Can America hold the key to true world peace?

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In summary, Richard Nixon's Second Inaugural Address emphasized the importance of each nation taking responsibility for their own future and securing their own peace. He also stressed the need for nations to respect each other's systems of government and to build bridges of understanding despite their differences. He urged for the creation of a structure of peace in which the weak are as safe as the strong and where ideas, not force, influence others. This message differs from the statements made by the Bush presidents, who have emphasized promoting democracy and using force to defeat enemies.
  • #1
Ivan Seeking
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"...We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world. But we shall expect others to do their share.

The time has passed when America will make every other nation's conflict our own, or make every other nation's future our responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs.

Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own future, we also recognize the responsibility of each nation to secure its own future.

Just as America's role is indispensable in preserving the world's peace, so is each nation's role indispensable in preserving its own peace.

Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring down the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too long, and to build in their place bridges of understanding-so that despite profound differences between systems of government, the people of the world can be friends.

Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak are as safe as the strong-in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system-in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and not by the force of their arms. (emphasis added)[continued]"
http://www.search.eb.com/elections/pri/Q00104.html

Richard Milhous Nixon: Second Inaugural Address
and after Vietnam...
 
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  • #2
I wish I could take those words at face value.
 
  • #3
the number 42 said:
I wish I could take those words at face value.


You might have missed this
Richard Milhous Nixon: Second Inaugural Address

:biggrin:

This is certainly not what Bush said. Its what Bush should have learned.
 
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  • #4
Bush said
The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat

Nixon said
in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system
 
  • #5
I don't see how their statements are incompatible. The key to Nixon's speech: "by the strength of their ideas..." Communism is a bad idea. Terrorism is a bad idea. Anarchy is a bad idea. Starvation is a bad idea. Genocide is a bad idea. edit: and how could I forget: Fascist, murderous dictatorships are a bad idea. These are not valid ways to "live by a different system."

edit: Maybe these are presidential words of wisdom you would respect:
Make no mistake, if we and our allies do not have the will to act, there will be more massacres. In dealing with aggressors..., hesitation is a license to kill. But action and resolve can stop armies and save lives.
 
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  • #6
Make no mistake, if we and our allies do not have the will to act, there will be more massacres. In dealing with aggressors..., hesitation is a license to kill. But action and resolve can stop armies and save lives.
:confused: :confused: :confused:

?

When he says that there will be more massacres does he mean the civillian death toll in Iraq that is over 150,000? Hummm I wonder...

Derek Mohammed
 
  • #7
derekmohammed said:
:confused: :confused: :confused:

?

When he says that there will be more massacres does he mean the civillian death toll in Iraq that is over 150,000? Hummm I wonder...

Derek Mohammed
If you notice, I didn't say that quote was from Bush...

In any case, your number is highly suspect and not generally accepted by reputable agencies.
 
  • #8
Quotes from the bushes...

"The world can therefore seize the opportunity [Persian Gulf crisis] to fulfill the long-held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind."
George Herbert Walker Bush

"We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.'s founders."
President George Bush, 1991

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
George W. Bush, 12/18/00

"If we do not follow the dictates of our inner moral compass and stand up for human life, then his lawlessness will threaten the peace and democracy of the emerging new world order we now see, this long dreamed-of vision we've all worked toward for so long." -- President George Bush (January 1991)

"I AM MINDFUL NOT ONLY OF PRESERVING EXECUTIVE POWERS FOR MYSELF, BUT FOR PREDECESSORS AS WELL." -WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 29, 2001

"REDEFINING THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE TO ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE FROM PEACEKEEPERS IS GOING TO BE AN ASSIGNMENT." -JAN. 2001 :rofl:
 
  • #9
Ivan Seeking said:
Bush said:The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat

Now those are words I can take at face value, sadly.
 
  • #10
Burnsys said:
Quotes from the bushes...

"The world can therefore seize the opportunity [Persian Gulf crisis] to fulfill the long-held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind."
George Herbert Walker Bush

"We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.'s founders."
President George Bush, 1991

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
George W. Bush, 12/18/00

"If we do not follow the dictates of our inner moral compass and stand up for human life, then his lawlessness will threaten the peace and democracy of the emerging new world order we now see, this long dreamed-of vision we've all worked toward for so long." -- President George Bush (January 1991)

"I AM MINDFUL NOT ONLY OF PRESERVING EXECUTIVE POWERS FOR MYSELF, BUT FOR PREDECESSORS AS WELL." -WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 29, 2001

"REDEFINING THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE TO ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE FROM PEACEKEEPERS IS GOING TO BE AN ASSIGNMENT." -JAN. 2001 :rofl:

Please show me reputable sources for these quotes. I am not saying you are wrong, but I'm so sick of wrong quotes being attributed to the wrong people...with no backing.
 
  • #11
Burnsys said:
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
George W. Bush, 12/18/00


:rofl:

Forget Bill Hicks. GWB is my favourite comic. :rolleyes:

I would like to see the source, though.
 
  • #12
phatmonky said:
Please show me reputable sources for these quotes. I am not saying you are wrong, but I'm so sick of wrong quotes being attributed to the wrong people...with no backing.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
George W. Bush, 12/18/00
VIDEO: http://www.newsgateway.ca/bush_dictator.htm

"The world can therefore seize the opportunity [Persian Gulf crisis] to fulfill the long-held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind."
George Herbert Walker Bush

"We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order, a world where the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the U.N.'s founders."
President George Bush, 1991
VIDEO: http://www.freepressinternational.com/bush_cfr.html

"I AM MINDFUL NOT ONLY OF PRESERVING EXECUTIVE POWERS FOR MYSELF, BUT FOR PREDECESSORS AS WELL." -WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 29, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14674-2004Sep11.html


"REDEFINING THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE TO ENABLERS TO KEEP THE PEACE FROM PEACEKEEPERS IS GOING TO BE AN ASSIGNMENT." -JAN. 2001
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/news/7oclocknews/features/bush_141103.shtml [Broken]


----------------------------------------------------
“The vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and bring them to justice.”
Washington DC, 27 October 2003

“More and more of our imports come from overseas.”
Beaverton OR, 25th September 2000

“Do you have blacks too?”
To Brazil’s President, 8 November 2001

----------------------------------------------

http://www.tribalmessenger.org/t-bush/images/bush-reading-the-upside-dow.jpg

http://www.ifh.ee.ethz.ch/~ballisti/for_fun/politics/bush3.jpg[/URL] [Broken] [/PLAIN] [Broken]
 
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  • #13
Burnsys said:
----------------------------------------------------
“The vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and bring them to justice.”
Washington DC, 27 October 2003

“More and more of our imports come from overseas.”
Beaverton OR, 25th September 2000

“Do you have blacks too?”
To Brazil’s President, 8 November 2001

----------------------------------------------

http://www.tribalmessenger.org/t-bush/images/bush-reading-the-upside-dow.jpg

http://www.ifh.ee.ethz.ch/~ballisti/for_fun/politics/bush3.jpg[/URL] [Broken] [/PLAIN] [Broken]

I'm not going to spend my time debunking your entire post. Check snopes' bushism page to see all the fakes.

Of the quotes, one is ALMOST real...
The actual quote is:
"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas. "
Canada is a significant exporter of oil to us. They are NOT overseas. It is not a verbal gaff.

And the pics.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bushbook.asp
http://www.snopes.com/photos/binoculars.asp
 
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  • #14
re: original post i wish an american president would actually believe the things that they say. there seems to be a kind of murphy's law; murphy said people usually rise to their level of incompetence, but in this case people rise to the level of cruelty they can tolerate. nixon, for example, had democratically-elected chilean president salvador allende assassinated, & in his place installed pinochet. right after pinochet was selected, as everyone knows I'm sure, ~3000 people were executed, >10000 were tortured & thousands disappeared, at least if the new york times is anything to go by.
 
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  • #15
fourier jr said:
re: original post i wish an american president would actually believe the things that they say. there seems to be a kind of murphy's law; murphy said people usually rise to their level of incompetence, but in this case people rise to the level of cruelty they can tolerate. nixon, for example, had democratically-elected chilean president salvador allende assassinated, & in his place installed pinochet. right after pinochet was selected, as everyone knows I'm sure, ~3000 people were executed, >10000 were tortured & thousands disappeared, at least if the new york times is anything to go by.

The violent overthrow and forced exile of Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is another example
The actions taken by the US government in Haiti demonstrate the farcical character of its claims that the aim of the US invasion of Iraq was to inaugurate an era of democratization and freedom in the Middle East and around the world.

Aristide’s overthrow is the outcome of a bloody coup orchestrated by the Bush administration and aided by the Chirac government in Paris. It was executed by a band of killers drawn from the disbanded and discredited Haitian army and the CIA-backed death squads that terrorized the population under the former military dictatorship that ruled the country in the early 1990s.

Hundreds of Haitians have died as a result of this made-in-the-USA coup. In cities that fell to the gunmen—Gonaives and Cap Haitien—they have reportedly carried out a house-to-house manhunt for government supporters, executing those who failed to escape.

The French ruling class ensured that an independent Haiti was born in ruins, incapable of freeing itself from poverty and oppression and leaving it prey to the rising imperialist power in the Western Hemisphere, the United States. Washington sent Marines into Haiti in 1915 and militarily occupied the country for nearly 20 years. The US left behind as the legacy of its occupation the Haitian army, a bulwark of repressive violence, and subsequently backed the murderous 30-year dictatorship of the Duvalier dynasty.
 
  • #16
phatmonky said:
I'm not going to spend my time debunking your entire post. Check snopes' bushism page to see all the fakes.

Please let's keep information factual, and if its a joke, let's make it clear.

I had never heard of this interview before, but it was fairly interesting. The website says: "You'll probably never see this footage on American TV, so here it is: Irish TV Interview With Bush".
http://www.newsgateway.ca/bushinterview_from_break_for_news.htm

Note: I'm referring to the link at the bottom of the page, not the spoof radio interview at the top (which only makes sense if you see the TV interview at the bottom of the page).

So, has this interview been shown in the US?
 
  • #17
the number 42 said:
Please let's keep information factual, and if its a joke, let's make it clear.

I had never heard of this interview before, but it was fairly interesting. The website says: "You'll probably never see this footage on American TV, so here it is: Irish TV Interview With Bush".
http://www.newsgateway.ca/bushinterview_from_break_for_news.htm

Note: I'm referring to the link at the bottom of the page, not the spoof radio interview at the top (which only makes sense if you see the TV interview at the bottom of the page).

So, has this interview been shown in the US?

I have not seen that video, but then again, I don't get my news from TV.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but what is your point on this video? There's a lot that could be taken from it, and I'm wondering where you are coming from.

If nothing else, I love the balls of Irish reporters! That woman isn't holding punches, and I have a lot of respect for that :cool:
 
  • #18
phatmonky said:
I have not seen that video, but then again, I don't get my news from TV.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but what is your point on this video? There's a lot that could be taken from it, and I'm wondering where you are coming from.

If nothing else, I love the balls of Irish reporters! That woman isn't holding punches, and I have a lot of respect for that :cool:

Not being evasive, but I don't have any real agenda with this video, apart from whether it was on TV in the US. I don't think it made GWB look any worse than I would expect him to come across. He seemed a bit rude/jumpy in insisting several times that he not be interrupted. He didn't handle the questions particulary well or badly apart from that. So I suppose I just wanted to know
1/ whether the interview has been on American television
2/ if it hasn't been shown, why not?
3/ either way, what do think of the interview?

As I've said, I don't think there is anything very remarkable about it. I wouldn't have posted it except that the website said that it probably wouldn't be shown on TV in the US. In case you are wondering, he didn't exactly get a grilling by the standards on this side of the Atlantic. You don't often get the leader in the hotseat, but senior politicians can't get away with being evasive. A good example is Jeremy Paxman's (my favourite political interviewer) interview of Tony Blair a few years ago. Its one of the rare occasions where the leader of the UK has given an interview, and you'll note that no quarter was given. (Click on the WATCH/LISTEN ON THIS STORY section in top right corner of the page for the Tony Blair, Jeremy Paxman interviews Tony Blair clip).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/1849005.stm
 
  • #19
the number 42 said:
Forget Bill Hicks. GWB is my favourite comic.

Having seen Fahrenheit 9/11 last night (for the first time) with attention to his facial expressions, I think GWB is more suited to the silent genre. But seriously folks, these are not the words and demeanor of an intellectually sophisticated man. I wouldn't feel safe with him driving my taxi, let alone run a country.
 
  • #20
As for the dictatorship quote, i don't see any reason that's significant. I think the same thing everyday. Doesn't mean i actually want a dictatorship.
 
  • #21
franznietzsche said:
As for the dictatorship quote, i don't see any reason that's significant. I think the same thing everyday. Doesn't mean i actually want a dictatorship.

No, it just means you think about having a dictatorship every day. I think about sex every day, but that doesn't mean I actually want it :rolleyes:

Franznietzsche, why don't you comment on the links I posted above? Nobody else seems to want to.

http://www.newsgateway.ca/bushinter...ak_for_news.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programm...ght/1849005.stm [Broken]
 
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  • #22
edit: nevermind.
 
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  • #23
thenumber42 said:
Franznietzsche, why don't you comment on the links I posted above? Nobody else seems to want to.

russ_watters said:
edit: nevermind.

Dang - almost! Good attempt. Anybody else want to give it a try?
 
  • #24
the number 42 said:
Please let's keep information factual, and if its a joke, let's make it clear.

I had never heard of this interview before, but it was fairly interesting. The website says: "You'll probably never see this footage on American TV, so here it is: Irish TV Interview With Bush".
http://www.newsgateway.ca/bushinterview_from_break_for_news.htm

Note: I'm referring to the link at the bottom of the page, not the spoof radio interview at the top (which only makes sense if you see the TV interview at the bottom of the page).

So, has this interview been shown in the US?

Wow, i listened the radio interview and watched the tv interview. it's amazing how bush always has the same answers, like if he has memorized them, for moments i get confused, thinking the radio interview was the audio of the tv interview becouse bush says always the same, exactly the same, like if he has a set of predefined answers... patetic...
 
  • #25
:devil: I got myself one of these , haven't you? :biggrin:
 

1. What is the purpose of "Presidential words of wisdom"?

The purpose of "Presidential words of wisdom" is to provide insight and guidance from past and current presidents for the betterment of the country. These words can serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for citizens to strive for progress and unity.

2. How are "Presidential words of wisdom" chosen?

"Presidential words of wisdom" are typically chosen based on their relevance and impact on society. They may be selected from speeches, interviews, or other public statements made by the president. These words are often chosen by historians, scholars, and other experts in the field.

3. Can "Presidential words of wisdom" change over time?

Yes, "Presidential words of wisdom" can change over time as societal values and norms evolve. Some words may become more relevant and influential, while others may lose their significance. It is important to consider the historical context and the impact of these words when interpreting them.

4. Do all presidents have "Presidential words of wisdom"?

Yes, all presidents have shared words of wisdom throughout their tenure. Some presidents may be known for their eloquence and powerful speeches, while others may have more subtle but impactful words. Each president's words can offer a unique perspective and insight into their leadership style and values.

5. Can "Presidential words of wisdom" be controversial?

Yes, "Presidential words of wisdom" can be controversial as they may reflect the personal beliefs and opinions of the president. Some words may also be interpreted differently by different individuals, leading to debates and disagreements. However, it is important to acknowledge and learn from all perspectives, even if they may be controversial.

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