Lyndon Johnson told the nation have no fear of escalation

[Generic Other]

http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietimages/Audio/lbj-paxton.html

I got a letter from L. B. J.
It said this is your lucky day.
It's time to put your khaki trousers on.
Though it may seem very queer
We've got no jobs to give you here
So we are sending you to Viet Nam


Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more,
To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese."

I jumped off the old troop ship,
And sank in mud up to my hips.
I cussed until the captain called me down.
Never mind how hard it's raining,
Think of all the ground we're gaining,
Just don't take one step outside of town.



Every night the local gentry,
Sneak out past the sleeping sentry.
They go to join the old VC.
In their nightly little dramas,
They put on their black pajamas,
And come lobbing mortar shells at me.



We go round in helicopters,
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers,
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain.
They left a note that they had gone.
They had to get down to Saigon,
Their government positions to maintain.



Well here I sit in this rice paddy,
Wondering about Big Daddy,
And I know that Lyndon loves me so.
Yet how sadly I remember,
Way back yonder in November,
When he said I'd never have to go.

[Politicub]

1. Sadly, some things never change n/t

[Generic Other]

3. American deja vu

I cannot believe we will do this again. But I know in my heart we will. It doesn't matter to them what any of us say. We don't matter.

[Va Lefty]

2. "History doesn't always repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain

[OneBlueSky]

4. now there's a song I haven't heard (or even thought of) in a long time . . . n/t

.

[Generic Other]

5. we are doomed to having long memories

of past mistakes, eh?

[kath]

11. Tom Paxton is still out there, performing concerts and writing more good stuff.

See my post below.

I've been fortunate to see him in concert three times in the past 15 years or so, most recently in Feb 2007.

Check out his website: http://www.tompaxton.com/

[madrchsod]

6. Afghanistan will be the longest war in us history

we are not fighting a conventional army in Afghanistan.

i remember nixon told us he would end the war

[Generic Other]

7. why does it seem like they never even try?

john mcCain is applauding obama's SPEECH. tHAT SAYS IT ALL.

[Libertas1776]

8. As is KKKarl Rove

NOW that says it all.

[NYCGirl]

14. No not completely. He hates the exit deadline.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/mccain-opposes-exit-deadline-for-troops/

[Octafish]

9. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin.

The Big Lie went terribly awry for We the People.

Things went pretty well for the warmonger class.

[kath]

10. Tom Paxton is Teh Awesome.! Did you know he did an update of this song when Chimpyshit started his

"surge"? I saw him in concert shortly after he wrote it in early 2007:

http://www.tompaxton.com/lyric_gwtold.html


(link includes audio of Tom performing the sone)
GEORGE W. TOLD THE NATION
By Tom Paxton


I got a letter from old George W.,
It said, "Son, I hate to trouble ya,
But this war of mine is going bad.
It's time for me to roll the dice;
I know you've already been there twice,
But I am sending you back to Baghdad."

Chorus:
Hey! George W. told the nation,
"This is not an escalation;
This is just a surge toward victory.
Just to win my little war,
I'm sending 20,000 more,
To help me save Iraq from Iraqis.

And, so, I made it to Iraq
In time for one more sneak attack,
And to my old battalion I was sent.
We drive around in our Humvees,
Listening to The Black-Eyed Peas
And speaking fondly of the president. (To Chorus)

Celebrities all come to see us,
Grateful they don't have to be us,
Politicians show their best face card.
Where is Bubba? Where's our leader?
Where's our favorite lip reader?
AWOL from the Texas National Guard

If you're hunkered in Fallujah
Wondering who it was who screwed ya,
Wondering what became of “Shock and Awe!”

(more)
You are feeling semi-certain
It has to do with Halliburton,
Dick Cheney's why you drew that fatal straw.



London 1/19/07
©2007 Pax Music, ASCAP

[Generic Other]

12. wow he will need one for obama

yo mama, comma, pajama, llama, drama, trauma....new version needed once again!

[kath]

13. Yep. Wonder what they'll call this whole mess?-- "It's not an escalation, not a surge, it's a ___"

Same ol' shit, over and over and over again.