Ben Stein: "Bush is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers"
Ben Stein claimed that President Bush "is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers and democracy-builders in the history of the world," and that his reputation will grow "by leaps and bounds."
On the December 15 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox News contributor and former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein announced that President Bush "is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers and democracy-builders in the history of the world." Stein further predicted: "I think his reputation is going to grow by leaps and bounds after this [the Iraqi election]. I think it's good for the market in the short run, although the market didn't do much about it today, as we know."
Stein's comments came during a panel discussion on whether the "positive turnout" for the December 15 Iraqi election would push the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 11,000. Stein said, "Dow 11,000, it seems to me, is virtually a certainty barring a new terrorist attack, but alas, the election and democracy didn't make it happen."
Host Neil Cavuto introduced the panel discussion by asking, "So, given the positive turnout in Iraq, will it be a positive for our U.S. markets and will it help finally take the Dow back above 11,000?" He added, "We didn't quite see it today, but it's sort of like Waiting for Godot. Eventually it will happen." In the play, Godot never actually shows up, though given that the Dow is currently at 10,878.16 -- and closed at 10,883.51 the day before the elections -- "eventually" could come very soon.
From the December 15 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:
CAVUTO: So, given the positive turnout in Iraq, will it be a positive for our U.S. markets and will it help to finally take the Dow back above 11,000? We didn't quite see it today, but it's sort of like waiting for Godot. Eventually it'll happen.
[...]
CAVUTO: Ben Stein, Ben Stein? What say you?
STEIN: I think it's an incredible plus for Mr. Bush. I think Mr. Bush is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers and democracy-builders in the history of the world. I think his reputation is going to grow by leaps and bounds after this. I think it's good for the market in the short run, although the market didn't do much about it today, as we know. But let's say it saves us 100 or $200 billion over the next couple of years as troop withdrawals start. That's a small amount in the context of the budget. This market -- the budget and the GDP [gross domestic product] -- this market is looking for an end to the Fed [Federal Reserve Board] march towards higher interest rates, and that's got to happen. This just makes no sense for the Fed to keep raising interest rates. And it's looking for a continued drumbeat of higher corporate earnings, and those I think we're going to see. Dow 11,000, it seems to me, is virtually a certainty barring a new terrorist attack, but alas, the election and democracy didn't make it happen.
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"I think Mr. Bush is going to go down..."
Thus gentle–Ben gives a new, deeper meaning to the neocons' cry:
"Bite me!"
Put on a Cheerleader outfit and get some pom poms - it would be far more authentic that way.
I suppose any drop in the American casualty rate will make Bush look like some sort of peacemaker, at least in comparison to what came before. (Notice how I didn't say "Iraqi casualty rate?" Because except for Iraqis themselves, and a select group of Westerners, nobody cares.)
It's nice that Ben Stein and the entire Republican establishment have now firmly flip-flopped onto the side of nation-building. You almost wouldn't even notice their hypocricy, it's so seamless. Gotta hand it to 'em -- they're good at that. Very, very good. . . but they have lots of practice.
Yes, history will view bush as a piecemaker: he smashed Iraq into little pieces, he's in the process of smashing the constitution into little pieces, our economy, our international reputation, and our democracy into little pieces. And yes, his reputation is growing, but remember that reputations can be good, or bad...
Here's a thought Mr. Cavuto, next time you reference a play by Samuel Beckett, try to have read it or seen it. Sure citing "Waiting for Godot" might make people think you are well read, but citing it incorrectly just makes you look pretentious and well foolish. Almost as funny as when Mr. Buchanan incorrectly cited Robert Frost's Mending Wall as pro-fences. Obviously, literature is not always a strong suit for the pundits. Where have you gone William F. Buckley?
Mr. Stein sir, have you bumbed your head?!! First Mr. Bush has got to make it through the rest of his term! OK, let's give him that, most likely, His entire, house of cards administration is falling down around him! If he is forced to admitt that he knows who "outted" the Plame woman, even "he" is in deep trouble. Cheny WILL resign (for health reasons, yea sure) Not to mention, ah, WE'RE STILL FIGHTING IN IRAQ! Not to mention, ah, TERRORIST ARE STILL FLOODING INTO IRAQ! Not to mention ah, THEIR STILL LIEING ABOUT WHY WE'RE THERE! Not mention ah, IRAQ IS NOT A VERY "PEACE" FUL COUNTRY RIGHT NOW! lastly, Americans are not really at "peace" (unrest and confussion) under this administration! How can you say........." Again sir, "have you bumped......"
Stein is right, after a fashion.
Stein: Bush is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers....
Roman historian Tacitus: They made a desert and called it peace.
So yeah, in that sense Bush is a great peacemaker.
But Bush ain't one of them. To him such words as "peace" and"victory" are as meaningless as "freedom" and democracy."
POWER and MONEY. Any other words, expendible.
Why is this at MMFA? This is not dishonest or disingenuous or even vile. It's a prediction. I've noticed a trend toward this type of post at MMFA recently. Is the purpose simply to show that there's a lot of conservative opinion on TV? I don't get it.
It sure is outright delusion
This post is questionable...maybe...more of an opinion. But surely no worse than newsbusters.org. ALL their posts are opinion, because that's all the ammo they can muster. At least the majority of MMFA posts include fact checking. If any of you neocons out there can provide me with a site that fact checks as well as MMFA, please let me know. I'd love to check out a site, assuming one does exist.
Of course. Whatever makes you happy.
He's so cool, dude!
Won't diss the war until they've dumped their Halliburton Stock. He is blinded by money.
I agree that Bush will go down in history.....and down....and down....and down.....
Unless Bush pulls a rabbit out of a hat and make Iraq's "democracy" better than the forgotten mess he has left in Afghanistan (except for Kabul), his legacy will be:
misleading the world to war, supporting torture, extraordinary renditions to countries that torture, lack of respect for the Geneva conventions, reduction of personal freedoms in the US (US Patriot Act, NSA spying on US citizens...), Gulags, Abu Graib, Guantanamo, lack of concern for global warning, leaving $27,000 (currently) public debt to every US citizen... Bush could have used the 9/11 tragedy in a positive way to unite the world. He chose to divide himself and the US from the world. At some point, Bush needs to realize that when so much is going wrong and you have made so many opponents, it is time to self-reflect and change, rather than take a victim mentality that is often heard from the right (e.g., blame Canada, France, liberals, gays, Arabs, immigrants...). The solution isn't sending a marketing team to foreign countries to use propaganda to improve your image.
This response is typical of the latest trend in the AmeRepublican party. Remember their slogans - "war is peace" - thank you Ben Stein "freedom is slavery" - of course, we need to detain people for months without charges... it's all in the name of freedom "ignorance is strength" - get those protesters back to their designated "free speech zone" - well away from the cameras.
Just watched Begalla and some Rightwing mouthpiece on "The Situation Room" discussing terror.
The Rightwing mouthpiece scolded Begalla, saying the losses of freedom and abandonment of Rule of Law is "the Price we Pay for Freedom."
NEW DEFINITION time, and this should be especially valuable to the football industry: THE PRICE we have to pay for WINNING ... is LOSING. So, losing isn't really losing, it's the price we pay for winning.
To GAIN "Freedom", we must abandon it. To save the city, it must be destroyed. This is the Rightwing "reasoning" that becomes necessary when you have a president who opposes everything that made America great. He must be applauded as doing so in order to SAVE America. EVERYONE must make "sacrifices" ... except, of course, for the very wealthy.
but my primary concern is the way he's taking America down with him.
No one--no matter how steeped in GOP kool aid--wanted George Bush to be a decent president any more than I did--for America's sake. How could I feel any differently?
In fact, the only pony I backed in the last two presidential races was America, & sad to say, the nag is losing with George Bush's inept jockeying ability.
If only Bush knew how to change horses in midstream--he'd be kicking back in Crawford at his faux-ranch, & America would have a new chance to find a higher path--hopefully less disasterous than the one we're careening down at present.
Will the Iraq Election help matters? I sincerely hope so--how could I not?
this is the second time in a week i've heard this insanity.
the day before the john lennon anniversary, a local radio wing nut was broadcasting his hatetred of all things lennon. citing all the former beatles human frailties; he was a drunken pothead who left his first wife, while abandoning his only son. i sent him an e-mail mentioning yes those things are true, but lennons tireless work to achieve a WORLD at PEACE was something admirable and shouldn't be dismissed.
he wrote back, that george bush is a peace maker, but no one will give him any credit. that george bush has done more for world peace and blah blah blah blah blah.
total insanity.
revisionist history while you wait.
the kicker to this story is i heard lastnight, the station KTRS has cleaned house, and mr. mid-day is history. his name is mcgraw, but in some quarters he's known as mc caw, because he just repeats the partyline and the mornings talking points.
Capacity for self delusion is astonishing. Lowering the bar for invading a country to 'well maybe, one day in the future, they MIGHT have POSSIBLY attacked us will make him be seen as a peacemaker?
Whatever one thinks of Stein's prediction, it's not media inaccuracy or an indication of media bias. A conservative guest on a news show made a prediction about Bush, and we can differ on whether he should have made it or whether it is likely to come to pass, but a pro-Bush guest merely making a pro-Bush prediction is not something that belongs on this page.
Maybe he said "potsmokers."
Blessed are the potsmokers . . .
go back to your speechwriting, your columns for Penthouse, and your bit parts in motion pictures . . . your predictions on who is a "peacemaker" are way off . . .
The only thing I've seen Ben Stein doing lately is being a shill for Visine. This is the guy who sold us Nixon earlier in his career.
I guess the eye drops must give you a clearer picture of how life in George W. bush's America is. Use the product and you don't see New Orleans being destroyed, but you do see a nice new porch on Trent Lott's beach front home. You don't see Americans of all ages being blown apart in their Armorless vehicles. You see the economy expanding because of our love of gas guzzling SUVs. This guy not only drinks the koolaid, but has also been one of its busiest salesman for more than 3 decades.
To criticize BUSH is to be Un-American.
This is Stein's bottom line.
Stein didn't feel that way when Clinton was president.
Thus, Stein is both a Nationalistic Toady to Rightwing Tyrants, and an abject hypocrite.
Adolph Hitler had his "enablers", who tied patriotism and courage to supporting the leader. Stein would have fit in wonderfully.
Would Stein have abandoned the Jews in order to support the leader? He's abandoning more than half of America, why would he hesitate?
If the right wing gains the domination they desire in the future, they would probably control the nessage and they could probably make George W. Bush's time in office into anything they would want it to be. So Ben Stein could turn out being correct while not being correct at all.
Mr. Stein should stick to acting and leave political commentary behind. Did he actually say this:
"I think it's good for the market in the short run, although the market didn't do much about it today, as we know. But let's say it saves us 100 or $200 billion over the next couple of years as troop withdrawals start. That's a small amount in the context of the budget."?
How much would we have saved had we NOT gone into Iraq? How much would we have saved had we not had a president who reads his Presidential Daily Breefings? If Mr. Stein wants us to save $200 Billion then he is obviously not looking in the correct direction. We will be lucky if we get out with just that amount. We can only hope that a real impeachment comes with a new congress and then we will make that $200 billion savings concrete.
Did anyone else catch what he said about saving 100 billion dollars as troop withdrawals start? What about saving that money by not going in there in the first place?