I almost got out of bed this morning to watch dubya talk with tim russert. But I thought better of it and went back to dreamland. I am very religious and every Sunday attend the church of Our Lady of the Holy Mattress. I saw excerpts of the interview on the news and as I figured, it just made me shout at the tube. After the bay of pigs debacle JFK simply said - sorry, my fault - and then made sure he didn't do that again. Got rid of the advisors who had led him astray and picked people he could trust to be honest. Unfortunately, dubya doesn't think for himself and therefore can't follow that example. I am heartened by the recent polls but I still don't think anybody can survive the massive corporate propaganda, donation driven machine of the dubya. I despair.
A great statesman of recent history said (I paraphrase, sorry) "It is the great fortune for government that the people don't think" How true, how true. As it was then, it is now.
The people who wave the flag the hardest and cheer the tax cuts are the least able to survive. They are the lottery ticket buyers who routinely throw away $50 to a $100 dollars every week. Even more aggravating when they slow the line at the boozeteria. I'm all for gambling; the more casinos the better - put slot machines on street corners. Make all of it legal but let the government take charge! Can't we all be indians?? I'm a member of the Slipskabonerupdepoopshute's tribe. Here in CT they invent tribes all the time. It has become a cottage industry.
Then we can cut taxes to the bone and sit back and watch the anti-tax folks throw their money into the governments coffers. And they will do it without realizing what is happening. William Bennet can urge them on.
Back to the people interfering with my purchase of a nice Vernaccia from San Gimignano - I often want to ask them to give me the money if they don't really want it but they just get all testy. OK, I can see the reaction coming about how manipulative this concept is - the lets get rid of gambling period folks who protest the exploitation of the masses. I agree. But when you consider that these masses are the same people who want to get rid of all taxation so they can spend their money as they choose?
So the great statesman, much admired in certain circles and considered one the most influential leaders of the 20th century that I quoted?? Adolph Hitler.
My friend, nice to see ya.
I just have to nitpick over JFK. It's not like he discharged the bad guys in his administration and conducted his foreign policy honorably and wisely. His terror campaign against Cuba continued full bore after the Bay of Pigs and the missile crisis.
Yes, I agree that JFK continued a lot of campaigns against any commie in site. If he hadn't been killed, he would have taken the heat over Vietnam the way LBJ did. However, he did change some of the people around him and learned to ask everyone and not trust anyone. He was very cautious during the missle crisis and made sure that he didn't get snowed by any one persons opinion. It is interesting that his justification, or at least part of it, for the Bay of Pigs was that he was led to believe by some powerful generals that the Cuban people would greet us as liberators and rise up against Castro. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Yeah, I think you're right that JFK didn't want another Bay of Pigs -- because it was a PR and military fiasco, not because he didn't believe in military intervention on behalf of US corporate interests.