My Spanish Relatives Upset By Terrorism: Wish For the Good Old Days of Gen. Francisco Franco

3-12-04 | Pinochet

[pinochet]

My elderly aunt misses the old general. And she is very supportive of the global war against terror, and thinks that Kerry is a commie.

[nuconvert]

Generalisimo Francisco Franco......He's dead you know

[Bogey78O]

Still?

[pinochet]

I know that. He passed in 1975. My aunt was a big fan.

[Arpege92]

"He's dead you know."

No kidding?

[pinochet]

Change that to: "if he were in power"

[nuconvert]

Nope.
He's still dead.

[js1138]

Generalisimo Francisco Franco......He's dead you know

Yes, but if he were alive he would vote for Ted Kennedy.

[Arpege92]

"Nope. He's still dead."

Darn....does he know this? ;-}

[nuconvert]

(it was a reference to Sat.Night Live skit from the 70's.....Chevvy Chase.....)

[vikk]

Great, now you've gone and spoiled it.
I'd mention that no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but that's sorta mixing metaphors.

[nuconvert]

Oh, that's done so often.......

[pinochet]

"...Yes, but if he were alive he would vote for Ted Kennedy..."

Change that to: "Now that he is dead, he is eligible to vote for Democrats, including Ted Kennedy".

But if the general were alive, he would not. He hated communists and liberals.

[nkycincinnatikid]

You know, I'm trying to put my finger on the annecdote to which I think you may be refering. Was it a harvard lampoon cover article?, a Monty Python skit? Or just a personal recollection of some inebriated joking back in the 70's?

[js1138]

Please don't take my comment too seriously. It was a reference to someone's claim that if Mary Jo Kopechne were alive she would benefit from Ted Kennedy's work in the Senate.

[SevenofNine]

It was Saturday night skit it ran for whole season I THINK

If Franco still alive OH GOD he be open can of whoopa***

[GOP_1900AD]

I quite enjoyed the unbiased account of Franco written by Paul R. Johnson in his great book "Modern Times." Whereas most of the Gramscian history books used to teach in government schools since WW-2 depict Franco as having been a Fascist or Nazi, Johnson's account made it clear that he was essentially neutral in WW-2 and the only thing he had in common with Musolini (and less so with Hitler) was concern about the power of the USSR. He was indeed a great anti Communist. I have often wondered about what would have happened if the USA had, instead of giving a wink and nod to the *COMMUNISTS* from here who went to Spain to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, banned these Red Brigades and instead helped Franco to overcome the Stalinists. I have to beleive that Franco would have been our friend and given Hitler and Musolini a somewhat cold shoulder. If we could have succeeded at that, imagine the surprise of both Hitler and Stalin about a US invasion of Europe via Spain in 1940. I love thinking through alternate endings - it helps me to smell irrational, utopian driven, sad excuses for geopolitical strategy in the current era.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Your elderly aunt is exactly right. The one and only time I visited Spain in the 1970's before Franko's death, it was a safe place to be or else! The streets were safe. No drugs were apparent, no crime, no Basque bombing nonsense, no demonstations, just FRANKO. Quiet, civility, prosperous, Spanish people living under a dictator, however benevolent. Worked for me. I went to the Costa Del Sol, Madrid and Marbella and a few other places. Ate Piella, drank Sangria (that wine concoction) and had a great time. Danced a whirling dirvish with Russian expatriot. Shallow, of course, but I was a tourist. Spain is a lovely country with an underpinning of cruelity. Hemmingway picked up on it.

[pinochet]

You are correct that Franco was neutral during World War Two. Spain was never one of the Axis powers. Unlike Mussolini, Franco did not invade any member state of the League of Nations (as Italy did to Ethiopia, Greece and Albania).

And you forgot to mention that, after D-day, Spain did allow the allied powers permission to stage attacks against the Germans from Spanish territory.

Franco and the Falange prevented Spain from being taken over like Tsarist Russia, and the massacre of millions by the "Republican" Spanish communists, was averted. For that act, Franco and the Falange have never been forgiven by the world's "progressives".

[DoctorMichael]

"....what would have happened if the USA had, instead of giving a wink and nod to the *COMMUNISTS* from here who went to Spain to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, banned these Red Brigades and instead helped Franco to overcome the Stalinists...."

I agree with your assessment.

.......and I wonder how much the Kommies in the Roosevelt Administration's State Dept had to do with the US's selection of 'sides'/'friends'/'allies'/'enemies' at that time. I'm sure they guided the US into a harder stance against Franco by whispering in that (FDR) senile idiot's ear