Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Day


President Bush's comments at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day:
Today, we gather to honor those who gave everything to preserve our way of life. The men and women we honor here served for liberty. They sacrificed for liberty. And in countless acts of courage, they died for liberty. From faraway lands, they were returned to cemeteries like this one, where broken hearts received their broken bodies -- they found peace beneath the white headstones in the land they fought to defend...

It is a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom that the number of headstones in a place such as this grows with every new Memorial Day. In a world where freedom is constantly under attack and in a world where our security is challenged, the joys of liberty are often purchased by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than themselves. Today we mourn and remember all who have given their lives in the line of duty. Today we lift up our hearts especially those who've fallen in the past year...

I am humbled by those who have made the ultimate sacrifice that allow a free civilization to endure and flourish. It only remains for us, the heirs of their legacy, to have the courage and the character to follow their lead, to preserve America as the greatest nation on Earth, and the last, best hope for mankind.


And Senator Obama's comments:

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

I had an uncle who was ... part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps.

Um, someone should tell him what we mean by "fallen heroes." Also, while Obama's uncle did serve in World War II, he did so for the United States, not the Russians who liberated Auschwitz.

4 comments:

Rudi said...

"last and best hope for mankind"?!?

Wrong- that's Jesus. I liked everything else that Pres. Bush had to say, but that line is way off.

Unknown said...

good call. Bush regularly confuses freedom, as in democracy, with Freedom, as in Salvation.

Jon Vander Plas said...

I see what you're saying, but what Bush is trying to say is that this country is the last and best hope for mankind in terms of freedom.

And democracy does not equal freedom. People in a democracy can and do use their vote to limit freedom. That's why we have a constitution - to protect our freedoms from a democratically elected government. My biggest frustration with the left is how they've betrayed us by rejecting the US Constitution.

Unknown said...

the left has rejected the US Constitution? Check out this link for articles about how Bush's actions have been called into question by various legal scholars between 2001-2005.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush_administration_vs._the_U.S._Constitution