Showing posts with label Ronald Reagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ronald Reagan. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Mieux vaut tard que jamais - Better late than never...

Updated 2017-05-04 255 PM

I'd meant to post some thoughts last week on my blog about the recent passing of Kate Walsh O’Beirne, but somehow, I got so distracted by the dozens of other things on my mind these days that the first time I had a chance to publicly comment on her death, it was via Twitter, which for all of 140 reasons, is simply too small a platform for me to share what I knew with you loyal readers of the blog.

With the epidemic of shallow and biased news reporting going on all around us in South Florida on local and network TV, as well as what's in print locally and nationally, where a once-iconic magazine like TIME magazine is a shell of its former self -to say nothing of what's become of the once impressive reporting talent at the Miami Herald of the mid-1980's, when there were few newspapers in the U.S. who had a better group of clever and curious foreign correspondents trying to ferret out facts and trends worth knowing- I'm trying to rectify that oversight of mine regarding Kate O'Beirne today.

My reasons for doing so are both altruistic and self-serving. 
Self-serving in the sense that I always like to have an opportunity to remind you in a very tangible way that my blog and I can offer you a unique perspective on the news and current events of the day, locally and nationally, that you simply can't find elsewhere in South Florida or Florida.

Altruistic because I want you loyal readers of the blog to have the advantage of learning and knowing something very fundamental about the ways of Washington, D.C. that are usually ignored by the news media but which I came to learn from personal experience via my 15 years of living and working in the Washington, D.C.area, and getting to meet and know personally some of the biggest political, social and media personalities of the area from 1988-2003.
People whose names and work you know and whom you recognize the moment they appear on TV, even before they're identified on-screen.
People whose work and reputation at or whom are closely identified with The Washington Post, the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the Brookings Institution and CSIS to name but a few places... 

I suppose the best way to express my feeling is to say that more than the vast majority of you readers can possibly imagine, even the more open-minded among you, there really ARE LOTS of very smart, opinionated and hard-working people in DC who, while perhaps holding diametrically opposing political or policy points of view from you, are not just lots of fun to be with personally, but are, fortunately, possessed of a unique kindness and sense of generosity that 99% of the people with whom you probably politically self-identify with, simply are NOT.
But Kate Walsh O’Beirne was one such person.

In the entirety of the 15 years I lived and worked in the DC area, meeting and working with a wide variety of very smart and conscientious people in all kinds of political and policy areas, there was never a year I was there when at least one person -and often several- and very well-known persons at that, who trusted me to keep their confidence, didn't at some point confide to me a positive story or anecdote they had to share about the exceptional nature of Kate Walsh O’Beirne's personal kindness.

Since I need to respect that confidence that was placed in me, I choose here, now, to share the story of someone who personally knows of her kindness and generosity, and whom, regardless of what you may think about him personally or politically, is better known than any of those people whose names I could name-drop here - Rush Limbaugh.

He, along with Ramesh Ponnuru's spot-on appreciation of her in his National Review column, tell a compelling story of a very influential woman.
Rush, thru the magic power of radio and painting a picture of her that's better and more true than almost anyone else I can think of on the current stage today could.

As it happens, I listened to Rush Limbaugh's nationally-syndicated radio show that day, as I do most days, and knew that it must be important because he started off his show -the single most-listened to radio program in America- with this very telling anecdote.
And as soon as he said her name, I knew exactly what was coming...

(Below, I have posted the video of that Limbaugh radio show segment that is, in a word, amazing. Or as I described it in my tweet last week, GOLD.)

And in listening to Rush Limbaugh relate the story of how she came to take an active interest in someone like him who was then an unknown quantity on the DC political stage, and someone that even many Conservatives and GOP partisans were highly-suspicious of, and often outright condescending of, it made me smile.
Smile because Rush was sharing a story that I personally knew to be true from experience over the years. 
But it's also a story which also made me quite sad because it only reaffirmed the reality that it's usually the case that most people in a community, even the very small community that political/media DC really is, don't hear about those truly selfless positive stories until after someone has passed away.
Trust me, there are a lot of people in Washington at all sorts of places who have felt true #gratitude.

And when you think about it, it also makes you wonder why we can't hear about these sorts of stories about other well-known people when it actually might matter and serve as a model for others, right?


---


National Review
Kate Walsh O’Beirne R.I.P. 
By Ramesh Ponnuru
April 23, 2017 3:05 PM 
@RAMESHPONNURU

Kate O’Beirne was part of National Review’s world before she joined the staff. When she became the magazine’s Washington editor in 1995 her resume already included stints at Senator Jim Buckley’s office, the Reagan administration, and the Heritage Foundation. She served NR in that position for eleven years and then became president of National Review Institute for six more. 
She brought a witty and well-informed conservatism to a national television audience as well through weekly appearances on CNN’s marquee political talk show “Capital Gang.” Conservatives were outnumbered there as on cable news generally at that time, but it never seemed that way as long as she was on.
Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.



Kate O’Beirne: Godmother of the Modern Conservative Movement
Transcript of this segment is here:
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/04/24/kate-obeirne-godmother-of-the-modern-conservative-movement/
I encourage you to read it, too, since it might make even more of an impact.


In his column, Ramesh Ponnuru uses the phrase rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense

It's also what, after I changed my party registration from Democrat to Republican after moving back here from DC in 2003, I observed is so clearly and frequently missing in Florida and South Florida commentary, esp. among the GOP set who so often are jaw-droppingly disconnected from pop culture. 
Or boring.
Or boring and depressing to be around!


Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.

And yes, in case you forgot, Ramesh Ponnuru was talking her working for the Sen. James Buckley who was William Buckley's older brother, so she knew both brothers about as well as anyone could know them.




Dave 


Saturday, March 31, 2012

Peggy Noonan thinks dithering & detached "O" has now become "creepy. "Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest." She's right, of course.


Audiobook: What I Saw At the Revolution -A Political Life in the Reagan Era by Peggy Noonan. http://youtu.be/nDvF7SispPU

Peggy Noonan thinks dithering & detached "O" has now become "creepy. "Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest." She's right, of course.

In this installment from the audio version of the book I bought the first day it was available in 1990 at The Trover Book Shop on Capitol Hill, where I spent hundreds of hours over the years, Peggy Noonan recounts the end of an era of innocence in the days before the 1960 Presidential election on Massapequa , Long Island.Noonan shoots and she scores with: "[Obama's] hermetically sealed inner circle, which operates with what seems an almost entirely abstract sense of America."


From personal experience I can tell you that when you are seated just a few feet away from her and she starts talking about these sorts of cultural issues in that lilting voice of hers, it's positively mesmerizing.

After reading/listening to her impart a little bit of what she saw and remembers that Fall of 1960 about what America was about, you know exactly why her criticism of Obama and his myopic cronies rings so true and causes so many heads to nod in agreement, which is precisely why I placed the audio here for you to listen to yourself. 
The proof is in the pudding.

And even the Europeans have finally come to see him for what he is, esp. the Poles.
Unreliable.


American Crossroads: Operation Hot Mic
http://youtu.be/-Czo5Vf8KZs


Wall Street Journal
Declarations
Not-So-Smooth Operator
Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.
By Peggy Noonan
Updated March 30, 2012, 6:35 p.m. ET,
Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.

It's not due to the election, and it's not because the Republican candidates are so compelling and making such brilliant cases against him. That, actually, isn't happening.
Readers comments at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312043447691520.html#articleTabs%3Dcomments
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http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/168909-1 
C-SPAN: In Depth with Peggy Noonan. March 3, 2002. Three hours.
When this first aired, I made videocopies of it for friends overseas.

Archive of Noonan's WSJ columns at:
http://online.wsj.com/search/aggregate.html?article-doc-type={Declarations}

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/peggy-noonan.html

http://peggynoonan.com/
Read the rest of the column at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577312043447691520.html

Friday, January 27, 2012

Jeffrey Lord dissects a Romney hit-job on Gingrich: Elliot Abrams' revisionist hit-job at NRO is debunked by simple facts the MSM didn't care about




POLITICO video: Jim Vandehei on the anti-Newt attacks. January 27, 2012
http://bcove.me/nx4mo74a
Jeffrey Lord dissects a Romney hit-job on Gingrich: Elliot Abrams' revisionist hit-job in NRO is debunked by simple facts the MSM didn't care about
Glad to see that at least someone in this country is doing their homework and fact-checking the "facts." Especially the "inconvenient" facts that the MSM is too busy to look at before throwing them out into the ether. 

But first, here's the predicate:

National Review Online
Gingrich and Reagan 
In the 1980s, the candidate repeatedly insulted the president.
By Elliott Abrams
Posted online January 25, 2012 4:00 a.m.

Which led to my post of yesterday re Newt Gingrich and specifically, Rush Limbaugh's observations, and this from today, from which the video at the top of this post appeared:

POLITICO

Drudge, conservative media criticize Newt Gingrich
It’s as if the conservative media over the past 24 hours decided Gingrich is for real.
By Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen
1/26/12 8:00 AM EST 
Updated: 1/27/12 7:48 AM EST

Now, here's the fact-filled retort that lays bare the lies.

The American Spectator
The Spectacle blog
Elliott Abrams Caught Misleading on Newt
By Jeffrey Lord
Posted online January 27, 2012 11:28 a.m.
As Ronald Reagan used to say: Well.
Yesterday we took note of former Reagan State Department official Elliott Abrams' piece over at NRO that went after Newt Gingrich on his relationship with Reagan. While voting regularly with Reagan as a young congressman from Georgia, Gingrich, claimed Abrams, "often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides and his policies to defeat Communism." Abrams then goes on to cite " a famous floor statement Gingrich made on March 21, 1986."
Or sort of cites it. 
Read the rest of this spot-on post at:
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/01/27/elliott-abrams-caught-misleadi




Newt Gingrich campaign video: Ed Rollins: Gingrich was one of "most important players and most loyal to Ronald Reagan." January 27, 2012

http://youtu.be/SjOMMweAJ_s


Yes, The American Spectator that was started in Bloomington and which later moved to Arlington County, VA, just like me. In fact, for years, it was right near the Metro train station I used everyday, the Clarendon Metro, home of all those delicious Vietnamese restaurants I dearly miss, like Queen Beehttp://spectator.org/


When I lived and worked in the Evanston/Chicago area in the pre-Internet mid-1980's, I always purchased a copy of TAS (and The Washington Monthly) every month at the  Chicago-Main newsstand to see stories and columns about heretofore unknown issues, long-simmering grudges and policy flights-of-fancy in Washington and the country that I didn't see elsewhere.


Not that I always agreed with everything, but just like manhattan, inc. and SPY, my two favorite magazines, which I was also a charter subscriber to, their contributors writing was so spirited and fun that, sometimes, not always, it was easier to just believe rather than to fight it. 


That was where I first got large doses of Michael Barone's prescient insight, which he now dishes from The Washington Examiner.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/author/michael-barone
and Real Clear Politics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/michael_barone/
and TownHall
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/
and National Review Online, where he has this piece today:

Gearing Up to Govern 
The GOP candidates are more serious about governing than is the incumbent.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289283/gearing-govern-michael-barone

Below, the new-and-improved version via Google Maps of the newsstand, long the best on The North Shore, that re-opened in 2001, after apparently vanishing for 8 years because of the CTA and city of Evanston being unable to get their acts together for the benefit of the area's residents. Eight years!
http://www.citynewsstand.com/progressupdate.htm



View Larger Map


Thursday, September 29, 2011

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: A Perspectives on Leadership, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Majority in WSJ reader poll support 2012 run


Reagan Foundation video: A Perspectives on Leadership Forum with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. September 27, 2011, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California.
http://youtu.be/apledlOUVfs

Wall Street Journal
After Christie Speech, the Answer Is Still 'No'
By Jonathan Weisman
September 28, 2011

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a muscular plea for national unity in a speech Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan presidential library. Although he and those close to him have said repeatedly he won't run for president, the California appearance nonetheless stoked speculation he would enter the Republican nomination contest.
Read the rest of the article at:

FYI: Wall Street Journal reader's poll as of 2:11 a.m. September 29, 2011
Should New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie run for the Republican presidential nomination?
2108 total votes with 66.4% responding that Gov. Christie should run


Newark Star-Ledger
Gov. Christie speech reactions: Candidates and pundits sound off

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/

President Reagan Foundation http://www.reaganfoundation.org

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Senator Marco Rubio wows crowd at The Ronald Reagan Library, Simi Valley (CA); later appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel show


Florida's U.S. Senator Marco Rubio wows crowd at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA. August 23, 2011.
The proper role of government, the singular objective of economic public policy, should be the growth and the creation of jobs and opportunity.

Best part come from 10:18 on... and when he gets rolling, about 16:05, and eventually talks about his Cuban-born, cigar-smoking grandfather, born in 1899 and a lover of history, forget about it, the crowd is putty in his hand.
It's a story that resonates with anyone who really knows their American history.

Rubio sounded just like this when I saw him in Hallandale Beach in June of 2009, talking about the proper role of government, the U.S. Constitution and the Founding Fathers' principles.
Of course, that's when all the experts in the Sunshine State, especially the local ones in the South Florida news media, the same ones who write about him today, were saying that he was destined to lose to the 2010 Republican nomination to then-Governor Charlie Crist.
The very same people who still daily under-estimate in their articles, columns and TV news reports, the logical appeal of Tea Party principles in this chaotic, poorly-run and myopic state.
Rubio ardently cares about ideas more than any other politician in Florida -by far.
It's not an act, it's who he is, which is why he is so unpopular among liberal Democrats in this state, who hate that his logic and reason so easily demolishes their longstanding house-of-cards.
It's why I knew after seeing him that warm 2009 night in-person that I would vote for him and that he would win come 2010.
I never doubted it and said so at the time.

You see even in South Florida, some of us still care about the ideas and dynamic principles that make this country unique.

Fox News Channel video: Sen. Marco Rubio speaks with Sean Hannity on "Hannity. August 23, 2011. http://youtu.be/hKF4VkjFPRY

Below are some of my Marco Rubio photos from his June 23, 2009 appearance in Hallandale Beach at the Southeast Broward Republican Club meeting, which I went to thanks to my friend, Arturo O'Neill, and my February 26, 2011 blog post titled, The show is Jeopardy! and the question is: "Can I have 'Midterms' for $2,000", http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/show-is-jeopardy-and-question-is-can-i.html.



That's Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel at the table.


Hallandale Beach Blog 1, Media Experts 0
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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Reagan's 100th Birthday: Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Curates YouTube.com on Reagan's 100th Birthday!




Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Curates YouTube.com on Reagan's 100th Birthday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEa9xOkpJgc

http://www.reaganlibrary.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ReaganFoundation


http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=D64025&shopRef=TCMdb|Title

Original trailer -Knute Rockne--All American (1940)
Still one of my favorite films, which I've seen at least thirty times over the years.
http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=27603&titleId=80476


TCM's 31 Days of Oscar 2011

Sunday, October 17, 2010

New film re the U.S. economy under Obama titled “I Want Your Money" has cartoons, yet deserves serious scrutiny; Aventura Mall's new kids-free nights

"I Want Your Money" Official HD Movie Trailer



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEPPHjKIZps

www.IWantYourMoney.net.

Theater locator: http://www.iwantyourmoney.net/theaterlocator/


I'm probably going to see it this week down the street at the AMC 24 cineplex at the Aventura Mall, which has been so much in the news of late because of the near-riot there in late August, resulting in their just-announced kids-free curfew on Friday and Sunday nights after 9:30 p.m.

Before you read the past articles on how this came to be, I think it's important to say for the record that nobody currently working at the Aventura Mall looks like Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083929/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Times_at_Ridgemont_High
only the most beautiful "girl at the Mall" ever, no matter where in America you lived.

Ever!

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20270976_10,00.html

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/07/remember_the_80s_fortresslike_malls_are_back_in_vogue_again.php

------

Excerpt from an email of mine sent on August 29th:

Unless you frequently check the
Miami Herald's poky website over the course of the day, you wouldn't know about this but...

At 10:17 a.m. Sunday morning, the Herald posted this City of Aventura blog post of the
story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/28/1797299/brawl-outside-of-theater-results.html

This story had
160 reader comments as of 10 p.m. Sunday night -in chron order- multiples of the usual Herald stories not involving the Dolphins or Hurricanes.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/28/1797299/brawl-outside-of-theater-results.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

On Sunday night at 8:
24 p.m., the Herald posted this version of the story: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/29/1798041/aventura-mall-evacuated-after.html

Reader comments for second version, in chron order:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/29/1798041/aventura-mall-evacuated-after.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1#none

-----


That was all the predicate for this bit of news on Monday:

Miami Herald

Aventura Mall adopts 'parental escort policy' for teens

By Jared Goyette

October 11, 2010

Starting this week, teens hoping to hit Aventura Mall on a Friday or Saturday night will have to bring along a companion -- their mom or dad.

Anyone under the age of 18 in the mall after 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays must be accompanied -- at all times -- by a parent or legal guardian on Friday and Saturday.

This comes a little more than a month after a brawl between minors in front of the theater resulted in the arrest of 12 teenagers on Saturday, Aug 28.

Joe Szymaszek, vice president of retail operations for Turnberry Associates, which runs the mall, said the new rule was not related to the incident and had been under consideration for some time.

"We're committed to giving our customers a family friendly shopping, dinning and entertainment experience, and we believe this new policy supports that initiative.''

The AMC 24 movie theater and several restaurants are the only part of the mall still open at that hour, though some stores extend their hours during the holiday season.

The mall's new "parental escort policy,'' which starts this Friday, will likely irritate teenagers.

But many adult shoppers and moviegoers, however, may be glad to hear the news.

For Angelica Doval, 24, of Miami, the new rule is the right approach.

"I think it's a good idea just because for older people, like myself, if you're going on a date or whatnot, you're going to want to come and enjoy it,'' she said while visitting the mall during a recent weekday. "A lot of time minors kill the atmosphere with their immaturity, with their noise, just being childish. So I think if they have a guardian with them, they'll be better behaved.''

Andy Cunningham, 44, of Aventura, had a similar opinion.

"It will make my movie-going experience as an adult so much more pleasant because I won't have all of the nonsense these kids bring into the movie theater,'' he said.

Other malls around the country have adopted similar measures. In March, a theater in the Dallas area implemented a "family night'' policy that said no one under 17 was allowed in after 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday without a parent or legal guardian. In 2008, a theater in Harrisburg, Penn., barred anyone under 17 from attending movies after 9:30 p.m.

Those under 18, of course, had a different take on the issue.

North Miami Beach resident Rebecca Sonn, 17, said the rule was presented during a school assembly at North Miami Beach Senior High.

She thinks that the policy could ruin dates for younger students, and that it's fundamentally unfair.

"The kids that are mature shouldn't be punished for what a few immature kids did,'' she said.

Rebecca's mother, Teri Sonn, does not share her daughter's concern. While she thinks the movie theater will lose business, she believes the mall will be safer with the new policy -- and that her daughter can just make other plans on Friday and Saturday evenings.

"The mall is not a babysitting service,'' she said.

Prateek Sachdeva, 16 lives next to the mall. He said it's impossible for him to go to the mall during weekdays due to his class work, and he is concerned this will take away one of his few escapes. He thinks the mall administrators will regret their decision.

"I think when the mall realizes how much money it is losing due to this curfew, it won't take long till they revoke it,'' he said.

Prateek's father, Rajiv Sachdeva, also thinks the policy is unfair to his son. He said he'll try to plan weekends when they can go to the movies at the same time, but on some night's that won't be possible.

"I'm not in favor of that policy, it's a punishment for him,'' he said. `` We want to make him as independent as we possibly can. We have full faith in him.''

The rule will be enforced by both mall security guards and City of Aventura Police officers, who will be checking IDs inside the mall, Szymaszek said. While security staff will not be able to determine from the IDs checks whether an adult is the parent or legal guardian of the minor they are accompanying, Szymaszek said that ultimately the mall will have to depend on the "integrity of all patrons to which this policy applies.''

Zoila Marzo of Sunny Isles is 18, and was glad the policy won't affect her. She thinks it's "ridiculous'' and wonders what minors are supposed to do at night if they can't go to the mall.

"Young kids can't go out partying or clubbing, they come to the mall on weekends, so that will affect them a lot,'' she said. ``What else can they do? They're young.''

Student contributors Anthony Cave, Aly Garfinkle, and Eric Eidelstein assisted with this report.

Reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/11/1868256/aventura-mall-to-adopt-parental.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

-----

The latest version of the new rules:

Miami Herald

Parental guidance: Kids unwelcome without adults at Aventura Mall

Teens for the first time this weekend had to be escorted by adults or guardians after 9:30 p.m. at the mall in Aventura. And some didn't like it.
By Jared Goyette

October 17, 2010


It was 9:28 p.m. Friday and Lior Amar was standing at Aventura Mall's AMC 24 movie theater, about to buy tickets for a movie with a group of friends.


There was only one problem. Lior, from Miami, is only 13, and a security guard told her to leave. Effective this weekend, the mall became the latest to adopt a teen chaperon policy for Friday and Saturday nights.


Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/16/1877195/parental-guidance-kids-unwelcome.html