Ben Franklin would be 300 today

[Ocotillo]

How about a debate between one of your founding fathers and the red headed step child in the White House today?

The Great Franklin-Bush debate...in 6 rounds:

Bush: America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
Franklin: All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. In my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?

-

Bush Health care reform must begin with Medicare; Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are transforming health care in America.
Franklin: Well done is better than well said.

-

Bush: There is no "trust fund," just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay---will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs. The office here in Parkersburg stores those IOUs. They're stacked in a filing cabinet. Imagine---the retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It's time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control, that you call your own---assets that the government cannot take away.
Franklin: Half a truth is often a great lie.

-

Bush: The fact that somebody leaked this program [of illegally spying on Americans without a warrant] causes great harm to the United States. There's an enemy out there.
Franklin: Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

-

Bush: I'm a uniter, not a divider. I refuse to play the politics of putting people into groups and pitting one group against another.
Franklin: Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

-

Bush: I'm not going to change my mind.
Franklin: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. ... When you're finished changing, you're finished.

Final score: Bush 0 Franklin 6

Thank God men like Franklin were helping build this country in it's earliest days and not coddled legacies like the current White House occupant.

[Oh, Gee!!]

easily the frontrunner for post-of-the-year-2006.

[xrayzebra]

easily the frontrunner for post-of-the-year-2006.

It is? In what category?

[Yonivore]

Franklin: All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. In my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?

Was this said about the Revotionary War? And, did Mr. Franklin ever address the possibility of adversaries that won't sit down at the aribitration table?

[quote=Ocotillo]Franklin: Well done is better than well said.
Was this said in the context of state-provided health care? I doubt it. I wouild imagine Mr. Franklin is spinning in his grave over the magnitude of socialist programs now infesting his beloved America.


Franklin: Half a truth is often a great lie.
See above.


Franklin: Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
I believe he whole-heartedly supported President Washington's Department of Secret Correspondence wherein the newly minted nation routinely read through private mail looking for intelligence.


Franklin: Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.
I notice you didn't list any examples of the President's divisiveness. In fact, there are more examples of him reaching across the aisle than for any previous administration in recent memory. Just because the Democrats became obstructionist and rhetorically shrill doesn't mean the President backed away from this pledge. He's met the Democrats halfway on more than one occassion. Name a time when the Democrats did the same.


Franklin: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. ... When you're finished changing, you're finished.
I think Benjamin Franklin would have agreed with the President's resolve on this issue.


Final score: Bush 0 Franklin 6
Nah, final score, Ocotillo full of shit.

[Oh, Gee!!]

It is? In what category?


in the category of "Kicks Xray's Ass."

[xrayzebra]

Franklin, like Clinton, could have been a really good drinking buddy. It's a wonder
he lived to die of old age (hmmm, something profound in that statement) flying
that kite during a thunderstorm. He was one helluva a businessman and good
statesman and had the command of the language. I believe they said on FOX
today he would have approved of the NSA tapping phones, cant remember who
they contributed that statement to, but in his day he was on the Intelligence
committee and believed in spying.

P.S. He must have known something most men would give their left xxxxx for
cause the women loved him.

[xrayzebra]

Did anyone, other than me, watch the story on Ben on The History Channel last
night. It was really quite interesting. The man retired at age 42.

[Ocotillo]

The man retired at age 42.

Dang!! I wanted to do that, now it's too late..... :drunk