Ike Eisenhower

[Angel of Death]

Poll

[WalterMitty]

well it is an over-quoted line.  the leftists love to pull that line out and use it every now and again.

actually, ike was an overall overrated president.  adlai stevenson, a very conservative dem, probably would have been just as good, if not better.

[J. J.]

I think he was right and influenced by two factors:

1.  The political and economic prevalence of arms manufactures in pre-WWII (and Pre-WWI) Germany.

2.  The then embryonic relationship between arms manufacturers, arms procurers (the DOD), and those that authorize their purchases (Congressional committees).  Or, to put it bluntly in today's terms, Kurt Weldon.

[memphis]

It makes sense that people who lived through both World Wars and the Depression would be suspicious of the business of war. Although the realities of war are much more distant for us today, I think it's not too hard to see where he was coming from when you take a look at Cheney and Halliburton.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Stevenson was hardly a conservative.

[opebo]

Obviously it was a reasonable comment, though it is deceptive - it implies that the 'military industrial complex' is some sort of conspiracy that subverts natural good old american fairness, etc., when in reality of course the very political system as devised and implemented, and all the corporations that are its constitutents, whether making bombs or baby powder, have as their purpose the enslavement of america and americans.

[WalterMitty]

Stevenson was hardly a conservative.

uh.  conservative is a relative term.  he was considerably more conservative than a lot of democrats at the time.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Stevenson was hardly a conservative.

uh.  conservative is a relative term.  he was considerably more conservative than a lot of democrats at the time.

He was FAR FAR FAR to the left of the Dixiecrats.

[WalterMitty]

Stevenson was hardly a conservative.

uh.  conservative is a relative term.  he was considerably more conservative than a lot of democrats at the time.

He was FAR FAR FAR to the left of the Dixiecrats.

true.

but so was eisenhower, for that matter.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well yes, neither one was conservative at all.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's amazing how the 1952 and 1956 elections had a lack of sh**tty candidates. I suppose the 1940s weren't too awful, either.

[12th Doctor]

Well yes, neither one was conservative at all.

Ironic that you shoudl say that as Eisenhower was the originator of "New Conservatism".  Not to be confused with "neoconservatism".

[Michael Z]

Absolutely not. And remember, he was a military man and a war hero.

Of course, had he said it in this day and age he probably would have been hounded and smeared by Rove's PR machine á la Max Cleland.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Anyone who has looked at American history since ooo, at least Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980 will know how much Eisenhower was on the money.

Of course Ike did have a role in spreading the MIC.