Doug Ross @ Journal

Voices

Excellent collection of quotes on one of the message boards.

"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half." --Sir Winston Churchill "After everything that has been said about the German Chancellor today and in the past, I do feel that the House ought to recognise the difficulty for a man in that position to take back such emphatic declarations as he had already made amidst the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters, and to recognise that in consenting, even though it were only at the last moment, to discuss with the representatives of other Powers those things which he had declared he had already decided once for all, was a real and a substantial contribution on his part. With regard to Signor Mussolini, ... I think that Europe and the world have reason to be grateful to the head of the Italian government for his work in contributing to a peaceful solution." --Neville Chamberlain "The world has said this aggression would not stand, and it will not stand. Together, we have resisted the trap of appeasement, cynicism and isolation that gives temptation to tyrants." --George H. W. Bush "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" --Ronald W. Reagan "Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors... None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. " --President George W. Bush: September 11, 2001 "Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history. But our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing." --George W. Bush, September 14, 2003 - Speech at the National Cathedral "...In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners." --Albert Camus "Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong." --Ronald Reagan "The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are--but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high--and Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission." --John F. Kennedy, October 22, 1962 "I can run wild for six months ... after that, I have no expectation of success." --Isoroku Yamamoto predicting the future outcome of an attack on the United States "But America did not come to leave, and it will not leave no matter how numerous its wounds become and how much of its blood is spilled ... There is no doubt that the space in which we can move has begun to shrink and that the grip around the throats of the mujahidin has begun to tighten. With the deployment of soldiers and police, the future has become frightening." --Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, regarding who's really winning the War on Terror "Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." Translated: Therefore, whoever wishes for peace, let him prepare for war. "We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you." --Hezbollah's Hussein Massawi "Only the dead have seen the end of war." --Believed to have been written by Plato

"This ISN'T a "war-mongering thread" but a thread highlighting quotes from people who were patriots, and people who were pacifists and appeasers. The left today is the latter.

The cost of freedom is often high, and many are not willing to pay it. Fortunately we have amongst us, those who will. One reason I admire George W. Bush so much is that he doesn't put his finger in the political wind and ask, "Will the pacifists hate me if I do this?" His foremost thought is, "Will this protect the country?" The foremost thought of the American left currently, is "Will this help John Kerry beat George Bush?" This is an unpatriotic and anti-American position, resembling that of the "Peace Democrats" of Lincoln's time who actively collaborated with Confederate agents to undermine Pres. Lincoln, in hopes of electing their "peace candidate."

I stand, not on the side of war, but on the side of country. The "peace Democrats" of today stand only on the side of what is good for their political candidate. Is it possible to oppose the reelection of George W. Bush, and remain a patriot? Yes. Are the pacifists and appeasers now supporting now John Kerry doing so? No. They seem to have adopted the mantra, "Peace at any price, power no matter the cost" in attempting to unseat George W. Bush.

History is littered with the political corpses of greater men than John Kerry who accepted the endorsement of such rabble. One more will be added as the leaves change this fall."

It is a war mongering thread. and to compare Lincoln to Bush is not only laughable but pathetic. We are not in he throes of a civil war that threatens the union existance but some terrorists who want to destroy us. if it where that serious we would be sacraficing as a nation. we would all drive compact cars so to save the gas for the troops and send our extra hummers for the troops. I don't see any of that. In other words Kevin to call this as serious as the civil war. We need to see some hardships. I ain't seen none. Maybe you could point them out to the forum.

"Read the book Reelecting Lincoln some time. The parallels are astounding. I never realized how much Lincoln was DESPISED by several factions of the north. At this point (mid-July), the wheels had come off, and NO ONE thought he was going to be reelected. At one point, one of Lincoln's young secretaries even made the comment that the opposition had to hope for continued bad news for the Union if they were to unseat Lincoln. Sound familiar? We are in the midst of a war against those who would destroy this union (the terrorists, and those who aid them). There are "peaceniks" amongst us that undercut our efforts at every turn. You have a choice to make, Al. You can either be loyal opposition, and discontinue the incessant attacks on Pres. Bush and the war effort, while still fully supporting John Kerry. This is the road chosen by honorable men like Joseph Lieberman, Evan Bayh, and Harold Ford. Or you can follow the treasonous path of incessantly attacking the president and the war effort. I am not saying it is unpatriotic to be against the reelection of GWB. I'm saying the tack taken by many prominent Democrats, and nearly all on this board, is nigh on treasonous."

Kevin S. Bailey