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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Some Words of Wisdom From President Reagan In Regard to Foreign Interference in Domestic US Politics

Some Words of Wisdom From President Reagan In Regard to Foreign Interference in Domestic US Politics

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In his memoirs, President Reagan wrote the following*:

I don’t like having representatives of a foreign country – any foreign country – trying to interfere in what I regarded as our domestic political process and the setting of our foreign policy.

Wisdom that the Republican Party and conservatives seem to have forgotten.

Open thread!

* These remarks were specifically in regard to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin going behind President Reagan’s back to lobby Congress directly against the Reagan administration’s decision to sell AWACs to Saudi Arabia in 1981. Begin had been specifically warned against doing this by one of President Reagan’s senior advisors.

Reader Interactions

26Comments

  1. 1.

    SFAW

    Yeah, whatever. As if the current Rethug Partei gives a shit about what that RINO, Reagan, had to say.

    If someone were to catalog all the instances of Rethugs violating their alleged “principles” — especially those they applied to Dems — the tome would be longer than (the combined length of) all 423 volumes of A la recherche du temps perdu

  3. 3.

    SFAW

    @chris:
    One “troubling and escalatory indication”: “Ma-a-a-a-a! Iran’s on my side of the car! Make it stop!!!!”

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SFAW: I’m not even sure what they did compared to what they were doing to make Bolton formally make this statement. It is just as likely that we were getting ready to rotate carrier groups anyway, and Bolton is just using that as an excuse for an extra helping of belligerency.

  5. 5.

    jonas

    Wow. 1. Condemning foreign interference in our politics and 2. telling the PM of Israel to STFU. And this was a Republican?

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jonas: Yitzhak Shamir pulled the same play on Bush 41. Apparently it is a Likud tradition to go around the president directly to Congress when you don’t get everything you want.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: There’s three things here:
    1) Other countries have basically told the US to pound sand over sanctions regarding Iranian oil.
    2) I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that all they’ve done is sped up both the carrier group’s and bomber wing’s already scheduled deployments to the area of responsibility (AOR) by a couple of weeks so that we look like we’re doing something tough.
    3) Regardless of #2, by doing this it makes it harder for the US to take military action regarding Maduro in Venezuela, because it further reduces the available operational forces, which are already all accounted for.

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m not even sure what they did compared to what they were doing to make Bolton formally make this statement.

    I have little doubt that it’s some bullshit “provocation,” similar to any of the 27 different reasons they used to justify invading Iraq.

  12. 12.

    Jay

    “Allen again came to police attention in 1971 when his friend Donald Cheney reported to police in Manhattan Beach, California, that Allen had spoken of his desire to kill people, use the name Zodiac, and secure a flashlight to a firearm for visibility at night. According to Cheney, this conversation occurred no later than January 1, 1969.[89]”

    Fu€k Cheney.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chris: @SFAW: @Aleta: As of 22 April 2019, Carrier Strike Group 12 (USS Abraham Lincoln/CVN 72, Carrier Air Wing 7/CVW 7, Destroyer Squadron 2/DESRON 2, and USS Leyte Gulf/CG 55):

    deployed from Norfolk on April 1 and is now operating in the 6th Fleet area of responsibility in the central Mediterranean Sea. Last week, the CSG stopped in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on April 15 and departed April 20.

    They join the USS John C Stennis Carrier Strike Group (USS John C Stennis/CVN 74, Carrier Air Wing 9/CVW 9, Destroyer Squadron 21/DESRON 21, and USS Mobile Bay/CG 53), which:

    transited the Suez Canal on April 20 and is now in the Mediterranean Sea in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. Last week, the CSG exercised operations with French Navy aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R 91) in the Red Sea.

    Finally, the Kearsarge Amphibious Group – USS Kearsarge/LH 22 with the embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Fleet Surgical Teams 2 and 8, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, and Tactical Air Control Squadron 21; USS Arlington/LPD 24 (amphibious landing dock); and USS Fort McHenry/LSD 43 (dock landing ship) is in the Persian Gulf.

    All information from here:
    https://news.usni.org/2019/04/22/2019-04-22-usni-news-fleet-marine-tracker-april-22-2019#more-47864

    There is no additional Naval or Amphibious deployment.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    Hmm Franklin Graham seems to think that Trumpov should get two years added to his term as “reparations “ for the “coup attempt” he has had to endure.

    Does Obama get a half ‘callback’ term in 2022, then, for ol’ Mitch’s complete obstruction of his nominees, agenda, etc?

    And there I go ahead a) semi-normalizing stupid ass RWNJ nonsense by even responding to it, and b) semi-engaging in false equivalence (trumpov’s a criminal who deserves investigating; President Obama was held up for the ‘crime ‘ of presidenting while black.

    But also fuck Franklin Graham

  16. 16.

    Gravenstone

    @Jeffro: Wonder if Billy knew just what a fucking little monster he was raising? Not that the elder Graham was faultless in his life…

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jeffro:

    Hmm Franklin Graham seems to think that Trumpov should get two years added to his term as “reparations “ for the “coup attempt” he has had to endure.

    Think it was Falwell Jr, not Franklin Graham, who called for the “reparations.” A distinction without a difference. They are all evil and deranged and dangerous.

    But also fuck Franklin Graham

    Fuckem all: Graham, Farwell, that unmitigated racist sexist antisemitic islamophobic looney tunes Pat Robertson, and everyone else on the Christianist right.

  21. 21.

    patrick II

    @Jeffro:

    Think it was Falwell Jr, not Franklin Graham, who called for the “reparations.” A distinction without a difference. They are all evil and deranged and dangerous.

    Regardless of which one it was, I am getting very tired of such politically involved and harmful people standing above the fray because of their “religiosity” taking potshots. I would like it very much if someone did some oppo research (how much money are they making anyway?) and have someone of equivalent prominence take them on politically and publicly.

  24. 24.

    StringOnAStick

    Does anyone else pick up a whiff of racist signalling by Falwell using the word “reparations” ? Maybe it’s just being used to stir up anger; six of one….

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    @patrick II: It’s time for the Tax Exempt and Government Entities division to start getting some decent funding. The political rules for churches need to be enforced;. And the IRS needs to start revoking exemptions yesterday. Fuck the Republicans for trying to choke the one agency that actually has standing to enforce these rules.

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