Monday, September 13, 2010

Isn't this where I came in?

History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes.” -Mark Twain

So the gaffe-prone alpha male Texan with a controversial service record, view of the government as benevolent rescuer at home, and an aggressive foreign policy is out, and has been replaced with the skinny, cigarette-smoking, paranoid political apparatchik who promised us peace with honor and is obsessed with the enemies out to destroy him.

My question is, now that Richard Milhous Obama has replaced Lyndon Baines Bush, when do we get to the wage and price controls part?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

That would be 11/7/12, should our electorate be so foolish. And considering the track record...?

But bo's problems are more immediate; as he nurses his paranoia and/or schizophrenia, little does he know just who his new enemies are, or where they may lurk:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39143422/ns/politics-the_new_york_times

AT

Anonymous said...

And those historical parallels are some scary shit; God help us if the new incarnations of Ford and Carter get their turn. AT

Ed Rasimus said...

Your backhand of "controversial service record" exemplifies the effect of a disinformation campaign in politics. While ANG service is looked down upon by many, it is a long way from a free pass. GWB was commissioned in the TANG, then went on full time active duty with USAF to attend a full year of pilot training, side-by-side with USAF officers. He followed up with the same sequence of survival schools and then operational training in a single-seat jet fighter aircraft. He achieved operational status in his ANG unit and flew missions for four years. That totals up to five and a half years of service in what is usually recognized as a hazardous and demanding application. He was well respected by instructors and other pilots when he was in the business. Those are facts.

You can disagree with his policies (and I often do) but be cautious about generic mis-characterizations. We fighter pilots are protective of our own.

Tam said...

Ed Rasimus,

"Your backhand of "controversial service record" exemplifies the effect of a disinformation campaign in politics."

No, Ed, for something can be "controversial" without the controversy having any real basis in fact.

I'm satisfied with Bush's service record as honorable. Other people, as you point out consider an ANG slot during a shooting war as somehow shirking.

This would fit the definition of "n. 1: : a discussion marked especially by the expression of opposing views."

staghounds said...

What, the critics say "Woof!"?

Good to see that Harvard Law Review editorship doesn't require correct English grammar.

(I also don't carp at W's service. But as an illustration of controversy decline, LBJ's "slacking" included leaving the country and riding in an airplane within range of angry Japanese.)

John Stephens said...

I had no idea when I came here I'd be debating Lyndon Johnson's war record. That's what keeps me coming back. As for the matter at hand: the only thing controversial was the Silver Star, and that was MacArthur's idea. If I'd been in the same position, I'd have taken the medal too, on the theory that every medal you get without earning makes up for the ones you earned but didn't get.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Can we just skip straight to the next Reagan, please?

staghounds said...

But what if the medal is a combat only one and it's given for your one and only exposure to that pleasure?

Let us not forget that the 20th century's head of state with the "best" personal war record, major nation league, was Adolf Hitler.

alath said...

I like the part where Barry is bemoaning the "wealthy and powerful interests" who criticize him.

Because, you know, the people who put him in power are all dirt poor and powerless. Like, you know, Hollywood. And George Soros.

Bubblehead Les. said...

I wanted to read the link about the enemies list, but it seems to be blocked. No problem with the Nixon/LBJ links, therefore I must accept the fact that the Anointed One's Internet Suppression/News Censorship Czar must be at the office this morning.

Ed Rasimus said...

LBJ's Silver Star is a sore point with me as well. It was strictly a political move to credential for the future. But, Texas has decided to give me free license plates for my car to make up for LBJ. Unfortunately not one person in a thousand who sees the plates knows what the gong is.

staghounds said...

You may be misunderestimating, especially in Texas.

And thank you.

mariner said...

staghounds,

E I S E N H O W E R.

Anonymous said...

"Can we just skip straight to the next Reagan, please?"

Or back to the last one, Nathan...as Tam famously said: "I'd vote for RR's rotting corpse before I'd vote for anything on the scene right now." Or words to that effect.

A do-nothing cadaver propped up in the big chair would have to be an improvement over the "activist progressives" we're stuck with now...and like Tam, I don't see much that inspires me on the horizon. Sigh.

AT

staghounds said...

E I S E N H O W E R

A very successful and skilled administrative soldier.

But I mean the sort of "in harm's way" record the people who condemned GWB and praised Sen. Kerrey seem to have meant.

Tam said...

staghounds,

Eisenhower did too face hostile soldiers! In Washington DC, in the Spring of '32!

8Notch said...

I agree Tam, plus the Bonus Marchers were really kinda like stinky hippy protesters, thus comparable to Hitler's being gassed. And as for being a "very successful and skilled administrative soldier" also, well, he WAS Grofaz after all.

Dr. StrangeGun said...

Ford tripped over stairs.

Biden trips over his brain.

Scary.

John said...

LOL, at y'r woids, 'dis mawnin', Tam. A grin a day, no matter how rueful the reality of it's context, ain't a bad start to things.

Außenseiter said...

@Ed Rasimus

Service? Service?!

Hell, I bet a large part of the male population would be willing to kill, kill strangers, if that could guarantee them a job that'd involve flying jet combat aircraft. There is nothing that comes close to that. Even flying ultralights is wondrous. I can't imagine what it'd be like to fly a machine that has megawatts of power.

It's a fucking privilege for the bastards who were lucky enough to have both perfect health, decent IQ and a small frame(maybe not in the US, but around here, Russians had a thing for small crewspaces in both AFV's and aircraft, so tough luck for anyone over 5'11...)..

The only satisfaction one has is, that UAV's are going to make interesting manned jet combat craft obsolete. So, there'll be no one to envy except bastards like you who got their chance in the past...

Even with visually perfect VR, no way in hell will anyone ever find a way to simulate the various forces correctly.

:(

Yeah. Service my ass. Demanding? The ignorant asshole has IQ around 120, so it was probably not that demanding for him . He just likes to play a he's just another Joe Average, as voters love to lap that shit up..

Anonymous said...

This has bugged the shit out of me since oh, about 9 a.m. on 9/13. So though this post is old and buried now, this is cathartic for me and an apology to Tam.

In the few minutes over morning coffee when I scan the news and my favorite blogs...okay, blog...and maybe put in my few sense, I sometimes already have a comment or reference in mind if I see a post or thread where it at least tangentially fits. That's what happened Monday morning when I dropped a line and a link here referencing BO's Party being over, so to speak.

I did that after scanning Tam's post and taking it as one of her witty and off-hand snark attacks on the One...without even clicking her links or absorbing the sparkling humor and irony and warning it contained. Then clicking and reading a bit and realizing the depth and dimensions of that little post, and hurried for time, I made it worse with a half-hearted acknowledgement and succession joke in a second comment.

Some may say let it go, it's just a blog, etc. etc...but as for me, I believe that what we're witnessing right here every day is the real reason why things like today's Delaware Surprise are happening. The absence of blind loyalty to an impotent "party", and the willingness (and ability) to lampoon them and even critically wound their gentlemen's agreement to share the largesse between them, is resulting for the first time in my lifetime in viable and successful non-party representatives becoming well...actual representatives.

I think that is largely because of what is happening and being said right here, right now, on this Porch. No one, especially no one who lived through the comic tragedy of the original iterations of Johnson/Nixon et al, could comprehend the parallels with versions 2.0 and not come away scared, and angry, and seeking alternatives. If there is a potential USA CEO of the caliber of Reagan out there, he/she is likely non-aligned...so am I, and so I think at this place in time, should we all be.

Thanks for your forebearance and what you do here, Tam; I understand and appreciate your effort and apologize for the lapse in this case in not taking the time to do so to begin with. I oughta (and actually do) know better.

AT