Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout
In which our History Revisitionist in Chief makes a valiant effort to buck up public support for the war by inserting the ol' "Protesters Lost Vietnam" conserative trope.
"Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president will say.
The part I want to comment on is this:
"While it is true that the Korean War had its share of challenges, America never broke its word," Bush will say. "Without America's intervention during the war, and our willingness to stick with the South Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living under a brutal and repressive regime."
Here's my question for young Vietnam Bush circa 1969: "If we pull out of Vietnam, will a future generation 30 years from now live under a brutal and repressive regime?"
The whole pro-Vietnam War argument was that we had to save them from the horrors of a brutal government. Now they're our ally and they make our cheap shoes. Vietnam war advocates were proven wrong by simple history.
But why did the WH produce a speech that brings up the pro-Vietnam War arguments? They can't seriously think it's going to change some peoples' minds about Vietnam. I think they've stopped talking to the rest of us now, their base is the only audience they have left.
It's like a Dog Whistle except all the rest of us can hear it too and it sounds really nuts.