OK. We're totally late to the party on this so we just might make this some sort of after-the-fact tribute week to make up for it. Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth - a man who possessed an undying love for his country and an unwavering faith in the capabilities and potential of the American people. Here's B-Daddy on the subject:
I would like to acknowledge what would have been the 100th birthday of that great American, Ronald Wilson Reagan today. For my part, his legacy consists of two important strands. First, he refused to accept the inevitably of communist triumph. People forget that up to that time, communism had greatly expanded the portion of the globe it controlled, and many of our ruling elite felt that its triumph was foreordained. Reagan recognized that communism was very fragile and would come apart eventually if challenged. His push for "star wars" and the manner in which he challenged the Soviet Union contributed to its eventual demise. The world is a vastly better place for it. We should never forget the hundreds of millions who have died due to the scourge of communism.
Read the rest, here.
We should not ever forget what is represented in that last sentence as communism has been soft-pedaled by everyone from Pulitzer prize-winning journalists from the NY Times in the 20s and 30s to useless wanna-be college commies hosting punk shows on the tax-payer dime.
In other related news...
Check out Andrea Mitchell on Meet the Press here chiding Republicans for "...trying to appropriate Ronald Reagan for their own political purposes..." before being smacked down by Peggy Noonan who responds in essence: You clueless twit, he can't be appropriated as he was a Republican and he was a conservative.
Like no politicians ever try to evoke politicians from the past to advance their own narrative, right Andrea? Mitchell's logic is made even more ridiculous in light of the recent Obama (hearts) Reagan meme being pushed by Big Media...
... the logic of which makes about as much sense as Reagan (hearts) FDR circa 1983.
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1 comment:
Now that we have access to Soviet records, we know that the Soviet economy was falling apart, especially after their big military expenditures which came in the 60s and 70s. What we also know from Gorbachev's records is that SDi and our build up mattered little. They could not build anyway as they were broke. However, Reagan did what was much more important. Once he met with Gorbachev in person, he was reassured that Reagan was not as militant as people portrayed. The fact that Reagan was willing to talk and negotiate made it possible for Gorbachev to push through the changes that split up the USSR, getting his own hardliners to back down. Reagan also played a key part in getting Thatcher to agree to reuniting Germany, to which she was opposed.
Reagan was a great president, just not for the reasons pushed in the myth. If you listen to Noonan's response after Mitchell clarifies, she acknowledges that.
Steve
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