# Gwb = Jfk?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 22, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621 "2003-11-22T03:53:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621/21 "2003-11-22T08:49:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ShoNuff \*  
> **Kennedy’s MO was much more nuanced than Bush’s. He worked through multiple channels and used multiple tools to accomplish his objectives.**

Not sure what you mean. Cite?

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621/22 "2003-11-22T09:01:41Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by o’colin \*  
> **I don’t see how the quotations are alike in tone or content. The first, Kennedy’s, is about supporting our friends. The second, Bush’s, is about what we will do to diplomatic friends who don’t agree and act with us.**

Umm, no. They’re both addressed to the world at large. (You know, “freind and foe alike”) Read the speeches for context.

\*\*

> [@](#):
>
> And neither, in my mind, are asking the quesion of whether it’s “America’s job to promote and defend freedom and democracy all over the world and (that we are)… willing to use arms to that end if need be.”\*\*

No, they’re not asking the question; they’re both explicity stating it.

\*\*

> [@](#):
>
> I’m really not sure what “freedom and democracy” means in your mind, in any case, furt. \*\*

What they mean in MY mind is irrelevant. More to the point, I don’t see Bush and JFK defining them differently.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621/23 "2003-11-22T09:27:06Z")

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I don’t see what’s so hard to comprehend about freedom and democracy.

Freedom=respect for individual rights.

Democracy=government by the consent of the governed.

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**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621/24 "2003-11-22T11:56:02Z")

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Well when comparing Bush comes woefully worse…

Remember that Bush before 9/11 seemed to be distancing himself from world affairs. Renounced several treaties… imposed the steel and other tariffs. He only “cared” about democracy when AQ kicked him in the teeth…

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwb-jfk/214621/25 "2003-11-22T14:34:55Z")

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Read the OP again, Rashak. Note the paragraph starting “I am NOT…”

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