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"No matter what arguments the anti-war side provide, the pro-war side has the advantage of being in control of the current situation. So they can throw together some rebuttal like that in the Onion, and it really doesn't matter what the antis say."

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he went on to say that the bigwigs in the pro-war movement could easily brush aside the arguments of the anti-war side in defense of what they see as the common good, and that the protests are therefore useless.

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This is an argument which overvalues power. For sure, those in power cannot be stopped, now, if they wish to bomb a hospital or two in Iraq. Probably Lyndon Johnson thought the protesters had no power...until he resigned. Probably those who ran the Soviet Union didn't care that people opposed it for its undemocratic nature. They were shortsighted.

There is nothing more powerful than an opposition based on principle. If Bush's actions can be shown to be unprincipled, based on lust for oil,or whatever, his presidentcy is finished.

There's some poignant old video of Nixon making and impromptu visit to the Lincoln Memorial to talk to protesting youth.

He didn't dismiss them. He just couldn't understand them. In my view, it wasn't a generational thing; or something to do with political principles. Nixon just seemed unable to relate to humans on all but the most cynical levels.

[ 02 April 2003: Message edited by: TommyPaineatWork ]

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President Richard Nixon raised the idea of using a nuclear bomb against North Vietnam in 1972, but Henry Kissinger quickly dismissed the notion.
"I'd rather use the nuclear bomb," Nixon told Kissinger, his national security adviser, a few weeks before he ordered a major escalation of the Vietnam War.

"That, I think, would just be too much," Kissinger replied softly in his baritone voice, in a conversation uncovered among 500 hours of Nixon tapes released yesterday.

Nixon responded matter-of-factly. "The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you?" he asked. Then he closed the subject by telling Kissinger: "I just want you to think big."

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We survived these two nutbars, maybe we can get lucky again.

[ 02 April 2003: Message edited by: JimmyBrogan ]

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"The only place where you and I disagree . . . is with regard to the bombing," Nixon said. "You're so goddamned concerned about the civilians and I don't give a damn. I don't care."

"I'm concerned about the civilians because I don't want the world to be mobilized against you as a butcher," Kissinger said.

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Muffley:

General, it is the avowed policy of our country never to strike first with nuclear weapons.

Turgidson:

Well, Mr. President, I would say that General Ripper has already invalidated that policy. laughs

Muffley:

That was not an act of national policy and there are still alternatives left open to us.

Turgidson:

Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a moment of truth both for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, the truth is not always a pleasant thing, but it is necessary now make a choice, to choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless, distinguishable post-war environments: one where you got twenty million people killed, and the other where you got a hundred and fifty million people killed.

Muffley:

You're talking about mass murder, General, not war.

Turgidson:

Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say... no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh... depending on the breaks.

Muffley:

I will not go down in history as the greatest mass murderer since Adolph Hitler!

Turgidson:

Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American people, than with your image in the history books.

[ 02 April 2003: Message edited by: JimmyBrogan ]

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I'm reading Ted White's Breach of Faith right now; it's shedding light on the whole thing.

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We survived these two nutbars, maybe we can get lucky again.

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Amen.

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I've read John Dean's Blind Ambition and Haldeman's The Ends of Power, and I'm trying to read any of the others I can find.

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Reading those is fine, though I think they have a substantial element of apology in them, especially Haldeman.

The one book which cannot be missed is "All the President's Men", by Woodward and Bernstein. It is still one of my favourite books, for drama and excitement, but it is also 100% accurate.