The only conclusion that one can make! You have basically distilled the quote down to the kernel that sums it up about as good as it gets.
I'd also like to note that he was referring to other situations in the past, but just damn, if one can't see that history repeats itself when one refuses to look at history correctly, one is BOUND to make the same mistakes over and over again. And so we are.
You also posted on the Sam Donaldson thread today. My post there also references some comments by Dr. Russell Kirk in "The Conservative Mind." Pity folks weren't paying attention to his and others' cautions to those who called themselves "conservatives" back then.