re: rewriting history

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re: rewriting history

Robert — 3/18/2004 6:40:27 PM (archived)

All your points are good ones. I guess I was just skimmlng along the surface with my comments about Nixon and Vietnam.

No doubt that later in the war Nixon would have "pulled less punches", but in the context of the times I'm not sure it would've turned out better, and might have turned out worse. Vietnam was our first big experience with asymmetrical warfare, and so "punches" would likely have been defined as stepping up our traditional approach and hitting harder: More bombing, more massed troops, more attempts to establish strongholds. It was the bombing in particular that caused so much discontent here and abroad, and so doing more of it might have made the political outcome even more painful than it was. In military terms, a little didn't work, and I'm not sure that more would have been any more effective. A qualitative change was called for, more than a quantitative change.

The whole thread (96 posts)

What the hell do conservatives want? An alternate history project - Robert - 3/17/2004 4:11:02 PM
- Points of divergence... - Tom Brosz - 3/20/2004 3:06:11 AM
  - Wikipedia's take on it - Tom Brosz - 3/20/2004 3:17:21 AM
    - The alternative history of L. Neil Smith's "Probability Broach" - Tom Brosz - 3/20/2004 5:20:26 AM
      - Where was I? - Robert - 3/23/2004 2:44:14 AM
        
        BTW - Tom Brosz - 3/23/2004 5:45:53 AM
        
        "Probability Broach" - Tom Brosz - 3/23/2004 5:32:08 AM
        
        re: "Probability Broach" - Robert - 3/23/2004 5:55:19 AM
        
        P.S. - Tom Brosz - 3/23/2004 8:16:12 AM
        
        Some culture stuff... - Tom Brosz - 3/23/2004 8:13:43 AM
- But, but, but - FrankC - 3/18/2004 5:40:33 PM
  - Not bad - Robert - 3/18/2004 6:16:36 PM
    - World Government - FrankC - 3/18/2004 8:38:24 PM
      - A World Government is no guarantee that a global 'civil war' will be averted. - Jacob Samorodin - 3/24/2004 3:23:01 PM
      - re: World Government - Robert - 3/18/2004 10:00:51 PM
      - re: UN - Raoul - 3/18/2004 9:40:27 PM
  - You know, I kinda liked that - tony - 3/18/2004 6:02:47 PM
    - I thought of that... - FrankC - 3/18/2004 7:56:43 PM
- A couple of suggestions. No Social Security, and no Pearl Harbor - Bowser - 3/18/2004 3:58:24 PM
  - The irony of it all - Robert - 3/18/2004 5:27:54 PM
    - Maybe liberals aren't as worried about accuracy and plausibility. - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 4:42:58 AM
      - Why write a fictional history in which liberal ideas are ascendent? - Mary Anne - 3/19/2004 5:10:59 PM
        
        re: Why write a fictional history in which liberal ideas are ascendent? - SDG - 3/19/2004 9:37:30 PM
        
        Utopia? I don' want no steenking Utopia! - Mary Anne - 3/20/2004 12:34:25 AM
        
        re: Utopia? I don' want no steenking Utopia! - SDG - 3/23/2004 3:38:11 PM
        
        Utopia is literally "Nowhere" - Larry J - 3/23/2004 10:19:12 PM
    - Ah, screw him. - Bowser - 3/18/2004 5:50:19 PM
      - And the horse I rode in on! - alcaray - 3/18/2004 7:26:41 PM
        
        Looked more like a burro. And us typing dogs prefer "anomaly" to "freak". (n/t) - Bowser - 3/18/2004 7:49:36 PM
        
        Well, the burros are a little cuter (n/t) - alcaray - 3/18/2004 10:22:51 PM
        
        That's funny! Score a couple for yourself. And not burros. (n/t) - Bowser - 3/18/2004 10:40:29 PM
      - Low probability branches - Robert - 3/18/2004 6:30:16 PM
        
        re: Low probability branches - Bowser - 3/18/2004 6:43:25 PM
        
        re: Low probability branches - Robert - 3/18/2004 7:05:14 PM
        
        Documentation. - Bowser - 3/18/2004 7:42:52 PM
        
        Wow - Robert - 3/19/2004 3:24:47 AM
        
        Invasion of Cuba - SDG - 3/19/2004 4:48:56 AM
        
        another question about that order - SDG - 3/19/2004 12:32:20 AM
        
        Nukes against an amphibious landing in Cuba? - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 4:49:36 AM
        
        re: Nukes against an amphibious landing in Cuba? - SDG - 3/19/2004 5:13:20 AM
        
        I'm not sure. - Bowser - 3/19/2004 12:52:31 AM
        
        more info - SDG - 3/19/2004 12:45:36 AM
        
        That makes more sense. - Bowser - 3/19/2004 5:39:22 AM
        
        re: Documentation. - SDG - 3/18/2004 9:52:32 PM
        
        My suspicions. - Bowser - 3/18/2004 10:57:56 PM
        
        very good points - SDG - 3/18/2004 11:55:13 PM
        
        Sure. - Bowser - 3/19/2004 12:41:37 AM
        
        re: Sure. - SDG - 3/19/2004 1:22:08 AM
        
        And the most important part. - Bowser - 3/18/2004 8:02:44 PM
    - What the hell do liberals want? Let's turn it around.. - FrankC - 3/18/2004 5:47:29 PM
      - your turn first (n/t) - alcaray - 3/18/2004 6:27:02 PM
      - Nah - Robert - 3/18/2004 6:04:17 PM
- This is what I think you're proposing. - Mary Anne - 3/18/2004 12:22:09 AM
  - Duh. It's been a long day. - Mary Anne - 3/18/2004 12:24:34 AM
    - Sigh - Robert - 3/18/2004 3:52:37 AM
      - re: Sigh - SDG - 3/18/2004 3:38:44 PM
        
        "To rewrite 70 years of history is a hell of a lot to ask." - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 4:57:00 AM
        
        re: Sigh - Robert - 3/18/2004 5:30:43 PM
- ( A hint for 'em.) Tony Blair would be speaking German. (n/t) - Bowser - 3/17/2004 11:50:14 PM
- re: What the hell do conservatives want? An alternate history project - mclute - 3/17/2004 11:00:07 PM
  - rewriting history - Robert - 3/17/2004 11:26:25 PM
    - re: rewriting history - SDG - 3/18/2004 1:02:31 AM
      - re: rewriting history - Robert - 3/18/2004 6:40:27 PM
- Not gonna happen: Conservatives have no imagination. - alcaray - 3/17/2004 7:38:44 PM
  - Not helpful. This is their game. (n/t) - Robert - 3/17/2004 10:20:38 PM
- I wish I was that good - Tom Brosz - 3/17/2004 7:04:40 PM
  - Have faith - Robert - 3/17/2004 10:18:27 PM
    - I'm so damned tired.... - Tom Brosz - 3/18/2004 1:40:18 AM
      - Aren't we all - Robert - 3/18/2004 3:54:28 PM
        
        Utopia - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 6:07:27 AM
      - Understand: tired - Mary Anne - 3/18/2004 2:24:45 AM
        
        A few data points - Larry J - 3/18/2004 2:48:29 PM
        
        Thanks - Robert - 3/18/2004 5:42:32 PM
        
        And... - Larry J - 3/18/2004 7:38:40 PM
        
        Thanks 2.0 - Robert - 3/18/2004 9:44:38 PM
        
        I don't know if Hoover could've ended the Depression - Larry J - 3/19/2004 4:19:58 PM
        
        The subject is conservatives, not Republicans. - Mary Anne - 3/18/2004 3:44:18 PM
        
        The terms conservative and liberal have almost lost their meaning - Larry J - 3/18/2004 7:52:00 PM
        
        Definitions in context - Robert - 3/19/2004 3:35:11 AM
        
        Voting - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 6:47:52 AM
        
        re: Voting - Robert - 3/23/2004 9:04:52 PM
        
        Ideally, you're right. - Tom Brosz - 3/24/2004 7:20:19 AM
        
        Would you include sales tax? - Mary Anne - 3/19/2004 5:50:44 PM
        
        re: Would you include sales tax? - Tom Brosz - 3/20/2004 2:58:09 AM
        
        I cant remember a time when liberal wasnt a secret code-word for communist (n/t) - alcaray - 3/18/2004 10:20:55 PM
        
        Likewise, I keep hearing some declare conservatives are Nazis - Larry J - 3/19/2004 5:48:28 PM
        
        Not much of a secret, though, was it? - Robert - 3/19/2004 3:48:16 AM
        
        re: tired - Tom Brosz - 3/18/2004 5:57:30 AM
        
        re: infinite forks - alcaray - 3/18/2004 7:05:43 PM
        
        A definition from Heinlein's "Notebooks" - Tom Brosz - 3/18/2004 6:01:50 AM
        
        Heinlein and me, and stuff - Mary Anne - 3/18/2004 2:08:37 PM
        
        re: stuff - Tom Brosz - 3/19/2004 7:19:01 AM
- There seems to have been a "Publius" back there. (n/t) - Bowser - 3/17/2004 6:08:56 PM
- A problem - FrankC - 3/17/2004 6:00:56 PM
  - A hypothetical exercize - Robert - 3/17/2004 6:53:41 PM
- I'll go, if someone will lead. - Mary Anne - 3/17/2004 5:27:37 PM

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