snugs:
Thank you for posting the DOSE tonight -- I just LOVE the photos of the President interacting with the high school volunteers . . . The President has such an incredible heart for people -- all colors, ages, and sizes!
MUST READ . . .
[If you only have time to read one commentary tonight, this is it!]
W, COWBOY DEFINED
Posted By Subsunk
I didn't watch the 60 minutes clip. I don't have to. But I couldn't really just post a comment on Jimbo's post here which I do think is almost completely correct. I know this isn't a political blog. It is a military blog. It should discuss military issues. So I apologize to Matt if it brings heartache and discontent.
It seems that George W Bush has become a topic of some military significance, and I just wanted to say something about it. I'm sure derogatory comments from Greymen, Allan, censored, and a host of other trolls will ensue, especially as they have come out of the woodwork, like the termites they are, from Jimbo's post. I'm sure I will be labeled stupid, warmongering and an idiot, just like W. I don't care either. I will think I am in good company to be so compared, however miniscule the resemblance is.
What I have seen of Mr. George W Bush is that he is a Cowboy. Cowboys are brought up to tell the Truth. They are Men of few words, but those words are words of action. Most Yankees and city slickers have always thought Cowboys were slow and dimwitted, but they can fool ya'. Most Cowboys are shrewd judges of human character and the characteristics of animals.
They take care of women (not just ladies), children, and small dogs. They wear a pistol on their hip and they know how to use it, but they don't draw it until they absolutely need to. Cowboys are slow to anger. But once angered, they don't stop until the job is done. They will ride many miles in the cold, driven rain and sleet, never faltering in looking for their herd, and they will enter any cabin they find to shelter from the cold, but only after hailing the house, knocking on the door, announcing their presence, respecting the absent owner's furnishings, and leaving the place as they found it, or just a little better.
So let's examine if W fits this description:
Cowboys are brought up to tell the Truth --- W has been meticulous in what he has said personally. He has never called for a religious state (as those who claim his born again Christendom is a ploy for religious takeover of the US government). He said only what the CIA and DOD told him was accurate and what all respectable and verified reports said was the best intelligence at the time. If you don't believe this part, then you haven't actually read all the intel and all the news before March 2003, or you will never believe it anyway because of your BDS. W has NEVER lied to his military Men and he never will.
They are Men of few words, but those words are words of action --- "You are either with us or with the Terrorists”.... “We will seek out terrorists and those who harbor them".... "Bring it on".... "Bin Ladin is wanted, Dead or Alive"..... “My hope is that all nations will heed our call, and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own. Many nations are acting forcefully....But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will.".... "America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security. We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons. Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch-- yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch."
The exercise is left to the student as to whether these seem to be words of action, backed up by action, or not.
Most Yankees and city slickers have always thought Cowboys were slow and dimwitted, but they can fool ya'. Most Cowboys are shrewd judges of human character and the characteristics of animals --- Well W trusts Vladimir Putin. Guess he isn't a perfect judge of human character. But he correctly judged Saddam, has correctly judged Kim Jong Il, Imanutjob in Iran, Jacques Chirac, Yassir Arafat, Hezbollah, Hamas, al Qaeda, Old knothead Ayman al Zawahiri, The "dirt nap king” himself, Abu Musab al Zarqawi. And he knows he can trust Tony Blair, Jon Howard, Pervez Musharraf, and the United States Armed Forces to do their part. As for animals, he kills them just like the rattlesnakes and wolves the terroists, Mahdi Army, and Baathists are. He gets higher than a C in that department.
They take care of women (not just ladies), children, and small dogs. --- W has freed over 50 million MUSLIMS so far, and influenced the lives of millions of other MUSLIMS for the better in Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere in the Middle East. Name a Muslim leader who has done that much, ever. Women's rights are coming slowly to Arab countries through voting suffrage and better representation in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE because of US pressure since 9-11. The US has fed and clothed and given toys, stuffed animals and soccer balls to millions of Muslim kids the world over. I don't know how many small dogs he has helped but he is good to Barney and Miss Beasley.
They wear a pistol on their hip and they know how to use it, but they don't draw it until they absolutely need to. Cowboys are slow to anger. But once angered, they don't stop until the job is done --- It took twelve years to work up the case to invade Iraq and take down Saddam. Two years of that was under W. It took three months to savage the Taliban and send them running like roaches for the mountain caves in Pakistan where we aren't allowed to chase them. W asks our military to do difficult and necessary things to protect the country. He asks us to die, if necessary, to change the Muslim world so they will quit attacking the USA for no good reason. And I am honored that we were asked to accomplish such a mission. He has faith in us, and we have faith that he will always tell us what we need to hear and that he will support us in accomplishing our mission. He has NEVER faltered. He was slow to anger when the Chinese forced down our EP-3 in Hainan. Yet he got the crew and the plane returned. All without killing anyone on our side. He's not leaving Iraq to the wolves of al Qaeda and the Shiite militias. He's not allowing the Congress to cut and run, including the most cowardly of Republicans who have deluded even themselves into believing that Iraq is a war America is losing instead of a war the Iraqis refuse to win, place, or even show up for.
They will ride many miles in the cold, driven rain and sleet, never faltering in looking for their herd, and they will enter any cabin they find to shelter from the cold, but only after hailing the house, knocking on the door, announcing their presence, respecting the absent owner's furnishings, and leaving the place as they found it, or just a little better. -- He won't quit in Iraq. He won't quit in Afghanistan. He won't quit nominating his judges. He won't quit nominating John Bolton (they all pulled their own names, he didn't). He won't stop wiretapping terrorists. He won't stop finding their money. he won't stop telling Americans what he thinks and what his responsibilities are to protect the country, even though a multitude of folks in both parties are whining like the spinning up of a jet engine.
He told Saddam to come clean, not once, not twice but dozens of times before he kicked his ass. He has told Imanutjob dozens of times his rhetoric is not helpful. He has told Kim Jong Il that his clown acting days are fast approaching their end, and he loathes him because he has starved, maimed, killed, and imprisoned falsely hundreds of thousands of innocent North Koreans in just the last 5 or 6 years. He doesn't threaten war until he has reached the last resort. We haven't killed Kim Jong Il --- yet. We haven't bombed Iran's nuclear sites --- yet. After beating up Iraq, he has helped them rebuild, given them free money, assistance and the lives of our most precious people in gifts from the US to Iraq. And he won't leave Iraq until it is fixed or until he is thrown out of office.
If a regular guy like him won't quit, with all the horror, turmoil, intrigue, and demeaning rhetoric from his enemies (and he doesn't think of them as his enemies, he just allows them to be mean and takes it--like the Man he is), then what right do WE have to quit? Why does HE have to drag us along with all the other weight of the world on his shoulders? Why should we sit on our asses while the regular, average Cowboy like W does the heavy lifting?
Because he's a Cowboy. That's why.
Tell me again how he isn’t a leader. I just want to know what you think Leadership is all about.
Subsunk out.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/01/w_cowboy_define.html
In his/her commentary, subsunk linked the following MUST VIEW website:
http://www.onecowboyleft.com/index1.html
IMPRESSED BY BUSH'S DETERMINATION
By David Warren
. . . President Bush is at his most Lincolnesque at the moment. Abraham Lincoln made most of the key decisions that ultimately won the American Civil War, over the opposition of Congress, public opinion, and most particularly, his generals. He was depicted in the press of his day much as Mr Bush is depicted in the media of our day: as a simpleton, in over his depth. Which doesn't mean Bush is another Lincoln. But doesn't preclude it, either.
I am immensely impressed by the grit and determination with which the U.S. President has regrouped, learned from mistakes, and is now pushing forward. I am especially impressed by what amounts to his refusal to buy into either the premises or the conclusions of the Baker-Hamilton "Iraq Study Group" -- which couldn't contemplate defeat in Iraq, but wouldn't contemplate victory, either.
The popular response to Baker-Hamilton seemed to be an equally weary recognition that there was no alternative to slogging on. Yet there is no love lost for Mr Bush, either.
As there was, incidentally, no love lost for Winston Churchill after what he'd put Britain through for five years.
. . . Moreover, the deployment of a much-enhanced U.S. naval force in the Persian Gulf, and the raid on the Iranian pseudo-consulate at Irbil (with the rich intelligence harvest it will have provided), suggests that the necessary confrontation with revolutionary Iran will not be funked, either, on President Bush's watch.
You can read the entire commentary at
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/01/impressed_by_bushs_determinati.html
INVESTORS SAY: GIVE THE IRAQ PLAN A CHANCE
I AGREE.
By Larry Kudlow
Amidst all the pessimism about the U.S. strategy-shift in Iraq, world financial markets seem to be voting for Bush and his plan — not against. On the days immediately preceding the president’s speech, as its contents were leaking out, oil prices were plunging and stock prices were rising. And right after the speech, when the contents of the Iraq plan were clear, guess what? Oil prices continued to fall and share prices hit record highs
. . . Political opposition by Democrats and Republicans to Bush’s new strategy may be hardening, but financial markets are pointing to a much more positive scenario. Might the president’s new plan actually work? World markets are saying give it a chance.
I agree.
You can read the entire commentary at
http://article.nationalreview.com/?
q=NzJlYTBhZTdlNjgzNjFhMDkzMzY5ZDFkNzgzOWYxN2U=
IRAQ: WHY THE MEDIA MISSTEP
Saddam: His shills still aid reporters.
You can read the entire article at
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01152007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__why_the_media_misstep_opedcolumnists_amir_taheri.htm
RASMUSSEN
41% approve
(slightly higher than last Monday BEFORE 'the speech' . . . so much for the uber-con meme that the President's speech actually caused his JA rating to dip)
The President's JA rating as measured by Rasmussen has risen since over the last two days because the Wednesday stats have 'rolled out of' the tally -- on Wednesday, Republicans/Republican-leaning Independents were watching the President's speech NOT responding to pollsters.
Additionally, during the MLK Holiday weekend, most Republicans/Republican-leaning Independents choose to stay home rather than travel, making them more available than usual to pollsters! [Typically, Friday and Saturday nights are the WORST polling nights for the President, which is, of course, why all of the MSM pollsters conduct their surveys on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon ONLY!]
http://rasmussenreports.com/Bush_Job_Approval.htm
Lot's of good stuff tonight, Deb.
If it weren't for Bush's determination...there is no telling where this country would be in the war on terrorism today!
What a great post for a great man.
Wow! Those are some great articles, Deb! THANKS!
Ping for post #59 (Ping = come over here. LOL)
Great articles as always
Do you still have your copy of Monday's NY Post. The Taheri article is a keeper.
Final paragraphs:
Last month, Iraq received the U.N.'s special environmental prize for reviving parts of the marshes drained by Saddam, thus saving one of the world's most precious ecological treasures. Almost no one in the media noticed.
Also last month, the Iraqi soccer squad reached the finals of the Asian Games - beating out Japan, China, South Korea and Iran. Again, few in the West noticed.
In 2006, almost 200 major reconstruction projects were officially completed and 4,000 new private companies registered in Iraq. But few seem interested in the return of private capitalism after nearly 50 years of Soviet-style control.
Iraq's new political life is either ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. The creation of political parties (some emerging from decades of clandestine life), the work of Iraq's parliament, the fact that it is almost the only Arab country where people are free to discuss politics to their hearts' content - these are of no interest to those determined to see Iraq as a disaster, as proof that toppling Saddam was a modern version of the original sin.
Iraq may still become any of those things - but right now it is none of them. When the real history of the Iraq war is written, posterity might marvel at the way modern media were used to manufacture that original sin.
DrDeb, thank you, soooo much for all the information...it's uplifting!
I'm so busy lately taking care of Mom who we moved in with us a couple months ago that I don't have time to trip around FR, so I am particularly grateful for your posts with their nice little nuggets to chew on.
Thank you so much, Deb.
Ok, DrDeb, you owe me a new screen. This one is all blurry.... Cowboys! Great article!