You don't get the govenment you want, you get the government you deserve
Bill Whittle at PJTV explains how the Obama machine has used the campaign logo as an icon. They have even replaced the symbol of the office which Obama holds with this icon. But, Obama’s opponents may get the last laugh. h/t to Michael Graham at The Natural Truth.
Thanks to Bob Parks at Outside the Wire and Hawkeye for some historical perspective on how to lose a war off the battlefield. The names have changed, but the story remains the same.
Four-star General Vo Nguyen Giap led Vietnam’s armies from their inception, in the 1940s, up to the moment of their triumphant entrance into Saigon in 1975.
He has recently published his memoirs and here’s a direct quote from the Supreme Commander of the North Vietnamese Army:
“What we still don’t understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi or the mining of Haiphong Harbor. You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender. It was the same at the battle of Tet. You defeated us. We knew it. We thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice that your media was definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefield. We were ready to surrender. You had won.”
In his book, Giap clearly indicated that NVA troops were without sufficient supplies, and had been continually defeated time and again.
By 1968, NVA morale was at it’s lowest point ever. The plan for “Tet” ‘68 was their last desperate attempt to achieve a success, in an effort to boost the NVA morale. When it was over, General Giap and the NVA viewed the Tet ’68 offensive as a failure, they were on their knees and had prepared to negotiate surrender.
At that time, there were fewer than 10,000 U.S. casualties, the Vietnam War was about to end, as the NVA was prepared to accept their defeat. Then, they heard Walter Cronkite (former CBS News anchor and correspondent) on TV proclaiming the success of the Tet ’68 offensive by the communist NVA. They were completely and totally amazed at hearing that the US Embassy had been overrun. In reality, The NVA had not gained access to the Embassy–there were some VC who had been killed on the grassy lawn, but they hadn’t gained access. Further reports indicated the riots and protesting on the streets of America. But, when ‘Uncle Walter’, the most trusted correspondent in America, told the American people that February in 1968, “Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I’m not sure,” waffling public opinion changed. Cronkite may not have been sure, but Gen. Giap sure knew.
According to Giap, these distorted reports were inspirational to the NVA. They changed their plans from a negotiated surrender and decided instead, they only needed to persevere for one more hour, day, week, or month, and eventually the protesters in America would help them to achieve a victory they knew they could not win on the battlefield. Remember, this decision was made at a time when the U.S. casualties were fewer than 10,000, at the end of 1967, beginning of 1968.
Cronkite said, “The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw.” No, it wasn’t even close to a draw . . . and Giap understood, if the media didn’t. However, that lesson ignored does underscore that the media is the first draft of history, and their errors, omissions and prejudices are obvious in their copy.
We won every military engagement of the Vietnam War, every one. Yet, Walter Cronkite and the American media conspired with the enemy to do what the North Vietnamese could not do on the battlefield.
He, General Giap, makes the point the Vietnam War was not lost in Vietnam; it was lost here. That’s why I keep telling everybody that the Mainstream Media and the Democrats are seeking a self fulfilling prophecy. They are trying to do the same thing in Iraq that they did in Vietnam for a host of reasons. Not the least of which among them was to re-establish their own ability to influence people in the United States into losing a war by surrendering, to re-enact their glory years of the Post Viet Nam Era brought about by losing a war, bringing down a Republican President and setting the tone conducive to their Socialist’s view of the future. Thirty-one years ago, that gave us Jimmy Carter, arguably the first treasonous ex-President this country ever produced and whose policies, as President, we are still paying for.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
“The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam – and how they ran and left their agents – is noteworthy.”
