BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 18 May 04 - 09:31 AM

Zero.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 May 04 - 09:04 AM

The Quality that she is now Out Of Power...

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: el ted
Date: 18 May 04 - 08:59 AM

Well said Ed. This country was going down the pan thanks to the Unions. The winter of discontent was a low point for England. Somebody had to stand up to those tossers at the TUC.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 May 04 - 12:01 AM

I was sort of tickled to see the Junta get clobbered too...and yet I felt a certain sympathy for the Argentinian jet pilots who fought with tremendous courage, took great losses, and might have won the day had not so many of their bombs failed to detonate when hitting the British vessels! At the time I was quite pro-British. In retrospect, I feel great empathy for the fighting men on both sides of that one. The Junta was using the conflict to bolster up its domestic popularity...but miscalculated totally. They should've known better than to take on Maggie Thatcher's government. She was born for a moment like that one.

The British, by the way, came within a whisker of losing that war. It could have gone either way. They had two potentially vulnerable small aircraft carriers standing between them and defeat, and those ships could easily have been crippled or sunk, had the Argies had a little more good luck with their exocet missiles...to say nothing of non-exploding old bombs hitting several other important ships.

It was a question of very high risk to both sides. The Argentinians lost out when the dice were tossed.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Peace
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:17 PM

I notice that no one has mentioned the Falklands. I like that she sent in the SAS to scout, elements of the navy to secure the ocean around the islands, troops to take the islands,and I definitely like that she kicked the asses of a junta that was horribly vicious to its own people. And no, I don't want to get into the history lesson of who really 'owns' the Falklands (if you're British) or Malvinas (if your heart belongs to those filthy bastards who were in power in Argentina at the time), pardon me. Yep. That's my comment. Let the shit begin to fly.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Once Famous
Date: 17 May 04 - 09:47 PM

Did she shave her legs and armpits?

Or was she smelly?

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 17 May 04 - 07:05 PM

She was focused, she stuck to her guns, she did not wobble, and I just loved the way she hand bagged the European leaders at the time.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Jim McCallan
Date: 17 May 04 - 06:59 PM

What qualities?
Only one, in my opinion.

She taught me that one should never, under any circumstances, be inclined to use a sledgehammer to strike a nail.

Jim

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Ed.
Date: 17 May 04 - 06:20 PM

Come on, McGrath!

The 'winter of discontent' was a bit more than some strikes, true enough. I don't know where you were living, but around here it was rats in the street because the rubbish hadn't been moved for a month, and wondering if the electricity would stay on long enough to cook the dinner.

Extremist Union leaders, tried to use their membership to advance their own causes. No secret ballots then!

Do you honestly think that the country would be a better place if Scargill had 'won' the miners strike?

Don't get me wrong, I'm no Thatcher fan. But credit where it is due.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Once Famous
Date: 17 May 04 - 06:12 PM

I understand that she was perfect in her use of feminine hygiene products.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 May 04 - 05:11 PM

Thatcher? that depends how you reed her - a bit of roof

She was a good advert for voice coaches - though a pretty sorry ad for voice coaching.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,woko
Date: 17 May 04 - 04:55 PM

She'll have one when the fucker dies of a painfully long illness of liver cancer the cunt!

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 May 04 - 04:50 PM

Guest - I am even more surprised that you are surprised! :-) Have we met? Listen, if you can help...I am desperately seeking an inflatable doll of Hillary Clinton and cannot find one anywhere. I am willing to pay...anything. Well, almost anything. But it has to really look like Hillary, understand? No cheap K-Mart substitutes.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 04 - 04:27 PM

Hitler was a vegetarian. Probably the first vegetarian to become head of a European country. That's no reason for vegetarians to rejoice.

No she wasn't at all like Hitler, apart from this belief that she was always right, which is a quality which most successful politicians have. Her father, whom she revered, admired Hitler, I read, and had a bust of him in his study while she was growing up. She can't be blamed for that, but maybe it's an indication of the influences on her in her formative years.

"English Patriot" cited the way she sat out the hunger strikers in Northern Ireland as an indication of what a great leader she was. Without that "great leadership" I believe the Peace Process could have started a lot earlier, and the war in Northern Ireland could have ended a long time sooner, in the same kind of way it eventually did (touch wood).

And as for "...the state of the country in the late '70s was pretty grim." Well, I remember it as quite a good time - far better than it became for the next 20 years or so. Some strikes, true enough, which resulted in a small fraction of the disruption and waste and squalor caused by the way industries were butchered in a doctrinaire way over the Thatcher years.

Thatcher's approach to reform reminded me of Charles Lamb's "Dissertation on Roast Pig" in which he explained how roast pork was invented - a child accidentally set fire to a house with a pig inside, and the villagers poking around in the embers discovered a new delicacy. This eventually led to a rash of house fires. The moral of the story being when you do not understand how the pig gets cooked, you have to burn a whole house down every time you want a roast pork dinner.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Larry K
Date: 17 May 04 - 03:59 PM

A woman became the head of one of the most important countries in the world.   Maybe the most successful woman in the history of the planet.   And most of you can't find anything positive about that.   She must have had some qualties that caused people in Great Britain to voite for her. As I recall she was in office for quite a few years. Shame on all of you who couldn't find any qaulities.

I have to comment about all the Hitler comparisons.    To quote Ronald Regan "there you go again".   Whenever a liberal has to describe any person they disagree with, they compare them to Hitler.   The comparison has lost all validity- kind of like crying wolf.    The comparison adds nothing to the argument.   It just says the person making it has no intelligent argument to make and must resort to name calling.   It basically puts you on the level of a 5 year old- but that may be too generous.

Do any of you understand how degrading that is to a holocaust surviver to the family of a halocaust surviver.   Do any of you undrstand the devastation of the Jewish population in Europe- 3 million jews were killed alone in Poland not to mention the scientific experiments performed.    When you compre Bush, Chaney, Rumsfield, Regan, Limbaugh, Hannity, Thatcher, Guliani, Gingrich, Lott, Savage, Ridge, Ashcroft, and many others to Hitler, how can anyone take you seriously.   Note that conservatives rarely if ever call liberals Hitler.   Oh my God- its raining today.   Must be a right wing conspiracy those Nazi bastards.

And you wonder why you have lost the house, senate, goverships, and presidency.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 17 May 04 - 03:48 PM

I think that comparing Thatcher to Hitler is rather stupid.

Not a 'quality' but I think that her greatest achievement was curbing the power of the more militant union leaders. I doubt many here will agree, but the state of the country in the late '70s was pretty grim.

Ed

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,surprised
Date: 17 May 04 - 03:35 PM

Little Hawk; I am surprised that you bought a FEMALE inflatable doll!

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Dead Horse
Date: 17 May 04 - 03:26 PM

She had the same admirable qualities as Hitler......

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 04 - 01:40 PM

I suppose one good thing is that, any time people are going on about how women are not as capable of being vicious bastards as men are, and how they are more geared to a cooperative approach to getting things done, you can quote the case of Thatcher, to bring a touch of reality to the discussion.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: michaelr
Date: 17 May 04 - 01:36 PM

"I freely admit, I admire the way she refused to bend to the demands of the H Block protesters. Even the death of Bobby Sands did not move her."

Boy, if that's not trolling, I don't know what is.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Peter T.
Date: 17 May 04 - 12:51 PM

I despise her, but when you look at all the hideous men in British politics at the time (especially the Tories), she was a woman on her own, and beat them at their own game. I can only shudder at the memory of all those dreadful men.

Everything else about her was monstrous.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 May 04 - 12:32 PM

Awright...she had grit, and was tough and determined. This can be good or this can be bad...depends on the situation. Saddam Hussein had those qualities too, and so did Andrew Jackson and Winston Churchill.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 04 - 12:25 PM

The great thing is, she's gone.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:50 AM

I wish everyone would stick to the subject of the thread. I don't care what everyone thinks generally of Mrs Thatcher.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: mooman
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:46 AM

Margaret Thatcher makes the following great anagram...

Grrr! A hatchet, mate!

Can't think of anything else at the moment...

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:46 AM

Oh come on Mrs Duck, as much as I diskiked Mrs Thatcher, I would not put her in the same company as Pol Pot and Hitler. She took a determined stand on so many issues that even if one disagreed with her most of the time, there was usually one issue on which people agreed. What this issue was varies from person to person.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: el ted
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:40 AM

Mrs T. was the right leader at the right time. Gawd bless her.

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:21 AM

I admire her in the same way as I admire Hitler for his humanitarianism, Pol Pot for his land filling schemes, Ayotollah Komeini for his religious tolerance - shall I go on?

Subject: RE: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:09 AM

She looked marvelous as an inflatable doll...all craggy and nasty and basilisk-eyed. The day she exploded was a deeply tragic one for me, and I have been quite unable to find another since the product appears to have been discontinued.

Subject: BS: What qualities in Thatcher do you admire
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 17 May 04 - 10:56 AM

A lot of people in Mudcat do not like Margaret Thatcher and I include myself in this group. However, even if you do not like her, is there one quality in Mrs Thatcher that you admire. Maybe you admire the way she challenged the prevailing concesus on so many issues? Maybe you admirred her stand on Europe?

I freely admit, I admire the way she refused to bend to the demands of the H Block protesters. Even the death of Bobby Sands did not move her. She had a principal and would not budge to blackmail. That took real courage.

What about everyone else?