do you honestly expect the Democrats to actually remember 20, 30, or even 40 years ago? They cannot even remember a short 5 to 10 years ago when many/most of them(except for a few fringe lefties like Kucinich) when they AGREED with President Bush on having to finally deal with Saddam and Sons. Both Clintons, Kerry, Allbright, Berger, Biden, Pelosi, Edwards, Rockefeller, and most of the clear thinking (at the time) Dem leadership saw that after 9.11 Saddam could not be allowed to continue to defy the world and the agreements he entered into after the Gulf War and with the 17 UN Resolutions against him. They even forget that it was President Clinton in 1998 who initiated the US policy of "regime change" in Iraq. This was NOT a Bush Admin policy idea - it was Clinton's. Though it took the GOP to make it happen. No one seems to remember that now either as the war has become hard and is testing our resolve. You are correct, the left is bailing again when the going gets tough just as in the examples you mentioned. We can be assured that there will be NO body count numbers for the millions masacred AFTER we leave as there were none in SE Asia either. But the Democrats are the ones who care about life more than the GOP, right?
Jeff,
Your chances of dying by terrorist attack are so close to zero that it is not even worth contemplating. Your rationalizations for attacking Iraq when they offered us no threat are so conflicted and tortured that they seem to cancel themselves out.
Your hyper-partisan remembrance of the Cold War is typically over-simplistic. The Soviet Union's structural imperfections had as much to do with it's own demise as Reagans policies. Attacking Afqhanistan was a major part of their undoing, and in a way resembles our own folly in Iraq. Reagan poured billions into aiding the Afghans, and then left as soon as the USSR collapsed, leaving it to Bin Laden and the Taliban, so who sold who down the river? Using the same tortured logic as you employ, doesn't that make 9-11 Reagan's fault?
Much blood and treasure has been spilt in Iraq, and the situation is increasingly untenable. Will we learn from history and get out before our fall is certain? Or will we save ourselves with a course correction?
By the way, which politician has ever said they want to surrender? Specifics please.
Posted by Charles B on May 6, 2007 07:03 AMWhoooeee!
Garrison Keillor on "Cold Way History 101", by way of Jeff Kocsis. Thet's sumpin else!
Course, them thar folks up in Lake Woebegon air snowed in most like nine months o' the yar; an them conditions can sorta lead ta freezin' o' tha brain, too. So, 'tain't all thet suprisin' thet when they get thawed out a bit, they tell everbody what they war a thinkin back before. An acourse Joe McCarthy's a hero in them thar parts. His brain war too pickled in alcohol ta freeze; so folks up Lake Woebegon way looked ta him ta tell 'em what done gone on in tha rest o the world whilst they war agoin' thru tha winters
But it shore 'nuff beats them thar theory fellers what done got them towers afallin' all figgered out fer skulduggery, Fer laughs anyway.
Posted by Old Grouch on May 6, 2007 08:48 AMI love GKs work and I remember this colum where he said he read up on some liberal boogy-men and slightly or somewhat changed his mind.
I will not write of how seldom a conservative challanges their own opinions and goes out to find more information.
Conservatives, not mentioned in the paragraph above, seldom feel the joy of a new opinion or change of mind.
I am being very careful with my qualifiers now that the caped duo prowl the forums looking for the smallest opening to jump in.
Posted by Sharon B. on May 6, 2007 09:52 AMThose damn conservatives, they are so full of bs. How can they even dare to call themselves political equals to us Dems! We are the open-minded, tolerant ones, they should look to us for guidance, not that stupid book. Stupid Christians, how can they be so dumb.
Posted by No use on May 6, 2007 10:23 AMThose damn conservatives, they are so full of bs. How can they even dare to call themselves political equals to us Dems! We are the open-minded, tolerant ones, they should look to us for guidance, not that stupid book. Stupid Christians, how can they be so dumb.
I'm confused...are you equating conservatives with Christians in the post above? I don't see the connection.
Posted by on May 6, 2007 03:48 PMJeff K. "Mr. Keillor is making the exact same mistake that Democrats made throughout the Cold War, but is apparently unable to step outside of his partisan bias to see what he’s doing. So he’s once again rubber-stamping the white-flag-waving Democratic party who are trying hard to cede half the world to the Islamofascists, just as they once tried to cede the whole world to Communism. Truman and Nixon were on the right side of that one, as was Joe McCarthy. As was Ronald Reagan.
And now George Bush is on the right side of this one, and Democrats are fighting him tooth and nail. They sold the Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians down the river,"
But it was a Democrat that escalated Vietnam, and it was a Republican that cut and ran, he even campaigned on promises he would. St Ronnie even cut and ran when the Marines were attacked in their barracks in Lebanon.
I suggest you dilute your Kool-Aid or even stop drinking it altogether.
Posted by holyreality on May 6, 2007 05:01 PMWe progressives need to make sure our voices are heard and other people are protected from their Redumblican stupidity.
Posted by [Gabriel] No use on May 6, 2007 07:35 PMholyreality speaks the truth .
The GOP (Greedy Oppressive Patriarchs )will never admit that the original cut-and-runner was also the original "Hollywood elitist" Ronny Ray-Gun.
GOP die-hards do what they're told to do as good little fascists have always done. eg; "I vas only following orders".
What's up with this trend of throwing around words that the user doesn't understand, to hype up a statement. Get a dictionary dmz, then maybe you can use words according to their definition and not because they are inflammatory and sound cool.
PS Make sure you reference the National Socialist party in your next rant, wouldn't want to seem under-cliche.
Posted by No use on May 6, 2007 09:50 PMYes, c'mon, dmz, don't you know that wingnuts don't understand words that are more than one syllable?
Posted by Drew on May 7, 2007 11:12 AM"Yes, c'mon, dmz, don't you know that wingnuts don't understand words that are more than one syllable?"
Are you upset that dmz used words that are too big for you, Drew?
Posted by No use on May 7, 2007 12:58 PM9:50 coward-who-posts...
Exactly what word do you not understand?
Fascists are NOT Islamic, no matter how many times Herr Rush and Herr Bush (note the similarities?) misuse it to mislead the masses.
Fascisim is when the corporations call the shots for the government, just like Hitler's cartel did, and just like Bush's cartel is trying to do.
Simple enough for you?