Twofer! I was on C-SPAN and Honsberger Live

I managed to get a call in this morning to both C-SPAN's Wahington Journal and PCNC's Honsberger Live show regarding the Iraq/Vietnam election parallel mentioned below.

The gist of my calls was:

"I'd like to read a headline from the NY Times:

'U.S. Encouraged by Vote: Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Terror'

Now I've left two words out of that headline, it actually reads:

'U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote: Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror'

...and it's from 1967, just four months before the Tet Offensive.

If I'm permitted, I'd like to read two short sentences from the article itself as it has some parallels to yesterday's vote:

'United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.'

...and further down in the article:

'A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam.'

I certainly hope that history does not repeat itself this time."

I recounted my morning's 'work' at Daily KOS HERE.