A Blast From The Past -- Silent Cal
This was supposed to go up an hour before the SOTU, oh well, best laid plans and all that...
Source: NRO
Now to contrast this with the mealy mouthed tripe we'll be enjoying later tonight...
do our jobs until you allow us to break the law with impunity. Wow!
Feel the pride, that Red, White and Blue all American pride!
If
what the president is saying, that we cannot secure our border until he
has his (the chamber of commerce's really) guest worker program, then I
must ask the question again...
Is America an actual nation anymore? Or have we become some sort of a "trading zone?"
Because
if he's right, have you really thought through what he's asserting
here? He is saying that we cannot enforce our borders unless we let in
those people who demand to come here. Yet, every nation has the
unassailable right to choose who enters, he is saying that we no longer
have that ability.
Again, if he's right, and I know beyond the
shadow of a doubt that he isn't, then America no longer exists as an
actual, honest to goodness country.
Since we know beyond the
shadow of a doubt that this is a false premise what does this statement
reveal about this president? The fact that he is unwilling to make any
serious moves, for six years now toward border security without
procuring cheap, compliant slave labor for his corporate masters is
more than a little scary.
The fact that he simply refuses to
acknowledge the brazen efforts of drug cartels to strengthen their hold
in this country. Shrugging off any violent activity at the border
committed by the drug cartels or the Mexican military as 'accidents' or
'navigational issues.'
Treating our Border Patrol agents with
contempt in every way possible. Of course I'm thinking of agents Ramos
and Compean, but then again, let's consider the ROE that keeps BP
agents from chasing drug smugglers. It doesn't rise to the level of a
bad joke.
And the part that I find most amazing? He has never
even attempted to pretend to make this more palatable to the American
people. Not once! The released immigration portions of his speech
tonight could have been copied and pasted from any number of earlier,
failed speeches he's given on this subject. And yes, every one of those
speeches he gave on his "comprehensive immigration reform" nonsense in
the past have gone over like lead filled balloons with the American
people.
So he's back tonight like a slightly demented Energizer
Bunny, convinced that if he merely repeats the same shop worn canards
for them umpteenth time, we will suddenly slap our heads and cry "OF
COURSE! YES, MY GOD IT'S SO CLEAR NOW!"
Instead of what a
majority of Americans will actually be doing, holding their heads and
praying for this lunatic to do as little damage as possible in the next
two years.
As to the war. I've been listening to the poorly
framed debate on talk radio today and it's clear to me that no one
wants to say what the president's primary mistake was in Iraq. His
utter unwillingness to actually fight the war. Americans don't grow
weary of fighting, they grow weary of not fighting, they grow weary of
pansy ass strategies forcing our troops to fight with one hand tied
behind their backs. They grow weary of having to listen to government
officials pretend our enemies are our friends. They grow weary of a
government that lacks the basic spine to call an enemy an enemy and
prosecute the war as if bad people really truly wanted to saw our heads
off.
The American people aren't stupid, we see that Iran and
Syria have been killing our troops in Iraq for lo these many months and
years, yet only recently did our government seem to notice this rather
pertinent detail. Were they sleepy? Stupid? Nope, just cowardly. I
understand the idea of one war at a time, but you know what the problem
with that philosophy is in this situation?
WE'VE BEEN AT WAR
WITH IRAN SINCE 1979!! And we've never, ever, done a goddamned thing
about it! I am annoyed and ashamed of my government for not putting a
boot in the ass of those who have most required a boot in the ass. And
most of all for not saying in uncompromising terms that this behavior
was not only unacceptable, but that it would have deadly serious
consequences.
Americans are feeling fatigued in this war for one
basic reason. They have absolutely no idea what victory might look
like. I don't. The president will say tonight that we cannot leave Iraq
until we've achieved victory, fine, good.
Two things, Iraq is
not the entire war on terror, never was, and I've never had the
foggiest notion what victory in the war on terror would look like. I
know what I think it should look like, and I'm sure other people have
different ideas as well, but I've never known what our government has
laid out as "victory" in the war on terror.
This is a problem,
much like the problem with progressives. What are you 'progressing'
toward? What is your end goal? Or will you simply progress for all
time, because that seems a bit uncomfortable to me, a bit like living
out of the back of your car, which is parked in the driveway of a
beautiful home.
To me this president's victories have all been
domestic, yes I appreciate good judges on the bench. And after getting
his ass kicked on Harriet Meyers he has done well. Yes I appreciate the
tax cuts and the good economy, though I'm not sure how much I trust it.
People thought things were hunky dory in '29 as I recall.
The
word that kept jumping out at me as I listened to the commentary today
was "rhetoric." That the time for rhetoric had passed, that it was the
time for deeds. Fine, good, but I think that is where this president
comes up short. He's good with bold phrases, not so good with actually
taking bold action.
I expect tonight's speech to exist quite
comfortably in the status quo ante. I think personally that in many
ways the president has already checked out and is mentally hanging
drapes in his presidential library. Because the time for action in many
things has passed, there is a tempo and a rhythm to these sorts of
things and unfortunately the president has a bit of a tin ear on these
issues rendering him almost incapable of seeing how his actions will be
perceived.
Like so many things war is much more a matter of the
mind than of flesh, and the blank check he was handed after 9-11, in my
opinion has been completely squandered leaving him without much ability
to effect things, and with the American people still wondering, several
years after the fact, what victory would look like.
Technorati Tags: state of the union, sotu, president bush, global war on terror, gwot
Source: NRO
WhileCalvin Coolidge, SOTU address, 1925
our country numbers among its best citizens many of those of foreign
birth, yet those who now enter in violation of our laws by that very
act thereby place themselves in a class of undesirables. [If]
investigation reveals that any considerable number are coming here in
defiance of our immigration restrictions, it will undoubtedly create
the necessity for the
registration
of all aliens. We ought to have no prejudice against an alien because
he is an alien. The standard which we apply to our inhabitants is that
of manhood, not place of birth. Restrictive immigration is to a large
degree for economic purposes. It is applied in order that we may not
have a larger annual increment of good people within our borders than
we can weave into our economic fabric in such a way as to supply their
needs without undue injury to ourselves.
Now to contrast this with the mealy mouthed tripe we'll be enjoying later tonight...
On comprehensive immigration reform:Or, in normal people speak: We won't
“Extending
hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system
worthy of America – with laws that are fair and borders that are
secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the
interests of our country… Yet…we cannot fully secure the border unless
we take pressure off the border – and that requires a temporary worker
program.”
do our jobs until you allow us to break the law with impunity. Wow!
Feel the pride, that Red, White and Blue all American pride!
If
what the president is saying, that we cannot secure our border until he
has his (the chamber of commerce's really) guest worker program, then I
must ask the question again...
Is America an actual nation anymore? Or have we become some sort of a "trading zone?"
Because
if he's right, have you really thought through what he's asserting
here? He is saying that we cannot enforce our borders unless we let in
those people who demand to come here. Yet, every nation has the
unassailable right to choose who enters, he is saying that we no longer
have that ability.
Again, if he's right, and I know beyond the
shadow of a doubt that he isn't, then America no longer exists as an
actual, honest to goodness country.
Since we know beyond the
shadow of a doubt that this is a false premise what does this statement
reveal about this president? The fact that he is unwilling to make any
serious moves, for six years now toward border security without
procuring cheap, compliant slave labor for his corporate masters is
more than a little scary.
The fact that he simply refuses to
acknowledge the brazen efforts of drug cartels to strengthen their hold
in this country. Shrugging off any violent activity at the border
committed by the drug cartels or the Mexican military as 'accidents' or
'navigational issues.'
Treating our Border Patrol agents with
contempt in every way possible. Of course I'm thinking of agents Ramos
and Compean, but then again, let's consider the ROE that keeps BP
agents from chasing drug smugglers. It doesn't rise to the level of a
bad joke.
And the part that I find most amazing? He has never
even attempted to pretend to make this more palatable to the American
people. Not once! The released immigration portions of his speech
tonight could have been copied and pasted from any number of earlier,
failed speeches he's given on this subject. And yes, every one of those
speeches he gave on his "comprehensive immigration reform" nonsense in
the past have gone over like lead filled balloons with the American
people.
So he's back tonight like a slightly demented Energizer
Bunny, convinced that if he merely repeats the same shop worn canards
for them umpteenth time, we will suddenly slap our heads and cry "OF
COURSE! YES, MY GOD IT'S SO CLEAR NOW!"
Instead of what a
majority of Americans will actually be doing, holding their heads and
praying for this lunatic to do as little damage as possible in the next
two years.
As to the war. I've been listening to the poorly
framed debate on talk radio today and it's clear to me that no one
wants to say what the president's primary mistake was in Iraq. His
utter unwillingness to actually fight the war. Americans don't grow
weary of fighting, they grow weary of not fighting, they grow weary of
pansy ass strategies forcing our troops to fight with one hand tied
behind their backs. They grow weary of having to listen to government
officials pretend our enemies are our friends. They grow weary of a
government that lacks the basic spine to call an enemy an enemy and
prosecute the war as if bad people really truly wanted to saw our heads
off.
The American people aren't stupid, we see that Iran and
Syria have been killing our troops in Iraq for lo these many months and
years, yet only recently did our government seem to notice this rather
pertinent detail. Were they sleepy? Stupid? Nope, just cowardly. I
understand the idea of one war at a time, but you know what the problem
with that philosophy is in this situation?
WE'VE BEEN AT WAR
WITH IRAN SINCE 1979!! And we've never, ever, done a goddamned thing
about it! I am annoyed and ashamed of my government for not putting a
boot in the ass of those who have most required a boot in the ass. And
most of all for not saying in uncompromising terms that this behavior
was not only unacceptable, but that it would have deadly serious
consequences.
Americans are feeling fatigued in this war for one
basic reason. They have absolutely no idea what victory might look
like. I don't. The president will say tonight that we cannot leave Iraq
until we've achieved victory, fine, good.
Two things, Iraq is
not the entire war on terror, never was, and I've never had the
foggiest notion what victory in the war on terror would look like. I
know what I think it should look like, and I'm sure other people have
different ideas as well, but I've never known what our government has
laid out as "victory" in the war on terror.
This is a problem,
much like the problem with progressives. What are you 'progressing'
toward? What is your end goal? Or will you simply progress for all
time, because that seems a bit uncomfortable to me, a bit like living
out of the back of your car, which is parked in the driveway of a
beautiful home.
To me this president's victories have all been
domestic, yes I appreciate good judges on the bench. And after getting
his ass kicked on Harriet Meyers he has done well. Yes I appreciate the
tax cuts and the good economy, though I'm not sure how much I trust it.
People thought things were hunky dory in '29 as I recall.
The
word that kept jumping out at me as I listened to the commentary today
was "rhetoric." That the time for rhetoric had passed, that it was the
time for deeds. Fine, good, but I think that is where this president
comes up short. He's good with bold phrases, not so good with actually
taking bold action.
I expect tonight's speech to exist quite
comfortably in the status quo ante. I think personally that in many
ways the president has already checked out and is mentally hanging
drapes in his presidential library. Because the time for action in many
things has passed, there is a tempo and a rhythm to these sorts of
things and unfortunately the president has a bit of a tin ear on these
issues rendering him almost incapable of seeing how his actions will be
perceived.
Like so many things war is much more a matter of the
mind than of flesh, and the blank check he was handed after 9-11, in my
opinion has been completely squandered leaving him without much ability
to effect things, and with the American people still wondering, several
years after the fact, what victory would look like.
Technorati Tags: state of the union, sotu, president bush, global war on terror, gwot
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posted by jakejacobsen @ 10:35 PM
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