“We’ll succeed,” the president concluded, “unless we quit.”

[ProSense]

November 21, 2006

Keith Olbermann on Iraq, Vietnam and Bush

Keith Olbermann delivered one of his special comments last night. He responded with such clarity to the spectacle of Bush in Vietnam, comparing it to Iraq.

It is a shame and it is embarrassing to us all when President Bush travels 8,000 miles only to wind up avoiding reality again.

And it is pathetic to listen to a man talk unrealistically about Vietnam, who permitted the “Swift-Boating” of not one but two American heroes of that war, in consecutive presidential campaigns.

But most importantly — important beyond measure — his avoidance of reality is going to wind up killing more Americans.

And that is indefensible and fatal.

Olbermann continued:

Asked if there were lessons about Iraq to be found in our experience in Vietnam, Mr. Bush said that there were, and he immediately proved he had no clue what they were.

“One lesson is,” he said, “that we tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is going to take a while.”

“We’ll succeed,” the president concluded, “unless we quit.”

If that’s the lesson about Iraq that Mr. Bush sees in Vietnam, then he needs a tutor.

Snip...

Wait! The same man who advised Nixon on Vietnam, is advising Mr. Bush now? A man who was responsible for continuining the quagmire of Vietnam while tens of thousands of more American troops died? Who denied there was a problem until pushed into ending the war because of the protest of people all over the country, including the testimony of one young lieutenant before the Senate Foreign Relations committee in 1971?

Snip...

How many times do we have to learn this lesson? How many lives do we have to spend before it really sinks in?

[karynnj]

1. Kissinger was worse than even that!

Earlier this year, a Kissinger letter to the Chinese government wanted an agreement where they would push their client states from invading South Vietnam for 2 years after we left (under the offer extended in 1968 by the North Vietnamese.)

This means that John Kerry was MORE accurate than he likely even knew when he spoke before the Senate of soldiers dieing just so Nixon would be the first President to be seen as losing a war.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. unless made to quit........

[gratuitous]

3. Did Bush say that because that's what he thought, or . . .

Did Bush say that to get reporters off the question?

Seems like a reasonable follow-up anytime Skidmark says something stupid, which would mean that it's the automatic follow-up to any question asked of the president.