Replies

It is not necessary to point out the defects of the other side, merely to promote ours as the best, which is what he has done.

With all due respect, this simply isn't true when you're at war, especially if you're planning something like a large-scale invasion of another country which will result in a signifcant number of casualties.

Steyn is correct, wars are almost always won or lost before the first shot is even fired. Most sane people simply will not voluntarily go out of their way to kill another human unless they are convinced that their intended victim is the face of evil. This requires intensive training, and yes, even propaganda, for the civilians as well as the soldiers. Mothers and fathers don't like sacrificing their sons unless they're damn well sure that it's for a worthy cause.

Well, you are going to have to live with it, because I do not think that you are going to transform the President into Reagan, or Churchill. He sometimes has elements of each, but is, after all, a unique person, just as they were.

I think that the President will make the case when the time is right. No one except political junkies like us is paying attention to anything now. Even the press is off chasing their tails ignoring the gradual build-up that we have been undtertaking for months in the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, last night one of the Indianapolis stations did a "man on the street" interview with average folks, and not the intelligentsia, may I say. Not one person was confused about why we need to go to war with Iraq, and many favored the use of nuclear weapons if necessary.

Why some people think that the enemy has not been portrayed as evil I do not know. I can only conclude that they are not listening to what the President says.

From this President you are not going to get daily speeches. On the other hand, when he does give a speech, it is payed attention to by everyone, including the non-political citizens.

So Mr. Steyn needs patience and to pay a little more attention to things, and also to realize there is more than one way to skin a cat.

And those who pine for Reagan need to quit living in the past. A Ronald Reagan comes along once in a generation, if we are lucky. He was a unique person born of the times in which he matured. Appreciate what we have now, while being grateful that we had President Reagan when we did.

I wish more FReepers were aware of how FDR accomplished so many of his objectives during his years in office, especially maneuvering the U.S. into WW II, but the New Deal agenda, as well. He was very, very cagey about his real intentions all along. He accomplished what he wanted gradually. Common Tator has made a similar point several times. To accomplish objectives in the U.S., you need the center to go along with you. You won't get that if you don't talk "centerspeak".

I no longer am sure of how to post an article, but someone posted one on another forum, from JWR yesterday, I think, by a writer whose last name was Warren. It was a truly masterful description of what Bush intends to do in the ME, and his objectives are HUGE. It's as big as Reagan ending the Soviet Union. Wish someone would post it on FR. Bush intends to change the balance of power profoundly in the ME and for the longterm. You don't get there all at once, and you don't get there by driving off potential supporters with scary rhetoric. It's the "speak softly (big stick)" routine, and it WORKS.

Bush is attempting to encourage the tiny, infant impulses toward modernism and democracy in the ME. Yes, they are presently small and weak, but he is willing to start working in that direction, keep at it for the long haul, and trust that it will bear positive fruit in the future.

Regime change in Iraq is only the first step in a very long march. The NY Slimes clearly does not want Bush to have this HUGE potential PR victory, so they are doing everything they can to trick him into wimping out. He won't though.