Republicans Haven't Always Been Dummies

"The American effort to impose liberalisation and democratisation, not only failed, but actually assisted the coming to power of new regimes in which ordinary people enjoy fewer freedoms and less personal security than under the previous autocracy."

"No idea holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans," she observed, "than the belief that it is possible to democratise governments any time, anywhere, under any circumstances." But autocracy is sometimes the only thing that could hold a society together. "The speed with which armies collapse, bureaucracies abdicate, and social structures dissolve once the autocrat is removed frequently surprises American policy-makers."

— Jeane Kirkpatrick, UN Ambassador under Reagan, in 1979... sure to soon be labeled "coward, traitor, and French by right-wing bloggers everywhere.

There is some quote about "doomed to repeat it" that seems fitting here, but... dammit... I can't remember what it is.