• Ronald Reagan Tribute Video ~ Ronald Reagan was one of America’s greatest presidents. His … [more]

    Ronald Reagan Tribute Video — 2012 Gala
  • Reagan Legacy ~ We seek to remember, celebrate, foster and renew Ronald Reagan’s vision and … [more]

    Reagan Legacy
  • 2012 Reagan Gala ~ Frontiers of Freedom awarded U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch the 2012 Reagan Gala … [more]

    2012 Reagan Gala

The Iran Enigma

by Dr. Miklos K. Radvanyi   ahmadinejad

History, in her disposition toward intellectually gifted peoples and nations, appears as fickle as the gods of ancient times were wont to be of their most devout revelers; the more those peoples and nations excelled the less they were shielded from endless tribulations, great catastrophes, and devastating tragedies. Like most of the nation-states of Europe and Asia, present-day Iran had a glorious history, yet unlike them, it has been torn since 1979 between revolutionary adventurism and reactionary self-preservation.

The fatal contradiction in Ayatollah Khomeini’s doctrine of the “guardianship of the jurist” (velayat-e faqih) is that, by definition, it contains the political seeds of its own destruction. [Read more...]

Missile Defense: projecting strength rather than weakness

by George Landrith   Missile Defense

Ronald Reagan coined the phrase, “Peace through strength,” but it was not a new idea and it had not been an historically partisan concept. It dates back to George Washington who said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” Washington and Reagan understood that peace is achieved through strength and conversely that weakness invites attack. This was once a universally accepted truth among American leaders. Current events prove, it should again become American policy regardless of party.

We live in a dangerous world. Kim Jung-un is threatening military invasions and nuclear attacks. We’ve recently learned that the North Koreans are much closer to being able to put a nuclear warhead on a missile than was previously believed. China, already a nuclear power, is rapidly developing a large navy and stealth aircraft. Russia has been sending its military aircraft into American airspace on provocative test missions. [Read more...]

Benghazi hearings reveal a complete lack of interest and leadership

Leon Panetta

by George Landrith

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testified on Capitol Hill this morning about the events of September 11, 2012 in which the American Consulate in Benghazi was attacked and burned to the ground and four Americans murdered, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya. Panetta said that he had a pre-scheduled 30 minute meeting with President Obama at the White House at 5 p.m. that day. Panetta said that they spent 20 minutes talking about the American Embassy in Egypt that was surrounded by angry mobs and the unfolding attack in Benghazi. Interestingly, he said that Obama did not ask for any information about what military resources were in the region or for options of what might be done to protect the Americans in Benghazi. [Read more...]

Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address to the ’88 Republican National Convention

“Our party speaks for human freedom, for the sweep of liberties that are at the core of our existence. . . . Together we’ve fought for causes we love. But we can never let the fire go out or quit the fight, because the battle is never over. Our freedom must be defended over and over again — and then again.”

by Scott L. Vanatter

At the end of a Super Bowl the winning head coach can rightly point to the day’s game plan, key plays, and stats. All these and more contributed to what was accomplished by the team – led by the coach.

At the end of his time in office, a successful two-term president can rightly point to the administration’s fundamental principles and key policies. All these and more produced the real-world accomplishments – led by the president. After eight years of concrete success and indisputable accomplishment President Reagan reported to the 1988 Republican National Convention. Prior to being elected Reagan had carefully and overtly taught — yes, taught — the country the key principles on which the Founders based the U.S. Constitution and preserved American culture. [Read more...]

Shame on anyone who said Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi was a moderate

by Eric Trager

Nobody should have been surprised when Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issued a “constitutional declaration” on Thursday asserting total political power. This was, after all, the former Muslim Brotherhood leader’s second power grab since he took office in June, complementing his earlier seizure of legislative and constitution-writing authorities by now insulating himself from judicial oversight. Yet Washington was caught entirely off-guard: Morsi’s power play was at odds with the administration’s view that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “democratic party,” and his impressive handling of last week’s Gaza ceasefire created a modicum of trust between him and President Obama. So the State Department released a predictably confused statement, urging “all Egyptians to resolve their differences … peacefully and through democratic dialogue.” [Read more...]

More misdirection on Benghazi

Benghazi Bloody Printsby Jennifer Rubin

Each new revelation about the Benghazi debacle reinforces the idea we are either not hearing the truth or everyone in the administration was behaving irrationally. If you are waiting for someone to finally give a satisfactory explanation, I think it’s going to be a long wait.

The latest is that the director of national intelligence is claiming responsibility for the changed talking points. [Read more...]

Benghazi: more information only leads to more questions

by Peter Brookes

We don’t have all the details of former CIA Director David Petraeus’ testimony to congressional Intelligence Committees on Friday, but it looks like the American people were grossly misled about the Benghazi attack.

Is anyone surprised? You shouldn’t be.

The last thing the Obama administration wanted to tell the American public during a tight presidential campaign was that al Qaeda had attacked a US consulate on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, killing four brave Americans. [Read more...]

The Fog of Benghazi

What we now know—and still don’t—about President Obama’s 9/11.

Editorial: Wall Street Journal Editorial

November 3, 2012

The Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were murdered September 11 in Benghazi. That we know. But too little else about what took place before, during and after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission is clear.

The White House says Republicans are “politicizing” a tragedy. Politicians politicize, yes, but part of their job is to hold other politicians accountable. The Administration has made that difficult by offering evasive, inconsistent and conflicting accounts about one of the most serious American overseas defeats in recent years. Unresolved questions about Benghazi loom over this election because the White House has failed to resolve them.

• Why did the U.S. not heed warnings about a growing Islamist presence in Benghazi and better protect the diplomatic mission and CIA annex? [Read more...]

This election is not a referendum, nor is it a choice. It is an IQ test.

by George Landrith

Pundits say that to win Barack Obama must shape this election as a choice about the future and Mitt Romney must frame it as a referendum on Obama’s poor performance. However, this election is not a referendum, nor is it a choice. It is an IQ test.

Virtually no one who looks objectively and rationally at the facts could judge Obama’s first term a success. Moreover Obama has given us no real reason to believe a second term would be any better. He asks for more time, but neglects to tell us how he would use it differently. Perhaps that is the point. He intends to simply do more of the same, but he won’t come out and say it.

There are lots of irrational reasons to support Obama — “I like him personally,” or “he has a nice smile,” or “he’s a good speaker,” or “he had a really tough job and needs more time.”

[Read more...]

‘Troubling’ Surveillance Before Benghazi Attack

Sensitive documents found amid the wreckage of the U.S. consulate shine new light on the Sept. 11 assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

by Harald Doornbos, Jenan Moussa

November 1, 2012

BENGHAZI, Libya — More than six weeks after the shocking assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi — and nearly a month after an FBI team arrived to collect evidence about the attack – the battle-scarred, fire-damaged compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens and another Foreign Service officer lost their lives on Sept. 11 still holds sensitive documents and other relics of that traumatic final day, including drafts of two letters worrying that the compound was under “troubling” surveillance and complaining that the Libyan government failed to fulfill requests for additional security. [Read more...]

Lingering questions about Benghazi

The Obama administration needs to level with the country about why it made its decisions.

by David Ignatius

October 30, 2012

The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi has become a political football in the presidential campaign, with all the grandstanding and misinformation that entails. But Fox News has raised questions about the attack that deserve a clearer answer from the Obama administration.

Fox’s Jennifer Griffin reported Friday that CIA officers in Benghazi had been told to “stand down” when they wanted to deploy from their base at the annex to repel the attack on the consulate, about a mile away. Fox also reported that the officers requested military support when the annex came under fire that night but that their request had been denied. [Read more...]

The mysterious media Benghazi bugout

Where is the feeding frenzy on the Libya story?

by Jonah Goldberg

Where is the Benghazi media feeding frenzy?

I don’t think there’s a conspiracy at work. Rather, I think journalists tend to act on their instincts. And, collectively, the mainstream media’s instincts run liberal.

In 2000, a Democratic operative orchestrated an “October surprise” attack on George W. Bush, revealing that 24 years earlier, he’d been arrested for drunken driving. The media went into a feeding frenzy.

“Is all the 24-hour coverage of Bush’s 24-year-old DUI arrest the product of a liberal media almost drunk on the idea of sinking him, or is it a legitimate, indeed unavoidable news story?” asked Howard Kurtz on his CNN show “Reliable Sources.” The consensus among the guests: It wasn’t a legitimate news story. But the media kept going with it. [Read more...]

The Wages of Libya

Benghazi was a disaster, whose graphic details most Americans do not fully know.

by Victor Davis Hanson

We have had ambassadors murdered abroad before, but we have never seen anything quite like the tragic fate of Chris Stevens. Amid all the controversy over Libya, we have lost sight of the human — and often horrific — story of Benghazi: a U.S. ambassador attacked, cut off and killed alone, after being abused by frenzied terrorists, and a second member of the embassy staff murdered, as two American private citizens rushed to the rescue, heroically warding off Islamist hit teams, until they were overwhelmed and also killed. [Read more...]

Obama and Benghazi-gate

by George Landrith

The most recently revealed State Department e-mails regarding the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi show that President Barack Obama has not been shooting straight with America. Whatever national security errors were made in the months and weeks leading up to the Benghazi attack, engaging in a cover up always makes things worse.

We now know that an e-mail was sent from American embassy personnel in Libya to hundreds of officials in the Obama Administration only minutes after the attack began. This e-mail’s subject line was “US Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack” and stated that “approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four [embassy] personnel are in the compound safe haven.” [Read more...]

Iran’s pursuit of the bomb: Sanctions have failed

Economic sanctions yet to make a dent in the regime’s nuclear program

by Adam Kredo

Economic sanctions on Iran have failed in their “principal objective” of preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, according to a nonpartisan study by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

Sanctions “have not stopped Iran from building up its conventional military and missile capabilities, in large part with indigenous skills,” according to the report, which was released earlier this week. [Read more...]

Obama: “If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.”

Obama Stewart OptimalYou got that right, Mr. President, you might even say it is damn inconvenient.

by George Landrith

President Barack Obama, during an interview on the Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart responded to a question about his inaccurate and even misleading communications after the Benghazi attack, by saying: “If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.” Not optimal? Really? Let’s review a few other things that are “not optimal.” [Read more...]

Video: Obama is lying about Benghazi

Now Obama is attempting to coverup the coverup …  When will it stop?

by George Landrith

President Barack Obama now claims that he said on day one that the attack on Benghazi was a terrorist attack. However, that is simply not true. If you read the speech, when Obama referred to the attack in Benghazi without every applying the modifier “terrorist” or “terrorism.” Near the end of the speech President Obama used the word “terrorist” once and it was in context of the 2001 attacks. But if you’re not 100% sure what Obama meant, don’t worry. His personal statements make it painfully clear. (See video below.) [Read more...]

Fact-checking President Obama

by George Landrith

Let’s fact check President Barack Obama’s debate statements. He spent a lot of time since the first debate and during the second debate complaining that what Gov. Mitt Romney said wasn’t true. Yet, the facts do not support Obama’s claims. Here is the proof on Obama’s poor record on truthfulness during the second debate:

The attack in Libya — a terrorist attack? Or a spontaneous protest that got out of hand because of an offensive internet video?

On the issue of Libya, Obama said, that the day after the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, “I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime.”

Romney challenged Obama’s characterization that he had identified the Benghazi attack as terrorism on day one. Obama doubled down. Just as Romney was about the snare Obama in his lie,  the the moderator erroneously sided with Obama and claimed that he had identified the attack as terrorism. After the debate, the moderator admitted that she was wrong and that Romney was correct. But let’s not rely on her retraction and correction, let’s go straight to the record. [Read more...]

Debate analysis from around the web

Unequal Time: 

If you want more time to get your message out in debates, it’s good to be a Democrat. According to the CNN debate clock, President Obama spoke at greater length than Mitt Romney during both debates, as did Vice President Biden during his debate with Paul Ryan. In the first debate, Obama spoke for 3 minutes, 14 seconds more than Romney — which means he got 8 percent more talking time than Romney. In last night’s debate, Obama spoke for 4 minutes and 18 seconds longer than Romney, giving him 11 percent more talking time. During the vice presidential debate, the gap wasn’t as wide: Biden spoke for 1 minute, 22 seconds more than Ryan. Still, that gave Biden 3 percent more speaking time than Ryan. [Read more...]

Hillary Clinton: ‘I take responsibility’ for security ahead of Benghazi attack

CNN is Hillary Clintonreporting that “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the buck stops with her when it comes to who is to blame for security ahead of a deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya … ”I take responsibility” for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview … soon after arriving in Lima, Peru, for a visit … The attack killed Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans at the consulate.”

[Read more...]