June 12, 2007, - 11:30 pm
20 Years Ago: “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down That Wall” (Today: Bush Tears Down Our Borders)
By
Hard to believe that it was twenty years ago today, on June 12, 1987 that President Ronald Reagan uttered his most memorable demand:
Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down That Wall.
The speech was delivered at the Brandenburg Gate. While it was delivered on the West side of the Berlin Wall, it was also audible on the East side (under Communist hegemony), as well. The speech inspired millions yearning for freedom around the world.
While the wall eventually was torn down, it wasn’t done by Gorbachev, but by Ronald Wilson Reagan. Only Reagan had the courage to not only utter those words, but back them up with a steady arms build-up and refusal to accommodate Communist tyranny and repression of human rights.
Contrast that with today. Today, President Bush can’t say, Mr. Bin Laden or King Abdullah or President Ahmadinejad, tear down that burqa, or . . . tear up that Koran, or . . . tear down that Mecca. Our enemy today is a cult-like, fanatical belief in an extremist religion. And there is no physical wall we can tear down to defeat religious extremism. (Though, if we had the guts to drop a few bombs in some select strategic locations, that would do the trick.)
And even if there were, the current President would not have the courage or guts to say or do so. Instead, he reaches for his ankles and says, “Mr. Ahmadinejad and King Abdullah, may I have another?”
Oh, and he does talk about tearing down a wall:
Mr. American, tear down that border. Mr. American, tear down that security.
Uh, not exactly Reaganesque.
Tags: Abdullah, Ahmadinejad, Berlin, bin Laden, Bush, current President, Gorbachev, King, Mecca, President, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan Debbie Schlussel, Ronald Wilson Reagan
Ronald Reagan is largely a myth created by the American conservative movement because of their lack of heroes, unlike the Democrats who had heroes like FDR, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. I applaud Reagan for his anti-Communist stance, but that’s the only thing he did right. We’re in this mess today with Islamofascism in great part because of Reagan’s policies. Carter may have started supporting the Mujahudeen, but in the name of anti-Communism, it was Reagan who funded and trained them and gave them whatever they wanted. Reagan was even willing to sell Iran nuclear weapons (for hostages we’re told) to fund the Contras which was basically what the Iran-Contra scandal was all about. Yeah, Reagan did bomb Khadafi, but on the flipside, after the Beirut bombings killing over 200 US marines, the Reagan administration did almost nothing and pulled out of Lebanon. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was largely responsible for not executing Reagan’s order to retaliate, but Reagan did nothing to him for that decision and later went along with him. And don’t even get me started on Reagan and Saddam Hussein or Reagan and South Africa. Learn more here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2101842/
And of course there’s the problem of illegal immigration which exploded in large part of the 1986 amnesty deal.
George W. Bush’s problem isn’t that he’s running away from Reagan’s policies. It’s just the opposite: George W. Bush is more Reagan than Reagan. G.W. has done everything Reagan did and even more. Remember, Reagan supported the Brady bill, G.W. let it die. G.W. put conservatives on the Supreme Court; the first justice Reagan put on the court was Sandra Day O’Connor, hardly a hero to American conservatives. With the exceptions like immigration reform and the drug plan, G.W. has done virtually everything conservatives wanted. G.W.’s spending went out of control because the so-called conservative Congress’ spending went out of control. G.W. never vetoed a bill from the Republican Congress. Oh yeah, guess who else’s spending went out of control and raised deficits through the roof? Ronald Reagan.
And even one more thing… You guys hate Colin Powell, but it was Reagan who put him in such powerful positions and eventually gave him a bunch of awards.
Reagan was a great anti-Communist. That’s all he should be remembered for.
Norman Blitzer on June 13, 2007 at 12:50 am