Presidents Day 2014 … Great Presidents & Great Speeches (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Reagan), And Other Presidents & How History Will Remember Them

Never has America needed a president more who was a true leader and statesman who cared more about the United States of America and “We the People” than they do about themselves, their own power and their agenda. How far have we come from a first president who feared the impression that he would have the appearance of a king and had to be talked into a second term. George Washington left office on his own after two terms, there was no legislation that told him to do so. Compare that to today’s power grabs by presidents and their purposeful and willful ignoring of the US Constitution.

Please America, you have one more chance to get it right in 2016 and follow the path of the great presidents of our past and what America was intended to be.

1. President George Washington – George Washington Speech – First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years–a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. (more)

Also read Washington’s Farewell Address, September 17, 1796.

2. President Ronald W. Reagan – ‘Tear Down This Wall’ speech from  June 12, 1987 in West Berlin, Germany at the base of the Brandenburg Gate.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent– and I pledge to you my country’s efforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.

Government is not the solution, Government is the problem

There are just so many great and historic moments from the Reagan years, go HERE to watch and listen to many of them from the space shuttle Challenger tragedy to his Evil Empire speech.

3. President Abraham Lincoln – Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19. 1863

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate— we can not consecrate—we can not hallow— this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion— that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of free- dom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

4. President John F. Kennedy – “I am a Berliner – Ich Bin Ein Berliner” … read Text HERE.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe.

When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner”.

Ask Not What your Country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your Country

And then we have those presidents who no matter what they had and have said during their terms in office will forever be known for the following comments and speeches. One inspirational and two, not so much.

President George W. Bush -Bull Horn speech at Ground Zero following 911 terror attack ... “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

President Bill Clinton -  I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Could also have used, “it all depends on what is, is”.

President Barack Obama – “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, period! If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan, period!”

Whack Job Benjamin Smith Arrested for Threatening to Kill George W. Bush … “I have to slay a dragon and Barbara Bush is mine”

44 year old Benjamin Smith was arrested Friday after threatening to kill former President George W. Bush. Smith was arrested in Manhattan, NY sitting in his car with a loaded .38-caliber rifle, two boxes of ammunition, a container of gasoline and a machete. According to the complaint, Benjamin Smith, a resident of upstate New York, threatened to “kill, kidnap and inflict bodily harm” on Bush. Smith professed a love interest in Barbara Bush, one of the Bush 43′s twin daughters, according to the complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

A New York man sitting in a car armed with a rifle, a container of gasoline and a machete was arrested Friday after allegedly threatening to kill former President George W. Bush, according to a federal court complaint.

Benjamin Smith, 44, threatened to “kill, kidnap and inflict bodily harm” on Mr. Bush, and he professed a love interest in one of the former president’s twin daughters, Barbara, the complaint said, CNN reported.

“Bush will get his,” Smith allegedly screamed as he was taken into custody. When asked about his marital status, Smith said, “I’m divorced and not currently seeing anyone, but I am working on a relationship with Barbara Bush,” according to the complaint.

Secret Service agents found Smith on Friday morning sitting in his car in Manhattan with a loaded .38-caliber rifle, two boxes of ammunition, a container of gasoline and a machete, CNN said.

From ABC News:

 ”I’m going to work for George W. Bush and the pentagon,” Smith allegedly wrote. “I have to slay a dragon and Barbara Bush is mine.”

Smith’s mother also told police that a rifle was missing from the house.

Secret Service agents were able to track Smith’s cell phone to a Midtown street in Manhattan on Friday, where he was taken into custody around 6 a.m.

During questioning Smith appeared to be fixated on the daughter of George W. Bush, according to the complaint.

When he was asked about his marital status, he responded, “I am divorced and not currently seeing anyone but I am working on a relationship with Barbara Bush.”

Daily Commentary – Friday, November 22, 2013 – Did You See George W. Bush on Jay Leno?

• The former president looked good, relaxed and he’s not a bad artist!

UPDATE I: Check out the VIDEO below of what Dana is referencing in his daily commentary. Leno brought up GWB’s recent health scare. Laura Bush responded that she was scared; however, W said that he was not. Leno then hit him with the money line and asked, “You got Obamacare?” and the audience erupted in laughter. The best part is that W and J actually got a good, honest chuckle out of it. GWB had some interesting things to say about dealing with the tough times.

12 Years Later … September 11, 2001, Have You Forgotten? We Will Always Remember Those We Lost, The Heroes and the Evil that Attacked Us

12 years later, in some ways it feels just like 12 hours ago and sometimes just 12 minutes ago. God Bless those who lost their lives that terrible day and a special prayer to the families of those who lost so very much and have overcome.

Have you forgotten that fateful September morning? In many ways it seems that many have. That is until we are attacked again, like in Benghazi, Libya last September 11, 2012. A terror attacked passed off as being blamed on a anti- Islamic video tape by our government and one year later “We the People” have no answers or individuals in custody. But today is meant to honor the memories of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and the heroes that inspired a nation. It has been 12 years to the day of that fateful September morning in 2001 where in an instant our lives and world changed forever. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in NYC at the World Trade Center, in Washington, DC as flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon and in a field in Shanksville, PA where heroes aboard Flight 93 took matters into their hands and said “NO to terrorism”. DO YOU REMEMBER?

We saw pure evil and we saw the best of people. The heroism of those who responded to the terrible terrorist and cowardice acts will never be forgotten as well. Fireman, police, paramedics and first responders running into buildings to help their fellow man, perishing in their efforts. Folks, do not ever forget that feeling you had that day. Do not ever get complacent, do not ever let political correctness make you feel guilty for your actual feelings. For if we forget history and what took place, we are destine to repeat it.

Sorry, love him or hate him, we all owe President George W. Bush for his leadership in the aftermath of 9-11. This is what presidential leadership looks like and thank God we had him to help a nation through the pain and anguish in the days, months and years after. Below is GWB’s iconic bullhorn speech in NYC at Ground Hero … “I can hear you …”

First Plane hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center

Second Plane Hits North Tower of World Trade Center

Tower Two collapses

North Tower Collapse

Remember When Joe Biden Said in 2007 that George W. Bush Should Be Impeached for What Barack Obama is About to Do?

Oh the hypocrisy from the LEFT …

Remember when Senator Joe Biden wanted Bush impeached for the very thing that Barack Obama is about to do? So what is different, oh it’s Barack Obama. So what is the difference? Oh that’s right, the current president is not a Republican.  So if Obama attacks Syria without Congressional approval, will Biden be the first to file articles of impeachment against Barack Obama?

In 2007, Senator Joe Biden repeatedly threatened to lead an effort to impeach President George W. Bush in the House should he attack Iran without congressional authorization. Senator Obama agreed that Bush did not have the power to order a strike on Iran. This was not mindless, partisan saber rattling: Vice President Dick Cheney and the neoconservative establishment were actively pushing Bush to take military action against Iran.

On Hardball, Biden emphatically and passionately told Chris Matthews that Bush had “no constitutional authority … to take this nation to war against a county of 70 million people unless we’re attacked or unless there is proof we are about to be attacked. And if he does, if he does, I would move to impeach him.” Biden was absolutely correct to point out the illegality of Bush’s intentions and threaten him with impeachment.

From The Atlantic:

It turns out that his Democratic primary opponent and eventual running mate, then-Senator Joe Biden, had even stronger views about presidents attacking other nations without Congress’s permission:

Chris Matthews: You said that if the United States had launched at attack on Iran without Congressional approval, that would’ve been an impeachable offense. Do you want to review that comment you made?

Joe Biden: Absolutely. I want to stand by that comment I made. The reason I made the comment was as a warning. I don’t say those things lightly, Chris. you’ve known me for a long time. I was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee for 17 years. I teach separation of powers in Constitutional law. This is something I know. So I brought a group of Constitutional scholars together to write a piece that I’m going to deliver to the whole United States Senate pointing out that the president HAS NO CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY to take this country to war against a country of 70 million people unless we’re attacked or unless there is proof that we are about to be attacked. And if he does, I would move to impeach him. The House obviously has to do that, but I would lead an effort to impeach him. The reason for my doing that — and I don’t say it lightly, I don’t say it lightly.

This is a striking statement.

What a joke, GWB’s three biggest critics when it came to his foreign policy were Sens. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and John Kerry. Now suddenly they are all hawks!