Patrick Buchanan : Nov 3rd, 1969 - 68% agreed with Nixon on Vietnam War

[kentuck]

Consider that this one and a half years after the Tet Offensive
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http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45815 (I know wnd!)

<snip>
When he flew off to San Clemente, Calif., in the summer of 1969 for his August vacation, Richard Nixon was riding a wave of popularity.

He had announced the first troop withdrawal from Vietnam. He had met the Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on touchdown in the Pacific. He had become the first president to visit a captive nation with a triumphal tour of Bucharest. And he had just proposed a sweeping reform of welfare praised by both parties.

But when Nixon returned in September, a storm had broken. Wrote David Broder: "It is becoming more obvious with each passing day that the men and the movement that broke Lyndon Johnson's authority in 1968 are out to break Richard Nixon in 1969.

<snip>
According to Newsweek, support for Bush's handling of the war has fallen for the first time below 40 percent – to 34 percent, with 61 percent now disapproving of his war leadership. Compare these numbers to the 68 percent support Nixon commanded on Vietnam after that Nov. 3 address, and the gravity of Bush's condition becomes evident.

....more

[gratuitous]

1. Well, Nixon was a much more accomplished liar than Georgie

Occasionally, the truth would slip out from Nixon; George doesn't even tell the truth by accident - or if he does, he corrects it immediately.

[NewJeffCT]

2. the media actually was decent back then

not the lazy propagandists they are now.

[Bob3]

3. If you remember

Nixon had run for president with hints of a secret plan to end the war in Viet Nam - it was just vague enough to allow people to hope that he had a real plan without leaving himself open attack from the right. It was only later when his plan was revealed to be keep bombing them that his popularity went south.

[DemoTex]

5. Nixon and Kissinger also sabotaged the Paris Peace Talks.

Not unlike how Reagan and Bu$h, Sr., a decade later, sabotaged the Carter administration's negotiations to end the Iranian Hostage crisis for their own political gain. There is a word for private citizens interfering and derailing foreign affairs of State: TREASON. But treason sure figures big in the Conmen's play book.

[MnFats]

4. course, Nixon ran as a 'peace' candidate with a secret plan...

....a year after the '68 election he still had a lot of people bamboozled.
....It would be the spring of 1970 when things got white hot...the invasion and illegal bombing of Cambodia; student strikes and Kent State....and Nixon referring to student protesters as "bums."

[kentuck]

6. Still, 68% still agreed with Nixon ?

After Tet '68, and after Woodstock? This should put into perspective the difficulty that is faced by any anti-war movement. Bush's low polls may be related to other issues than just the Iraq war, such as high price of gasoline?