Posted on 06/06/2004 10:12:14 PM PDT by Mensch
WASHINGTON, June 6 — From the shores of Normandy to President Bush's campaign offices outside Washington, Mr. Bush and his political advisers embraced the legacy of Ronald Reagan on Sunday, suggesting that even in death, Mr. Reagan had one more campaign in him — this one at the side of Mr. Bush.
In France, Mr. Bush heralded the late president as a "gallant leader in the cause of freedom," and lionized him in an interview with Tom Brokaw. In Washington, Mr. Bush's aides said that it was Ronald Reagan as much as another president named Bush who was the role model for this president, and they talked of a campaign in which Mr. Reagan would be at least an inspirational presence.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Mr. Bush's likely Democratic challenger, was no less warm in praising Mr. Reagan, with a speech and a tribute on his Web site. Mr. Kerry's campaign canceled five days of events, in what aides described as both a gesture of respect to Mr. Reagan and a bow to the reality that the world would not be paying much attention to Mr. Kerry this week.
Mr. Bush's advisers said Sunday that the intense focus on Mr. Reagan's career that began upon the news of his death on Saturday would remind Americans of what Mr. Bush's supporters have long described as the similarities between the two men as straight-talking, ideologically driven leaders with swagger and a fixed idea of what they wanted to do with their office.
"Americans are going to be focused on President Reagan for the next week," said Ed Gillespie, the Republican national chairman. "The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them."
Even some Democrats said they were concerned that the death of Mr. Reagan would provide a welcome, if perhaps temporary, tonic for a president who had been going through tough political times. "I've been dreading this every election year for three cycles," said Jim Jordan, Mr. Kerry's former campaign manager. "Bush has totally attached himself to Ronald Reagan. He's going to turn Reagan into his own verifier."
Still, Mr. Kerry's aides said they believed Mr. Reagan's death would be, as a political matter, far in the background by the summer. And Republicans said there were risks in too conspicuously invoking Mr. Reagan as part of Mr. Bush's campaign.
Advisers to Mr. Bush said they had not determined how prominently Mr. Bush should identify his presidency with Mr. Reagan, whether Mr. Reagan's image should be incorporated in Mr. Bush's advertisements and whether Nancy Reagan might appear on Mr. Bush's behalf in the fall.
Some Republicans said the images of a forceful Mr. Reagan giving dramatic speeches on television provided a less-than-welcome contrast with Mr. Bush's own appearances these days, and that it was not in Mr. Bush's interest to encourage such comparisons. That concern was illustrated on Sunday, one Republican said, by televised images of Mr. Reagan's riveting speech in Normandy commemorating D-Day in 1984, followed by Mr. Bush's address at a similar ceremony on Sunday.
"Reagan showed what high stature that a president can have — and my fear is that Bush will look diminished by comparison," said one Republican sympathetic to Mr. Bush, who did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the president.
Another senior Republican expressed concern that by identifying too closely with Mr. Reagan, Mr. Bush risked running a campaign that looked to the past, which this adviser described as a recipe for a loss.
Several Republicans added that Mr. Bush's hopes of enlisting Mrs. Reagan might be complicated by the differences between Mrs. Reagan and Mr. Bush on the issue of embryonic stem-cell research. Mrs. Reagan has been vocal in arguing that the research might help others suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which doctors diagnosed in Mr. Reagan after he left office, while Mr. Bush's policy restricts public financing for this kind of research to existing cell lines.
Mr. Bush's advisers said that Mrs. Reagan — who gave a powerful and well-received speech at the Republican convention in 1996 — would not appear at the party's convention in New York this summer, but they would not say whether that was their desire or Mrs. Reagan's.
Are they trying to drum up backlash like we had for Wellstones funeral?
Barbra Streisand!!!
.
NEVER FORGET...
...that BUSH is doing exactly what REAGAN would do to protect us all in our new War on Terrorism...
...and what the CLINTONS never did.
...This is definately not being lost on the American People.
.
thanks, Ronnie for putting that into words.
What, you mean we aren't going to have Democratic Party Senator Tom Harkin pumping his fist into the air at President Reagan's funeral shouting "We will win! We will win! We will win!" while booing Vice President Cheney again?!
Goodness, you'd almost think that the adults were in charge of our Party!
The AP never misses an opportunity to slam the Reagan legacy. Talk about partisan media bias.
Maybe even more.
I was fortunate to be paired up with George and Laura on a campaign tour in 1980. George held Reagan in incredibly high esteem, more so than his own father I would say.
Bush's "compassionate conservative" theme is straight out of Reagan's philosophy. His management style, economic, military, and social policies are identical to Reagan's.
The last four years have been the third Reagan administration.
If anything, this will lift Bush's numbers for the next couple of weeks, particularly with the improvements in Iraq, slightly lower gas prices, and new employment numbers. My only concern is about security against terrorism, esp in DC, during the next week.
I'm just waiting for the leftist media (pardon my repeating myself) to start trying to make invidious comparisons between Bush and Reagan, in an attempt to discredit Bush. (The fact that they've been slagging Reagan for 20 years won't deter them in the least from using him in any way they can to unhorse Bush, needless to say - hypocrisy is their stock-in-trade...)
"The last four years have been the third Reagan administration."
Do you really think that Reagan would have gotten involved in nation building in the islamic world, stuttered and stammered through so many public appearances or gone with the concept of a smaller lighter military? I think you forget the eloquence and wisdom Reagan possessed.
Reagan would acted just as forcefully against the enemies of America after 9/11. Of that I have not a single doubt.
Wrongo. For the Democrats its all about political calculation, not principle. They aren't suspending their campaign out of respect for the dead or the mood of a grieving nation. No, they're doing it cause John F*ckin' wouldn't get media coverage. More tastelessness from the party that thinks being classy is beneath them.
Mr. Bush's advisers said Sunday that the intense focus on Mr. Reagan's career that began upon the news of his death on Saturday would remind Americans of what Mr. Bush's supporters have long described as the similarities between the two men as straight-talking, ideologically driven leaders with swagger and a fixed idea of what they wanted to do with their office.
Precisely what the media fear.
BS is right! They don't name them because they can't. Unless, of course, it is John McCain. He sure didn't miss any face time last night and today. They don't seem to have a problem with that! Their favorite "Republican".
No one's going after you, friend. It speaks volumes about Kerry though that his only concern is for his political viability.
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