Remembering (and Forgetting) Thatcher
” The legendary British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has died, and the national media tried to pay their respects, not only for breaking Britain’s “glass ceiling” with a “bruising” political style, but for transforming Britain and helping wind down the Cold War.
Still, Thatcher was a conservative and one of Ronald Reagan’s staunchest friends in the world, so you can be sure these journalists were Thatcher-bashers when she was in power. Some of them were American anchors and reporters.
Let’s start with a few quotes from long after she left 10 Downing Street. On November 19, 1999, NBC reporter Jim Avila brought the liberal contempt in a story on a sex scandal in higher education: “Hillsdale College is supposed to be different: a liberal arts college where liberals are unwanted, where Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are regarded as heroic deep thinkers, prayer is encouraged and morality is taught alongside grammar.”
That knock on “heroic deep thinkers” shows that Avila wrote the story before he showed up at Hillsdale. Reagan and Thatcher were great leaders, and certainly great combatants in the war on ideas. But Hillsdale teaches Locke and Montesquieu and Alexis de Tocqueville. One wonders if TV reporters have heard of those philosophers before they mock conservative “deep thinkers.” Obviously, if a Fox News reporter mocked college students viewing Obama and Bill Clinton as “heroic deep thinkers,” they would be dismissed as street rabble who’d never opened a book.
In 2000, Time magazine and CBS News picked the most important people of the 20th century. On CBS on Christmas Eve, Bryant Gumbel and Dan Rather took turns suggesting Thatcher wasn’t worthy. Gumbel began: “On the women’s front, Eleanor Roosevelt is obviously a given. Do we agree with the Margaret Thatcher pick?” Rather replied: “I don’t, to be perfectly honest.”
Gumbel agreed: “I don’t either.” Rather demeaned her: “My guess, Margaret Thatcher is there, as much as any reason, because she is a woman.” “
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Tag Archive: Ronald Reagan
Margaret Thatcher, The “Iron Lady” Of British Politics, Is Dead
” Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister and uncompromisingly conservative “Iron Lady” of the 1980s, has died. She was 87.
She died following a stroke.
“We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton,” Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Thatcher suffered a series of minor strokes in recent years. She rarely appeared in public after doctors forbade her from talking to large groups in 2002 for health reasons. But she continued to meet and dine privately with old friends in recent years who guarded details of her health and condition.
Thatcher was one of the most recognizable political figures of the second half of the 20th century. She was a political soulmate of conservative U.S. President Ronald Reagan, with whom she stood shoulder to shoulder against communism in the twilight decade of the Cold War.
Her free-market policies rolled back decades of state socialism in Britain and ushered in what her fellow “Thatcherite” conservatives say was an era of prosperity that endured until recently.”
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Ronald Reagan
” History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.”
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Obama Says Defense He Fought Can Stop North Korea
” As Pyongyang threatens a nuclear strike, the administration says our missile defenses can handle anything they can throw against us or our allies. If so it’s not because of anything the president did.
‘I can tell you that the United States is fully capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday after North Korea’s raging runt, Kim Jong-un, said Pyongyang was scrapping the 1953 armistice deal that ended the Korean War. He threatened a “preemptive” nuclear strike against the U.S.
If we can handle the North Korean missile threat, it is thanks to President Ronald Reagan’s derided “Star Wars” dream and the Strategic Defense Initiative he refused to surrender to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who met Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, and to President George W. Bush, who made missile defense a priority, not a target for budget cuts.
We thank you both.”
Related articles
- White House: US can defend against NKorea attack (news.yahoo.com)
- North Korean Threat: Obama Administration Undermines Missile Defense (heritage.org)
- North Korea threatens war (nzherald.co.nz)
- US, S. Korea Start Drills Amid Threats (foxnews.com)
- US ‘fully capable’ of defending against North Korea threat (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
- North Korea cuts hotline with South, threatens nuclear strike as war games begin (VIDEO) (vineoflife.net)
- Reagan Warned Us About Obama (youviewed.com)
- North Korean Actions Raise Stakes for US Missile Defense (voanews.com)
- Michael Douglas Should Not Play Ronald Reagan (usnews.com)
- Happy Birthday, President Reagan! Happy Birthday, Comprehensive Missile Defense Program! (heritage.org)
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Don Rickles At Ronald Reagan’s 2nd Inaugural
REAGAN: THROUGH LIBERAL EYES
” Recent history has demonstrated the bias of liberal historians; rewriting Reagan (or defaming him), downplaying the anti-Semitism of FDR (his support for Harvard’s Jewish quota of 15 percent in 1927 and anti-Jewish immigration policies as president) the racism of Woodrow Wilson (his Executive Order creating “separate but equal” in the federal government) the anti-Indian bigotry of Andrew Jackson (“Trail of Tears”).
Should liberals be allowed to record history? Of course. But should the political views of some historians be taken into consideration, especially when liberals record conservative history? Dr. Edwards points out that while Matthew Dallek and Douglas Brinkley “have written balanced, objective books about the life and career of Ronald Reagan” others have been less dedicated to the truth and more interested in pushing an agenda.
Turn on any cable show and one sees history mangled all the time. As a Reagan Scholar at the Gipper’s alma mater, Eureka College, having spoken at the Reagan Library and the Ranch on a number of occasions, having written books about his campaigns (and am now working on a book about his post presidency) and innumerable articles, it can be maddening to see all the disinformation about Reagan routinely put out in the media.
Liberal historians have existed for many years and often can be good at their trade. Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s “A Thousand Days” is too romanticized because of his deep affection for John Kennedy but his other works, especially on Jackson, were excellent.”
Oh for a man of his caliber in the White House today …
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- Ronald Reagan Birthday: 9 Facts About The 40th President (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
- Forty Governors Declare Feb. 6 “Ronald Reagan Day” (sacbee.com)
- Ronald Reagan’s Heart: Two Emotional Landmarks (forbes.com)
- President Reagan’s legacy lives on as he’s remembered on his 101st birthday (washingtontimes.com)
- President Ronaldus Magnus At The Brandenburg Gate- 1987- Dutch Reagan Born 102 Years Ago Today (oyiabrown.com)
- Ronald Reagan Was Right Then and He is Right Today (gulagbound.com)
How Congress, Wall Street And The Media Traded America’s Future For The Next Short Term Fix
” If someone had woken you from a dead sleep 20 years ago and asked what the Republican Party stood for, you would’ve had no trouble answering: Fiscal restraint, a strong national defense and lower taxes. Those were the three pillars of the GOP. The party’s brand was clear. Voters understood it, and many approved. In the days before Obama, Republicans won seven out of ten presidential elections.
Things have changed for the muddier. Scratch the surface and you’ll find there is no longer a consensus among Republicans on foreign policy. Fiscal restraint? Years of earmarks, record deficits and at least one new federal entitlement under Republican congresses make that idea a bitter joke.
Of the three principles that have united the party since Reagan, only taxes remain. Republicans have been able to claim — sincerely, and with continuing success at the ballot box — that they are for lower taxes.
Until Tuesday.
Here’s what happened: For reasons that aren’t entirely clear but are probably related to panic and a basic lack of principle, the Speaker of the House and other Republicans in Congress signed on to Democratic calls for “balance” between tax hikes and spending cuts — this despite the overwhelming evidence that spending is the real problem. “
So, even before the negotiation began, they abandoned decades of principle on taxes. The result: Two months later, we have a deal, but no balance. It’s all tax hikes. Zero spending cuts. Nice job.
Illustration By Michael Ramirez
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- Does Eric Cantor’s no vote on the fiscal cliff bill spell trouble for John Boehner? | James Antle (guardian.co.uk)
- Fiscal cliff deal passed by House of Representatives (guardian.co.uk)
- Why 85 House Republicans said ‘yes’ to taxes (politico.com)
- John Boehner faces Republican backlash over fiscal cliff and Hurricane Sandy (telegraph.co.uk)
Stop With The Excuses Already … You Sound Like The Opposition
” Movement conservatives, Reagan conservatives, and tea partiers did not back Gov. Romney in the Republican primaries. Despite misgivings, when the GOP establishment chose Romney, these patriotic conservatives did not sulk or stay home. They walked through fire for Romney and formed the backbone of his base and ground game. They gave their all to their country, they volunteered their time, they donated what they could to a candidate they did not choose, and they voted for him. Why? Because they put the future of the country ahead of their own personal interests.
Which is something Ann Coulter may want to try. “
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- Romney was not the problem (wnd.com)
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Thomas Sowell On The GOP’s Communication Problem
” The most successful Republican presidential candidate of the past half century– Ronald Reagan, who was elected and reelected with landslide victories– bore little resemblance to the moderate candidates that Republican conventional wisdom depicts as the key to victory, even though most of these moderate candidates have in fact gone down to defeat.
One of the biggest differences between Reagan and these latter-day losers was that Reagan paid great attention to explaining his policies and values. He was called “the great communicator,” but much more than a gift for words was involved. The issues that defined Reagan’s vision were things he had thought about, written about and debated for years before he reached the White House.
Reagan was like a veteran quarterback who comes up to the line of scrimmage, takes a glance at how the other team is deployed against him, and knows automatically what he needs to do. There is not enough time to figure it out from scratch, while waiting for the ball to be snapped. You have to have figured out such things long before the game began, and now just need to execute.”
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- Experience Matters (ourdinnertable.wordpress.com)
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- Is Ronald Reagan Actually a Hero of The Tea Party? (batribune.wordpress.com)
- GOP Turns Sure Victory into Defeat (Guest Voice) (themoderatevoice.com)
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Iranian Hostage Crisis
November 4 , 1979-January 20, 1981
33 Years ago under the leadership of another clueless appeaser America started the long 444 day ordeal that even now ranks as one of the most humiliating national moments in history . We are destined to a similar fate unless we can pull our heads out of our collected ” a**es ” and rid ourselves once and for all of the man who believes that we can negotiate with the ruling theocracy that controls Iran .
Tehran Embassy November 4, 1979
This picture is eerily reminiscent of one taken just 8 short weeks ago .
Benghazi Consulate September 11 , 2012
Does anyone in the photo look familiar ?
Our current ‘Leader” would have us believe that if we only give a little more , talk a little more , listen a little more to the ravings of this man and his unconcealed plans to bring about a world-wide caliphate that we could achieve a reasonable settlement with these “Holocaust Deniers “
Lest anyone fails to grasp exactly what appeasement , indecision and weakness gain us in the world we have this stark reminder from a time when the US was saddled with an equally ineffectual , narcissistic administration .
Can we really afford another four years of this kind of leadership ?
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- On This Day In 1979, Iranians Storm The United States Embassy in Tehran (rememberinghistory.wordpress.com)
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- Spotlight Returns to Abbas Abdi, Iranian Hostage Taker (nytimes.com)
- Krauthammer: Barack Obama is feckless about Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations (newsday.com)
- It Looks Like Carter All Over Again (pjmedia.com)
- McCain Calls For Special Committee to Investigate Benghazi: ‘Al Qaeda Is Not On the Run … They Are Far Stronger Than They Were in 2008′ (foxnewsinsider.com)
- Iran Celebrates 33rd Anniversary of Hostage Crisis (newsy.com)
- Iranian Hard-Liners Reject Any Talks With U.S. (nytimes.com)
- Iranians burn American flags, chant ‘death to US’ to mark embassy seizure (rt.com)
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NORTH: THEN AND NOW
” For better than a month, the Obama administration has been dodging and weaving over what actually transpired in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of Sept. 11-12. Questions have been posed about why Ambassador Christopher Stevens was there and not at his embassy post in Tripoli.
Congressional investigators have asked why he had no security detail, why the State Department decided not to send in U.S. Marine embassy security guards when they were offered months before, why contingency plans were not in place on the anniversary of 9/11 and why the O-Team insisted for so long that the attack on our U.S. diplomatic post was a “spontaneous event” and not an act of terrorism.
By now, all should realize that truthful answers to these inquiries will not be furnished by the White House or State Department until after the presidential election on Nov. 6. But there is an even more important question that should be asked and answered now: Once the White House knew about the attack in Benghazi, what action did the president take to protect or save the lives of Americans?
“We the People” need to know the answer because we are about to hire — or rehire — a commander in chief. The response is crucial to determining whether the incumbent is competent enough to fulfill the responsibilities of the job or whether he should be replaced. Fortunately, we have a standard of behavior for a commander in chief in a previous well-documented terror event: Ronald Reagan during the Achille Lauro incident. “
BORDER PATROL AGENT KILLED; ANOTHER AGENT WOUNDED
“Awful word of more violence on the border from Fox News this morning:
Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were shot, one fatally, Tuesday morning in an area in south Arizona known as a major drug-smuggling corridor, authorities said.
The identities of the agents were not immediately released, but the shooting occurred at the Brian Terry Station near Naco, Ariz., which is just south of Tucson. The station was named after an agent who was killed in the line of duty in December 2010. The area is considered a remote part of the state and sources tell Fox News that the shooting occurred about 8 miles from the border.
The injured agent was airlifted to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.”
Want to control the flow of guns south and drugs/terrorists/illegals north ? The answer is very simple … control the border .
“A nation without borders is not a nation” — Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan – We Must Fight ( A Time For Choosing )
“As Ronald Reagan so eloquently put it, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” And while the latest edition of the Fraser Institute’s annual “Economic Freedom of the World Report” does not predict the end of the American economy, it does paint an alarming picture of the loss of our economic freedom during the last decade. From 1980 to 2000, we were the world’s leader among large industrialized nations, only outranked by small economic powerhouses Hong Kong and Singapore. Since the year 2000 we have been in a downward spiral, falling from 3rd, to 7th, and then to 10th last year. With the release of this week’s report, for the first time the United States has fallen out of the top ten — dropping all the way to 18th.”
Why we need a new ” Age of Milton Friedman”
“Mr. Moore ends his piece in the Journal by quoting Harvard’s Andrei Shleifer as describing the period from 1980 to 2005 as “The Age of Milton Friedman.” During it we “witnessed remarkable progress of mankind. As the world embraced free-market policies, living standards rose sharply while life expectancy, educational attainment, and democracy improved and absolute poverty declined.” I suppose a question worth asking in this election year is, are we finished with such progress or shall we begin “The Age of Milton Friedman” anew?”
The facts about Ronald Reagan and tax hikes .
“Ronald Reagan may have presided over the most significant tax reform effort in our nation’s
history, yet historical revisionists are attempting to besmirch that legacy — while using him as a
straw man against modern Republicans .
Saying Ronald Reagan raised taxes is like saying Michael Jordan was a guy who struck out a lot — or that he was a failed baseball player: It’s
factually correct, but misleading, nonetheless.
I’ve decided to examine Reagan’s tax cuts and tax increases in order to set the record straight and end this tomfoolery. “
