Reagan: It's time to strike back

DodgeGlobe.com ^ | January 30, 2004 | By Michael Reagan

[11th_VA]

Hatred of President Bush is what drives the Democratic candidates for their party's presidential nomination, says Larry Sabato, the widely respected political observer at the University of Virginia ­ and he thinks it's time for President Bush to wake up to that fact and go on the offensive. "The Democrats have dominated the news media ­ every channel, every hour, with the exception of the State of the Union address," he says. "Democrats' unity of opposition to Bush on every issue has kept the campaign a symphony rather than a cacophony, building toward a crescendo of anti-Bush fervor. The Democrats are pumped. The Bush White House appears blissfully ignorant of that reality, at least early in the campaign season."

He's right. Back in 1996, when Bill Clinton was running for re-election, the Democrats started very early in the campaign to spend a lot of money to derail any Republican's chance of winning. It was the smart thing to do and it worked.

This year it's important that people be reminded that there are two primary campaigns going on, side-by-side with the Democratic primaries there are also Republican primaries.

But it's the Democrats who get all the media attention. Every day. Edwards gives his same speech, Kerry gives his same speech, and Dean gives his same speech: "down with America, down with the president" and all the rest of that demagogic claptrap.

The President of the United States, however, gets almost no time at all. If I were the President at this stage, I'd be showing up for the primaries. I would have been in Iowa and New Hampshire, and I'd be in Missouri and South Carolina and every other state holding primaries.

He should show up on primary nights, thank the Republicans who voted for him. and discount what all these people are saying. Instead, what have we been getting? Six hours of "America sucks, the president is a stupid idiot, America sucks." Six solid hours of that filth.

You get around that by having the President show up on primary night, thank the people who voted for him and set the record straight. Being President, he will get air time and we won't have to listen to six unbroken hours of slander against him and his party. He can start now to demolish all the untruths, blatant lies and distortions about him being peddled by the Democratic demagogues.

When Senator Kerry attacks the President for being allegedly dominated by all those evil special interests President Bush would have an opportunity to point out that Kerry's party is totally owned by special interests. They couldn't exist for one minute without the financial and political support of the trial lawyers, the abortion industry, big labor, the teacher's unions, the radical environmentalist movement and the rest of the motley crew who own the Democratic party lock, stock and barrel.

What Kerry is saying is that the Republican "special interests," which is growth and the economy, must go so he can bring his special interests to the White House and pay off the trial lawyers and the abortion industry and all the rest for their support.

All this garbage is all going unanswered and it needs to be rebutted by the President. Five Democrats, three of whom shouldn't even be in the race, are getting all the publicity bad mouthing the President. He's getting none.

The American people must be warned that if they vote for John Kerry or any other Democrat the war in the Middle East will end there and begin here. You won't have to worry about body bags coming back from Iraq because they'll be coming home from the mall.

Vote for the Democrats and the economy will turn sour. They are anti-business which is where the 401K' s of millions of middle class Americans are invested. But the Democrats attack the very source of our 401K retirement funds ­ business. Most of our financial resources are invested in the market, and these people want to ruin the market, ruin the economy and lose the war.

And nobody is in a better position to tell these truths to the American people that President Bush. He should get out there on the campaign trail now.

Mike Reagan, the eldest son of former president Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network. Comments to mereagan@hotmail.com for Mike.

[Pitchfork]

I love how you folks can argue two opposite ideas simultaneously

a) the economic growth of the Clinton era was a product of a lag effect (of presumeably 4-6 years)

b) the positive growth of the current economy is a result of the very recent Bush stimulus

So which is it folks? Macroeconomic trends have roots that go back years or is it subject to more immediate policy? I await your brilliance

BTW here are some FACTs from the US bureau of statistics

Figure is change in annual GDP in chained 2000 dollars.

1980 -0.2
1981 2.5
1982 -1.9
1983 4.5
1984 7.2
1985 4.1
1986 3.5
1987 3.4
1988 4.1
1989 3.5
1990 1.9
1991 -0.2
1992 3.3
1993 2.7
1994 4.0
1995 2.5
1996 3.7
1997 4.5
1998 4.2
1999 4.5
2000 3.7
2001 0.5
2002 2.2
2003 3.1

Interesting stuff!

[nopardons]

Which you don't understand at all!

[11th_VA]

I hope you're right - but we could shore use some cover fire about right now ... BTW, Welcome to FR !

[Pitchfork]

The ecomomy is not 'tied directly to the federal budget' but to think that fiscal policy is irrelevant is folly. When the goverment runs a deficit it competes with the private sector for investment dollars because it has to borrow money to pay its bills. Fortunately the US economy isn't a closed system, so capital can flow in to fill both needs in most cases. Unfortunately the largest current buyers of US securities are the Chinese. I'll leave you to consider the impact of that fact.

[nopardons]

Are you that far gone ? There was a HUGED and constantly growing deficit under Reagan during the BOOM years of the'80s !

You're using a bulldozer to dig that hole now; I guess the shovel wasn't fast enough.

[Pitchfork]

Sure, I agree. You can sure fire up the economy with deficit spending. As Micheal Deaver said at the time "We're all Keynsians now". Our economy seems to have responded positively to similar stimulus now. Let's not pretend however that Bush's economic policy is in any way a 'let's shrink government and get it out of the way of the economy' approach! The huge deficit we're running is pumping capital into the economy like a firehose.
There is a price to pay for deficit spending however. We experienced it after the Reagan boom busted in the 90's. I suspect we'll see a hot economy by summer with substantial job growth.

[nopardons]

Booms come and go; but, the one that Reagan's tax cuts engendered lasted until MARCH OF 2000,with a few mild dips. The market NREVER just goes straight up, nor just straight down.

President Bush's tax cits ( two of them ) is what's helping the economy and the markets.

Back to your shovel, I see. :-)

[CyberAnt]

Your 401K was in better shape then because the Enrons, Global Crossings, etc. CORRUPTION had not been exposed.

However, my funds (with Oppenheimer) have returned to the amounts I had before the bottom fell out.

[CyberAnt]

"pop-up ads"

How tacky is that! Besides, 85% of the internet is already conservative.

[MJY1288]

Anybody who thinks raising taxes is the way to cure the deficit, can be easily compared to the Physicians of the 1800's who believed the only way to cure Yellow Fever was to drain all the blood out of the patient :-)

[Tamzee]

Awww, heck, he won't listen.

Don't worry, though, he'll realize what you and all the others were trying to explain to him.... when he's 80... and can't afford toenail clippers because he invested with an eye toward the next stellar Dem economy ;-)

[Pitchfork]

Wow bold face. I really am working you up!
Drop by the burea of statistics some time and check this out.
Average US annual GDP growth rate (chained 2000 dollars) since 1947 for Democratic Presidents: 4.2%
Average US annual GDP growth rate (chained 2000 dollars) since 1947 for Republican Presidents: 2.8%
Of course a lot of this came before the Great Society programs. But it makes for entertaining fodder.

You never did address my point as to why some policies have lagged effect and others immediate ones on the economy.

[nopardons]

No kidding. LOL

[CyberAnt]

"amnesia"

I think you're the one with amnesia. This "bubble" was supported by CORRUPTION! It was not a true expansion at all. So what you're saying is you would rather have all the corruption back versus a true growing economy ..??

[gatorbait]

We experienced it after the Reagan boom busted in the 90's
<p. All 6 or 7 months of it, though you'd not know listening to the lamestream press.

[america-rules]

"Frankly my 401K was better in better shape during the Clinton administration."

Bull$hit unless you got out before Clintons last 18 months and with 401K's you don't "get out" !

The stock market crashed right after Clinton's DOJ went after Microsoft and was down 50% when he left office. It's only gone back up since Bush took office so your statement is bull$hit !

[nopardons]

It won't take that long, if he invests the way he posts. LOL

Some people do NOT belong in the market and he's one of them.

[xzins]

Up to this point, the Pres. has not had to respond. His approval ratings remain high, and that indicates that most folks (except democrats) are not paying attention to the tripe coming out of demonRat land.

When Pres. Bush's numbers dip under 50% approval, imho, then the WH should respond. Until then they should avoid spending their money until they need it.

On one point in that last post we definitely agree: what's with the NEArts crap?