text: what became of the liberals who claimed the communist ussr would never crumble?   reality. what you find with extreme partisans and i include extremist right wingers as well as the left wing is that when their claims are proved false they just change rhetoric. as to the what they have said before, they will either never mention it again, or deny that they ever said it in the first place if challenged. when denials do not work they resort to the final tactic in their arsenal which is too discredit anyone who doesn't agree as stupid or intolerant depending on the issue.  wow, what short memories some people have. did those posting that it was never stated live through the eighties? there was constant rhetoric in the media and political circles to this effect. i don't remember how many times a week we heard that mr. reagan was just a dangerous cowboy who was going to lead us into a nuclear war with the soviet union and that our goals would never be achieved.