Monday, May 15, 2006

Jeane Kirkpatrick - Correct Then, Correct Today

Interesting profile of Jeane Kirkpatrick in today's Washington Times. It is noteworthy that the "why do they hate us?" strain of Democratic foreign policy is nothing new. This is Kirkpatrick from 1984:
"When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies," Mrs. Kirkpatrick said of her party, which had just had its national convention in San Francisco. "They blame United States policies of 100 years ago. But then they always blame America first."
Replace "Marxist dictators" with "Islamist terrorists" and that "they always blame America first" statement still rings true.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick argued that America's "posture of continuous self-abasement and apology vis-a-vis the Third World is neither morally necessary nor politically appropriate" and concluded that the McGovern-Carter crowd had confused "liberal idealism ... with masochism."
Again - still true today. It should be noted that Jeane Kirkpatrick was a Democrat when she agreed to be Reagan's UN Ambassador in 1984 and that she was brought to Reagan's attention by Richard Allen (there's that name again).

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