No president from Texas has gotten us into a war

[jobycom]

Except Bush, Bush Daddy, LBJ, and Eisenhower.

[HEyHEY]

1. Does LBJ count?

[jobycom]

2. Why wouldn't he?

[HEyHEY]

6. Just cause he kinda picked up where others left off - didn't he?

[PittPoliSci]

9. he may not have started per se...

but he certainly escalated it to a new level.

[jobycom]

11. That's my feeling, too

He sold the war, he escalated it into a war when he could have stopped it. Before him it was a misguided troop action. That's my take-- I could be persuaded otherwise with proper historical arguments.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. I'd count him

The Tonkin Gulf resolution was passed on his watch and with his urging. That is the date with which most historians mark the formal beginning of the Vietnam War.

[RoyGBiv]

4. New Rule

No more Presidents from Texas -- Bill Maher, _I'm Swiss_

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I hadn't realized this, my dear jobycom...

Thank you for updating my US history with your timely lesson!

:pals:

[KamaAina]

7. Read my lips: No new Texans

bumper sticker seen during Fiasco, er, Campaign 2000.

[Bucky]

24. My daughter would not like that rule.

Of course I remind her that she's just a girl and so can't become president. But she'll make a nice nurse or mommy one day.

[PittPoliSci]

8. so i guess it's safe to say every president from texas...

has gotten us into a war.

[jobycom]

12. It's true, but with Karl Rove around, I don't think it's safe.

[AuntieM1957]

10. well, that's because we couldn't get ya'll to elect

Barbara Jordan, Sissy Farenthold, Ann Richards.

sorry, but I just can't have my fellow DUers thinking that the good old boys are the best we have to offer.

And while she may not be a politician, don't forget that the wonderful Molly Ivins is also a Texan.

[jobycom]

13. The string of great liberal Texans is very impressive

I'm Texan, so don't think I'm bashing. But it is what it is.

Add Ralph Yarborough (who was almost president), Sheila Jackson Lee, Henry Cisneros, and Henry B Friggin' Gonzalez, the only man to try to impeach both Reagan and Bush, to that list. And that's just for starters. Texas liberalism is a thing of beauty.

[liberalpragmatist]

17. One day Texas Liberalism will roar back

When, who knows. But my guess is it's probably just dormant and will rear it's head again one day when people are fed up with the reactionary right.

Of course, the flip side to that is that one day California-conservatism may well rear its head too.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. Isn't that the truth

It's enough to make your head spin.

You're not bashing, you're just stating facts. Most of the politicians that have made a name for themselves from here have left a foul legacy behind.

[AuntieM1957]

21. You're so right about that...

it takes real character and integrity to hold fast to liberal ideals in this rough Texas soil.

Add Jim Hightower to our list as well.

And for those of us who knew her here in Houston - the wonderful, wonderful and sorely missed Billie Carr, who introduced me to Bill Clinton - and got this armchair Dem off her rear and into the fight.

Back in 1992, I remember Billie telling a roomful of volunteers that the battle was truly about righteousness. I think she saw the depths to which the Republicans would sink in "claiming" God.

[Wetzelbill]

27. Ralph Yarborough!

Was it you who was telling me stories about working for him and getting to sit and talk to him etc?

[liberalpragmatist]

14. Wasn't Eisenhower from Kansas?

And what war did Eisenhower get us into? Are you counting Vietnam as an Eisenhower action?

[Doctor_J]

16. Ike was from Kansas and didn't get us into a war

:crazy:

[jobycom]

20. Eisenhower was born in Dennison Texas, in a small house along the RR track

I was thinking Korea, but that was Truman. My bad. Eisenhower flirted with war, but had enough sense to stay out of them, for the most part. He did use the CIA to overthrow governments in the Middle East, and sent troops to Lebanon, but that wasn't really a war.

Okay, so, Texans who got out of the state as fast as they could and later became president haven't started wars. Just Texans who grew up here, or who moved here sometime later from the north, have started wars.

[Bucky]

23. Ike was born in Texas only because his dad took a 6-month job down here

freak of timing is all. He was a Kansas boy thru and thru... and still the best Texas president we ever had. But only because we never elected Sam Houston.

[NNadir]

15. Polk had a war for Texas.

He also obtained, through military conquest (ie theft) California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, parts of Colorado, and Utah.

[emulatorloo]

19. BUSH IS FROM CONNECTICUT

He is a fake texan

That is all. thank you for your time.

[AuntieM1957]

22. I used to think that but see it differently now

maybe you're right about Bush, Sr. - but I would call him a Texan.

but Dubya is so Texan, good old boy, my shit don't stink, redneck that it truly makes me ashamed to admit - but he's one of us - not the part of us I admire.

But face it, we'all know someone just like him - the Bubba incarnate.

[emulatorloo]

25. Karl Rove and Karen Hughes Wrote that script - his accent is fake

Listen to his accent - it is not Texan -- it is some bizarre amagram.

[Richardo]

26. Sounds like Bob Dole and his 'Democrat wars'

:crazy: