Editorial / The Plot to Destroy Dan Rather and Me / Facing Our Enemies
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr.
Two writers in the Washington Post then noted that Reagan's promise to dismantle the Departments of Education and Energy had bumped into: reality. This was said to be: gr'tty. Literally...
...In 1972 its henchmen invaded Munich's Olympic Village and slaughtered 11 unarmed Israeli athletes...
...Liberals and leftists say they "reject labels," but they are mighty quick to pin them on others: on the rigid ideologues, the faithful and the true believers, the strident hardliners, on the New Right with its purity, its dogmas and schisms...
...Essays on Philosophical Subjects By Adam Smith The Glasgow Edition General Editors: D. D. Raphael and A. S. Skinner The collection of Smith's writings entitled Essays on Philosophical Subjects was first published posthumously in 1795...
...The New York Times and the Washington Post have more " c l o u t " than Human Events and the Conservative Digest...
...I for one cannot count him out, nor can I say " h e never calls, he never writes...
...I n foreign policy one must first practice discernment and then face the music...
...Sadly enough, we happen to live in an age when the Left, broadly speaking, controls the terms of public discourse, and has arrogated to itself both the taxonomic and the namecalling privilege...
...Senator Tsongas presumes to stand on middle ground in Israel's dispute with the PLO, or in El Salvador's dispute with the terrorists that afflict that woebegone land...
...Those who diabolize Israel and El Salvador display neither discernment nor resoluteness...
...T's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...Of the two, Dan was in far greater peril of being manipulated...
...Possibly someday American government will again reflect the character of the American people...
...On the contrary, it should negotiate and compromise with them...
...oftcover only $5.50...
...The silliness that has...
...A presidential call could panic Dan, causing him to utter an indiscretion or, worse, an untruth...
...It has fired THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR OCTOBER 1982 41...
...The thing h a s happened before, and when it does Dan flummoxes millions of Americans who come to him for enlightenment while they stuff their faces or remove their socks...
...Wolfe: "Do.you think a Polish Pope will change relations between the Vatican and Moscow...
...Controversy arises only when ways of achieving them are proposed...
...To order, or for a copy of our catalogue, write: LibertyPress/LibertyClassics 7440 North Shadeland, Dept...
...The President by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr...
...Look what happened to Richard Nixon when he tried to go up against these guys...
...You mean well, but you haven't quite grasped how the system works around here...
...To the unwary pragmatist, all such behavior appears random...
...This is isolationism more profound than that of the 1930s...
...Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery...
...You see, there is one thing the Doleful Bakers, Domenici, Gergen & Darman do know for sure...
...But it should crack down hard on countries where the governing structui:e makes the emergence of socialism difficult-i.e., countries with market economies and no elections (Chile, Taiwan, etc...
...In 1978 it waylaid a Tel Aviv bus and massacred 33 civilians...
...Yet men like John Chancellor and Paul Tsongas find it very difficult to accept the depth of PLO animosity...
...When apprised of the President's call many in Washington were at one with Roger Mudd, who adjudged the call " i n t e r e s t i n g " because "it reveals how his [the President's] mind works...
...Even the balance of payments may benefit...
...That is, they are not guided by any philosophical principles...
...The civil war it precipitated to gain control of Lebanon left over 10,000 dead...
...If economic principle demands that central city stores, and those located in older malls give way to new mall stores and franchises, then economic principle is stupid and blind...
...Nonetheless, influential Americans even in the Reagan Administration urged negotiations...
...Do what the Times says, then they'll be on your side...
...Nothin' here but us pragmatists and moderates, whistled Moyers and McGrory, Lewis, Greider, Haynes Johnson, and a hundred others...
...The Reagan Administration stands at a crossroads...
...and less excusable...
...Also includes extensive notes covering historical facts and Smith's references...
...Oh, the former is unrealistic...
...Dan's call came as he was earnestly talking into his microphone during the evening news...
...Softcover only--S11.00 the set...
...He got me in Indiana, and professed his belief that he has remained true to his conservative principles and friends...
...Businessmen, contrary to the power-hungry image of them depicted on television, are often quite guileless, at times even stupid about current affairs...
...These things are not at issue...
...Here is how befuddled we have become by the Freudian whim-wham...
...Let the ingenuity Simon invests in equivocation and irrelevancy be devoted to finding better ways of using our common heritage and trust in the land...
...Leftists, by any chance...
...My call came as I was tapping out a book recounting the glory of the Carter years...
...colleagues throughout the media worry prodigiously about the effect of these calls--CHILLING, CHILLING...
...Only someone guided by a consistent philosophy can see that another's behavior has an equal, if opposite, consistency to it...
...Well, Dan and I answered...
...Pope Leo X used to recall pointedly how his father, the worldly and w!i,y Lorenzo de Medici, would say, "You should understand thatthose who speak ill of us do not love us...
...Owing to these principles and to its strategic designs, it rightly perceives us as enemies...
...This venerable wisdom is lost on John Chancellor and those like Massachusetts ~ fresh voice of soidisant neo-liberalism, Sen...
...Charlie Small, the head of the Light Weight Corporation, got us an audience with him...
...tt doesn't pay, you know . . . . You can't win without the m e d i a . . . so Ron, be sensible and adjust to reality...
...Much like our right-wing extremists who see Communists under every bed, these melioristic Americanos see potential friends of America everywhere...
...That is why the Twin Bakers and the Grown Dole have not been able to figure out that, in assenting to what they have been told is "reality," they have really succumbed to an ideology...
...L a d i e s and gentlemen, this is ideology, not pragmatism...
...It has done much more...
...Just like everyone else...
...Our economy is improving, though government spending reLlbwtyPress LabertyClasszs The Wealth of Nations (In Two Volumes) By Adam Smith The Glasgow Edition General Editors: R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner Textual Editor: W. B. Todd A Softcover version of the edition commissioned by the University of Glasgow and published by Oxford University Press to celebrate the bicentenary of The Wealth of Nations in 1976...
...Moreover Americans can now see some of their enemies' most wicked deeds on television as they take place...
...The trouble is that such people as Baker, his senatorial counterpart Howard, and Bob ("Has Grown") Dole really are pragmatists...
...The aspirations of all Simon's clients pale in comparison to the objective of keeping this and succeeding generations of Americans well fed, and feeding (at least) those in other lands who can afford American food...
...Businessman: " I met the Pope...
...encroached upon government is slowly being banished...
...All orders from outside the United States must be prepaid in U.S, dollars...
...Tom Wolfe tells the story of his recent dinner party conversation with a titan of industry...
...Against his own best instincts, he's being led step by step to accept an ideology which is embraced by people who are afraid that his own beliefs, if put to the test, might succeed, [] E D I T 0 R I A L THE PLOT TO DESTROY DAN RATHER AND ME P r e s i d e n t Reagan is trying to destroy Dan Rather and me...
...Moreover he believes he made a satisfactory effort to staff his government with like-minded people...
...Philip G. Groth Janesville, l~isconsin SAM missiles at commercial aircraft...
...Nor is it reassuring to know that once Dan's wisdom has wafted across the airwaves it is defunct...
...So far as I know the PLO is the only political organization on earth that as a matter of policy eschews battle with its enemies' soldiers for attacking its enemies' unarmed civilians...
...Yet many perceive that tbe Administration is losing its bearings and the Reagan constituency is fragmenting...
...The diabolizing comes down only on those who actively oppose America's enemies...
...No matter what the topic of discussion, the dialogue went like this...
...Many were reluctant to leave their jobs...
...The question brings us to one of the great historic failings of America's foreign policy establishment and of influential Americans in general, to wit: the inability or refusal to recognize that America does indeed have enemies, inveterate enemies, people who hate us whether from rational or irrational motives, people who will never negotiate in good faith...
...Did someone say balance the budget...
...I doubt it, but I can tell you that my esteemed Adapted from P...
...Why he has singled us out I cannot fathom, but it is chilling...
...I hope they will not forget me...
...It is even suspected of murdering Americans within the United States...
...Interestingly, those who cannot see this really are pragmatists...
...White House aides Baker & Darman again ? My spies are watching...
...The PLO aids, trains, and applauds every anti-American force on earth from North Koreans to North Vietnamese, to Libya, to Cuba, to Nicaragua, to the thugs of the Salvadoran bush...
...The PLO is suspected of murdering the American ambassador to Cyprus (1974) and to Lebanon (1976...
...At that point two incompatible ideologies emerge: left and right, liberal and conservative, socialist and capitalist...
...So perhaps it is time to point out that the government solutions these people invariably, consistently, and unanimously support are compatible with the left-liberal ideology, which is the same as the .age-old ideology of socialism, but in modern dress (no need to go on about the " s t a t e ownership of the means of production" anymore, for example...
...Cushioned by vast oceans and by friendly nations north and south, insulated by American affluence, they do not appreciate the depth of the enmities that exist in this world...
...Yet it was not easy for him to attract conservatives to government, particularly conservatives from the business community...
...and it wasn't one of those large ones, only 270 CEOs...
...But here's a final example that really does have a piquant flavor: "In a candid comment to columnist Henry Brandon, White House aide James Baker said he is not compromising Reagan's convictions...
...It should capture as much of the nation's wealth as possible, and redistribute it so that all subjects are equal to one another, if possible...
...lation...
...To me he said, "Did I get you in your New York office or in Indiana...
...To Dan he said, "I am concerned about the possible harm these reports [Dan's reports on U.S.Taiwan relations] may do to our international relations...
...Who has been doing all this labeling and name-calling...
...These people can't tell the difference...
...Literally thousands of such examples could be given...
...You know Charlie Small...
...One week last month, while Dan and I were duly applying ourselves to our arts--he on a Tuesday evening, I on a Monday afternoon--the President telephoned us with complaints...
...Such Americans live in blissful iso...
...Did the late Alexander Graham Bell ever envisage his invention as a tool of government intimidation...
...We pay book rate postage on prepaid orders...
...They've figured that out for themselves...
...One can easily imagine the Columbia School of Journalism convening a high-level seminar to probe the question, "When the President Calls Must the Virtuous Journalist Answer...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR OCTOBER 1982- 5 I can imagine his travail...
...most people forget in a matter of days and sometimes in a matter of minutes...
...But does America actually have enemies in the world...
...Others never learn...
...There's still a chance that Reagan can prevail over the Praetorian Guard...
...Our standing in the world is being restored...
...1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 1 7 6 . . . . . . . o o o . . . . . o o ~ 1 7 6 . . . . . . o~ EDITORIAL (continued from page 6) Latin American Marxists do not love us, nor do the members of the PLO...
...Think what a plus that will be, when the time comes to run for reelection, or for our good friend George Bush to runl as the case may be...
...It includes "The History of Astronomy" and "Of the External Senses,"as well as essays on art,~poetry, ancient science, and other subjects...
...TV news' impermanence assures its slovenly standards...
...A l l over the world there are vicious people delighted by any opportunity to lay America low...
...ambassador to the Sudan and his deputy...
...Some Americans recognize the inflexible animosity of our enemies only after being used as witless tools in the destruction of friendly nations, viz., South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos...
...Yet when Israel cornered these dreadful killers, it was diabolized...
...I'm simply adjusting them to realities,' he said...
...and there are aides around President Reagan who agree...
...Guided by a man of the highest character" and superb temperament, it has achieved much...
...Oh, yes, they want all things nice: economic growth, low interest rates, high employment...
...Can Ronald Reagan pull things together...
...They had taken on a new character, that of "Imperial I s r a e l . " Thus the defaming of another American ally picks up steam fueled by Americans in high places...
...The PLO is a criminal organization...
...FACING OUR ENEMIES Last month, while Israeli forces were doing the dirty work that has to be done to preserve freedom and national existence in a dangerous world, NBC'sJohn Chancellor appeared in Beirut on location as they say--in this case a sunny balcony--to report that the Israeli forces had been very "savage...
...I sympathize with the President...
...Alas, (continued on page 41) 6 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR OCTOBER 1982 at this or that corner of town...
...In 1974 the PLO seized a Maalot schoo.lhouse, held over 100 pupils captive, and murdered 20...
...Paul Tsongas...
...enters a complaint, and the Republic's sages fasten upon the matter of *'how his mind works" rather than what he said...
...Writing is more deliberative than talking, and I can erase...
...But there's no chance if he doesn't realize how much danger he's in...
...Contains a general introduction.and textual schedules of variations between editions as well as extensive cross-referencing to Smith's other works...
...This middle ground is illusory...
...A62 Indianapolis, IN 46250 mains gluttonous...
...Good, should we cut spending or raise taxes...
...It takes ideology to perceive a rival ideology in others...
...It has highjacked the airplanes of at least eight world airlines...
...The government should not pick quarrels with other socialist countries...
...In 1973 a PLO arm murdered the U.S...
...Yet the e.nemies of Western democracy are today more violent, blatant, and ubiquitous than were the pre-war Fascists and Nazis...
...This ideology dictates the following "realities": The government should expand its control over as many areas of life as possible, and religion should be excluded from these areas...
...Let's raise taxes then...
...So if it's all the same anyway - - j u s t a bunch of people trying to solve our problems without preconceptions-why not go along with the powerful and the fashionable...
...Not all our allies are so clinically scrutinized, then diabolized...
...Political intelligence is almost as rare in the business community as in the American Political Science Association...
...Prepayment is required on all orders not for resale...
...The PLO took refuge in a neutral city, and used civilians as shields...
...The Republic's media hawks are now probing the Rather affair as meticulously as investigators for a grand jury...
...He's a Knight of Columbus...
...Faced with defeat it uttered bloodcurdling oaths...
...It espouses political principles abominable to us...
...He has surprised his critics many times before...
...You ought to get to know Charlie Small...
Vol. 15 • October 1982 • No. 10
