As an apostate I suppose I'm out of line asking for any favors. But really, these guys are making you look dumb, too. So I'm hoping some of you who are still in the Democratic fold can take it upon yourselves to think globally, act locally, and help spread a little, er, knowledge.
I keep hearing Democrats say something unbelievably dumb. Not politicians or smart people of course (please note the distinction). No, this is from everyday people I encounter at work, at school, or on the occasional call-in talk show. This meme simply will not go away, and I've gotta say it's getting really tiresome. It goes like this:
"Every time we have a Republican President, we have a war."
Granted, its not as if this analysis is entirely without merit. With the exception of police actions like World War I under Woodrow Wilson (D), World War II under Franklin Roosevelt (D), Korea under Harry Truman (D), and Vietnam under Lyndon Johnson (D), and all that dabbling in the Balkans and Somalia under Bill Clinton (D), I guess you could say that the wars of the 20th Century typically happened under Republican Presidents.
I mean, after all, Bush '41 got us into the Gulf War, where we lost literally tens of soldiers. Like you, I also remember the agonizing war in Greneda that Reagan got us into. That was five minutes of brutal hell, wasn't it? I still have flashbacks, but at least we had A Flock of Seagulls and Bananarama to help get us through it.
I know, I know, I'm glossing over the unending carnage wrought by Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, and William "The Conqueror" Taft. I sure hope we don't have anyone like those guys in charge when my son reaches draft age. Hightail it to Canada, Boy, they just put Jerry Ford back in charge!
Look guys, I'm not saying Democrats are warmongers or anything, but could you please help do a little attitudinal housecleaning? In response, I'll try to get my Republican compatriots to stop saying that Democrats use small furry animals as sex toys. I mean, you shave them first, right?
Who on earth are you hanging out with ... ?
...but the next time I hear someone say this, I'll set the record straight.
~:^\
Man, I ain't kiddin' ya, either.
Not long ago on TV, one of those morning news-coffee shows, some actor said, "I just think it's an omen. Every time we have a Republican President, there's a war. Now we have Bush and it's a war."
My neighbor recently opined that she's glad her son's not draft age. Then she said to my wife, "See, I told you you shouldn't have voted for Bush! Every time we have a Republican President he starts a war!"
In class at the University of Phoenix--a class on Critical Thinking, mind you--a fellow student opined thusly: "How could anyone vote for Bush! He's screwing up the economy and he's gotten us into a war! Every time we have a Republican President we go to war!" The teacher didn't correct him because, as she told the class, she believed Cynthia McKinney was on to something.
Those aren't the only examples, BTW. But ah well. Humor is the best answer, I sez.
(And hey, Nixon didn't exactly put the pedal to the floor getting us out of Vietnam, and Eisenhower was a General fer cryin' out loud. Teddy Roosevelt wasn't exactly what you'd call a Dove. That ain't the friggin' point!)
Back in 1976, the GOP-VP candidate said that voters should send the GOP ticket to the White House.
He went so far as to refer to the Vietnam, Korean and both World Wars as "Democratic wars."
The comment caused a firestorm of controversy (to use a popular phrase of the times). It was considered a new low in campaigning. Some say it may even have cost his party the election. In any case, the final result was very close, and the Democrats won the White House.
The nominee was Bob Dole; it was this incident that earned him a reputation as a "hatchet man."
To follow up:
The war of 1812, Madison:Republican. (then-current name for contemporary Democratic Party)
The Mexican-American War, Polk: Democrat.
The Civil War, Lincoln: Republican. (but he did free the slaves)
The Spanish-American War, McKinley: Republican.
WW1, Wilson: Democrat.
WW2, Roosevelt: Democrat.
Korean War, Truman, Democrat.
Vietnam War, Kennedy, Democrat.
Gulf War, Bush Sr.: Republican.
Afghan War, Bush Dubya: Republican.
I place events such as Grenada, Panama, Kosovo as police actions, though one may argue the Panama action as a war, since Noriega did declare war on the U.S.
Three out of four "Republican" wars (Civil War, Gulf War, Afghan War) were pretty obviously just wars. You could probably argue that the Spanish-American War set us up for the Pacific phase of the Second World War, but I think that Imperial Japan was ready to attack anyone in their way no matter who possessed the Philipines at the time.
Nixon tried to get out of SE Asia while appearing not to fink out on our obligations to South Vietnam. He was elected (partly) because he promised to get us out of the war, just as Eisenhower promised to end the war in Korea.
I think that having either Nixon or Goldwater as President after '64 would have been the best way to have successfully prosecuted the war, but it's arguable as to whether South Vietnam would have ever come together effectively without the impetus of the 1968 'Tet offensive.
I also have a great deal of respect for Truman and (to a lesser degree) FDR. Both good men, but FDR (while not a socialist as claimed at the time) did enhance the power of Washington tremendously.
Problem being that whenever we have had a war, private liberties have taken that much more of a beating.
I have a DVD of World War II era cartoons that includes an unusual cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. It's a Re-Elect Roosevelt cartoon for 1944. The liner notes say the cartoon was shown only in union halls, politican conventions, and other private locations; the writer claims it was far too "socially relevant" to be shown in regular moviehouses. In truth it's such a partisan polemic it's not surprising most theaters would not choose to run it. Especially since, unlike today, almost all movie theaters were run by small businessmen, who then (as now) trended Republican. (Big corporations like those who own most theaters today tend to support Democrats as much as Republicans, but they also avoid politics like the plague, so it's equally unimaginable they'd run such a film today.)
Anyway, in the cartoon there is a caricature of an unnamed Republican, the villain of the piece of course. The theme is, basically, "vote for Roosevelt to help win the war." At one point, the villain's face grows red and twists into an angry mask, and he bellows "It's Roosevelt's war!"
It's so long ago, most don't remember, but this was a shot right at the Republicans' solar plexus. Just two years earlier (1942) some Congressional Republicans started making noises about Roosevelt "knowing" about the coming attacks on Pearl Harbor and intentionally allowing the tragedy to occur. Cynthia McKinney-style Republicans had actually tried claiming that the whole thing was "Roosevelt's War," implying it was all a setup job to help keep him in power.
Predictably, it blew up badly in their faces, and cost the entire party dearly in the 1942 midterms. Smart Democrats were still bringing it up two years later, to imply that Republicans were disloyal, and wobbly on the war. It was part of Roosevelt's strategy for re-election.
Hard to say whether it helped; he won in 1944 by his narrowest margin ever. Thomas Dewey came so close to beating him that the Republicans were probably sure he'd pick off Truman easily in 1948. Whoops. %-)
I must take exception to listing Vietnam as Kennedy's war. Yes we had some military presence there, but we had military advisors in countries all over the world under both Eisenhower and Kennedy.
It was the Tonkin Gulf resolution and Johnson's committment of tens of thousands of men that made Vietnam into what I'd call a war.
I knew the rumors about Pearl were sprouting up immediately after the attack, but I hadn't heard about "Rooseveldt's War". "Madison's War", yes...
Yes, it's very arguable about who got us "into" Vietnam. History professor Paul F. Boller in his book "Not So!" (about American myths from Columbus to Clinton) addresses the myth that JFK would have pulled out of Vietnam had he not been assassinated. Boller points out that LBJ merely continued policies & practices initiated under Kennedy. But yes, we had advisors there under Eisenhower. On the other hand Kennedy did start the process of escalation. On the gripping hand Johnson did crank things up as it were.
That's ok, they're both Democrats, so the premise is still safe [grin]. Let's compromise and call it "MacNamara's War".
I now recall that was a popular phrase at the time. But he's said he's sorry now, so that's ok...
"Sorry doesn't take away the hurt..."
As a non-partisan, it saddens me to see that the bloody shirt is still waving!
(Fact Check: In the 1940's most movie theatres were still owned by the studios. It wasn't until a Supreme Court anti-trust ruling in 1946 that the majority of theaters reverted to independent ownership. Source: Cook's A Short History of Film)
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