The president said there was much to be learned from the divisive Vietnam War _ the longest conflict in U.S. history _ as his administration contemplates new strategies for the increasingly difficult war in Iraq, now in its fourth year. But his critics see parallels with Vietnam _ a determined insurgency and a death toll that has drained public support _ that spell danger for dragging out U.S. involvement in Iraq. (snip)
“We’ll succeed, unless we quit.” Bush said.
I’d say Bush is dumb as a box of Count Chocula, but I think don’t think a box of Count Chocula derserves to be insulted like that.
November 17, 2006 at 7:11 am
Not to belittle the sacrifices of any servicemen or their families, but the bloodiest day in Vietnam had more American deaths than the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts put together. The President’s critics are just that – critical of the President. They were critical before Iraq, this just gives them an easier target.
November 17, 2006 at 7:32 am
More gems from preznit!
November 17, 2006 at 10:38 am
Y’know, people said James Stockdale was dumb, especially after that debate between him, Quayle and Al Gore. The admiral had a doctorate in philosophy. Bush has degrees from Ivy League universities. He is not dumb. He may sound that way when he talks at times, and you may think his policies are dumb, but the man is not.
Jason, on the other hand …
November 17, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Bush is intellectually lazy. No curiosity. He had the entire US government at his disposal to train him into the job. He didn’t bother. He deliberately surrounded himself with advisors who were stuck back in the 1980’s. The world had marched on but not Bush. Still not Bush.
As far as graduating from Yale and Harvard, have you ever heard of legacies? It’s the same as the aristocracy. If your daddy and granddaddy went there you get a free pass. A gentleman’s C.
Sorry Hube. We’ll probably never know Bush’s IQ but we surely have evidence of his laziness and incompetence, so the IQ really doesn’t matter.
November 17, 2006 at 4:45 pm
I essentially agree, Rebecca. He may be incompetent and/or lazy, but he is not stupid. Just like Jimmy Carter — he’s a smart man, but he was at least as incompetent as the current WH occupant.
November 17, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Rebecca-
I would argue that Bush is merely stubborn in his mindset. He decides what he believes, and then he believes it, and ignores evidence to the contrary.
As for the “Gentlemen’s C”, don’t believe it. What professors that you know wouldn’t stick it to an old-money Republican at their first opportunity?
November 17, 2006 at 11:25 pm
“…but I think don’t think a box of Count Chocula derserves to be insulted like that.”
Yeah, you should be commenting on someone’s intelligence. You’re fucking brilliant!
Stick to selling cars.
November 18, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I wish I could remember who said this, because I think it sums Bush up exactly: “He doesn’t talk like someone who’s stupid — he talks like someone who thinks WE’RE stupid.” Listen to his language and you’ll see it’s true: He speaks like someone who’s frustrated by an inability to dumb down complicated ideas. There are plenty of people who don’t lack for brains or ideas but aren’t particularly articulate, and I think that — combined with an inability to admit mistatkes — accounts for what most people think is stupidity. I think the problem with him is his intense competitiveness. He rarely deals with a problem any way other than bulldozing his way through.
November 18, 2006 at 3:45 pm
the human cost fo cut & run:
George Packer argues in a special issue of the New Republic, Iraq: What’s Next (behind a subscription link), that America now has no option but to accept defeat in Iraq. But he has no illusions about what that means to Iraqis.
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I want to talk about something else.Withdrawal means that the United States will have to watch Iraqis die in ever greater numbers without doing much of anything to prevent it, because the welfare of Iraqis will no longer be among our central concerns. Those Iraqis who have had anything to do with the occupation and its promises of democracy will be among the first to be killed: the translators, the government officials, the embassy employees, the journalists, the organizers of women’s and human rights groups. As it is, they are being killed one by one. (I personally know at least half a dozen of them who have been murdered.) Without the protection of the Green Zone,U.S. bases, or the inhibiting effect on the Sunni and Shia militias of 150,000 U.S. troops, they will be killed in much greater numbers. To me, the relevant historical analogy is not the helicopters taking off from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, leaving thousands of Vietnamese to the reeducation camps. It is the systematic slaughter by the Khmer Rouge of every Cambodian who appeared to have had anything to do with the West. If the United States leaves Iraq, our last shred of honor and decency will require us to save as many of these Iraqis as possible.
November 19, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Rep. Rangel will seek to reinstate draft
AP via Yahoo! ^ | November 19, 2006 | AP
A senior House Democrat said Sunday he will introduce legislation to reinstate the military draft, asserting that current troop levels are insufficient to sustain possible challenges against Iran, North Korea and Iraq. “There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” said Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y.