[Peace-discuss] The past is prologue

[C. G. Estabrook]

"...his vision of an America in pursuit of peace and seen as a beacon of
goodwill and hope throughout the world."  Wonderful.  And it might work (to get
him elected, I mean).  --CGE


E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
> Certainly the Republican => recession, Democrat => war pattern was the one
> taught in university courses on macroeconomics when I was a biology student
> in the 70's.  My grandfather who was a very conservative Republican of the
> Taft variety, always insisted that the Democrat party was the War Party.
> 
> It seems that the American people have grown to eschew clear thinking and
> actually prefer a the sweet mediocrity of an ear-soothing lie to the
> unfamiliar absurdities of truth.
> 
> In one of his books, Gerald M. Weinberg discusses the deceptive practice in
> advertising and sales of emphasizing the weak points of a product as being in
> fact one of its strong points.  Weinberg uses as example the popular real
> estate selling scheme of giving subdivisions names like Elmwood Crest and
> Cherry Hills, where there are no Elms, no Cherries, no Crests, and no Hills,
> but people seems to revel in the subterfuge, and are turned off by the truth
> and wouldnt be so likely to buy a home in Cornfield Flats.
> 
> Similarly, John S. McCain's handlers seem to be playing the same game of 
> deceitful rhetoric with the gullible American  public, making the
> warmongering neocon out to be a proponent for  peace.  Those who become
> nauseated  while watching the convention at home can supply their own emesis
> basin, whether semicircular or porcelain throne, while the hapless attendees
> in the Xcel center will just have to comply with security rules barring 
> bringing anything into the hall that might be hurled at the speakers in
> projectile fashion.
> 
> *_Thursday, Sept. 4_ Peace* /"Our next president will have a mandate to build
> an enduring global peace on the foundations of freedom, security,
> opportunity, prosperity, and hope." --Sen. John McCain/ John McCain
> understands the challenges that America faces in the world and the sacrifice
> necessary to defend our freedom in a way that few others can fathom.
> Thursday’s events will reflect his vision of an America in pursuit of peace
> and seen as a beacon of goodwill and hope throughout the world. The evening
> will close with John McCain accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for
> the Presidency of the United States. Speakers will include: Gov. Tim Pawlenty
> (Minn.),Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.),U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.),U.S. Sen.
> Mel Martinez (Fla.),John McCain
> 
> 
> Morton K. Brussel wrote:
>> This is truly whistling in the dark. The Republicans, McCain at the helm,
>> now hold our hopes for peace.
>> 
>> Nixon, as Carl ought to know, carried on the Vietnam war for several more
>> years after '68, and Bush I initiated the first Gulf War. Antiwar heroes
>> they? With Bush? As for Eisenhower, the Korean war ended in his 
>> administration, after threatening nuclear war.
>> 
>> This ratiocination, an attempt to sabotage clear thinking,  can only be
>> called perverse.
>> 
>> --mkb
>> 
>> 
>> On Aug 24, 2008, at 10:39 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>> 
>>> The 20th-century bromide was, "With the Democrats, you get war; with the
>>> Republicans, recession."  Among the 15 presidential elections since WWII,
>>> the Democrats could win the presidency when they ran against a Republican
>>> recession: 1960, 1976, 1992; the Republicans could win the presidency
>>> when they ran against a Democratic war: 1952, 1968, 2000.  Obviously that
>>> leaves nine elections when the patterns didn't obtain.  But this year
>>> they may clash.
>>> 
>>> Since most Americans today see themselves to be in the midst of a 
>>> recession, and the Republicans control the presidency, 2008 should be 
>>> like the first set. But the Democrats have made the current Mideast war
>>> their own: given control of Congress in 2006 to end it, they refused to
>>> do so.  Obama tried to garner the anti-war vote, but it became clear
>>> that, far from being opposed to war in the Mideast, he was actually
>>> calling for more.  McCain can be like Eisenhower in 1952, Nixon in 1968,
>>> and Bush in 2000: while insisting on his patriotism, he can condemn the
>>> Democrats' handling of the war.   So the 2008 election might be like the
>>> second set.
>>> 
>>> Which pattern will prevail?  In 1992, the Democrats said. "It's the 
>>> economy, stupid."  But this time it might be the war. --CGE