It Must Be War Analogy Day In The Media
Jeff Jacoby uses another war and a different analogy today in his column . He points out that General George S. Patton, Jr. would not think much of today's Democratic presidential candidates. Because Patton was not tolerant of people who did not want to win.
ON THE eve of the Normandy invasion in 1944, General George S. Patton, addressing the men of the US Third Army, delivered a speech that would become legendary long before George C. Scott reenacted it on a Hollywood soundstage.
"Americans love a winner," Patton growled, "and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. . . . The very thought of losing is hateful to an American."
Nowadays, the thought of losing a war isn't as hateful to some Americans as the thought of losing an election. Recall MoveOn.org's infamous "General Betray Us" ad last fall, which was intended to undercut the commander of US forces in Iraq. Think of Senate majority leader Harry Reid's insistence that "this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything," or Barack Obama's unbudging claim that the "strategy is failed" and we must "get our troops out," or Hillary Clinton's vow that "starting on day one of my presidency, we will begin . . . to withdraw our troops within 60 days."
Were Patton alive today, his opinion of such defeatism would assuredly be unflattering - and unprintable. But his conviction that Americans have no patience for losers would be reinforced by the public's mounting confidence that the war in Iraq will be won.
According to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, are now convinced that the United States will "succeed . . . in achieving its goals" in Iraq. A year ago, just 30 percent of the public thought the military effort in Iraq was going "very well" or "fairly well." That optimistic view is held today by 48 percent.
Jacoby does not argue that the war will be at the forefront of issues that are on voter's minds when the election comes around. But he does point out that the lack of a focus on winning in Iraq is what damaged Republicans in 2006. The conventional wisdom from the leadership of the Democrats, the presidential candidates, the part activists and from the biased media is that Americans are war weary. The Pew poll indicates otherwise. What they are is weary of defeatism. Another Patton quote applies to that solid group think from the Democrats and the media: "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."
By tjproudamerican, Sunday, 16 March , 2008 @ 11:35 pm
I wonder about this quote. Patton was not a part of the Invasion Stage of D-Day.As Wikipedia notes, and it is true, I have actual Histories here in my study,:"Following the Normandy invasion, Patton was placed in command of the U.S. Third Army, which was on the extreme right (west) of the Allied land forces. Beginning at noon on August 1, 1944, he led this army during the late stages of Operation Cobra, the breakout from earlier slow fighting in the Normandy hedgerows. The Third Army simultaneously attacked west (into Brittany), south, east towards the Seine, and north, assisting in trapping several hundred thousand German soldiers in the Chambois pocket, between Falaise and Argentan, Orne."I don’t wonder why Jeff Jacoby uses the quote. I just wonder why Patton told his 3rd Army this scatalogical-laced invective on June 5, 1944, when they weren’t under his command in France for another two months.