Via Ross Douthat an old Nixon campaign ad from 1968:
Brink Lindsey remarks: "Today’s presidential TV spot is a Nixon ad from 1968. Change 'Vietnam' to 'Iraq' and the script could be repeated verbatim by the 2008 Democratic nominee."
« No Wonder | Main | What Else Is New? »
Back to the Future
30 May 2007 02:18 pm
Comments (8)
Do Democrats have a candidate with Nixon's overwhelming red-baiting resume ?
Because that's the only way this type of triangulation works.
Now might be a good time for someone to remind us that the current Iraq War is no way, no how, in any respect, at all like the Vietnam War.
Another slight problem is his pledge for an "honorable end" the war, which was his way of saying he wouldn't "cut and run." And boy did he not.
I want to vote for someone who will state clearly that we will remove our forces from Iraq. Period.
And we all know how well that turned out. All those troops out by 1969, just in time for the moonwalk.
Similarities between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War:
* The US entered the war on false pretenses
* The US is simultaneously claiming the country's government is sovereign and trying to call the shots
* The opponents of the US are in their own country, and fighting to control their own country
* Language and cultural differences make it difficult to distinguish friend from foe
* The US government is lying about how well things are going
* The US is overstating the involvement of external forces
* The conflict is primarily political, but the US is trying to win it militarily
* The military is trying to fight an insurgency using army-vs.-army methods
* The US is going to lose
Interestingly it is the Republicans running for "an honorable end" to the war in Iraq.
Let's also not forget that is was arguably Nixon's "law and order" domestic agenda and probably "Democrat fatigue," and not his lying cries for peace in Vietnam, that won him the 1968 election.
Comments closed June 13, 2007.
| 
Heads in the Sand
The escalation in Vietnam still is one of the most amazing episodes in American political history.
1964 - LBJ crushes Goldwater, largely on fears that if elected, Goldwater will turn Vietnam into World War III. Gen. LeMay's quote about using nuclear weapons as defoliants is too scary for words. After the election, LBJ decides to escalate because (fearing a reprise of the "Who lost China?" episodes of the 1950s) he believes that he can implement the Great Society only if he does not lose the war in Vietnam.
1968 - Nixon runs against the Vietnam War. Humphrey only begins to gain traction once he repudiates the war. Although the American people believe they are voting to bring the troops home, Nixon continues the war until . . .
1972 - Nixon defeats McGovern by linking McGovern to anti-war protests ("Acid, Amnesty and Abortion").
Posted by Ephus | May 30, 2007 2:43 PM