Tuesday, July 24, 2007
If General George Patton were alive today...
13 Comments:
By 
Buce, at
Mon Jul 23, 11:01:00 PM:
If Patton were alive today, he'd be complaining about VA health care.
If George C. Scott were alive today, he might make a speech like this one.
By antithaca, at
Mon Jul 23, 11:06:00 PM:
ha ha, I just read the original text of this the other day. can't remember what led me there...
I think it's equally stirring in its unedited form. "Americans despise a loser"...and a picture of Harry Reid flashes before my eyes...
I love Patton. But he scares me. Which was his intent, I think.
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Jul 24, 12:23:00 AM:
Patton was reincarnated.
He commands in Iraq today under the name of Petraeus. He's less bombastic and more refined in these politically correct days, but still has all the desirable attributes of the Scorpio that he was...and indeed remained a Scorpio this time around.
By 
, at
Tue Jul 24, 12:53:00 AM:
He would,nt at all care for the antimilitary crap being taught at our schools,collages and universities,he would,nt at all care for the washing DISTRICT of CRINIMALS he would want SAN FRANCISCO wipped off the map of america and U.C. BERKELEY destroyed and U.C. SANTA CRUZ as well and he would want TED KENNEDY and BILL CLINTON tried for treason and he sure would,nt care for the liberals shutting down military training over some stupid bug. But he probibly would like those military trained dolphins and seals
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jul 24, 01:17:00 AM:
I have a picture of Patton talking a leak in the Rhine.
I look forward to seeing Petraeus do the same in the Tigris.
I'm a Scorpio, too (Petraeus, Nov 7; Me, Nov 9; Patton, Nov 11).
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jul 24, 01:34:00 AM:
P.S. Patton fans who want a photo somewhat like mine can find it here:
http://www.sportslegendsphotos.com/proddetail.php?prod=GeorgePattonBW
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Jul 24, 11:40:00 AM:
Nov 13th for me. Scorpio's rock.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Tue Jul 24, 07:50:00 PM:
Actually, George C Scott went over the top because he wanted to show people what a dick Patton was. He said (before he died) that the more accurate portrayal of the US military was his role as "General Buck Turgidson [don't you love that name?]" in Dr. Strangelove...
Wow. the strange intersections of myth and reality in the minds of right wingers. Next time put a REAL photo of Patton on up.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jul 24, 09:30:00 PM:
This comment has been removed by the author.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jul 24, 09:48:00 PM:
I will bow to your expertise on the combination of "myth and reality," Mr. Chambers.
An author should always reach for the highest obtainable truth. Unfortunately, you are often about 10 rungs down the ladder from it.
You can do better. Any hack can be a propagandist.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jul 24, 10:02:00 PM:
P.S.
"He said (before he died) that..."
Obviously he said it before he died. Corpses don't talk.
By , at
Wed Jul 25, 12:56:00 AM:
He would punch MICHEAL MOORES,GEORGE CLOONEYS and JOHNNY DEPPS lights out
By , at
Wed Jul 25, 09:25:00 AM:
"..the movie "Patton", (with) George C. Scott as General George S. Patton. Rod Steiger was offered the role, but turned it down, saying that he did not want to glorify war. After viewing the completed film, he said that refusing the role was the biggest mistake of his career." from Wikipedia
If you want to know more about George S. Patton, read Ladislas Farago's "Ordeal and Triumph", upon which the movie was loosely based.
Also "War As I Knew It", which was compiled from Patton's diaries, posthumously. You can also read "A Soldier's Story", the autobiography of Omar N. Bradley, which at times touchs on Patton.
Bradley and Patton were not quite as chummy as they appeared in the movie. Patton was bombastic and theatrical at times, and Bradley thought his staff work at 7th Army (Sicily) was poor; Bradley was a bit of cold fish.
The movie itself was of course, a movie. Some things were exagerated, some things were actually toned down. The speech at the beginning of the movie was actually extracted from a real speech Patton gave prior to D-Day (you can find it online), and was toned down quite a bit from the actual words of Patton.
Patton was a professional soldier, and tried to stay clear of politics, but also had a big mouth, and said things that were quite impolitic (un-PC in todays lingo).
In today's atmosphere, Patton would not give a speech like the one shown on the video above; he was at times brash, not stupid. Besides, if he were alive today he would be over 120 years old (!).
Petraeous is more like Bradley than Patton, by the way (but with more personality).
-David
