[Rhodes22-list] To DAVE about Virginia and in reply

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Brad,
 
Re RMN, to add to his list of accomplishments, there's Watergate of course,  
and his Checkers speech, as I recall he's also the guy that took us  off the 
gold standard and started the country down the slope to a worthless  currency, 
and his average addition to the deficit was roughly x2 his  immediate 
predecessor, Johnson ($91.2B/yr vice $54.6B/yr) - clueless as  Lyndon was - and 
finally, to add to his great legacy, he opted to resign from  office because he 
lacked any credibility - at all (and his fellow Republicans,  urged on and 
concurred with his decision to resign).  Yes, another "Great  Republican".
 
>From my perspective the last Great Republican was Eisenhower - and he  really 
wasn't a Republican.  They successfully recruited him to run because  he was 
a war hero.
 
Re the GWOT, it's important to keep things in perspective.  There's  also a 
War on Cancer (Nixon) and a War On Poverty (Johnson) that we're still  
fighting.  American's, and especially politicians love wars.  If  it's not a war it 
doesn't count.  In my opinion, the GWOT should properly  be regarded as a 
continuing nuisance that has to be dealt with but is not earth  shattering.  On 
9/11/01 the US was "attacked" by 19 guys with literally box  cutters - keep that 
thought, 19 fruitcakes with box cutters.  There are  bank robbers that have had 
bigger and better armed gangs - and the FBI took care  of them.   I recognize 
the attacks go much further than that, and that  they are on going across the 
world, but the entire opposition can be  characterized as pseudo-random 
criminal behavior.  Do we have to do  something about it - sure.  But we have to be 
intelligent and keep our  perspective.  "The Threat" does not begin to rival 
Japan or Germany in the  40's.  Our response to the GWOT can easily be more 
destructive to the US  than the "enemy" attacks - and frankly, I think they have 
been.
 
Regarding pandering to farmers: At a minimum, the Republicans have  held both 
Houses of Congress and the Presidency for how many years?  Could  they fix 
the problem we both agree exists?  Hasn't happened, has it?   If the Dems were 
in charge would it have happened - frankly, I don't know; but I  can say with 
certainty that the Reps could do it and they haven't.  Maybe  it's time for a 
change.
 
Dave