Comparing Presidents
June 23, 2009 37 Comments
A picture is worth a thousand words!!
37 Responses to Comparing Presidents
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The Everyday Christian 
Excellent!
What a girly-man.
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He has no chance against Putin!
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LEP: Did you manage to get access to sound and remember to listen to that mp3 from a few years back? I have regretted not typing up some of the points it made and instead just linking to it, if you still don’t have sound I’ll type up the points. Proverbs can be convicting.
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A few years back? LOL, I probably listened to it, wouldn’t remember now. If you e-mailed me the link, I’d still have it. Check on it after work.
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Cool beans, or as I like to say in my grammatically incorrect Spanish: frio frijoles! Done.
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Um. That’s horrible. “a girly-man”? Because he’s not handling wood? Ridiculous, people…
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Drewby,
The pictures are simple illustrations of the personalities of the men. Their words can be cited to back this up.
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Please explain, then, exactly which qualities are being demonstrated here…because all I see is an over the top display of old-fashioned, poorly-conceived views of what “masculinity” is…
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To be plain, Obama is not a man’s man. He is not an Alpha male. To use your word from a previous post, he is a “girly-man”. He is not the type of man that commands respect when he walks into a room. Is that clear enough? All we have to do is listen to what he says to confirm all of this.
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That’s such a skewed perspective. He commands my respect. He gets my attention. You can disagree, of course, because he doesn’t have the same effect on you, but there’s no reason to go out there and state it like it’s an objective fact. Plenty of people respect Obama, and plenty don’t, just like plenty of people respected Bush, and plenty of people did not and do not respect him. But you can’t just say that your opinion is the truth, that Obama doesn’t command respect, just because that’s how you feel, any more than I can say he does just because that’s how I feel. It just shows a lack of integrity to state opinions like they’re facts.
And proving that one way or another can not be backed up just by what Obama says (or Bush, or anyone else). You’re saying he doesn’t command respect, and that’s something that’s dependent on how those who hear him feel, not on the words he says. The same words can have drastically different effects on different people. It’s not his words that would support your statements, it’s people’s reactions to those words. And because it’s individual reactions and people that would determine whether or not he “commands respect”, that’s not something that can be plainly, objectively decided. The best you can say is that he does command respect, and he also doesn’t, because just like any other president, people are going to have opposing opinions on him. Opinions, not facts.
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Tom,
Wondering if you are the same Tom Shelton I worked w/ @ TVA back in 1983-1984? I am planning to take the PE Exam this Fall, and would like to make use of your PE endorsement for my application to sit for the exam.
I’m working in Atlanta now for ENERCON Services, and work w/ Zach Rose, a former colleague of yours from NAC.
Hope are doing well.
Bryan
W: 678.354.8340
bhess@enercon.com
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Bryan,
I am not that Tom Shelton. Back in 1983-1984 I was in high school. I hope you are able to find the guy you are looking for though.
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Drewby,
Is your respect for the man or the office? The office of President commands respect in and of itself. The problem is that the man who holds that office increases or decreases the respect.
If you don’t want to consider Obama’s words, then consider his actions and the way other leaders around the world react to him. They do not respect him. They consider him weak. His actions prove this. We must deal with the fact that we have a man serving as President that does command respect. I do not think that stating the obvious shows a “lack of integrity” in any way.
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We dealt with eight years of a man who did nothing but tarnish and stain America’s image in the eyes of the international community. Were you asleep during Bush’s two terms? His actions, and people’s reactions, showed that.
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Obama is a typical man of the Left. He would rather have the U.S. be “loved” by the world than respected or feared.
This is why he is weak. He’s got no backbone when it comes to standing up to tyrants. So he makes friends with them and does not criticize them.
The Iranian elections were a perfect example of that.
That he would not meet with the Dalai Lama (lest he upset the Communist Chinese who have taken over Tibet) is another perfect example.
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Because Bush really had the world’s respect, didn’t he? And oh yeah, the world was so terrified of the USA when Bush was in office. After all, we can’t even get our way in a little place like Iraq. Years and years spent tearing apart a poor little country without the ability to even begin to put it back together…oooh, we’re scary.
I’d much rather be in a nation of peace. Why do you want people to fear us? Instigating fear rather than peace is not something I want to be a part of….
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Bush did have respect. They didn’t like him, but they respected him, and they feared him (us).
Libya announced it had stopped it’s nuclear program after we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, the world’s tyrants were stepping a little softer.
You are naiev to think that there will be peace in this world.
There is only peace when the democracies and free nations are strong and it is known that they will use force to keep tyrants from doing what they want to do.
As a nation in a sinful world, full of tin-pot dictators and would be dictators…I’d rather be feared than loved any day of the week.
If Hitler had feared England and the U.S, a bit more…a hundred of million lives could have been saved.
Peace.
There will never be peace on earth until the Lord returns.
Look at history.
We might as well have a hand in keeping evil at bay.
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Please. They did not respect him. His own people didn’t respect him.
And it may be naive to want peace in this world, but I suppose I’m fine being naive. Love has run dry in this world, and what a horrible position to say that peace can’t exist until God intervenes, so until then we should fight, and make war, and perpetuate the cycle, and disrupt peace. How little faith you have in the goodness of humanity. That’s what makes me so sad about this world. Too many people look up to the sky and wait for God to open the clouds and thunder down and solve everyone’s problems. I think desiring peace in this world, even if it’s naive, is far more noble than simply waiting around for Jesus to show up.
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Just because you did not respect him, does not mean that others did not.
Naivete would be fine if it didn’t get people killed.
We are to hate and fight evil.
But I realize that many are afraid to do so.
For them, it is much easier (and safer) to fight those who fight evil.
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theoldadam,
Very good examples. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
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Thank you, Tom.
Keep up the great work!
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The best way to fight evil is to love and spread love. Plain and simple. Naive or not, the best thing to do is turn the other cheek and love.
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Sometimes that works…IF you are dealing with decent people.
That would not have worked with Hitler, Hirohito, Stalin, Mao, etc.
Sometimes you have to suck it up and fight.
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You’re right, it wouldn’t have worked. But hey, Jesus didn’t fight back when he was dealing with not so decent people.
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Quite true!
I think that when it comes to each of us individually, maybe we are not to resist evil. (Although Jesus sure made a stink in the temp-le when he threw everybody out, tippin over tables, etc.)
But when it comes to defending others against evil, our famolies, friends, countrymen, strangers even…I think we have an obligation to fight evil, showing love for those who can’t defend themselves.
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There is also a passage where Jesus tells the disciples to sell their cloakes and buy swords.
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I just think it’s a flawed idea to want to be part of a society that demands the world fears it, claims that its own method is the only way to establish a just society, and then refuses to give full rights to all of its citizens. It’s arrogant, and it’s contradictory, and it’s done nothing but destroy. And there shouldn’t be a distinction between what we do as individuals and what we do as a whole. Any distinction is hypocrisy.
And you know, justifying war by claiming that the intent is to destroy evil and oppression is so dangerous. It’s a terrible concept because it can be used for ANY gain or agenda. It’s exactly what bin Laden does.
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Well, he also said all who live by the sword will die by it.
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True!
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Also, the apostles tended to accept their persecution peacefully, without drawing weapons and fighting
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Yeah…but again, that was them personally. I seriously doubt they would have stood by and let innocent people get hurt or killed, without trying to make a defense for them.
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But again, why make that distinction? After all, the Gospel of Mark was written with the message that yes, you will suffer evil. The whole message of that book is that a person must suffer evil and harm.
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America can hardly be compared to the al Qaeda.
America is, and has been, the greatest force for good in the world in the history of the world.
We’re not perfect…but we have spilled more of our own blood protecting peple and trying to preserve or gain their freedom, and we have spent more of our treasure to this end than any other country ever has.
Look at what has happened to countries we have defeated in war. They are not controlled by the U.S. They are almost all free and very prosperous.
Anyway, thanks for the discussion, Drewby.
Gotta run. Off to work!
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Well, I would say Jesus was the greatest force for good in the history of the world, not America. And I’m sorry, that comparison can be made. Bin Laden wants to destroy America because he believes that it is an oppressive nation, and for a war in Islam to be just, it must be one waged against oppression and evil. We’re fighting our wars for the same reason…to defeat oppression and evil. That can not be denied. Our ideologies may be different, and it’s a subjective thing to say who is really the evil one, but it boils down to that principle, and that can’t be denied.
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While I disagree with much of what Drewby has said, I do think that far too many people have succombed to certain stereotypes. “Real” mean do thus-and-such. If a man does something different, they must be either very weird, gay, or both.
I hate making myself an example, but so be it. TV sports bores me to tears. I much prefer cats to dogs. I like watching Food Network and Masterpiece Theater. About the only thing that would qualify me as a “real man” is the fact that I am quite fond of Detroit musclecars, both classic and modern.
While John Wayne (as but one example) certainly had admirable traits, he was quite an exaggerated stereotype, IMHO. Stereotypes do not help us in any way.
For the record, I disagree with everything that Obama has done so far, for the exceptions of the Credit Card Reform Act and overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” concerning homosexuals in the military. Otherwise, the man is an utter disaster.
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Thank you, Chuck, for at least bringing the discussion back around to its original topic. “Real man” this and “man’s man” that are pathetically incompetent terms for describing masculinity. I agree…I’m a fan of Food Network (and HGN for that matter), and ESPN grates on me. I prefer poetry over chopping wood. Besides, certain traits that are typically attributed to “real men” should be, in my opinion, traits that ALL people (masculine, feminine, or whatever) should strive to possess.
You’re right..it does nobody any good to discuss someone’s merits by appealing to horrible stereotypes…which is why I bothered replying to this post in the first place. It’d be like insulting Bush by calling him a dumb cowboy. Saying Obama is weak because he isn’t a “man’s man” isn’t a single bit more justified.
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I completely concur Drewby. Stereotypes are every bit as adverse to conservatives as they are to liberals; it just depends upon the context.
I am reminded of the video of “Feed Jake” by Pirates of the Mississippi. At one point, there was a man walking into a general store who noticed another man. By many traditional stereotypes, that man would be considered a “man’s man.” But guess what? That character in that video was gay! Even though he had a pick-up truck with a gun rack in the back!
What’s the point? We get into serious trouble when we judge others by a certain set of stereotypes.
BTW, I much prefer poetry over chopping wood also.
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