Posted on 04/05/2004 8:56:17 PM PDT by playball0
I heard someplace that Ted and modes of transportation in general, don't go together. Besides the car(s), he's wrecked a boat or two, been in an airplane crash, etc.
The joke, or warning if you prefer, is that if you see Ted get on the same train as you, get off.
If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he'd be President today
It floats.
The way our body is built, we'd be surprised if it didn't. The sheet of flat steel that goes underneath every Volkswagen keeps out water, as well as dirt and salt and other nasty things that can eat away at the underside of a car. So it's watertight at the bottom. And everybody knows it's easier to shut the door on a Volkswagen after you've rolled down the window a little.
That proves it's practically airtight on top. If it was a boat, we could call it the Water Bug. But it's not a boat, it's a car.
And, like Mary Jo Kopechne, it's only 99 and 44/100 percent pure. So it won't stay afloat forever. Just long enough. Poor Teddy. If he'd been smart enough to buy a Volkswagen, he never would have gotten into hot water.
I dunno. The Swimmer may have his exegesis back-ass-ward, but comparing Bush/Iraq to Nixon/Vietnam is not entirely inapt. After all:
Wrt to Vietnam, Nixon immediately began to turn around the fortunes of a war that Democrats had botched horribly for 5 to 8 years.
Nixon showed incisive strategic thinking, strong resolve, and deft usage of diplomacy. He managed to hurt the North Vietnamese badly even while drastically reducing the number of American troops the 'Rats had been (miss) using. He hard-balled the North Vietnamese and obtained a peace treaty that no one thought was possible and would, in all probability, have secured South Vietnam against the communists. Would have, that is, if a quisling 'Rat congress had not cut off aid to South Vietnam.
All the time Nixon was fighting and negotiating the 'Rats, and not a few Republicans, were screaming at him to settle for much less than he would eventually obtain. Many -- including one John Forbes Kerry -- were wailing that victory, even a partial negotiated victory that preserved our ally and our honor, was impossible, and that we must cut and run (withdraw unilaterally, in exchange only for the Communist promise of releasing POWs, and agree to a "coalition" government in South Vietnam in which only the Communists would be armed).
Throughout all of this, and midst a level of social and political division over the policy in Vietnam that was as great as any the country had experienced since the Civil War, Nixon consistently acted in the interest of the country rather than in his personal interest. For example he kept the negotiations in Paris involving Henry Kissinger, and/or their substance, secret even when revelations could have redounded substantially to his political benefit.
Although, with respect to the nature of the wars in themselves, there are vast differences between Iraq and Vietnam, there are some fairly close parallels with respect to the behavior of the Presidents, Nixon and Bush, and their domestic critics.
Both Nixon and Bush were handed huge stinking messes, all but universally perceived as intractable, by 'Rat predecessors. Both took action requiring a vision and boldness that frightened, angered or befuddled their critics (who were in many cases the authors of previous failed strategies). Both faced (or are facing) critics that undermine their efforts, and sometimes further the interests of our enemies.
Nixon succeeded in so far as achieving an honorable conclusion to an "unwinnable" war. His success was squandered by those who hated him more than they hated our enemies (or in some cases who shared the interests of our enemies). It is only in this last point that the analogy hopefully breaks down.
An important reminder that the Presidency alone is not enough to preserve our security. The 5th column, in so far as possible, must be expelled from the Congress as well.
Inattention to the midterms, and largely abandoning the down ticket races in '73 (in a self-absorbed quest to better LBJ's margin of victory over Goldwater, as some have charged) was one of Nixon's biggest mistakes. Fortunately it's one that Bush has NOT repeated.
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