RIP, Jeane Kirkpatrick

The New York Post has a touching tribute to the former UN Ambassador this morning.

Like her equally outspoken successor, John Bolton, Jeane Kirkpatrick viewed the job of United Nations ambassador as a platform from which to vigorously press the case for an assertive U.S. foreign policy - even in the face of international opposition.

As her boss, President Ronald Reagan, gleefully put it: "You're taking off that big sign that we used to wear that said, 'Kick Me.'"

At least Bolton, who is stepping down this month because of the stubborn refusal of misguided Democrats to let the Senate vote on his nomination, enjoyed the full support of the president he worked for and his foreign-policy team.

Not so Kirkpatrick, who died in her sleep yesterday at age 80.

Reagan, of course, was her biggest fan. She also had strong backing from people like Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and CIA Director William Casey.

And she enjoyed widespread public support, of course - so much so that, as Reagan's term ended, she became the first woman to be seriously talked about as a major-party presidential candidate. (She ultimately decided not to run.)

But others in the administration consistently tried to undermine her standing with the president. Noting that the Soviet KGB tried to publicly discredit her through a crudely forged letter, she later remarked: "There was as much disinformation aimed at me from inside our own government as from the Soviet Union."

Chief among the Kirkpatrick bashers: James Baker, then the White House chief of staff, who planted news stories about her "impulsiveness" and "temperament" in a bid to isolate her politically.

Baker, of course, is also back in the news, having just called on President Bush to turn tail and run from Iraq. Jeane Kirkpatrick, we strongly suspect, would have eloquently demolished the Baker-Hamilton commission's prescriptions.

But then, passionate advocacy was what Kirkpatrick did best.

Read the rest.

Some NRO flashbacks here, here, and here.