[EternalVigilance]

The attempts to pull Ronald Reagan down to the level of Rudy McRomney "Republicanism" continue apace.

[oceanview]

no one ever said any of those men were Reagan. and even though I support any of them against Hillary (or any Dem) - I would certainly advise all three of them to sit in a room and listen to a few hours of Reagan speeches.

we have to start putting liberalism on the defensive, and we've done a woeful job of that with a political apparatus that refuses to go on offense, and ineffectual communications. Reagan understood that his #1 job, everyday, was to craft and communicate a message to people that they could understand and would be persuaded by.

[hinckley buzzard]

Diggins (and presumably approved by Will) raises a straw man in Reagan's putative Emersonianism. Reagan's strength was not in "telling people what they wanted to hear," or that desire for government entitlements was "good." Any hack columnist or college professor can do that. But like Emerson, his strength was to call people to their higher nature, their self reliance, their aspirations, and inspire them to attempt to live up to it.

And, like Emerson, he was an American original. When Reagan spoke of "the people" he was speaking of Americans. Perhaps kindred spirits elsewhere, but he was not indiscriminately concerned about the human race at large.