Josh Billings Quotes
We are ap tu hate them, who wont take our advice, and despise them who do.
Shaw, Henry Wheeler. Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings. Carleton, Publisher, 1866, p. 55.
As Secretary of State, Powell was going to address the UN Security Council on the 5th and he was coordinating his speech with the other agencies of the government. His criterion was that he only wanted to make accusations that were backed up by incontrovertible evidence. However, VP Richard Cheney and his aide, Scooter Libby, kept inserting an accusation that Iraq was involved with and supported Al Qaeda. This was one of the many speculations that those who wanted to justify attacking Iraq kept using as Domestic propaganda. When Powell asked for proof or intelligence reports and none could be provided, he removed the accusation from the speech explaining why. However, at the last minute, Cheney and his staff put the accusation back in, and that triggered the quotation. Unfortunately, Powell was so busy fending off totally absurd accusations, that he accepted the CIA assurances {79468} that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons that were about to be operationalized and never heard from those who questioned the credibility of the sources for the basic accusation. Powell had great trust among the diplomats of the world then gave the United States version to the Security Council and justified our coming invasion of Iraq. But the intelligence report, despite the assurances of the CIA and the Vice President, was false and Iraq not only was not close to a nuclear weapon but he had no program at all at that time to try and develop one. Powell resigned and his credibility about the world was ruined as he was then seen as just another lying politician.
After being surrounded by the Germans for seven days at what would later be called the Battle of the Bulge, a German officer notified the Americans that they would accept their surrender. McAuliffe’s one word response summed up the resolve of the Americans who were surrounded. The Americans managed to hold the line and defeat the German’s last major offensive of World War II.
This quotation illustrates the unpopularity of President George W. Bush. Not only was he unpopular in America, but this quote shows the same unpopularity with one of our major Western Allies. The critic chides an author—Valerie Morse—for even stating the obvious. The dislike of Bush was so pervasive that even more characterization of his shortcomings was seen as a type of “piling on” and really not even necessary.
Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw . He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. He is often compared to Mark Twain.
