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Originally Posted by tomder55

Kennedy was rightly fixated on a Communist enclave 90 miles off our coast .What was his justification for allowing the Bay of Pigs plan to go down ? Pictures ?

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Hello tom:

You answered your own question. The answer is 90 miles.

excon

How far away is Vietnam ?

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Originally Posted by tomder55

How far away is Vietnam ?

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Hello again, tom:

A long ways. But, Vietnam WASN'T a pre-emptive war, and Kennedy only sent advisers (non-combatants) to help our friends in THEIR fight against the communists. Johnson is the one who trumped up the Gulf of Tonkin crap.

There is NOTHING Kennedy did that's comparable to what your dufus in chief did - not a thing - nada - nothing - zilch. Try as you might, you can't compare black to white, and you can't revise history.

You are to be applauded for trying, though. Fortunately, I am here to save the day.

excon

In 1951, Congressman John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts set out for an extensive fact-finding mission to the Middle and Far East. Upon his return, Kennedy reiterated his support of western efforts to defend freedom in both regions. He claimed that if the West did not act upon this ideal, especially in Southeast Asia, that the Chinese Communists easily would dominate these countries.

1956 he said "Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone to the arch, the finger in the dike."

Kennedy invoked idealistic terms to encourage Americans to view the conflict in Vietnam as one small part of the larger struggle between freedom and communism.(sound familiar yet ?) The United States had to do whatever was necessary to defend freedom in Vietnam.

The US had 11,300 troops operating in South Vietnam by 1962 and 16,000 by his death . These included Green Beret's . Kennedy was into counter-insurgency . Yeah... some of them were also advisers . The truth is that before he died he had escalated America's military commitment to Vietnam.

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Originally Posted by tomder55

1956 he said "Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone to the arch, the finger in the dike.".....Kennedy invoked idealistic terms to encourage Americans to view the conflict in Vietnam as one small part of the larger struggle between freedom and communism.(sound familiar yet ?)

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Hello again, tom:

As you yourself said earlier, Kennedy was a hawk. He took us to war based upon a political viewpoint that turned out not to be true.
That is significantly different than manufacturing evidence to match up with your political viewpoint, then taking the country to war based upon stuff you already know not to be true.

The comparisons are specious. They aren't even close. Not in the same ballpark.

excon

Like apples to oranges ex

I see no use in rehashing Iraq yet again . Suffice it to say that the whole world believed that Saddam had WMD . If I believe the '60 minutes' report last night it was one of the great deceptions ever. No one " manufactured evidence".

I have stated repeatedly that President Bush has more in common than the old cold warrior Democrats than the modern Democrat party does. I'm sticking to that contention.

I agree Tom, JFK would never accept the direction the Democratic Party is going today…fascism and socialism. Yes, today he would be a Republican, and a surly needed one.

If he were to be presented with the same evidence presented to Bush about Iraq there is little doubt in my mind that he would have acted for political change in its government. Would the game plan be the same? I don't know, but I would hope that it would be different.

EXCON…Its you who have failed to do your homework and act with pure emotion.

W cut taxes

JFK proposed tax cuts [ passed after his death ]