Friday, December 08, 2006
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Jeane Kirkpatrick, Rest in Peace
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
9:48 AM
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AP:
Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a onetime Democrat who switched to the Republican Party and became a heroine of conservatives, has died. She was 80.
AEI memorializes:
Yet it was an essay written for Commentary magazine in 1979, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," that launched her into the political limelight. In the article, Kirkpatrick chronicled the failures of the Carter administration's foreign policy and argued for a clearer understanding of the American national interest. Her essay matched then-governor Ronald Reagan's instincts and convictions, and when he became president, he appointed her to represent the United States at the United Nations. Ambassador Kirkpatrick was a member of the president's cabinet and the National Security Council. The United States has lost a great patriot and champion of freedom, and AEI mourns our beloved colleague.
Here's a good, old piece of hers, from 2003:
The absence of prerequisites for membership has created a United Nations Commission on Human Rights in which many of the world's worst human rights abusers sit in judgment on governments that have long institutionalized the rule of law and respect for individual rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Human Rights Commission recently met in Geneva for six weeks to discuss, debate and decide issues concerning "the situation of human rights in the world." Since no standards exist, Libya was permitted to hold the chair, which resulted in a commission filled with an assortment of world-class rights abusers, including Syria, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
Occasionally the discussions at the commission illuminate problems that exist in the world. More often they reflect the balance of power that exists within the United Nations.
Last year the United States, a founding member, was denied a seat and a vote on the Human Rights Commission and was replaced by Syria. All manner of explanations were offered to account for this anomaly, but it came down to the fact that not enough members of the commission had voted for a U.S. presence.
This year, however, the United States received the votes necessary for re-election for a three-year term, presumably because the U.S. delegation, which I headed, did more energetic lobbying and our colleagues understood that the United States might withdraw its membership in the commission if the trend toward defeating democratic governments and preferring dictatorships persisted.
A wise, tough lady.
Update: Darleen Click quotes Kirkpatrick's "Blame America First" speech from the 1984 GOP Convention. Good stuff.
Jeb Hensarling:
"Jeane Kirkpatrick was a true Cold Warrior, and her contribution to the fall of the Soviet Empire will forever be remembered," said Hensarling. "We would be wise to look back upon her life and career and learn from her experiences, particularly her reflections on the United Nations.
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Jeane Kirkpatrick showed us all what a true Conservative could be.
Unlike the Neo-Con freak show currently terrorizing our country from the White House, the Reagan years made me proud to be a Republican. |
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She was one of the few giants that has come out of academia. I'll miss her. |
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"Ms. Ham,
As of 12:20 PM the link to your article from the main page at http://www.townhall.com spells her name "Kilpatrick". Not a big deal, but somebody ought to clean that up."
Oh, really? At 5:15 pm I can see it spelled correctly. At 11:09 (look at the time of Mary's reply to a note posted at 11:03) it was spelled correctly. Any chance we are dealing with flaming liberals trying really hard to not discuss the issue, like Jeane's legacy, but make up bogus accusations instead? |
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Don't mean to be a smarty-pants, but unless there is a variation, the MSM stands for Main Stream Media, not street. But I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong.
So sorry to hear about Ambassador Kirkpatrick. She was a smart, feisty woman who served well. Rest in peace. |
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Jeane was a wise and wonderful lady. We will miss her. |
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Ms. Ham,
As of 12:20 PM the link to your article from the main page at http://www.townhall.com spells her name "Kilpatrick". Not a big deal, but somebody ought to clean that up. |
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It is interesting to note that the Left still blames America first. As snapDigger notes, they claim they are not blaming America, just conservatives. But America voted those conservatives into office on exactly those issues. The libs and their PR arm, often known as the Main Street Media, have pounded the negative and ignored the positive of what America is doing in Iraq to discourage the voters in 2006. But they have not rejected conservative values. |
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The country has now one less patriotic voice today. One less conservative that loved America. She will be missed. |
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Her name IS spelled right in my headline, thank you.
To what exactly are you referring? |
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Before she went crazy (like most neocons) in the Bush II era, she wrote some good stuff. Like "A Normal Country in a Normal Time" (1990) where she argued that foreign policy post-Cold-War should be "ratified by popular majorities" instead of left to an out-of-touch elite. A shame the Bush administration -- an out-of-touch elite that insists on staying in Iraq forever despite overwhelming popular opposition to that -- hasn't picked up on that idea.
Her work as U.N. ambassador I thought was pretty good, though her "blame America first" speech was pretty reprehensible; it's part of the conservative genre of America-hating, where they pretend that those who disagree with conservative ideas are somehow not "real" Americans, or that disagreeing with Reagan or Bush or whoever amounts to "blaming America first." Awful. But she did some good things too. |
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When noting the death of someone, it's considered good form to spell their name properly in the headline. |
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