No there hasn’t. Reagan was a good politician, he played to win. He did not try to limit his supporters, but broaden his appeal to as many as possible. He was not a my way or the highway type of guy. He was a team player, a great teammate. He made everyone in the GOP coalition feel part of something larger. He wouldn’t stomp all over a Tom Kean because he was what today is called a RINO. He understood that the politics of every region of this country is different. He worked with a Kean to move the ball of free enterprise, strong defense down the field. His best feature was his ability to communicate Conservatism in a clear and intelligent manner.
I miss him. Sounds like you do too.
You said it. Reagan also reached out to Tip O'Neill. He was a pragmatist, when all was said and done.
So tell me - do you think Reagan, had he been alive in 2010, would have gone on Fox News and bashed Tea Party candidates who won their primary elections over GOP-E favored moderates?
No.
The Reagan comparison works both ways. And the GOP-E broke party unity first, in 2010. Many conservatives on FR felt for years that the definition of GOP party loyalty was to vote for the RINO when the RINO wins. Many of them felt if conservatives did get a conservative win win in a primary over an established RINO, that the GOP-E would toss party loyalty overboard. We always suspected that was the case, but went along with party loyalty anyway.
And in 2010, our suspicions were proven correct.
And now the GOP-E wants to pretend 2010 never happened and that we should meekly and uncritically fall in behind their chosen squish who didn't win the primary as much as he destroyed any alternative to his starkly unpopular candidacy.
The GOP-E created this mess, not us. Please spare us the Reagan lectures, the 11th Commandment was ground into dust over the last couple of years by that bunch (who always loathed Reagan anyway).