Cleveland
From dKosopedia
Cleveland is a medium sized city in swing state Ohio. Located in Cuyahoga County, it has a total population of approximately 477,000, making it the 33rd largest city in the United States.
Bush at the City Club
The following exchange took place when Pres. George W. Bush spoke about the War in Iraq to the City Club of Cleveland at Renaissance Cleveland Hotel on March 20, 2006.
- Question: "Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome to Cleveland. It's an honor to have you here. I represent the Cleveland Hungarian Revolution 50th Anniversary --"
- Answer from Bush: "That's good. I was there, by the way."
- More from Questioner: "Thank you." (Laughter.)
- More from Bush: "At least for the celebration in Capitol -- with Tom Lantos. But go ahead."
- Question: "Mr. President, in the interest of free speech if you'll indulge me, I have to give a little context of my question. On this third anniversary of your -- I consider -- courageous initiative to bring freedom and basic human dignity to the Iraqi people, the image of the statue of the tyrant Saddam falling in Baghdad was very reminiscent of another statue, another tyrant, Josef Stalin, who fell in Budapest 50 years ago at the hands of many young Hungarian freedom fighters who were seeking to overthrow the tyranny of Soviet communism. Mr. President, just like our brave fighting men and women today, and many Iraqi people, those young Hungarian patriots paid a very heavy price for a few days of freedom. But they lit the torch that eventually set the captive nations on the path to achieving liberty. And so, Mr. President, our Cleveland Hungarian community is planning a major event in Cleveland in October -- (laughter) --"
- Answer from Bush: "The guy sees the moment, you know --" (laughter and applause.)
- More from Questioner: "Right."
- More from Bush "I'm not sure what I'm doing in October. Put me down as a maybe."
Bush didn't know that the 1956 Hungarian Uprising failed in the end because Eisenhower decided that Hungary wasn't worth an all out nuclear war. Was the questioner trying to draw an ironic anti-parallel between events in Budapest in 1956 and events in Baghdad in 2006?
![[Main Page]](../../../../upload/banner-blue-135.jpg)