Mort Kondracke Quotes


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Prior to whites settling in America, various Indian tribes had a long history of fierce fighting for control of Kentucky. The Transylvania Land company negotiated for the “rights” to Kentucky. Dragging Canoe, who opposed the treaty, argued that the land had a bad history and would be very difficult to settle. Poet Theodore O’Hara described Kentuckians as “Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground” in his poem, The Bivouac of the Dead.


John Mason led a force of 90 Pilgrims and 70 Mohegan Allies quietly surrounded the Pequot village at Mystic. Then they fired their guns into the village and charged the Pequot houses, setting them on fire and killing all those who tried to escape. Over 400 Pequot were killed. The Mohegan allies were so shocked at the carnage that they shouted, “Stop! Stop! It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men.” Prior to the massacre of Mystic Village, there had been many battles and villages destroyed, but this marked the first time that entire populations of men, women and children were exterminated in the English Colonization. After Mystic village both whites and Indians participated in terrible massacres inflicted on each other. This was not the first massacre in America as the Spanish in the South and West commonly used the tactic.


The Philippine-American War was terribly brutal. In response to insurgent atrocities against American soldiers, some of the Americans also adopted brutal tactics including torture and mutilation. Washington had heard stories of this improper behavior in the part of some American troops and instructed the senior officers to investigate and discipline the men if the reports were true. Unfortunately some of the senior officers covered up the illegal and criminal behavior of some Americans. This quotation was taken from a New York Times report on a representative of the Red Cross who went to the Philippines at the invitation of the insurgents. He generally found serious atrocities by some of the soldiers on both sides but by no means all of the combatants. General Otis, the U. S. Commander tried to keep Blake out, and had him detained away from the battle areas for some weeks where he was “educated” about the enemy atrocities. Finally Blake got to the field and reached the insurgent commander who had invited him. His report generally praised the American troops, but spared no details when there were guilty of atrocities.


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  • Born: April 28, 1939
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Contributing Writer – Roll Call

Morton Matt Kondracke is an American political commentator and journalist. He became well known due to a long stint as a panelist on The McLaughlin Group. Kondracke worked for several major publications, serving for twenty years as executive editor and columnist for the non-partisan Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. He was also co-host of The Beltway Boys of Fox News Channel and was a regular nightly contributor to Special Report with Brit Hume and Special Report with Bret Baier.