Regional Politics Quotes
The press secretary found the President very morose the day after his great triumph of passing the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Moyers asked why he looked so sad.
Prior to Johnson’s civil rights efforts, the South virtually always voted for Democrats in all elections. The only political competition was for the Democratic Party Primaries. The term “Solid South” meant that it was solid for the Democratic Party. But after the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, the racist whites who used to be Democrats switched and joined the genuine traditional conservative and created a Republican Southern majority that was as solid for the GOP as the Democrats had ever enjoyed.
His views are a mix of modernism and fundamentalism. He favors democracy and elections but also favored the Taliban destroying the great ancient Buddha statues when he was called an idol worshipper for urging the preservation of art.
There was a political maxim—"As Maine goes, so goes the nation"—which originated from the fact that Maine presidential elections used to be held several weeks in advance of national elections. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Republicans won most of the presidential elections; thus the rest of the nation usually "agreed" with the Maine voters. However, in 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt swamped Alf Landon by winning every state except Maine and Vermont. FDR's campaign manager then quipped:
This quotation illustrates the derogatory and disrespectful attitude that many high level American officials then had towards Arab leaders. No one objected to or reprimanded Symmes for his use of the word “mongrels”. And he was the State Departments leading expert on the Middle East and Arab Cultures. In the photo, Symmes is the gentlemen on the right.
Al Qada and Taliban insurgents fighting in Afghanistan had a sanctuary for training and resupply in the rugged mountains of Pakistan near the Afghan border. Many American military and policy makers believed that we did need Pakistan to close down the sanctuaries and lines of supply if the war was to end. However, the Pakistanis, as Mr. West stated, extracted much from the United States while at the same time, not only refusing to try to control their frontier, but several elements of the Pakistani government were actually assisting the Taliban and Al Qada while taking U. S. Military Aid to suppress them.
