On the 101st anniversary of the Gipper's birthday yesterday, Haley Barbour informed the Republican candidates that Reagan was no "purist." Michael Crowley elaborates on this point. One important example:
Today, most Republicans insist that Bill Clinton emboldened al-Qaeda by not retaliating more forcefully to terror events like the 2000 USS Cole bombing and the first World Trade Center attack. But when a suicide bomber killed hundreds of U.S. Marines in their Beirut barracks, Reagan yanked America’s military out of Lebanon–and didn’t retaliate (prompting complaints from Republican hawks even then.) He fretted about basing a counter-strike on murky intelligence and the possibility for civilian casualties. Imagine how Gingrich would respond if Obama tried an excuse like that.
Related Dish coverage here and here.
(Photo: Dozens of televisions display a political advertisement with the image of former President Ronald Reagan at the American furniture electronics and appliances store December 27, 2011 in Urbandale, Iowa. By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.)
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