Posted on 02/05/2011 9:57:52 AM PST by Brices Crossroads
As Sarah Palin addressed the Reagan 100 Celebration in California last night, I was almost distracted by her warm embrace of Reagan the man and what his vision and accomplishments meant to the country. There was no direct reference to the two Bush administrations, which spanned over half of the 22 years since the Gipper boarded the chopper bound for Rancho del Cielo...and his place both in history and in the hearts of his countrymen, who miss him so. Her address was both moving and pitch perfect.
And while there was no direct reference to the two Bush Administrations or to the Clinton Administration (which was spawned by the missteps of the first Bush), Palin very adroitly took them both to task and, at the same time, defended the Gipper. Noting that, by the time he left office, President Reagan had defeated the expansionist ideology of the [big government] Great Society, she lamented that:
"If history teaches us anything, it is that bad ideas are never gone for good.
FOR THE LAST TWO DECADES, WE HAVE SEEN BIG GOVERNMENT SLOWLY ENCROACH ON US. IT WAS SUBTLE AT FIRST, COUCHED IN THE LANGUAGE OF PROGRESS AND COMPASSION. But when the financial crisis erupted in 2008, big government rose up and presumptuously declared itself the answer to our problems...."
In 1988, I was in the Superdome for George H.W. Bush's acceptance speech at the GOP convention in New Orleans, and his call for a "kinder and gentler" America, which was both a euphemism for big government and a direct slap at his predecessor and benefactor, President Reagan (Kinder and gentler than what? Reagan, of course). I was reminded of this original dissing of Reagan--while he was still President, no less--when, on May 3, 2009, the latest of the Bush clan--Jeb--during a "listening tour" with Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor, called for the GOP to give up its "nostalgia" for the Reagan era and to "upgrade its message" perhaps taking a page from the Democrat playbook, noting that "the other side [Obama]has something."
Palin deftly juxtaposed Reagan's success in defeating the expansionist ideology of big government with the current failures of the same big government ideology, which BEGAN with the retrenchment of big government under the guise of "compassion" (whether "kinder and gentler" or "compassionate conservatism")during the first Bush Administration. In labeling this so-called "kinder and gentler" euphemism for what it is: the old "big government" bad idea dressed up in drag, Palin at once mounted a long overdue defense of Reagan's legacy and separated herself not only from the crescendo of this ideology personified in Barack Obama but from the "two decades" of its "subtle encroachment" by Bush-Clinton-Bush, without which Obama would never have been possible in the first place.
Governor Palin is the first major GOP figure since Reagan left office to step forward and defend President Reagan and his administration, albeit subtly, from the not so subtle slap at his Administration delivered by his Vice President, George H.W. Bush, in New Orleans 22 years ago and repeated by his sons both in their words and in their policies. In so doing she separates herself from the Establishment that always reviled Reagan and now reviles her, noting that the conservative movement, which Reagan birthed and to which she belongs: "has never been more engaged... and more willing to put up with what it takes to serve." Observing that Reagan was unique, she freely concedes that: "No. There is not one replacement for Reagan, but rather an army of patriotic Davids who are not afraid to stand up and speak out in defense of liberty. These Davids aren't afraid to tell Goliath, 'Don't tread on me.'"
The battle lines are drawn, and the Governor has drawn them herself, aligning herself firmly with the successful ideas of Reagan and against the carnage wrought by his successors' expansionist Great Society ideology in the last two decades. In 2012, it will not just be Sarah Palin versus Barack Obama, but Palin versus the Bush-Clinton-Obama "hydra of big government" that has grown at a gallop since the Gipper departed for his California ranch 22 years ago.
David versus Goliath, huh? Sounds to me like she is reaching into her pouch for a smooth stone...
His failure to define himself was part and parcel of his ideological cluelessness. He couldn't fight the good fight because he had no idea how. He punched a few conservative buttons (tax cut, check, aggressive rhetoric, check, conservative judicial nominees) and then went back to being the nice, well brought up boy with no particular direction that he always was.
What you refer to as a failure to define himself was in fact a complete failure to lead the conservative movement which left the GOP drifting rudderless onto the rocks. Clan Bush has been an unmitigated disaster for the USA. Great grandpa sat on Wilson's War Industries Board. Grandpa was a planned parenthood activist and died in the wool progressive. Daddy gave us the ADA and W was the icing on the cake. He lead the way for Obamacare by extending Medicare. He expanded the federal role in education in cooperation with the late, unlamented Senator Kennedy (D Sunken Buick). His feckless faring policy looks tolerable only because the Dems wanted to be still more feckless. Everything we hate about Obama (stimulus, Obamacare) is a natural extension of the Bush administration. Obama even has the same Defense Secretary Bush ended up with. The Secretary of State is only distinguishable from Bush's version because she's shorter, fatter and paler.
Under Bush the conservative movement had a near death experience. Under Obama we're back with a vengeance. Suddenly we have a chance to turn the tide and move America back toward sanity. Nothing could be more misguided than nostalgia for President Bush.
“Nothing could be more misguided than nostalgia for President Bush.”
Which is exactly why no one ever mentions him. The Bushes are the Republican counterparts of Carter. Failed Presidents both.
Everyone hearkens back to Reagan. Except people like Jeb Bush who tell us to move past him and Mitt Romney who doesn’t want to return to his era.
The nostalgia is 100 percent for Reagan, and Palin taps into it in a major way. No doubt about that.
Well its not true Bush 41 has been calling for a new world order for decades empowering the UN. The UN was founded by the USSR which is why its filled with marxists dictators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc7i0wCFf8g
Guess American wasn’t enough for these socialists.
Believe what you want, keep you head in the sand it won’t change the fact that both Bush’s, Clinton and now Obama cuddled up with the communist regimes around the world.
Cheers
Well fluff, are going to have to agree to disagree on Meyers. The libs were duped into expending their anger on the first offer and the second one got in with almost no dissent. Looks like you were duped as well. I will agree that he did not push conservatism like he should have.
He let the liberal media destroy him and did nothing.
I've hated that term "compassionate conservatism" since the first time I heard it. It's insulting, presumptuous, and condescending and reflects badly on whoever uses it.
It is a shame that we have to fight some in the republican party along with the dems and the media. In a sane world, the republican establishment would embrace a winner like Sarah. But they will be stubborn and continue to show their true moderate to liberal core, and if they refuse to change, they will become irrelevant. The TEA Party will take over and the RNC will fade away. RINOs are an endangered species, they just don’t know it yet!
Yes...however...I remember W coming out of “nowhere”. I was pissed that this guy got the “go” from all the extablishment RHINOs.
After 911 I think he did a good job doing what he had to do to secure this nation. Then he started to go with the Democrats on spending and ruined it all.
On a scale of 1 - 10 W would get a 4 from me.
Thanks for the very insightful post. Neither Bush had a deep understanding of the Constitution. If they did, they would not have brought forth the domestic policies stated in your thoughtful post. They believed "government" is the solution.
Agreed, So far though, the GOP is not talking about two large elephants in their room.
1)One is Sarah Palin
2) The other is the fact that we have a liberal fascist as president who has a specific plan to diminish or destroy our nation in order to rebuild it into a Socialist Utopia ( No freedoms,,,, A Brave New World).
The GOP actually operates in a reality that only exists for them as a collective of elitists.They need the pillars of Congress shaken in an eathquake of citizen incivility!
So fluffy, it is what it is, our choices were Bush or Gore and then Bush or Kerry, which was your choice?
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