Bush has done it again

[gekko]

Originally posted by MiscX
yes, EVERY president has told Americans to feel good about being American, and you know why? Because we live in AMERICA! Why the hell would the leader of a nation say "hey... we suck. boo, america." Makes a lot of sense? Yeah, right. By your logic, at LEAST Bush Sr., Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Nixon, Eisenhower, and Truman, who were involved in some sort of war/hostile negotiations are like Hitler. Yes, we all know Hitler used the problems of Germany and nationalism to help himself. But to say that Bush is like Hitler... you miss the entire point. Oh, and it's spelled "Treaty of Versailles". Americans feel they're the best in the world because that's what we SHOULD feel. In theory, you should live in the best country in the world, and that's why we live here. If we thought this country was terrible, we wouldn't live here anymore.

I find it really disheartening that you're so predicting the downfall of the United States, gekko. If Al Gore was in office, you think he'd do much different?

I think you all have it backwards (except maybe Jin). when we were attacked, I didn't sit like a mindless drone and wait for the President to say "be proud to be American" and then all of a sudden have a sense of purpose. I saw the attack and said "whoever did this better pay." And that's what the president does. He responds to the American people's wishes. Al Gore would have had to have done the same or commit political suicide. Remember, in America there exists a thing called "popular sovereignty" -- THE PEOPLE ARE KING. Maybe they don't teach you that in foreign countries.

and if you think one man can destroy this country, you're dead mistaken. That's why we have separation of powers, and checks and balances. unfortunately you all seem to be in the dark on how the us government operates. the president doesn't declare war, CONGRESS does. in america we don't have a unitary system like the U.K., for example. In America, we have federalism. We have a system where people are ELECTED to represent the people (who are king). Yes, our government is inefficient but it is IMPOSSIBLE for one man to destroy this country.

Idiot. Clinton never preached nationalism. There's a big difference between preaching nationalism and saying America sucks. Most presidents do nothing, Bush preaches, like Hitler. And just like Hitler and the Germans, Americans are too dumb to see what Bush is doing. And as long as Bush keeps them brainwashed, he can do anything and no one will mind.

No one said they wouldn't pay. But no one waved the flag around and pretended to be patriotic. It came later, with the help of Bush.

You need to check your defenition of declaring war. Technically, we never declared war on Afghanistan. But in reality, sending troops onto foreign soil is an act of war, and Bush can control that without congress. SOCOM wants to send men, Bush approves and they're gone. In fact, we had men in Afghanistan at 0600 on 9/12. That's declaring war right there, and congress never declared war. I can garauntee we're in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and N. Korea right now. Congress doesn't need to pass that, SOCOM just needs approval. Congress even went as far as to allow bush to send in the military without their approval. So yes, Bush can declare war, and if he doesn't watch his ass, he'll get us into a war we can't win.

And i guess you forgot about Vietnam. No one wanted to go into Vietnam. All our top advisors said no, even Kennedy said no. LBJ decided we were going to war, and even had all the papers ready 3 days before Kennedy died (Murderer!). He sent us into Vietnam, and spoke with all his advisors that night. They told him that we couldn't win. By the end of the first week, LBJ knew we couldn't win, and spoke with his advisors every day about how we were going to lose. But it was too late for him to turn back, so he went on with Vietnam. Amazing how that works.

1 guy can't declare war, 1 guy can't get us into a war that we'll lose? I beg to differ, it's happened before, and it can happen again.