Democrat Tom Lantos died of cancer complications at the age of 80. Lantos was the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a Holocaust survivor, and a long-time defender of Israel.
Lantos was a long-time supporter of an active U.S. foreign policy, championing the cause of liberty abroad. He rallied Democrat support for the Iraqi liberation, although he began to call for rapid troop withdrawals when he realized which way his party’s wind was blowing.
But to say that his record in public service was a mixed bag is far too generous. Tom Lantos was a far left liberal with an astounding 91% ACLU rating and a 7.8 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union (ACU). The damage done to this country by liberals like Tom Lantos will take a century to undo if we ever can be successful.
As a political biography, Lantos was first elected to Congress during the Reagan revolution of 1980. His seat was always safe in the liberal San Francisco bay area, so he became another one of those unaccountable politicians. He became chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2007. He was also the ranking #2 man on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, proving that Democrats have a wonderful sense of irony.
Lantos died in Bethesda Naval Medical Center, Maryland. His wife’s statement said that his life was “defined by courage, optimism, and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family.”
Plans for his funeral service have not been announced.
RIP Tom Lantos.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
McCain – now, come on – is this statement really necessary on the day the guy died??
“The damage done to this country by liberals like Tom Lantos will take a century to undo if we ever can be successful.”
At least ID “the damage done” – sheesh. Jews observe shiva – it’s seven days long – how about you wait until then and THEN lay into the guy for being a liberal? Come on.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
But Jill, I’m not Jewish.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Are you going to make me send out the Jewish Mafia on you? You know, interestingly, my synagogue was started in the 1800s by a group of Hungarian Jews and they referred to themselves as the Hungarian mafia.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
OK now I am worried. For your manly mafia friends, let me say that at least Tom Lantos understood a woman’s best assets. Did you notice the photo? Heh.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I gotta give him that.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
This reminds me of a funny thing that happened to me once. I worked for great Senator Paul Simon (yes I used to be a democrat but Simon wasn’t too bad as dems go) in his Washington DC office. I happened to work for him the week that Richard Nixon died, which was also the same week that John Candy died. All of Washington was shut down for a day in memorial of the former president, which really pissed off a lot of folks in Simon’s office because they were still bitter over Watergate and Tricky Dick. So, in protest, many of the staffers brought pictures and made a memorial to John Candy and observed his death instead of Nixons. Kind of harsh, but I thought it amusing at the time.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
BTM, Nixon died only 14 years ago. Normally it takes 20 years to recover from liberalism so you are ahead of pace.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Well, like Churchill said, if your under 30 and not a liberal, you have no heart, if you over 30 and not a conservative, you have no brain. My checkbook started me thinking, the dead-end ideas of liberalism pushed me over the edge.