Donaldson & Plante Credit Reagan with Hastening End of Communism

Media Research Center ^ | Brent Baker

[FlyLow]

Time heals old animosities? Thursday night’s Hardball on MSNBC marked Ronald Reagan’s 93rd birthday with a look at his legacy. ABC’s Sam Donaldson declared: “I think he deserves credit for accelerating the fall of communism.” And CBS’s Bill Plante agreed: “What he did absolutely hastened the end of the Cold War.”

The MRC’s Brad Wilmouth and Geoffrey Dickens both caught the admissions by the two network correspondents who covered the Reagan White House.

The exchange, on the February 5 show, with host Chris Matthews:

Matthews: “Is it your belief, Sam, as a straight reporter, an observer, do you think Ronald Reagan deserves credit for ending or winning the Cold War as a goal, as an accomplishment that he foresaw and achieved?” Donaldson: “I think he deserves credit for accelerating the fall of communism. I always agreed with his idea that communism would eventually be on the ash heap of history. However, by accelerating the arms race, he put the Soviet Union in an impossible position. They couldn’t keep up economically. They couldn’t do it. Why did Gorbachev want to reduce weapons so much at Reykjavik? Because he knew he couldn’t keep up. So I think he gets credit, the President does, for accelerating the fall of communism, yes.” Matthews: “Bill, is that your assessment?” Plante: “Absolutely. He may not have understood that the Soviets were as far behind as they actually were because our own intelligence services didn’t.” Matthews: “Another problem with CIA, right?” Plante: “Nonetheless, what he did absolutely hastened the end of the Cold War.”

Nice to hear some of the media establishment coming around.

[Former Proud Canadian]

About time.

[ClearCase_guy]

It's taken 15 years to get that far. Come back in another 15 years, and Reagan might be a hero in public school textbooks. Or maybe not. For myself, I say the Left is on the way out and figures like Reagan will get the credit they deserve.

[Snake65]

Communism was a growth industry when Reagan took office. "Hastening the fall" my foot, he turned the tide.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

It reads better than it sounded... Chris did this line of questioning with great skepticism and reluctance. Notice Sam Donaldson's use of "hastened" or "accelerated" -- as if winning the Cold War was inevitable.

The best response I ever saw to Reagan's accomplishment came from one of his top security guys who said "I always expected the Soviet Union to fall... I just never expected it in our lifetime." As Maggie T. said "Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot."

Best there ever was... Best there ever will be...

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

There are more communists now, than there ever was.

[billb]

Foxtrot Alpha

[Eric in the Ozarks]

And the sniveling Jimmah Cahtah was willing to roll over for them. 49 states drop-kicked the peanut man. Never forget that.

[EAGLE7]

Did it snow in hell?

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Sometimes even monkeys fly.

[job]

Katrina Van de Heuval, editor of the Nation, could not acknowledge or credit that Reagan had anything to do with the end of the Cold War. Who did she credit? Gorbachev. He was the one who caused the fall of communism.

It made me sick. America is, and probably will remain in my lifetime, a house divided. There are those who live and believe in the traditional America of free enterprise and national sovereignty, and those who would lower the United States government to that of a co-trustee with the United Nations. It makes me violently sick.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Katrina, shall we say, has got some "issues." I'm certainly no Freudian, but the way she gets so red-faced and starts huffing and puffing and squirming around, she could be a good poster girl for neurotic penis envy. She's wrestling with some sort of inner child issue. Maybe she had some bad dating experiences during her teen years.