Actually, the President made it very clear that terrorism has to stop, and I doubt that anyone on these boards disagrees with him there. But he specifically invoked Mitchell on your anschluss lobby. A subtle message, but a clear one.From "Dutch" (the authorized Reagan biography), first hardcover edition, page 465:Only an unsubtle pig uses nazi jargon twice on one thread to describe Jews. Sieg Heil, moron.
(William) Clark further believes that Reagan suffered, in his quiet way, from moral guilt. "I've always felt that he overreacted to the Holocaust - its horrors left such a mark on him that he let his emotions flow into almost any issue involving Israel. As if he were compensating." This did not mean that the President forgave Begin and Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Minister, for encouraging the carnage there (in Lebanon). Revealingly, at the height of Israel's bombardment of Beirut, he invoked race memory in a furious telephone call to Begin:Sometimes when someone is being completely intrasingent, confronting them with what they hate most works. Especially if the shoe fits.I told him that it had to stop or our entire future relationship was endangered. I used the word holocaust deliberately and said the symbol of his [sic] was becoming a picture of a 7 month old baby with its arms blown off.Robert McFarlane, listening, was astonished at the vehemence and rapidity of his speech. So, apparently, was Begin, who called back within minutes to say the attack was being stopped.
-Eric
I recommend Dinesh D'Souza's bio on Reagan, it is ethically written, respectful, and accurate.