corrente

Granted, Bush's Memorial Day speech wasn't the weird travesty that His D-Day speech was—but still..

Here's the Eisenhower quote in context:

At a distance, their headstones look alike. Yet every son or daughter, mom or dad who visits will always look first at one. General Eisenhower put it well in 1944, when he wrote his wife, Mamie, about "the homes that must sacrifice their best." The families who come here have sacrificed someone precious and irreplaceable in their lives -- and our nation will always honor them.
(via Whited Sepulchre Housetranscript)

Standard issue Bush bathos and fakery, you think? No. Here's the whole quote from Eisenhower; I've crossed out the parts that Bush left out, for vividness:

How I wish this cruel business of war could be completed quickly. Entirely aside from longing to return to you it is a terribly sad business to total up the casualties each day even in an air war and to realize how many youngsters are gone forever. A man must develop a veneer of callousness that lets him consider such things dispassionately; but he can never escape a recognition of the fact that back home the news brings anguish and suffering to families all over the country. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives and friends must have a difficult time preserving any comforting philosophy and retaining any belief in the eternal rightness of things. War demands real toughness of fiber-not only in the soldiers that must endure, but in the homes that must sacrifice their best.
(via Women of Wars)

Funny how Bush left out the arithmetic part ("total up the casualties"), the empathatic part ("the news brings anguish"), the longing for peace ("this cruel business"), and the challenge to faith ("a difficult time preserving any comforting philosophy.")

Or not funny.

The savage irony is that the Army public relations office has a 2001 boilerplate speech that uses the Eisenhower quote. Let's see what they left in, as opposed to what Bush left out. Here are some excerpts from that script:

May 1, 2001
"Standing in the Shadow of Greatness"

(Opening amenities; speaker acknowledges and addresses specific audience)

[HISTORIC BACKGROUND] ...

[MAIN BODY] ...

A few weeks before the Normandy landing, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, wrote home to his wife reflecting on the great losses he had witnessed during the war. He wrote, "It is a terribly sad business to total up the casualties each day ... and to realize how many youngsters are gone forever. A man must develop a veneer of callousness that lets him consider such things dispassionately, but he can never escape a recognition of the fact that back home the news brings anguish and suffering to families all over the country. War demands real toughness of fiber, not only in the soldiers who must endure, but in the homes that must sacrifice their best."

[END OF SPEECH]

Contributing writer: Tom Vance

THE SPECIAL EVENTS SPEECH SERIES, a command information product of Army Public Affairs, consists of prepared speeches for holidays and events of special interest to Army audiences and the general public. Regular speeches in this series cover Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Army Birthday/Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.

We encourage speakers to adapt these speeches as needed for local and timely use.

(via Army Public Affairs)

Well, I see the Army managed to leave out Eisenhower's longing for peace ("this cruel business"), and the challenge to faith ("a difficult time preserving any comforting philosophy.

But they left in Eisenhower's arithmetic, and they left in Eisehower's empathy.

Funny how Bush left the empathy and the arithmetic out. I wonder why?

UPDATE A tip of the Ol' Corrente Hat to alert reader Will Kirkland for fixing a massive typo.