“As I said before, it was not an act of courage. Either you stand tall or you hide. He hid.”
He could have easily just hid by outright saying no to McCarthy from the start, even saying he’s afraid of being targeted. The fact that he even helped him at all indicates he stood tall. Besides, I don’t really recall Nixon really standing tall for Conservativism by the 1960s, even managing to ally with China.
“Terry voters were a protest vote. A pro-lifer would NEVER be allowed to get the Presidential nomination for the Democrat party.”
I’m pretty sure if that were the case, Terry wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did in Oklahoma at all.
“Doing one thing early on and then doing something in opposition to that later doesn’t mean your credentials remain intact. If a war hero saves somebody’s life and then goes back home and robs a bank and kills a guard, he is no longer a hero. Abandoning McCarthy and abandoning the Freedom Fighters of Cuba secured JFK’s reputation as a gutless weasel. Just a cheap politician seeking power like so many others, especially in his party.”
I’m not sure going to the hospital counts as “abandoning” McCarthy. If anything, Eisenhower’s actions came far closer to outright abandonment than JFK’s did. I know if I were JFK and I wanted to “abandon” McCarthy, I’d attend the hearing as planned, then the very second I get called up, I sell him out with a smile on my face while I watch McCarthy’s face grow upset. I wouldn’t settle for a hospital visit that occurred at the time. Besides, Vader even saving Luke’s life despite spending most of his life being a butchering mass murderer apparently was enough to save his soul in Star Wars.
“Yes, that’s well known to those who know their true agenda. If they can’t run the show as is, they’ll undermine and destroy it. Cloward-Piven.”
Actually, I’m not sure they even planned to run the show at all, just destroy it even if they can run the show their way. Like what Robespierre did and even what Michel Foucault and Karl Marx advocated, not to mention Vladimir Lenin.
“Nixon was a liberal Republican. He tended to believe in use of government to solve problems, but he was not attempting to destroy the government and implement Communism. He WAS an anti-Communist. Just not a Conservative. Because he helped expose the Soviet-Communist element in our government, he earned the lifelong enmity of the left.”
Yeah, and considering JFK actually did help, no matter how little, in McCarthy’s endeavor against Communism, that would have been MORE than enough for JFK and Robert to be tarred and feathered. Either way, any anti-Communist views Nixon might have had ended up gone by the time he made that deal with China, even though I still give him credit for actually beating the Communists in Vietnam.
“Reagan’s biggest mistake was allowing Establishment scion Bush on the ticket with him. He also similarly made a mistake in choosing Dick Schweiker as his running mate in 1976. Never pick someone antithetical to your ideology as a Conservative to carry on after you’re gone. Failure to choose Paul Laxalt meant that a squish that didn’t believe in Conservatism carried on after Reagan, and just as quickly sank everything that he did. Other than that, Reagan still had to work within certain constraints and wasn’t able to cut the government and pursue other ideological goals. Still, his policies on demolishing the Soviet Union, the source of international Communist evil, burnished his credentials for all time in freeing their slaves both in Russia and Eastern Europe.”
I wish you were right about that, but unfortunately, South Africa is still Communist under Nelson Mandela, as was Cuba, and North Korea, all survived the USSR’s collapse, and there’s also some debate as to whether Russia actually gave up on Communism, especially under Putin (let’s not forget, the Lenin Mausoleum is still fully operational, and Karl Marx’s statue is very much prevalent and prominently displayed in Moscow’s square instead of given the same treatment as several Lenin and Stalin statues across Russia and various former Soviet states.). As far as I’m concerned, unless Communism is completely and entirely eradicated from everywhere, to such an extent that the parties are outlawed, similar to the Nuremberg trials in fact, we haven’t actually won.
“What really is seen as left vs. right in current terms only came about around 1896 when the left-wing seized control of the Democrats and deposed Cleveland and his pro-Gold Bourbon Conservatives. Another individual on FR tried to argue Lincoln was left and keeping slavery was right I found to be a morally repugnant argument. Freedom is a right-wing concept. Tyranny is a left-wing one. Ridding a tyranny of slavery in my estimation made Lincoln a hero of the right, not left.”
I want to believe Freedom is exclusively a right-wing concept, but unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of leftists promote freedom, such as Sacco and Vanzetti, Michel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Jean-Paul Sartre, heck, pretty much the whole French Revolution as well as its supporters, including the so-called father of Liberty Thomas Jefferson as well as Thomas Paine (to say little about certain Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot, Alembert, and Marquis de Sade, even the likes of John Locke if Liberty the God that Failed by Christopher A. Ferrara is to be believed). Heck, George Lucas even implied that he only considered France to be tyrannical when King Louis XVI and Napoleon were in power, and that if anything France was “free” when Robespierre was running the joint. In fact, it’s precisely because of those guys that I don’t have much optimism for freedom, as freedom to me means complete and total anarchy on the onset, often killing others simply because you can. You know, similar to the popular conception of the Wild West thanks to our movies. Still, Lincoln freeing the slaves was definitely a good thing.
“The Marxist, anti-Black family BLM is a mainstream Democrat constituency. Unless Patterson has endorsed Trump, he’s endorsing - as all Dems are — the BLM/Antifa agenda by supporting Biden/Harris/Schumer/Pelosi.”
Technically, we haven’t even heard Patterson’s comments one way or another on BLM/Antifa, or for that matter Biden/Harris/Schumer/Pelosi. And considering Martin Sheen broke ranks with Obama precisely BECAUSE of the latter’s obscenely pro-abortion record, I’m pretty sure there are still some Democrats who won’t support the likes of BLM/Antifa, or even Biden/Harris/Schumer/Pelosi.
“These guys are too scared to embrace the Communist label, because the label is unpopular. One of the early adherents running for President was fine with having the Democrats co-opt the Socialist (Communist) agenda under a different label. Shows the inherent disingenuity of the Democrats that they won’t openly and unapologetically state what their end goal is. The destruction of our Republic and our Constitution. Sanders himself won’t use “Communist.” He tries to downplay his agenda by calling it “Democratic Socialism” and comparing it to the (failed) ideology of the Scandinavian countries. But his agenda and goal would make us a Venezuela. If Biden wins tonight, the party and base will expect to push him to move us towards Red Chinese/Venezuelan-level oppression, using their elected officials and packing the judiciary to suspend/bypass the Constitution. They’re chomping at the bit to punish all Trump supporters and to roll back everything he has done. The base is not hiding that agenda, even as most of their elected candidates are.”
Yeah, I know that much, and for the record, Biden didn’t exactly hide what he was planning to do, he made it a bit too obvious what he was planning, as was Sanders for that matter (he kept on singing praises for Nicaragua for example, and even Venezuela when given the opportunity). And Randall Terry was unapologetically pro-Life. Heck, even Obama was unapologetic about his goal of dismantling America (”Fundamental Transformation of America”, remember?). Even Thomas Jefferson, the literal father of the Democrat Party, openly championed the French Revolution in even its worst excesses, and if anything put down anyone who dared speak out on how the Jacobins’ actions were if anything much worse than under King Louis XVI. And if Liberty the God that Failed is to be believed, he also was a pretty huge big government kind of guy DESPITE his reputation as a promoter of Liberty.
JFK USED McCarthy to get elected. When it came time for JFK to reciprocate when McCarthy was in need, he was out of there. A no-class user of people. The whole damn family were entitled users. You have to get over your hero worship for the guy. He was truly rotten. As for Nixon, he was playing the Cold War game by driving a wedge between two rival countries. It worked, at least in the short run.
"I’m pretty sure if that were the case, Terry wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did in Oklahoma at all."
A ficus plant running in opposition to Zero could've gotten as much as Terry did. The last remnant of old-line Democrats that were sick of the full-on Stalinazi takeover of the party. More than likely those same folks voted Republican in the general.
"I’m not sure going to the hospital counts as “abandoning” McCarthy."
Except it did.
"If anything, Eisenhower’s actions came far closer to outright abandonment than JFK’s did."
Eisenhower was never a fan of McCarthy. He tiptoed around him when McCarthy was still overwhelmingly popular, but was more than happy to see him destroyed by the media. Ike never did a thorough cleaning of the government after 2 decades of Soviet infiltration under FDR & Truman. I don't have a high opinion of Ike, as he destroyed the GOP as a national majority party for decades.
"Actually, I’m not sure they even planned to run the show at all, just destroy it even if they can run the show their way. Like what Robespierre did and even what Michel Foucault and Karl Marx advocated, not to mention Vladimir Lenin."
Whatever works.
"Yeah, and considering JFK actually did help, no matter how little, in McCarthy’s endeavor against Communism, that would have been MORE than enough for JFK and Robert to be tarred and feathered. Either way, any anti-Communist views Nixon might have had ended up gone by the time he made that deal with China, even though I still give him credit for actually beating the Communists in Vietnam."
You give JFK credit he neither deserves nor earned. As I said, you have a very peculiar hero worship for him. He doesn't deserve it. Worshipping politicians is often a foolhardy exercise. Better to save that for Jesus. And, again, as for Nixon, he didn't abandon anti-Communism by reaching out to China, he was working to undermine the Soviets. Quite brilliant, actually. He deserves the credit you erroneously give to JFK.
"I wish you were right about that, but unfortunately, South Africa is still Communist under Nelson Mandela,"
Reagan was under enormous pressure to denounce apartheid, and if he had failed to do so, would've been painted as a racist. Mandela, of course, was an execrable Communist, worshipped as a saint by the left. He only opened the doors for persecution of White South Africans, and it is predictably now, a hellhole.
"as was Cuba,"
For which JFK failed to act on freeing.
"and North Korea,"
For which Truman was responsible. Same for losing China to the Communists under Mao.
"all survived the USSR’s collapse, and there’s also some debate as to whether Russia actually gave up on Communism, especially under Putin (let’s not forget, the Lenin Mausoleum is still fully operational, and Karl Marx’s statue is very much prevalent and prominently displayed in Moscow’s square instead of given the same treatment as several Lenin and Stalin statues across Russia and various former Soviet states.)."
It's not Communist. It is authoritarian and would like to rebuild the old empire (Russian, as opposed to Soviet) with him as a de facto Czar. However, there is popular sentiment in Russia for the old leaders when the Soviets were equal (at least on paper) to the Americans. Putin has also approved and supports the proliferation of the Eastern Orthodox Christian religion and rebuilding of destroyed churches. He also opposes perversion (sodomite agenda), which was pushed by the left in order to destabilize nations (as it has in America). We're far better off with the Russians as they are now under Putin than under the old Communist thugs.
"As far as I’m concerned, unless Communism is completely and entirely eradicated from everywhere, to such an extent that the parties are outlawed, similar to the Nuremberg trials in fact, we haven’t actually won."
Socialism should be outlawed, yes. It has caused more oppression, misery and death than any other political ideology. A demonstrable failure, yet diseased, disturbed individuals still push it because they want absolute control over people's lives.
"I want to believe Freedom is exclusively a right-wing concept, but unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of leftists promote freedom"
Libertine "freedom" vs. freedom with responsibilities. Usually what leftists promote in the way of "freedom" is strictly done to undermine a given establishment political system. Once deposed, then you have your French Revolution style-madness and mass-murder. Of course, it ultimately consumes itself.
"I’m pretty sure there are still some Democrats who won’t support the likes of BLM/Antifa, or even Biden/Harris/Schumer/Pelosi."
Then they would vote Republican to stop them. We shall know how many have in short order.
"Thomas Jefferson, the literal father of the Democrat Party, openly championed the French Revolution in even its worst excesses"
I was never a big Jefferson fan. Too much a hypocrite. I prefer the Conservative John Adams, who'd have gotten rid of that "peculiar institution" at the Declaration of Independence.