I’d say “wow, what a dick” but then he’d go no, THIS is a dick
John Oliver is currently auctioning off LBJ’s balls!
It’s weird that I know about Johnson’s Johnson long before I became aware of all the legislation that passed while he was in office:
- Civil Rights Act
- Voting Rights Act
- Medicare/Medicaid
- Food Stamps (and other social programs)
- Immigration & Nationality Act
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Public Broadcasting Act (PBS/NPR)
- various education & environmental bills
That dick got a lot done…
And also started the war in Vietnam…
Kind of a complex legacy, but holy shit that’s a lot of good domestic work, ESPECIALLY for a single term president (plus the year following JFKs assassination).
Also a massive amount of infrastructure ranging from the Washington DC metro to the Detroit people mover.
Lyndon B. Johnson would’ve been one of the most beloved presidents of all time if he hadn’t spent the entire time investing similarly in the dumbest fucking war we’ve had as a country.
He didn’t start the war in Vietnam, he just ramped it up way more than Kennedy did. The US would have been a much better country if Johnson had focused on his great society platform instead of Vietnam.
Someone far more educated than me can correct me but I believe he was kind of politically wedged on Vietnam. He had to do it to sure up support domestically from my vague recollection. That isn’t to say he was correct or right to do it. Vietnam is a blight on LBJ’s record.
The oversimplified explanation is he had to appear tough on communism to avoid be criticized domestically amd abroad. He was a staunch anti-communist, worried that the US failing to shore up the South against the North would cause other “developing democracies” (Western friendly war lords and despots) to question American guarantees and look the the Soviet Union as a sponsor instead. The goal was to help South Vietnam reach a point where they could deal with the Viet Cong without much US assistance. But that was essentially an impossible task as every action to eliminate opposition further delegitamized the government in Saigon.
Morally it was absolutely the wrong play, and politically i would say it hindered his domestic ambitions as Vietnam quickly spiraled out of control under his administration. He was put between a rock and a hard place and had to answer for Truman and Eisenhower’s failed choice to support the French reoccupation of Indochina after WW2. The US had committed to the path in 1954 and LBJ’s memoirs indicate that, while he resented having to escalate in Vietnam, his ideology offered him no other choice. I don’t think that absolves him of the ocean of blood on his hands, but I am sympathetic to the impossible choice.
Civil Rights Act Voting Rights Act Medicare/Medicaid Food Stamps (and other social programs) Immigration & Nationality Act National Endowment for the Arts Public Broadcasting Act (PBS/NPR) various education & environmental bills
Folks, the way you carry yourself and behave to others matters. Everyone thinks of LBJ as a generic president, or ,as a crude man. All that legacy, people don’t pay attention to. Similar stuff will happen to Biden’s presidency, he was more progressive than people give him credit for, but his “ice cream, Jack” and gaffes , alongside Trump’s bullying are getting him put to the sidelines of history.
Also, among these lines, being an extraordinary gentlemen from an unexpected background and being sandwiched by two buffoons before and after his terms, does a lot for Obama’s image. He’s more middle of the road than he is perceived to be.
Idk I’ll always think of Johnson as the man who was able to sit his fellow southerners down and convince them that the n-words deserve rights. The way he presented himself was vital for it. The voting rights act relied on his ability to get racists to see him as a peer worthy of respect and his willingness to use that to advance the cause of civil rights.
Honestly I see Biden and Obama as actually having similar problems, they both failed at understanding modern politics. Obama went in and treated it like compromise and good faith was the key to success. As a result he compromised away everything he ran on and was really only able to be progressive with executive orders. Biden on the other hand is a shit performer who only won because of shadiness in the primaries and the country was fed up with trump. He didn’t understand how to appeal to the voter or crowds, and he also trusted the institutions too much (including not bringing the hammer down on the j6ers). They’ve done great pre Gingrich.
Agreed on the oddity of it. I definitely have known of the story about pissing on a secret service member’s leg (though the story said he was directly pissing on it, not that it was the ‘spray’) since I was a young kid. It made it into a trivia book I was reading.
while reading this, I almost said, “wow, what a dick,” before thinking that he might appear and start wagging it around, like bloody Mary, but worse.
it’s amazing how far wealth can get you in life
I already knew the fact about the car, before John Oliver programmed my brain to thinking of this, every time I see or hear about LBJ…
Relevant recording of a pants order. 1:55 - 2:35 is the highlight
Trump would say he’s All Man like he did with Arnold Palmer then proceed to gobble it down like a cuck on Thanksgiving.
he would also stand far too close to people, which only served to amplify his size.
This was completely intentional. One of LBJ’s many “persuasion” tactics that were collectively known as “the treatment”.
Man, I hate close talkers…
Way better prank than the one Trump’s pulling right now.
Which of Trump’s million current pranks are you referring to?
the one where he passes as president
Oh yeah. By the way, HOW HAS HE BEEN GETTING AWAY WITH THAT?!
He also drove America further into a war in the far east and yelled ‘THE BRAKES ARE OUT!!! WE CAN’T STOP!!!’
Only that time it was true
So this is an Amphicar, and I’ve seen a couple up close. There is some prep required before you go boating, things like pinning the doors closed, lowering the prop and clutching it in. There would have been some obvious signs to the passengers that they were about to go offroad. I’ve got a pic somewhere of the instruction plate for converting to boat mode.
So this seems untrue as written, I’m guessing it was just the normal shock of driving into water for the first time.
I’ve seen one go into a lake, not up close, and it seemed like it just needs to stop for a minute or two for that prep work. If you play it off as engine trouble your could probably make the necessary changes under that pretense and then surprise your passengers after it’s “fixed”
No this is the internet. Nothing whimsical ever happens
This is the internet where people make up stories and attach them to pictures and then other people share those fabricated stories for internet points and validation without fact checking all day every day
Also, it was the 60s. There’s a 100% chance that everyone in that vehicle was heroically drunk.
It was the 60s in Texas with LBJ, I can garuntee you that everyone was heroically drunk with the sole possible exception of LBJ himself.
I mean, it is an amphibious exploring vehicle. So, it should be fine, right?
i’m just looking for a nice starter car
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