Posted on 01/24/2007 9:58:01 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Like him or not, Ronald ("Tear Down This Wall") Reagan spoke in a clean, clear prose that almost always left listeners with a sense that he stood for something.
It may thus be no accident that Jim Webb, Virginia's new Democratic senator, was once a Reaganite.
In his reply to President Bush's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Webb defined the two central moral issues that animate most of the Democratic Party's rank and file: the mess in Iraq and the fact that the fruits of a growing economy are not being shared by all Americans.
Then Webb did something rather astonishing: He didn't fudge on his language or try to take the hard edge off his impatience with the status quo.
Giving the speech in response to a president's State of the Union address may be the hardest assignment in politics. Even the best of the genre reek of focus-grouped and poll-tested sentences. You have the feeling the words are dictated by some party pooh-bah who believes the speech will fail if it does not touch all the issues on every strategist's list.
Gee, say the consultants to the poor politician who has to carry the party's torch, you just have to mention health care and child care and the environment and union rights and stem cell research -- and every other issue that energizes some base voter in some corner of the party.
And, oh yes, Mr. Politician, don't forget that your real targets are those critical moderate independent swing voters in the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states, and here's a list of key phrases we've polled to death that they respond to. You have to throw them in somewhere.
Ever wonder why politicians are so often accused of offering mush?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
He got fired from being SecNav after 9 months because Reagan questioned his integrity and did not trust him.
Integrity issues are related to ones honor, get it.
You are venturing into troll territory, sir.
They do it for the chillllllllllllllllldren
They are trying to rewrite history for those to young to remember President Reagan and Lady Thatcher
Take me on in a court of law and you'll lose. If you don't like my post, then when you see the name Paige just skip over the name.
Moreover, you look up the information since you seem to embrace a left wing pornography writing violent man. This man turned on President Reagan like a rabid dog and I for one loathe him.
Webb was NEVER a Reaganite from the very beginning. He was as phoney then as he is now. To say he was a Reaganite is like saying insurgents in Iraq wearing American uniforms are American soldiers.
I tried pointing this out back then and few listened. In those days, self-proclaimed war heroes were still accepted on face value.
8mm
The guy impresses me as a pederast wannabee.
You're asking me to do your research for you? What a laugh. The person who makes an assertion has the burden of proving it, not the fellow he's telling it to.
You're asking me to do your research for you? What a laugh. The person who makes an assertion has the burden of proving it, not the fellow he's telling it to.
And sometimes being an elected one is. Never forget Jumping Jim Jeffords.
He's playing a good game to the middle. He needs to be dealt with now....not later.
His politics is based on anger and envy. This is NOT a healthy mix.
What makes me a troll? For saying I respect someone who was a much-decorated war hero in Vietnam? Yes, I do respect Marines, especially Marines who show heroism in battle. And I respect them regardless of their politics. That makes me a troll?
Even so, he is playing directly to the large middle class who will see him strong on defense. Not good.
Security MOMs everywhere will camping out at his doorstep. I thinking he is going to make a run.
All they have is HILL and Osama....neither one is electable and they know it.
This guy is coming up from behind with the big guns being shot down in the front.
There are also rumors, widely-believed within Navy circles, but still rumors, that Webb was fired from the Naval Academy job because he lied to administrators and also got a little too cozy with one or more of the women in the first graduating class. How he ever ended up in the Reagan Administration, I'll never know. Must've had quite a Sea Daddy to get that stint. Of course he screwed up that gig, too...
I'm not afraid of this guy for Prez. Dirty Laundry, thy name is Webb.
I will keep it in mind, although I think if Hillary had any thought that he might run he would NOT have been given the SOU rebuttal.
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