“[Ron Paul] also likes to back stab people in the back like Reagan.”
I’m pretty sure Reagan didn’t stab people in the back much. Although I bet he wanted to stab Tip O’Neill and David Stockman in the front.
I used to think Reagan really solidly accomplished one thing: making conservatism acceptable and being a liberal overtly unelectable. But then, Obama’s in the White House after running as New Soviet Man, so it obviously didn’t take.
But to address your point, Paul said what others have said about Reagan’s 8 years in the White House. It was a great time to be a conservative, but Reagan did less for the conservative movement and the Constitution than his mandate would have allowed, especially after the debacles of tax hikes and amnesty are included in his record. He didn’t shrink government. The man wasn’t perfect. But he was still great because he made being conservative the right thing to do. And he was still way better than his VP, who Paul ran against. I believe it was because Paul recognized Reagan had failed to deliver for conservatives, and was going to fall away from conservatism further, in allowing Bush to claim conservative votes for RINO governance with only the barest of commitments to conservative principles.
Precisely. If even Ronald Reagan and the Republicans in Congress wouldn't/couldn't deliver on Conservative principles, who ever would?
But taking George H Bush as VP was Reagan's first compromise with the Rockefeller Republicans. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be his last. Yet I'd still like to believe that he did the best he could -- they were and still are just too powerful.