Saturday, August 20, 2011

As Promised, The Answer

Cross posted at B2L2

For those of you who read my last experimental post, and apparently many of you did despite its length if SiteMeter is right (I rarely check it but did for this one), I applaud your patience and curiousity.

I had posted a rather long, albeit edited speech and challenged readers to tell me who they thought had written those words. Interestingly, there were only two actual guesses in the comments section. Most guesses came via email or text message. Not sure why that was the case.

The guesses were good, with one really great joke guess thrown in: Kennedy (both John and Robert were represented), Jimmy Carter, FDR (evidently someone missed a reference to 1947 which would put old Franklin out of the running), Lyndon Johnson (a really good guess actually) and Martin Luther King. Good guesses all. The great joke guess was Ann Coulter which came in as I was writing this.

The answer: Dwight Eisenhower, from a speech called the Peace Speech delivered in the Spring of 1953 before I was born. Eisenhower: President, Republican and Five Star General. (For those who didn't read the post, it's not the military industrial complex speech, although that's a good read as well.)

All the empty brackets had originally been predominantly filled with the word Soviet. The paragraphs removed were about the post-War Soviet threat and the impending Cold War. What struck me was how many of those brackets could now have been filled with The United States. (Not to worry, I have a large piece of plexiglass to keep any rotten vegetables thrown my way from getting in my hair.)

A Republican Military President wrote those words. So for those who may not have had the patience to read them, try them over coffee this morning. You might be surprised by what you read. I have no doubt that ALL the current GOP candidates would be.

BTW, thanks for the guesses. I knew it was a long piece when I wrote it but am grateful that some of you actually took the time to read it and respond. Many thanks for that.

Oh yeah, forgot. One friend got it right within an hour of my posting it. Amazing. But only that one.

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