tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post3664509379134083819..comments2023-12-22T14:04:55.065-05:00Comments on Ehlers on Everything: Lyndon Johnson and the American PromiseMark J. Ehlershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06410705618925284448noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-34342379009210779462014-05-24T13:13:08.720-04:002014-05-24T13:13:08.720-04:00"My own rehabilitative efforts took a big lea..."My own rehabilitative efforts took a big leap with Bush’s final days when he “abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." I may love him to death for keeping my family safe for seven and half years and for letting Americans keep more of what they earn, but I’m now able to view his accomplishments and failures more dispassionately. I can admire his McCain-like will in pressing ahead with the surge against enormous pressure while at the same time believing that his final act as president was a betrayal of the very country he valiantly defended."<br /><br />"From my own correct political perspective I can tell you that watching Bush hawk his book has been bittersweet. Although it reminds me how much I love the guy (“Let’s talk about water boarding!”) it also reminds me of his great failures (bailouts, immigration, Medicare, Harriet Miers, etc…)."<br /><br />Now was my question really stupid? If a Gold Star mother asked you the same question about a president who sacrificed her first born, not for a noble cause, but to save his political ass, would you respond the same way? Tell mom you have no time for her nonsense?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-66365963292560006092014-05-24T11:45:13.612-04:002014-05-24T11:45:13.612-04:00Rich,
I do not see people in black-and-white term...Rich,<br /><br />I do not see people in black-and-white terms. You do. I believe people are more nuanced and complicated.<br /><br />Until you criticize any of your “heroes” in anything they did or said, you have no credibility criticizing me for expressing admiration for those who, I believe, have improved the world whatever their shortcomings (particularly since I do criticize the shortcomings of those I admire).<br /><br />I have no obligation to answer every stupid question you put in a comment. This does not imply agreement with what you say - it simply means I have no time for your nonsense.<br /><br />If you think that what you have written here and in many prior comments is not a personal attack on me, you are seriously delusional.<br /><br />"Where, in fact, is the evidence that he overcame his prejudices?" Re-read my essay. Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-8590399696038004662014-05-24T11:20:36.031-04:002014-05-24T11:20:36.031-04:00Mark,
My comments were not meant to “cut you down...Mark,<br /><br />My comments were not meant to “cut you down” and I have no doubt that you put a lot of effort and thought into your writing. But I think your conclusions are wrong and I challenge you to substantiate what you write. <br /><br />And, sadly, you missed the point of what I was writing which was that the evidence strongly suggests that Johnson was a despicable man who did things solely out of self interest. I supplied evidence of that, which was my main point, and then asked you if these facts, some of which you admit, sway you in any way.<br /><br />You elect to take my question personally, a trait shared by way too many liberals (hence speech codes!), instead of addressing my point. A point, I might add, which was more thoughtful than some of yours. For example, you described Senator Johnson’s attacks on previous (and of course Republican) civil rights efforts as “acquiescing" and “treading cautiously” when, in fact, he was a passionate and active foe.<br /><br />You seem to think that the presidency gave Johnson some kind of epiphany when it came to civil rights and you quote from his speeches, but his private words say otherwise as I pointed out and you ignored. Where, in fact, is the evidence that he overcame his prejudices?<br /><br />So my “thoughtless” comments combined two pieces of evidence to support my theory of Johnson, which is in direct opposition to your view, and your response was to complain that I was picking on you.<br /><br />Nevertheless, my question is a valid one. How does a liberal, who believes that a politician committed mass murder for personal goals, still hold that man in high esteem, especially when the politician’s own words suggest that the good he did was also motivated by the same self interest? Imagine you work with a terrific prosecutor who has an unbroken record of securing the death penalty for horrific killers and he finds himself in the middle of just such a trial when he discovers evidence that this latest defendant is innocent. He hides the evidence and proceeds with the trial, securing a death sentence and preserving a perfect record that will come in handy when he runs for office. Would you write the same type of essay for this man as you did for Johnson? There is no doubt that the prosecutor has made the world a better and safer place and it can be argued that, over all, he did much more good than bad.<br /><br />So you can address my points or take your ball and go home, but please don’t dismiss the facts and logic I present as nothing more than me attacking you for sport. That screams surrender and you are better than that.<br /><br />Rich R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-45481226607749053272014-05-24T09:34:30.822-04:002014-05-24T09:34:30.822-04:00Rich,
This may be the least thoughtful comment yo...Rich,<br /><br />This may be the least thoughtful comment you have ever posted (which is really saying something). I am not even sure what your point is. Is it that Johnson had to overcome the racial attitudes of someone born in Stonewall, Texas in 1908? As Johnson acknowledged, “[I]t is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.” This is something you could learn from. Regardless of Johnson’s past racism and the fact he catered to his southern base when he was in the Senate (as did almost all southern politicians of the time), when he became President, he used his office for good. At the end of the day, that is really all that matters. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “[W]hile it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me.”<br /><br />Anyone who reads my essays knows that I have mixed feelings about Johnson the man. He was dead wrong on the war – morally wrong and practically wrong – and I have always said so. On civil rights, whatever his past transgressions, the fact is he did more for the rights of blacks and other minorities (and all Americans) than anyone before or since Abraham Lincoln.<br /><br />I suspect Johnson understood better than most, as Adam Serwer of MSNBC has written, "that there is no magic formula through which people can emancipate themselves from prejudice, no finish line that when crossed, awards a person’s soul with a shining medal of purity in matters of race. All we can offer is a commitment to justice in word and deed, that must be honored but from which we will all occasionally fall short." <br /><br />Is it simply that you have to do or say something to cut me down personally? Your criticisms are tiresome and unhelpful. I really do not care what you think of me or my writings. I put a lot of effort and thought into what I write and you are free to read or not, comment or not. But in the highly unlikely event you desire to engage in respectful dialogue, you are going about it all wrong. <br />Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-88826993139906416002014-05-23T07:54:40.778-04:002014-05-23T07:54:40.778-04:00Mark,
Two points:
You previously wrote: “At the ...Mark,<br /><br />Two points:<br /><br />You previously wrote: “At the peak of the Vietnamese conflict, LBJ confided in Senator Richard Russell that he knew we could not win the war in Vietnam, but he felt compelled to stay the course so as to avoid being the first American president to lose a war. Johnson’s pride and political calculations cost the lives of tens of thousands of some of America’s finest young men.”<br /><br />So Johnson sent husbands, fathers, sons and brothers to die for his political glory; not because he felt fighting communism was a worthy cause, but because he worried about his reputation. There are lots of examples of pure evil in this world and this is as good as most.<br /><br />Now keep that in mind as we turn to civil rights legislation:<br /><br />“These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don’t move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there’ll be no way of stopping them, we’ll lose the filibuster and there’ll be no way of putting a brake on all kinds of wild legislation. It’ll be Reconstruction all over again.”<br /><br />And. . . <br /><br />“I’ll have them niggers voting Democratic for 200 years”<br /><br />Clearly the man was an amoral and black-hearted racist who fought against civil rights legislation over and over again because as senator the only way it benefited him was if he opposed and stopped it. If it passed, the president got the credit. So he fought against civil rights, bragging even that he opposed anti-lynching laws, right up until he became president and then he became a proponent of civil rights for exactly the same reason: It benefited him.<br /><br />All of which brings up one of my favorite questions: When someone shares your philosophy of life is there anything, ANYTHING, ANY-DANG-THING, that person could do to make you cancel your fan club membership?<br /><br />Rich R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com