Econo-Girl reflects on the death of a very powerful woman: Jean Kirkpatrick.
Her power made some in America very afraid, like Jesse Jackson. When Jesse Jackson hosted Saturday Night Live, he did an entire skit making fun of how Jean Kirkpatrick looked, mocking the idea that anyone would find her attractive.
Econo-Girl was appalled. Her opinion of Jesse Jackson at that point plummeted. And that was before watching a PBS documentary on Rev. Martin Luther King and the early civil rights movement that showed Jesse Jackson always standing behind Rev. King when a camera was rolling so he could get on t.v. too.
And let's not forget the day after the King assassination that Jesse Jackson yelled and screamed before the Chicago City Council with red on his shirt that he claimed was Dr. King's blood. That claim was later disputed.
And so, the price of prominence for our Jean Kirkpatrick was suffering fools like Jesse Jackson. Attacks on appearance were common in those days for women of substance and policy who dared to be in the public eye. Willing to dare such outrages, my admiration and respect goes out to Jean Kirkpatrick. Rest in peace. We all stand on your shoulders.
4 comments:
And let us not forget, that she was in favour of the invasion of Iraq –widely believed to be illegal and based on doctored intelligence. From a speech she made in 2003;
'Three times Clinton did what many Democrats are now saying Bush can’t do. He did it in Bosnia in ’95, in Iraq with Desert Fox in December of ’98, and in Kosovo in ’99. In the Balkans case he had no Security Council Authority”
She supported Galtieri’s unprovoked invasion of The Falkland Islands, which as many people have forgotten – hand-over and sovereignty were being discussed with Argentinean diplomats at the UK Foreign Office at the very time of the invasion. Thatcher, in good faith withdrew the order to send a nuclear sub (which was sent every year on the advice of SIS to deter any possible invasion) and why the Argentinean’s, mistakenly, took the advantage. After the invasion she further attempted to persuade Regan to publicly support the Argentineans and withdraw support for the British including intelligence sharing. She persuaded the DOD not to move a satellite so that it could provide intel for the Brits (who had no access to satellites in the area - the Argentineans received sat int from the Soviets) which was only overturned by personal intervention of Caspar Weinberger.
She was a staunch IRA supporter along with Ted Kennedy, both of which were secretly filmed by SIS meeting with a major Noraid fundraiser Richard Lawlor about increasing their funding of which 60-70% went directly to the IRA.
How public perception and reality often differ.
Yes, rest in peace!
I do not know too much about this person. I was not exactly paying too much attention in the 80s to what was going on. I was more interested in Pac Man and Donkey Kong - and trying to convince my parents I needed an Apple II+ or a Commodore 64.
OK, OK. I never said I liked Jean Kirkpatrick's politics. But Jesse Jackson's attack on her appearance was pathetic. There was no call for that at all.
Way too much politics these days is about marketing an image. I think it has a lot to do with TV.
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