01-20-2008, 11:17 AM
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#41 (permalink)
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Banned
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Eight months later, and nuthin's changed:
Quote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/op...20rich.html?hp
January 20, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Ronald Reagan Is Still Dead
By FRANK RICH
CONTEMPLATING the Clinton-Obama racial war, some Republicans were so excited you’d have thought Ronald Reagan had risen from the dead to slap around a welfare deadbeat.
Never mind that the G.O.P. is running on empty, with no ideas beyond the incessant repetition of Reagan’s name.....
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Judging by last week's presidential debate, Frank, you wouldn't know that he's dead, you wouldn't know it:
Quote:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/15249/
Republican Debate Transcript, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Published January 10, 2008
Speakers:
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Fred Thompson
This debate between Republican presidential candidates was held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on January 10, 2008. It was hosted by Fox News.
HUME: And now let's meet the candidates.
...GIULIANI: Well, the reality is that some tax cuts do add to revenues. Other tax cuts don't add to revenues. It depends on the tax cut. And tax cutting has been part of the Bush program, the Reagan program, the Kennedy program, and it always led to significant increase in economic activity....
....You also have to cut spending as significantly as you cut taxes. You have to be willing to impose cutbacks on each one of the federal agencies, the civilian agencies. I would do that the way I did as mayor of New York City, the way Ronald Reagan did it as president of the United States....
...WALLACE: Senator McCain, as a deficit hawk, I just want to ask you for a 30-second rebuttal on that.
Do you believe the tax cuts pay for themselves or do you believe that they add to the deficit?
MCCAIN: I think they stimulate the economy.....I'm proud to have been a member of the Reagan revolution, a foot soldier. And we cut taxes, but Ronald pay Reagan knew we had to cut spending at the same time. .....
.....Governor Huckabee, a question for you.
Your adviser, Ed Rollins, recently said that the Reagan Coalition of Economic, Social and National Security Conservatives is gone and you've been quoted as saying that you're not running for another Reagan term.
Tell us, sir, what part of that coalition is gone and what has it been replaced by?
HUCKABEE: Well, I'm not sure anybody said we're not running for a Reagan term. I think I said I wasn't running for this president's third term, because each of us have to distinguish ourselves.
So let me correct you on that, not that you would need correcting, Carl, but I wanted to throw that in and make sure you go that right.
The Reagan Coalition has certainly not seen those same middle class, working class Republicans feeling a part of the Republican Party as they should and one of the things that I want us to do, both as a party and through this election process, is once again make sure that people understand that when we lower taxes, when we cut spending, when we have a strong national defense, when we stick to our principles on the sanctity of human life and the primacy of traditional marriage.......
.....HUCKABEE: All of those things were a part of that Reagan coalition. I was a part of it in 1979 and a lot of the evangelicals who became a part of helping Ronald Reagan to be elected.....
...CAMERON: Senator McCain, just a moment ago, you referred to yourself as a foot soldier in the Reagan army. What do you think about the notion in the Huckabee camp that the Reagan coalition might be gone?
MCCAIN: I think, in some respects, that the Reagan principles and philosophy and practices we've gone away from.....
...But fundamentally, also, we have to return to those principles of less government, lower taxes, strong family values, strong national defense, and those that made us the Reagan revolution that brought about a new dawn of a new day in America .....
...CAMERON: Governor Romney, as part of your universal health insurance plan in Massachusetts, you say it was necessary to include coverage for abortion services. Would you make that same decision if Congress were to suggest that mandatory abortion services would be part of a national health insurance program?
ROMNEY: Carl, the decision to include abortion services in health care in Massachusetts was required by the court, not by the legislature, and certainly not by me as governor....
...But let me come back to your other question about Ronald Reagan. Look, the only way we're going to win the White House is by appealing to the coalition that brought together the great strength that Ronald Reagan brought to America.
What's happened in America is that Washington has moved away from the Reagan coalition. The Republican Party, in some cases, has moved away from the Reagan principles.
But the principles that Ronald Reagan espoused are what will allow us not only to win the White House, but to keep America strong. Ronald Reagan was the ultimate optimist. He was a person who had confidence in America and brought back that spirit that we rely upon to be the strongest nation on Earth.
Ronald Reagan said we're going to have such a strong military, we'll out-compete the Soviets, and he did. He said we're going to have such strong families that the values of Americans will shine as an example of a shining city on a hill for the entire world to see, and he did that...
...THOMPSON: Can I answer that?
CAMERON: Senator Thompson, a 30-second rebuttal.
THOMPSON: Well, it's not a response. I mean, you asked a minute or a minute-and-a-half question of these gentlemen on the Reagan revolution. Could I address that?
CAMERON: Sure.
THOMPSON: It's an important issue, because I think it demonstrates what we're about here today. I think that Governor Huckabee's campaign manager said it accurately in terms of what they believe. They believe that it is over.
This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future. On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution. You have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security....
....That's not the model of the Reagan coalition, that's the model of the Democratic Party...
...HUCKABEE: Yes.
Everywhere I went, I had people protesting me and screaming and yelling and doing demonstrations because I cut government. But I stayed faithful to the things that Ronald Reagan stayed faithful to.
You know, if Ronald Reagan were running tonight, there would be ads by the Club for Growth running against him because he raised taxes a billion dollars in his first year as governor of California. It would be $10 billion today....
...GIULIANI: Well, first of all, the reason Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 was because Ronald Reagan was seen as the strongest leader in comparison to Jimmy Carter. And Ronald Reagan ran a 50- state campaign. Of course, it was built around peace through strength, which meant a strong military. And it was built around empowering people, which is why he lowered taxes. He didn't lower taxes just for the purpose of lowering taxes, he lowered taxes because he wanted to leave money in people's pockets because he felt that people spending money creatively is much better than government trying to direct the spending of money.
I worked for Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan appointed me Associate Attorney General of the United States. He appointed me United States attorney in the southern district of New York. And we're in different times. Ronald Reagan's principles would apply now, but they have to apply to different circumstances.
I'm a conservative because I believe in a strong national defense, the way Ronald Reagan did. I think peace through strength that Ronald Reagan proposed to deal with the Cold War is similar to what we have to do now in dealing with this terrorist war against us. ....
...But if we want to be a party that can run and win in states that Ronald Reagan won -- New York, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, states we haven't won in a long, long time, and states in which we don't even campaign any longer, we're going to have to take a really good look at what made up the Reagan coalition. .....
...GIULIANI: Well, I think the most important thing is the steps that the Palestinian Authority now takes and how realistic they are to accomplish at least three things.....
....You know, Ronald Reagan had a theory of trust but verify. ......
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