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Doris Kearns Goodwin on Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Great Society (So true today!)
Wall Street Journal | 4/11/09

Posted on 04/11/2009 1:46:42 PM PDT by llevrok

Doris Kearns Goodwin on Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Great Society, in "Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream":

In his determination to get Congress and America moving again, Johnson demanded support for the Great Society and confidence in the capacity of government to improve all the conditions of society as matters of faith. . . . The intensity of his own belief strengthened his formidable persuasive powers. . . . In so expansive an era, filled with such benevolent intentions, the boundaries between fact and fiction, between the present and the future, no longer held. . . .

And so it went in message after message. The subjects might change, but the essentials remained the same: in the opening, an expression of dire need; in the middle, a vague proposal; in the end, a buoyant description of the anticipated results -- all contained in an analysis presented in a manner that often failed to distinguish between expectations and established realities. . . .

[T]he need for haste often resulted in a failure to define the precise nature and requirements of social objectives. Legislative solutions were often devised and rushed into law before the problems were understood . . . Pass the bill now, worry about its effects and implementation later -- this was the White House strategy.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: lbj; missinglink; presidents; welfarestate

1 posted on 04/11/2009 1:46:43 PM PDT by llevrok
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To: llevrok

How is it the Dimocrat Party went from “Ask not what your country can do for you,” to Lyndon Baines Johnson seemingly overnight?

I had no use for that ineffectual weasel Kennedy, but he was a giant compared to Johnson!


2 posted on 04/11/2009 1:53:14 PM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: llevrok
Doris Kearns Goodwin - PLAGIARIST
3 posted on 04/11/2009 1:56:40 PM PDT by JohnG45
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To: JohnG45

“Doris Kearns Goodwin - PLAGIARIST “

Don’t know where this came from, but if true, she could get a faculty job at Colorado University in Boulder.


4 posted on 04/11/2009 1:59:23 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Da Coyote
Don’t know where this came from, but if true, she could get a faculty job at Colorado University in Boulder.

Check into this. Note that it's from a left-wing publication.

5 posted on 04/11/2009 2:20:19 PM PDT by Steely Tom (RKBA: last line of defense against vote fraud)
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To: llevrok

There are 3 books by Robert A. Caro that will tell you everything you could possibly want to know about LBJ. I don’t know why DKG even bothered.


6 posted on 04/11/2009 2:28:16 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Da Coyote

LBJ did the same thing to her he did to the country.


7 posted on 04/11/2009 2:28:43 PM PDT by cgbg (Cap and trade + electric cars = stranded and broke.)
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To: Redbob

Kennedy was much more Republican in his thinking than he was a democrat. His family members were and still are hard core dems, but he fell from a different side of his family tree and believed in a strong military as well as tax cuts. Probably had something to do with having been in the military and learning a few things about real life vs the rest of his family.


8 posted on 04/11/2009 2:38:13 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Until 1962, Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. He stated, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, they left me”.


9 posted on 04/11/2009 2:54:31 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The death cult wants death, the Israelis want peace. I, for one, see only one solution.)
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To: llevrok
[T]he need for haste often resulted in a failure to define the precise nature and requirements of social objectives. Legislative solutions were often devised and rushed into law before the problems were understood . . . Pass the bill now, worry about its effects and implementation later -- this was the White House strategy.

Some libs have a mental block or disconnect that permits them to recognize flawed policies (unlike the majority of libs who cannot see the flaw) but prevents them from acting on this knowledge.

They are not all stupid. The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan springs to mind. Party over principles, I imagine.

10 posted on 04/11/2009 2:55:18 PM PDT by Oratam
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To: llevrok

Well, give her some credit. The “lovely” young thing did spend quality time under the good President.


11 posted on 04/11/2009 2:56:46 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: llevrok

I wonder who she lifted this from...LOL


12 posted on 04/11/2009 3:18:53 PM PDT by ThreePuttinDude (o) ..junior senator... add fertilizer ... wait awhile... up sprouts a Jr. President..(o)
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To: llevrok

I geuss this is next on the left wing statist agenda. LBJ still really is not viewed favorably by most people so they will try to rehabilitate him. Of course they’ll never mention a word about Vietnam (that was Nixon’s war donchaknow).


13 posted on 04/11/2009 3:23:55 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (If your glad it's baseball season then jump out of your seat and dance!!!!)
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To: llevrok

Who did she plagiarize this from?


14 posted on 04/11/2009 3:27:10 PM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry
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To: fkabuckeyesrule

Nixon tried to clean up the mess that Johnson had made. By the time he was re-inaurgurated in 1973, we had withdrawn completely from Vietnam. You would never learn that from a lefty. They could not forgive him for not letting the Communists take control of the South in 1969. His sin was trying to shore up the South Vietnamese government. Even his openng to China got only grudging respect, because the left’s favorite country was the Soviet Union, and they were deeply involved in keeping the North in the war. They were not finally made happy until the Communists took over in 1975.


15 posted on 04/11/2009 4:03:43 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE homo)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
And after your Presidency, Mr. Reagan, the Republican Party left us.

Now we are taxed and regulated, largely without representation.

Not exactly true, as I am a Texan. Sens. Cronyn (sp)and Bailey-Hutchinson are not totally RINO’s.)

16 posted on 04/11/2009 4:13:10 PM PDT by Tahoe3002 (Politicians are positive proof that CRIME DOES PAY!)
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To: llevrok

Great Society is responsible for the current mess in the US.


17 posted on 04/11/2009 4:55:58 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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