But I want it to be true so I'm republishing it.
At his third press conference, President Reagan responds to the following:
· The Israeli attack on Iraq - "I can't answer that"
· Israels' refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty - "Well, I haven't given very much thought to that particular question there"
· Pakistan's refusal to sign the treaty - "I won't answer the last part of that question"
· Israeli threats against Lebanon - "Well, this is going to be one, I'm afraid, that I can't answer now"
· The tactics of political action committees - "I don't really know how to answer that."
When faced with skepticism about his administration's grasp of foreign affairs, the President declares "I'm satisfied that we do have a foreign policy."
And how come Wonkette is the only one of my favorites to pick up on this giant McCain re-write of documented Reagan/Iran history, anyway? What's with that? TPM, I'm looking at you. Kos? Anybody?
Well, thanks to The Google, I find Think Progress wrote about it. Maybe I'll have to put them on my list.
So, if your memory is kind of poor about all of that stuff 20 or more years ago:
McCain’s praise of Ronald Reagan is wholly misplaced. To recap, during the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, hostages (held by Hezbollah) were not released because of Iran’s fear of Reagan, as McCain suggested. In reality, Iran released them after Reagan administration officials infamously sold arms to the country, which were transfered to Ayatollah Khomeini. As a result, 11 Reagan officials were convicted of crimes.
Furthermore, Reagan did not have to “negotiate” with Iran during the hostage crisis of the 1970s because he wasn’t involved in it. The extensive negotiations with Iran were done before his presidency. In fact, Reagan’s inauguration occurred only minutes before the hostages were released.
McCain should take note of what Reagan said in 1981: “Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.”
(It should be noted —so I'm noting — that theories that Reagan campaign officials actually prevailed upon the Iranians to hold back on releasing the hostages that they held until inauguration day Jan. 19, 1981, has been pretty thoroughly debunked. Commenters seem to agree that the Iranians purposely did it to embarrass Carter as he left office, after his envoy Warren Christopher, had succeeded in negotiating the release.)
Oh, I know. It's hard enough remembering who all the neocons are, much less the crimes of past administrtions.
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