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Gandhi's Way Isn't the American Way (Fred Thompson on Code Pink)
National Review Online ^ | 3/15/07 | Fred Thompson

Posted on 03/15/2007 1:12:25 PM PDT by jalisco555

I feel bad for Nancy Pelosi, AND her neighbors. Anti-war activists from the group Code Pink have been giving her the same treatment the president gets at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. Camping on her San Francisco lawn, they’re demanding she cut off funds to the troops in Iraq.

Besides coolers and mattresses, protesters have brought along a giant paper mache statue of Mahatma Gandhi, who is pretty much the symbol of the anti-war movement. Code Pink was founded on his birthday, and when Saddam Hussein was being given a last chance to open Iraq to U.N. weapons inspectors, posters appeared around America asking “What would Gandhi do?”

And that’s a pretty good question. At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place?

It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.”

The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country. When American’s think of heroism, we think of the young American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives to prevent another Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: codepink; fredthompson; ghandi; iraq
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1 posted on 03/15/2007 1:12:29 PM PDT by jalisco555
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To: jalisco555
Oops, I accidentally dropped the last sentence of the article:

"Gandhi probably wouldn't approve, but I can live with that."

2 posted on 03/15/2007 1:19:33 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: jalisco555
While Ghandi had many admirable qualities, he also had a few screws loose. Among other things are his idiotic views of World War II outlined here. Among others are the fact that he slept with his daughters to "prove" his power over temptation.

Ghandi's peaceful tactics may work fairly well when your opponent is strongly governed by a conscience as the British were in the late 1940's and white America is today.

Otherwise, they are a prescription for suicide. And most of us aren't in the mood to drink the Kool-Aid described by Code Pinko.

3 posted on 03/15/2007 1:20:40 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Are there any men left in Washington? Or are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
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To: jalisco555
“They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.”

The lemming briggades. Ready to through themselves off the nearest cliff any time the military is needed. That should intimidate any enemies of the US. "Stop or I'll jump."

4 posted on 03/15/2007 1:21:04 PM PDT by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
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To: jalisco555

Gandhi is regarded as a hero by many.

IMHO, he was just a peacenik idiot. Good intentions, but not too bright about REALITY.


5 posted on 03/15/2007 1:21:05 PM PDT by RockinRight (The fecal matter is about to hit the rotating air circulator.)
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To: RockinRight

Ghandi was also fortunate to have the civilized British as his enemy. If he had gone up against the Nazis they would have shot him without a second thought.


6 posted on 03/15/2007 1:22:50 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: jalisco555

Good point. His ideas may work when dealing with a civilized opponent who values life.

Not with Muslim terrorists, though.


7 posted on 03/15/2007 1:23:40 PM PDT by RockinRight (The fecal matter is about to hit the rotating air circulator.)
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To: RockinRight

Not to mention that his image as living a "simple" life is a sham. A contemporary wrote that "it takes a great deal of money to live so poorly."

The forbearance of the British is why he's a hero. If he'd tried this in Stalin's Russia, he'd be at best a notation in a gulag ledger.


8 posted on 03/15/2007 1:23:52 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: RockinRight
Not with Muslim terrorists, though.

The British respected Ghandi. The Islamists would just laugh and chop off another head.

9 posted on 03/15/2007 1:25:13 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: jellybean

Fredhead ping


10 posted on 03/15/2007 1:25:30 PM PDT by NeoCaveman (Hillary Hugo Chavez wants to "take those profits" away from you, for the common good)
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To: jalisco555

Awesome. Gutsy to put this out days after taking a first step.

What good is pacifism against Hitler, against Paki musli or against al Qaeda?

We eat the cattle and the pigs, and don't surrender!!

Go Fred go.


11 posted on 03/15/2007 1:25:50 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: truth_seeker
Go Fred go.

He's running for sure.

12 posted on 03/15/2007 1:26:49 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: jalisco555; Howlin; carlo3b; girlangler; KoRn; Shortstop7; Lunatic Fringe; beyond the sea; ...
The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country.

I"ve been out most of the day, so if I missed any requests to be placed on the ping list, I'll try to catch up later.

Sign the Fred Thompson for President Petiton

Join the Draft Fred Thompson Bandwagon


▲ Click the box to see where he stands on the issues. ▲

If you'd like to be added to the Fred Thompson list, let Howlin or me know.

13 posted on 03/15/2007 1:30:18 PM PDT by jellybean (FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT! Proud to be an Ann-droid and a Steyn-aholic)
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To: Vigilanteman
I'm embarrassed that I did not know of any of this concerning Ghandi, thanks for that info.

And thanks to Sen Thompson!
14 posted on 03/15/2007 1:30:56 PM PDT by roses of sharon
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To: jalisco555

He's doing this to nip the "Rudy's the only good WOT candidate" BS in the bud.

As he should! Go Fred!


15 posted on 03/15/2007 1:32:10 PM PDT by RockinRight (The fecal matter is about to hit the rotating air circulator.)
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To: roses of sharon
I'm embarrassed that I did not know of any of this concerning Ghandi, thanks for that info.

Same here. This was a real eye-opener for me.

16 posted on 03/15/2007 1:32:14 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: Bahbah; Mo1; STARWISE; onyx; BigSkyFreeper; MagUSNRET; MNJohnnie

PING


17 posted on 03/15/2007 1:32:58 PM PDT by Txsleuth (I don't know who I am voting for yet...just window shopping.)
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To: jellybean

Sign me up. I've liked the guy since he was the minority counsel to the Senate Watergate committee.


18 posted on 03/15/2007 1:34:40 PM PDT by jalisco555 ("Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals" Winston Churchill)
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To: jalisco555; Vigilanteman

There's an older man who works at a local store with a bumper sticker that says "What Would Gandhi Do?"

I saw it a couple of times and finally mentioned it to him. I told him that What Gandhi Would Do is become beheaded as an infidel by the terrorists.


He didn't like that answer very much.


19 posted on 03/15/2007 1:35:34 PM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: jalisco555; Howlin
Sign me up. I've liked the guy since he was the minority counsel to the Senate Watergate committee.

You're signed up! :)

20 posted on 03/15/2007 1:38:06 PM PDT by jellybean (FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT! Proud to be an Ann-droid and a Steyn-aholic)
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