Conservatives outraged over Abraham Lincoln bust in the Oval Office

[PoliticalTiger]

Mitt Romney, parroting another right-wing conspiracy theory:

Mitt Romney, speaking to a group of more than 200 supporters in hotel in the heart of London this evening, said he is “looking forward” to returning the bust of Winston Churchill to the White House after it was sent back to Great Britain by President Obama.

Wait, this bust?



That's Obama showing off the Churchill bust to British Prime Minister David Cameron ... INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.

So yeah, the bust was never "returned" to the UK. In fact, it was moved to the residence. In its place in the Oval Office, Obama placed a bust of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. Pretty sensible, right?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/27...val-Office

[Myra]

The ultimate conservative icon Winston Churchill — and he was proud of it.

Source: Churchill Weeps

As a lifelong conservative with a strong dedication to enterprise and merit, Churchill would have bristled at anyone who dared to describe him as a socialist. Why then did he promote and protect the NHS? Partly out of political expediency, no doubt, but also because he felt an ethical obligation that seems not to trouble the contemporary conservatives who profess to admire him. Churchill was renowned as a politician who put country and civilization above party. The government he led during World War II was a broad coalition of the British parties, from his own Conservatives to the democratic socialists of Labor. Midway through the war, Churchill’s government asked Sir William Beveridge, a Liberal Party social reformer and economist to study systems of social insurance that could reduce poverty, disease, unemployment and illiteracy in Britain.

In 1942, Beveridge issued an far-reaching report that proposed a national health service to provide medical care to every man, woman and child, regardless of means – much as the coalition government had done during the medical emergency brought on by the German bombings of their cities, hospitals and clinics.

Although Churchill endorsed the idea of a national health system, his party lost the first post-war general election in 1945, partly because British voters didn’t trust the Tories to implement the Beveridge report. Instead a Labor government established universal care under the NHS in 1948.

[Myra]

UK Conservative Party: 1945

*excerpt*

NATIONAL INSURANCE

National well-being is founded on good employment, good housing and good health. But there always remain those personal hazards of fortune, such as illness, accident or toss of a job, or industrial injury, which may leave the individual and his family unexpectedly in distress. In addition, old age, death and child-birth throw heavy burdens upon the family income.

One of our most important tasks will be to pass into law and bring into action as soon as we can a nation-wide and compulsory scheme of National Insurance based on the plan announced by the Government of all Parties in 1944.

In return for a single consolidated contribution there will be new and increased benefits, amongst which is to be an old age or retirement pension of 20/- for single people and 35/- for married couples. Family allowances are one part of the great scheme, and the arrangements made will ensure that men and women serving in the Forces and those disabled will benefit equally with other classes in the community.

The new Ministry of National Insurance has been set up to prepare, administer and control the whole of this great legislation. So massive and complex a task can only be discharged by a large and highly-trained staff, which has to be assembled and accommodated. The specialised experience of the Approved Societies will therefore be drawn upon, and their employees, especially those who have served at the front, must have due consideration.

The scheme will not justify itself to the public unless the service given to them in return for their contributions combines human understanding with efficiency. There must be no queuing up for sickness benefits by those who are entitled to them. The same standard of intimacy in personal relationships must be maintained as formerly.

HEALTH

The health services of the country will be made available to all citizens. Everyone will contribute to the cost, and no one will be denied the attention, the treatment or the appliances he requires because he cannot afford them.

We propose to create a comprehensive health service covering the whole range of medical treatment from the general practitioner to the specialist, and from the hospital to convalescence and rehabilitation; and to introduce legislation for this purpose in the new Parliament.

The success of the service will depend on the skill and initiative of doctors, dentists, nurses and other professional people, and in its designing and operation there will be full scope for all the guidance they can give. Wide play must be given to the preferences and enterprise of individuals. Nothing will be done to destroy the close personal relationship between doctor and patient, nor to restrict the patient’s free choice of doctor.

The whole service must be so designed that in each area its growth is helped and guided by the influence of a university. Through such a service the medical and allied professions will be enabled to serve the whole nation more effectively than they have yet been able to do. At the same time Medicine will be left free to develop along its own lines, and to achieve preventive as well as curative triumphs. Liberty is an essential condition of scientific progress.

The voluntary hospitals which have led the way in the development of hospital technique will remain free. They will play their part in the new service in friendly partnership with local authority hospitals.

Motherhood must be our special care. There must be a large increase of maternity beds and convalescent homes, and they must be provided in the right places. Mothers must be relieved of onerous duties which at such times so easily cause lasting injury to their health. The National Insurance Scheme will make financial provision for these needs. All proper arrangements, both voluntary and State-aided, must be made for the care of other young children in the family, in order that the energies of the male breadwinner or the kindness of neighbours and relations, which nevertheless must be the mainspring, should not be unduly burdened. Nursery schools and nurseries such as have grown up during the war should be encouraged. On the birth, the proper feeding and the healthy upbringing of a substantially increased number of children, depends the life of Britain and her enduring glory.

http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/con45.htm

[Myra]

Celebrating universal healthcare in the Olympic opening ceremony.

[Treestar]

They make issues of the most ridiculous things. Who worries about Oval Office decoration? Only right wingers with nothing better to criticize.

That we are offending the British in some way is a repeated theme of right wingers. They whined a lot when Obama made them a gift of movies.

Meanwhile the British themselves like Obama.

[jaxx]

The original Churchill bust was returned to the UK, it was on loan to GWB for the duration of his presidency and to be returned at the end of it. The one in the pic is a copy that belongs to the WH.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/british-e...d-in-2009/

As usual, much to-do about nothing. It's what the wingers thrive on, making up a conspiracy. Churchill would slap the shit out of them for wasting his time.

[Treestar]

(07-28-2012 08:59 AM)jaxx Wrote:  The original Churchill bust was returned to the UK, it was on loan to GWB for the duration of his presidency and to be returned at the end of it. The one in the pic is a copy that belongs to the WH.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/british-e...d-in-2009/

As usual, much to-do about nothing. It's what the wingers thrive on, making up a conspiracy. Churchill would slap the shit out of them for wasting his time.

good grief, then they really have made this one up.