A Friday Freeper Fraud From Forty Years Gone

“The Most Trusted Name In News” published this commercial for John W. McBush disguised as an opinion column written by longtime Repug operative Leslie Sanchez (at least CNN discloses who she is up front, which is nice for a change), in which she tells us…

In one weekend, unpredictable events have given McCain a golden opportunity to capitalize on what are some of his strongest attributes as a potential president -- a lifetime of foreign policy experience, a military background and a strong anti-Russian stance. We will soon see if McCain can translate his advantage into a gain in the polls.

Again, I ask upon what exactly is this opinion based that, somehow, foreign policy is a McBush “strength.”

The column also contains numerous slaps at Barack Obama for actually having the unmitigated gall to go on vacation in “that exotic, foreign location” of Hawaii (of course, no criticism is noted of Our Gal Condi Rice, for doing nothing more than making those tough, ultra-serious phone calls while this has all played out, which I’m sure have Putin and Medvedev quaking in their proverbial boots…uh huh – and as we know, Rice is an actual representative of our “administration,” unlike Obama, for now anyway).

But what made me want to post about this was her comparison between the invasion of Georgia and the Prague Spring of 1968 (at least, as regards the political aftermath in this country - pictured above)…

Such was the case just before midnight on August 20, 1968, when Soviet troops marched through Prague, putting a sudden and brutal end to the Czechoslovakian communist reform movement that was known, all too briefly, as the "Prague Spring." Seventy-eight days later, Americans gave Richard Nixon an Electoral College margin of 110 votes.

So…according to Sanchez, Americans panicked as a result of the brutal Soviet crackdown and elected Richard Nixon directly as a result.

Would that history were so convenient for Sanchez’ argument.

It is true, though, that a military conflict ensured the election of Richard Nixon that year. The conflict, however, was in Vietnam, not Czechoslovakia. Dem Hubert Humphrey gained in the polls when he called for a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam, and Nixon campaigned on the promise of a “solution” (I don’t recall who authored the phrase “secret plan” concerning Nixon, but I believe it was a newspaper reporter), and largely because of that and Nixon’s “southern strategy,” he won (all of this is noted here).

And as proof that Czechoslovakia was irrelevant, I present this link to an article by Richard V. Allen (Wanna buy a watch? He accepted three from Japanese consultants, as noted here) from the Hoover Institute web site that was reprinted from the Moonie Times; I purposely sought out the most Repug-friendly sources that I could for a reason.

In response to the Soviet invasion of 1968…

…Lyndon Johnson called Nixon, keeping him on the phone for nearly twenty minutes. President Johnson personalized the situation, relating it to Vietnam, saying that he had two sons-in-law in Vietnam and “was not about to make any great concessions on Vietnam” or anything else. Oddly, Johnson dwelt on a recent standing ovation he had received at a major speech to the VFW, which mystified Nixon; the issue of the moment was Czechoslovakia, not Vietnam. Johnson asked Nixon to “be careful” in what he said, expressing “dismay,” and then complimented Nixon on “the stand you took in Miami,” referring to the Vietnam plank agreed on at the Republican National Convention.

Analyzing Johnson’s motives for the call, it appeared to me that Johnson was desperately trying to keep Nixon from launching an all-out attack against the administration’s feeble response to the invasion. Humphrey’s position was also a consideration; Nixon was particularly anxious not to allow Humphrey to appear “as a knight on a white horse” by moving to a hard-line position.

…

In the end, Mr. Nixon issued a statement of “mild outrage” and, taking a cue from the Johnson initiative, decided to capitalize on the tension between Humphrey and Johnson over Vietnam.

So, contrary to Sanchez, Nixon didn’t ride any kind of a wave of fervor against the Soviets into the White House (if he had, Allen would have publicized it to be sure); as tragic as the aftermath of the “Prague Spring” was, it was not a deciding factor in the 1968 presidential election.

However, the great unpopularity of the ongoing war waged by the incumbent president proved to be decisive, to the point where the opposition party candidate won the White House in the fall.

And how such a development could foretell a positive outcome for John W. McBush is something I’ll never know.