Posted on 03/28/2004 3:45:24 PM PST by Stultis
Started 6:30 EST, Interviewing Dick Cavett, now John O'Niell, by phone. Show will start soon.
The bigger issue at hand is the question, literally, of how the United States is going to get out of Vietnam now. And I have said again and again this evening that we can set a date, that we can bring the prisoners home.But the point is I think this administration is still seeking some kind of victory. It is still committed to the idea, totally, of a non-communist regime [in South Vietnam], and I think that is unrealistic in terms of the political forces that are in play in South Vietnam, in fact in all of South East Asia. And we have learned, if we haven't learned anything by now, that we simply cannot impose a settlement ourselves.
I just don't understand how they believe, or how this other group believes, that the Vietnamese are going to succeed in doing with 50,000 Americans what they haven't been able to do with 500,000 Americans. I'd like that explained.
Remember, in 1971, candidate Kerry thought it was "unrealistic" for America to be "seeking some kind of victory" over communism in SE Asia. IOW he didn't just think we should abandon the notion of total victory, but any kind of victory, even a negotiated one.
Today Kerry, and his supporters, insist that his quest to deny America, and South Vietnam, "some kind of victory" was noble and idealistic.
This is the man who wants to be President.
may be mistaken but I believe that is a symtom of addictions to certain drugs.
At the "Rock the Vote" debate, the moderator inevitably asked,. "Which of you are ready to admit to having used marijuana in the past?"
"Yes," said John Kerry, leading off. "Yes," said John Edwards. "Yes," said Howard Dean. None of these three baby-boomer candidates said anything beyond their short, declarative affirmations. None followed with a hurried explanation that it was just a few times, that it was some kind of "youthful indiscretion," or that he didn't inhale. The implication of their answers seemed to be, "Yeah, so what?"
In fact, the defensive answers tended to come from those replying in the negative. "No," said Dennis Kucinich. "But I think it ought to be decriminalized."
"I grew up in the church," said Al Sharpton. "We didn't believe in that."
"I have a reputation for giving unpopular answers," said Joe Lieberman. "I never used marijuana. Sorry!"
In the next day's news coverage, the admissions of marijuana smoking were largely ignored.
Source: Steven Holmes, NY Times Nov 9, 2003
I'm sure the people of Cambodia thank him.
I'm old enough to remember people scoffing at the "Domino Theory." You don't hear about it much any more. I wonder if it's been written out of school history textbooks.
With Vietnam we picked the wrong place to draw the line. Or rather Kennedy did. Eisenhower shared his view, just before leaving office, that Laos was the key to defending Indochina.
The Vietnamese have hassled the Laotians for hundreds of years and there is no love lost between them. The North Vietnamese would never have been able to run a crippling insurgency in Laos like they did in South Vietnam, and with Laos and Cambodia closed to them the South Vietnamese (and/or U.S. forces) could have easily secured the narrow border between North and South Vietnam, isolating insurgent forces in South Vietnam from their source of supply.
IOW, Kennedy blundered from the very start by not defending Laos, and again after that by not effectively challenging international acquiescence to North Vietnamese occupation of Laos and Cambodia.
It was a nearly impossible situation, with the North Vietnamese able to supply insurgents or insert forces into South Vietnam from bases along South Vietnam's entire Western border. Yet -- once a Republican became Commander In Chief -- South Vietnam was very nearly secured, until a 'Rat congress sabotaged the peace.
The hard fact is, after Kennedy's strategic screwup, we should have written off South Vietnam and drawn a firm and defensible line further West in Indochina. Either that or we should have invaded Cambodia and Laos openly and crushed the North Vietnamese there. The later course was dicey because it would have meant a huge diplomatic brouhaha, and risked warming up the cold war dangerously. But we shoulda done it if we were serious, and meant to be taken seriously by the Soviets. It was a case of defecate or get off the commode.
Again, the fact the Nixon was able to nearly succeed with the hand he was given to play (and he probably would have succeeded except for the traitorous 'Rats) is nearly miraculous.
Just MHO. (No, I wasn't there. Born in '61.)
Did you catch Kerry talking about PETER ARNETT? I wonder how well Kerry and Arnett know each other. Arnett's another traitor - always shilling for our enemies.
I dunno. I googled for a transcript, but coulnd't find one on the net.
My husband (VN vet-a Medic) is still talking about it. How can I buy the video of the show! or see the show again?
Usually C-SPAN sells videos, and also has streaming video of recent shows on their website. This, however, does not appear to be available for streaming, which has me wondering if it would also (not) be available for purchase. Possibly C-SPAN does not have the rights to distribute it. You can keep your eye open for a repeat on C-SPAN's website.
O.K. Just found the record for the show here. That line where it has the show ID number would normally have a price at the end for the video tape, but instead says "NS". I presume this means "not for sale".
I dunno. I googled for a transcript, but coulnd't find one on the net.
My husband (VN vet-a Medic) is still talking about it. How can I buy the video of the show! or see the show again?
Usually C-SPAN sells videos, and also has streaming video of recent shows on their website. This, however, does not appear to be available for streaming, which has me wondering if it would also (not) be available for purchase. Possibly C-SPAN does not have the rights to distribute it. You can keep your eye open for a repeat on C-SPAN's website.
O.K. Just found the record for the show here. That line where it has the show ID number would normally have a price at the end for the video tape, but instead says "NS". I presume this means "not for sale".
Here's an article today about him:
A transcript is now posted here.
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