We’ll miss this great and stalwart lady of brains and courage who, as Ronald Reagan’s U.N. ambassador, coined the phrase “blame America first” to describe the habit of lefties then and now to attribute every evil thing in the world to U.S. capitalism/militarism/philistinism/over-religiosity/hubris.
John Miller at National Review posts this excerpt from Kirkpatrick’s most famous speech, at the Republican convention of 1984:
“They said that saving Grenada from terror and totalitarianism was the wrong thing to do — they didn’t blame Cuba or the communists for threatening American students and murdering Grenadians — they blamed the United States instead.
“But then, somehow, they always blame America first.
“When our Marines, sent to Lebanon on a multinational peacekeeping mission with the consent of the United States Congress, were murdered in their sleep, the ‘blame America first crowd’ didn’t blame the terrorists who murdered the Marines, they blamed the United States.
“But then, they always blame America first.
“When the Soviet Union walked out of arms control negotiations, and refused even to discuss the issues, the San Francisco Democrats didn’t blame Soviet intransigence. They blamed the United States.
“But then, they always blame America first.
“When Marxist dictators shoot their way to power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don’t blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame United States policies of 100 years ago.
“But then, they always blame America first.
“The American people know better.”
Kirkpatrick has an apt successor in toughness and perspicacity in another U.N. ambassador whose first name also begins with a “J.” Here’s what Robert Novak has to say about the bullying Democrats determined to get rid of the man some say is the most effective U.N. ambassador we’ve had in years.