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Wow, Jeane Kirkpatrick, haven’t thought of her in years. Now there’s one tough old broad, lol. She was hard to like as a person, but was I ever glad to have her on our side and in the role she played, in that place and time. We owe her a debt of gratitude.

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I had the good fortune to hear her address a small group.

Tough as nails, yes, far more engaging in person than over television though. She was one of those rare people who is utterly focused, and with an intelligence that just crackled. She was a natural leader and would have made an outstanding executive.

The address was at an entrenched liberal, major university during the peak of the Nicaraguan Contra episode, when the Democrats were assisting the Latin American Communists, and had not yet made the Jihadist friends they enjoy now.

A group of several dozen ‘protesters’ tried to disrupt the address, shouting and chanting, waving crayon signs, etc. etc. The media of course lapped it up, focusing on these ragbags (one of whom I had had aspirations towards, until I saw her there).

Kirkpatrick looked up from the podium at the ragbags, and glared at them.

They.

Shut.

Up.

Utter silence ensued, while she continued to regard then like a falcon assessing fieldmice. She then glanced back down at her notes, resumed where she had left off, and finished the address without further interruptions. The media reported the address and the disruption of course. They omitted the sheer force of personality smack down on the riffraff.

I have been priviledged to hear Kirkpatrick, Buchanan, and Scalia in person. They were each impressive, and each more personable than television conveys. Kirkpatrick though, was the undoubted alpha. She had the bearing and implacable confidence that I have only seen elsewhere among old school combat veterans.