August 10, 2017
"Fire and Fury" Unprecedented Rhetoric?
Timothy Birdnow
When President Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" the media called in unprecedented and utterly irresponsible. Democrats blew a head gasket. John McCain came out against Trump, saying this isn't helpful.
Unprecedented? Really?
I submit to you the following:
In 2002 George W. Bush refered to North Korea, along with Iran and Iraq, as an "axis of evil" and in 2003 taunted the Iraqis "Bring it on"!
George H.W. Bush called Saddam Hussein "Sad Dum" - a play on words meaning "shoeshine boy".
Ronald Reagan made the following comments:
My fellow Americans I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. (Comment while testing a microphone before a broadcast 11 Aug 84)
The little dictator who went to Moscow in his green fatigues to receive a bear hug did not forsake the doctrine of Lenin when he returned to the West and appeared in a two-piece suit. (On Daniel Ortega Saavedra)
Evil Empire speech http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.... So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
March 8, 1983
and he called Khadaffi a "Mad dog" in a speech.
These were just a few off-the-top-of-my-head comments by a few recent Presidents. The reality is that this is perfectly acceptable rhetoric in a situation where we are being threatened.
When President Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" the media called in unprecedented and utterly irresponsible. Democrats blew a head gasket. John McCain came out against Trump, saying this isn't helpful.
Unprecedented? Really?
I submit to you the following:
In 2002 George W. Bush refered to North Korea, along with Iran and Iraq, as an "axis of evil" and in 2003 taunted the Iraqis "Bring it on"!
George H.W. Bush called Saddam Hussein "Sad Dum" - a play on words meaning "shoeshine boy".
Ronald Reagan made the following comments:
My fellow Americans I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. (Comment while testing a microphone before a broadcast 11 Aug 84)
The little dictator who went to Moscow in his green fatigues to receive a bear hug did not forsake the doctrine of Lenin when he returned to the West and appeared in a two-piece suit. (On Daniel Ortega Saavedra)
Evil Empire speech http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/reagan-evil-empire-speech-text/
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.... So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
March 8, 1983
and he called Khadaffi a "Mad dog" in a speech.
These were just a few off-the-top-of-my-head comments by a few recent Presidents. The reality is that this is perfectly acceptable rhetoric in a situation where we are being threatened.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:53 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 358 words, total size 3 kb.
20kb generated in CPU 0.0084, elapsed 0.1769 seconds.
35 queries taking 0.1706 seconds, 157 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
35 queries taking 0.1706 seconds, 157 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
