Kirkpatrick hit liberals for blaming America first

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | May 15, 2006 | Ralph Z. Hallow

[george76]

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick's eyes twinkle at the mention of that August 1984 night at the Republican National Convention in Dallas when she eviscerated liberal Democrats as the "blame America first crowd."

"When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies," ...

"They blame United States policies of 100 years ago. But then they always blame America first."

With those words, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- a long-time Democrat -- described the difference between President Reagan's determination to defeat communism and Democratic Party leaders' inclination to accommodate communism everywhere.

She accused Democrats of abandoning the anti-communism of liberals like Harry S. Truman, Hubert H. Humphrey and Henry "Scoop" Jackson for the accommodative tack of George McGovern, Jimmy Carter and the "new liberals" she tagged as the "San Francisco Democrats."

Mr. Reagan liked the "blame America first" refrain so much he used it against Democrats in his speeches in the fall 1984 campaign, winning a landslide victory.

"I worked very hard on that Dallas speech, and I believe the charges I made were defensible and that I could document them," Mrs. Kirkpatrick, 79, says as she sorts through old manuscripts in the living room of her Bethesda home.

"At that time, there really were very widespread attacks on Ronald Reagan and the Reagan administration. I thought they were unreasonably harsh, and that's what I was referring to."

While foreign policy led her away from her former party, Mrs. Kirkpatrick also had domestic policy differences with Democrats.

"Democrat welfare policy not only was not working but was damaging to the people who were the supposed beneficiaries," she says.

"I believe in self-reliance."

[Ruth A.]

"Wherever there is a choice of leaving opportunities and tasks to the individual rather than government, it is desirable to do that," she says. "But where it is not possible or feasible, there is a legitimate role for government."

Gosh, but she's a gem.

[A CA Guy]

Wake up Republican politicians and take notes here please.

[george76]

She is a good one.

Kirkpatrick was good at the UN.

I hope that she writes a book soon.

[Ruth A.]

I was thinking, There's good vice-presidential material.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

at first glance i thought they meant detroit mayor kwame kilpatrick,at which point im like, "a liberal, lashing out at other liberals? they eat their own now"

yep, i was dreaming lol

[george76]

There was a Presidential draft for her some years ago.

She would have been a great President.

I can not remember why the draft died out.

[george76]

We Republicans need to follow her lead.

It worked for us in the past...it will work again.

If only the Republican leaders would do the same !

[A CA Guy]

We Republicans do stand up for what we believe in.

Our politicians on the other hand arw horrible hacks that are worthy of being replaced by other Republican challengers in the primaries.

Immigration will be the hill they either shine or sink on.
So far IMO they are in a lifeboat and are drilling holes in the bottom so it sinks faster.

[George - the Other]

"Jeane J. Kirkpatrick's eyes twinkle at the mention of that August 1984 night at the Republican National Convention in Dallas when she eviscerated liberal Democrats as the 'blame America first crowd.'"

I feel a general well publicized campaign exposing the lies and hypocrisy of liberals would be a good thing for the nation and the world.

"All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really want to destroy ... Freedom of the intellect means the freedom to report was one has seen, heard, and felt, and not to be obliged to fabricate imaginary facts and feelings.” - George Orwell

[rogue yam]

I was thinking, There's good vice-presidential material.

At one time, yes, but she was born in 1926.

[Ruth A.]

Given some of the alternatives, I could live with that.

[Doogle]

"Democrat welfare policy not only was not working but was damaging to the people who were the supposed beneficiaries,"

...she said that 26 years ago, and the "Great Society" was Johnson's bubble 42 years ago, and today's dummies? Yep...the party that keeps on giving

[expatpat]

It's time to repeat history....

[digger48]

"I don't think we have an obligation to engage in a new imperialism," says Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who adds that she is "skeptical of nation-building. It is extremely difficult for one nation to seriously remake another nation."
She calls President Bush's foreign policy "a little too interventionist for my taste, frankly -- but not across the board. I am very much in favor of his actions in Afghanistan and have not opposed them in Iraq."
Like other conservative intellectuals torn between their sense of moral propriety and their rejection of meddling government, Mr. Kirkpatrick is conflicted about a constitutional ban on homosexual "marriage."

[George W. Bush]

She was the Zell Miller of the Reagan era.

[Paul Ross]

Bump!

[elcid1970]

Still, a lovely lady.

[Wiseghy]

When Republicans focus on our differences, we should contemplate this matra.

We must never, ever let the negative, blame America crowd assume power in this nation.

As far as interventionist goes, world terror has been crushed and its foundations scattered, for now. That is no small feat, and one we should feel safer for.