George Bush

AgentWood wrote:

melly wrote: *dodges any and all incoming bombs towards her domicle from her assertation of her opinion beforehand*

I voted for Bush. My parents went through Vietnam under a far worse President (who was from Texas!)

nixon was from texas?

it was under the nixon administration that the war expanded into cambodia and the number of troops increased in vietnam. it was also under this administration that the most violent anti-war protests took place (kent state, for example).

Was referencing Johnson being in office (late 63-68) and signing the increased presence to "fight back the Communists" policies as my President from Texas barb. Going from the push he had to never give up until we "beat back those commies" which.. sounds familiar to another speech heard recently. LBJ's decisions were critized before 68 when he lost to Nixon, and there was anti-war sentiment before 68' as well. Just going off what I've learned from parents and their friends who were stationed during the time. I know there were far worse things like Kent State that happened later on.

The real difference between Bush and Johnson was that even though they were run down for essentially what people believed to be "bad decision making", Johnson was better informed on the situation surrounding his war then perhaps people would believe of our current Commander.

If I remember from what I've read correctly, in 65 they had ~180,000 US troops there. I think we have close to that sitting in Iraq right now, too. I definitely could be wrong, though. Seemed a good comparison, two hated wars and two Texas presidents.

just how was LBJ a far worse president?

Both lied about the reason for the war or expanding it but LBJ's micro-management of the war was far worse. At least Bush steps back and lets the military run it. LBJ's rules of engagement and non bombing zones were total bullshit to the military. Not saying that the results would have been different but too many US soldiers died because of LBJ. But Iraq causalties are barely a percentage of Viet Nam's death toll for US forces. Think about this, something like 3000 US aircraft were shot down in Viet Nam. Maybe 15 helicopter incidents in the Iraq mess.

What was that bumpersticker "Viet Nam: What the happened? When I was there we were winning." Maybe need a new one for Iraq.

a prime minister of ours coined the phrase of "all the way with LBJ". actually i believe that was our foreign policy at the time.

Generic wrote:

First off, LBJ did not lose an election to Nixon.

Secondly, if all you are basing your view on is Viet Nam, then you are forgetting about all the good programs that Johnson pushed through Congress to try and help poor Americans, as well as black Americans. On the other hand, I can't really think of one thing Dubya has done to help poor people. Hell, I can't think of a single thing he's done to help the middle class.

Nixon succeeded Johnson because Johnson knew he couldn't win the re-election due to the anti-war protests that followed him everywhere he went. That's what I meant by "lost". He knew he couldn't be reelected, and Nixon came flying in on the ticket stating he'd stop the war.

I haven't forgotten any of the great programs him and Lady Bird started, particularily in our own state. I was only using a small part of his presidential service in comparison to a small part of Bush's presidential service. That's all. Pointing out that other presidents had served under disliked wars, and that no president is perfect. Probably not the best way to present an opinion, but it's what I went with.

I think that it is impossible to date a man like him...