Comments Posted By SShiell
Displaying 61 To 70 Of 223 Comments
"The single greatest thing LBJ did was sacrifice the Democratic majority in the South by signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It made me a Democrat for life."
Strange
The two major bills regarding Civil Rights in this era were the Civil rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The voting for these acts were as follows:
Civil rights Act of 1964
The original House version
• Democratic Party: 152-96 (61%-39%)
• Republican Party: 138-34 (80%-20%)
The Senate version:
• Democratic Party: 46-21 (69%-31%)
• Republican Party: 27-6 (82%-18%)
The Senate version, voted on by the House:
• Democratic Party: 153-91 (63%-37%)
• Republican Party: 136-35 (80%-20%)Voting rights Act of 1965
Senate: 77–19
• Democrats: 47–17 (73%-27%)
• Republicans: 30–2 (94%-6%)
House: 333–85
• Democrats: 221–61 (78%-22%)
• Republicans: 112–24 (82%-18%)And, as an aside, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had to suffer through considerable fillibuster pressure from the Democrats (Robert Byrd of West Virginia prominent in this effort to kill the legislation). But a simple review of the voting will show you that the Republicans, not the Democrats, carried the day. Additionally, Johnson did not have a choice signing either bill because they were both veto proof, having passed with a 2/3 majority for both in the Senate.
I can only surmise that your devotion to LBJ and Democratic epiphaney is for LBJ personally pushing the two bills through and not the actions of the Democratic Party at large.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 15.10.2009 @ 07:21
"It the Democratic party."
Or,in foreign policy circles, the Dhimmicratic Party!
Comment Posted By SShiell On 14.10.2009 @ 21:40
"It was pure hardheadedness and luck that the surge worked militarily."
With that one statement, I question your claim that you are a "former soldier" with any credibility at all in matters relating to the military. I am a former military member recently retired and I was there. The surge was not merely the addition of troops but a complete reversal of tactics - COIN to be precise. Look it up. It was not luck nor was it hardheadedness. It was the work of highly trained and committed soldiers and Marines who believed in the mission.
How do I know they believed in the mission? Easy. Early in the war I told fellow officers the two keys to be able to determine if the war was going badly - re-enlistments and fragging. Re-enlistments were consistently off the charts throughtout the compaign - even in the darkest days of 2005 prior to the surge. And in the entire war there was only one single case of fragging and that occurred in the days preceding the invasion.
So keep your frigging outrage to yourself and heap loads of praise on the people who made it happen - not those back here who "marched by the millions" but the troops in the field!
Comment Posted By SShiell On 14.10.2009 @ 13:58
I agree with you that the tone of today's debate is eerily similar and from a certain perspective and could be called a mirror image of the opposition given the Bush administration but for several discrepancies. The first being the left never gave Bush a chance to succeed or fail. I remember Bush's inauguration in 2003 when he took the traditional walk down the last part of Pennsylvania Avenue as Presidents throughout the 20th had done before him. NOT! Thousands of protestors met Bush with eggs and other types of rotten produce thrown at his Limo such that he could not take that "stroll" - but the same event 8 years later was hailed as a historic moment for the Obamas. That historic moment was greeted by all Americans, left and right together as the historic moment that it was. And within days, Obama's attitude of "I WON" bagan to take hold.
I take exception to your characterization of the Obama tide that overcame the country during the last election cycle. From where I sat it was more of an "Anti-Bush" torrent - but even that was only to the tune of 53% of the vote going to Obama, not the 90% vote his "I WON" attitude is acting like he got.
As far as the look and feel of the opposition to Obama, again I will take some exception - not a complete departure. I was at the Washington DC Tea Party and took pictures throughout the day. That evening and for the next couple of nights, what was seen on MSM gave you the impression every poster carried there was obscene, racist, or a crude comparison of Obama and Hitler. The place where I had staked my claim allowed me to see virtually all of the procession from the Freedom Plaza as it entered the Mall. For every poster that seemed off color, there were hundreds that were not. I tell that tale to relate to you the power of a tainted media to the perceptions gathered by the average citizen.
The same is true for the protests at the Town Hall meetings accross the country. I can only speak of what I saw but I went to Steny Hoyer's town hall meeting in Waldorf MD. The next day, the local media related a couple of incidents as representative of the entire meeting. The media did not protray the attitude of the entire meeting. In fact, one of the instigators of one of the incidents got boo'd out of the hall by all of the attendees, supporter or opponent alike.
And as far as his efforts on behalf of the 2016 Olympics, I can refer to your own words regarding Obama's filed attempt to gain the Olympics for his home town of Chicago:
"Partisanship aside, I think it’s time to start worrying about this fellow. It’s hard to coldly analyze a president that you see as an opponent but I am also something of a student of history. This man was unprepared for the presidency - moreso than anyone before him. He had also failed to demonstrate any leadership skills prior to being elected. Perhaps then, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that he either doesn’t know how to lead or is incapable of doing so. His own party is wondering about him. We’ve got very little coming from the White House in terms of substance - it’s all glitz and glitter with Obama campaigning for his agenda rather than doing the hard, slogging scut work of actually getting in the trenches and leading the troops toward the goals he sets."
I admit as I did at the beginning of this comment that there are some eery similarities to the opposition being given to Obama that was previously given to Bush. But I believe a good deal of that "perception" is media driven. The real problem for Conservatives/Republicans on the right is how to set the tone of the debate and in the same way overcome the pervasive bias of the media and change the perception.
But I might be wrong.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 14.10.2009 @ 10:53
OBAMA WELL DESERVES PEACE PRIZE - AFTER COMMITTEE LOWERS THE BAR
"GOP’s negative reaction to this is that they’ll turn off so many centrist people that they’ll be out of power for a long time"
Or could it be that people will see this as the Nobel Committee trying to impose their wishes and will upon the US. Think about it for a moment instead of polishing your friggin' silver -
Will a Nobel Laureate increase troop strength in Afghanistan?
Will a Nobel Laureate really turn the screws to get Iran to quit misbehaving? North Korea?
Will a Nobel Laureate force Israel to accept peace terms?
Will a Nobel Laureate unilateraly reduce the US store of Nuclear weapons? Eliminate them entirely?
Will a Nobel Laureate be influenced to reduce US military effectiveness?If you do not see the implied manipulation, I wonder if you see anything other than your own desire to see the GOP "on the fringe" regardless of what it does to the country.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 9.10.2009 @ 11:12
"but that doesn’t matter now to most GOPers"
Nor, it seems, does it matter to you. It is bad enough the President of the US puts the prestige of his office on the line in order to gain an advantage for Chicago to get the 2016 Olympics. Expectations were huge and the response of MSM was telling when they had to unbelievably and breathlessly report the US did not even make it out of the first round of voting.
Why do you want to put the pressure of this on him along with everything else he has to deal with. From now on he is saddled with the title of President and Nobel Laureate. The pressure for him "to accomplish" anything will be enormous. Every petty tyrant out there with a grudge against the US will be gleefully looking for any way to bring the young POTUS down, knowing fully that every defeat will be an even bloodier blow.
Is that what you want? But I don't think it matters much to you Dhimmocrats!
Comment Posted By SShiell On 9.10.2009 @ 10:02
<em>SEVEN DAYS IN MAY</em> MEETS <em>COME NINIVEH COME TYRE</em>
To say that noone in the military has ever thought of such an idea while sitting on the throne during the morning constitutional probably is ludicrous. But anyone raised and trained by the military in that scenario can't help but ask the obvious follow-on question "Once you grab the power, how do you maintain it?"
At that moment, there would be a short laugh and the attention would revert to the really important aspect of the morning constitutional, the sports pages.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 30.09.2009 @ 07:33
DOES THE WORLD LOVE US ANY MORE WITH OBAMA AS PRESIDENT?
The world likes us better now that they can laugh at us with impunity. We have an empty suit for a President and the world sees him for what he is - the embodiment of an immasculated United States. Tinhorn little tyrants like Chavez, Castro, Ghadaffi, and Allonmydinnerjacket are thumbing their collective noses at the US and the response they get from the Obama Administration is nothing more than "Thank You, may I have another?"
It would be funny except for the piper we are soon going to be asked to pay for our fecklessness. (Look it up!)
Comment Posted By SShiell On 23.09.2009 @ 22:43
THE GOOD AND THE BAD OF OBAMA'S EURO-MISSILE DEFENSE PLAN
The "presence" of American boots on Polish and Czeck soil is what these governments wanted. It would be nice if you had the perfect missile shield in place along with the presence of the troops but that is a secondary requirement. The fact that the US would stand with the Poles and Czecks with troops on the ground is the commitment these governments wanted.
True - the missile system would be just a facade. But unless you were prepared to put hundreds of missle launchers in place, 10 is not much of a shield in any situation except possibly an Iranian incursion - and, trust me, Iranian missiles will be pointed at their true enemies, Israeli targets, for some time to come.
The governmwents of Eastern Europe want their security garunteed by flesh and blood - that is the only true shield worth the effort.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 18.09.2009 @ 14:25
WHEREVER JACKIE PAPER IS TODAY, HE IS WEEPING
Nice tribute, Rick. My folks were huge fans of the Kingston Trio and I grew wup with the sounds of their music. As with many commentors, I remember seeing PP&M on the show Hootenanny along with the other folk acts of the day. And to this day I cannot avoid the beginnings of a tear when I hear songs like Lemon Tree, Go Tell It On THe Mopuntain, and If I Had a Hammer.
Regardless of their politics, performers like Mary Travers will be sorely missed.
Comment Posted By SShiell On 17.09.2009 @ 13:16
