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Reagan was a pragmatist who used to say that he would negotiate to get half a loaf now and come back later for the rest. He would have also been commiting political suicide by refusing to fund SS.

But when GWB does this...it shows he's not a true conservative, correct? No-Child Left Behind Act (for example)...Or trying to fix the terribly flawed Medicare program.....He was simply being a "pragmatist" regarding these issues and understood it would be political suicide not to reach out on the education front (that soccer mom America was demanding in 2000....and the elderly in 04).

I've done all my homework on SS. What I see is that R.R. made choices that only pushed the problem further down the road (for the sake of helping "then"). This is allowed and fine by you....Yet, when GWB has done the same now on several issues....He is completely wrong and must be held to a higher standard (yet R.R. had a REP Senate the majority of his years / at larger numbers...and while he didn't hold Congress, Congress most certainly did have a segment of "Southern DEMS" who are more conservative then most RHINOs of today...

Or trying to fix the terribly flawed Medicare program.....

The prescription drug program made it worse. Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance

What I see is that R.R. made choices that only pushed the problem further down the road (for the sake of helping "then"). This is allowed and fine by you....

Reagan had no other choice. SS will be in the same position as 1983 in 2017. That is the year that SS, a pay as you go system, goes into the red.

and while he didn't hold Congress, Congress most certainly did have a segment of "Southern DEMS" who are more conservative then most RHINOs of today...

The term is RINO [Republican in name only] not RHINO. And in terms of their stance on SS, the Southern Dems were just as committed to this New Deal legislation as the rest of the Dem party. Bush tried to raise the SS issue, but he lacked the same kind of force, urgency, and commitment that he had for amnesty. Perhaps his corporate masters didn't push him hard enough.

Bush's pandering to the soccer moms and seniors produced no real results for the GOP. Whatever his real motives were on pushing for amnesty, he wound up splitting the GOP needlessly and undermined further support for the WOT. You still haven't answered my question, "Why hasn't Bush secured the border since 9/11?"