Would the world have survived the Cuban Missile crisis if Bushco was in charge?

[yourout]

I don't think so. There is no way he would have been smart enough or brave enough to do what JFK did. That would have required diplomacy.....a foreign term to the bushies.

That is my random thought for the day.

[NewJeffCT]

1. I use that one in discussing negotiations

The RW talking point on not negotiating with Iran is because Iran doesn't have our best interests at heart.

So, my response to RWers is:
Did the Soviets have our best interests at heart during the Cold War? JFK averted nuclear war by negotiating during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nixon, Ford, Carter & Reagan all negotiated with the Soviets as well.

[Monkeyman]

2. No we would of burn the world up

[greenbriar]

3. he woudl have said bring em on and they would have

so much

[LearnedHand]

4. Article about this a couple of years ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/10/09_line.html

[yourout]

9. Great read!

:headbang:

[The Traveler]

5. Not.A.Chance.In.Hell.

We'd have fried in atomic fire.

[BreweryYardRat]

6. Hell no.

World go BOOM, man.

[smokey nj]

7. Nope.

[longship]

8. Imagine Chimp and that cigar-chewin' SAC Gen'l Curtis LeMay

Can you imagine how quickly those two would have transformed the North American continent into smoldering cinders?

I was a paper boy--many today won't even know what that is--in Detroit during that time. The Monday evening when Kennedy was scheduled for a speech we all thought it was going to be World War III. Nobody left their radios or their TV sets for the next few days.

We were scared half to death. Reading the history of the events in the 1990's, after the Soviet bloc caved-in, we now know that our fears were well-founded. Indeed, even with Kennedy's standing down, the blockade, and his diplomatic backdoor gambit, we came much closer to open nuclear conflict than we could ever have imagined.

Today I read about LeMay's back alley attempts to undermine the peaceful overtures, and there's no doubt in my mind that any less of a president would have incinerated a hemisphere or two.

[journalist3072]

10. Here's the big difference I see between the Kennedy folks and the Bushies

President Kennedy, and many of those around him "got it." Even when faced with a grave situation, they understood the value of making the RIGHT decision. Just not making a decision for decision's sake and showing the world how tough we are. They knew how important it was to make the RIGHT decision for not only our country, but the entire world.

These particular passages from the book Thirteen Days have always stuck w/ me:

Page 35: Each one of us was being asked to make a recommendation which could affect the future of all mankind, a recommendation which, if wrong and if accepted, could mean the destruction of the human race."

Page 38: "One member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for example, argued that we could use nuclear weapons on the basis that our adversaries would use them against us in an attack. I thought, as I listened, of the many times that I had heard the military take positions which, if wrong, had the advantage that no one would be around at the end to know."

You don't see this kind of thought process with the Bushies. By contrast, they are warmongers who seem more interesting in not preserving our society, but showing that cowboy 'see how tough and strong we are' mentality.

[damntexdem]

11. Chances are we wouldn't have encountered it:

Dubya has avoided challenging those who actually have nukes. He likely would not have challenged missiles already in place in Cuba. What would have resulted in the Cold War -- for example, whether it would have gone hot -- is not known. It was a close enough thing with Kennedy.