Posted on 08/07/2007 6:51:18 AM PDT by LS
I worked in Arlington, Va in the early eighties, and I remember vividly the attacks on the Gipper by those same individuals you mentioned. The attacks against Ronald Reagan by these conservatives predated his election in November of 1980, since most of these people supported then Congressman Phil Crane for POTUS in the 1980 GOP primary.
You are correct. Viguerie and the leaders of “The New Right” backed Phil Crane to the hilt and, truth be told, I can certainly see why they liked Crane. He was conservative to the core in his voting and speaking - and he was one of them: A Washington insider. Still, Congressmen tend not to get elected President!
I loved Phil Crane back in the day because of his overall voting record and his fight against Jimmy Carter’s Panama Canal giveaway. However, when it came to Presidential Primary Politics, Ronald Reagan was the choice.
Weicker was from Connecticut (defeated by Lieberman in 1988, I believe). Campaigned for on a “no state income tax” platform for governor, then instituted a state income tax as soon as he was elected. Also was directly responsible for the Hartford Whalers moving to North Carolina. I wish he was from New Hampshire. :)
You are right! I missed that. I’ll have to check, but I’m pretty sure Reagan identified him as “N.H.”
wikipedia:
“Weicker served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives from 1962 to 1966 and as first selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1968, as a Republican. Weicker only served one term in the House before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970; he served in the U.S. Senate for three terms, from 1971 to 1989, before being defeated for a fourth term by Joe Lieberman. He gained national attention for his service on the Senate Watergate Committee. During his Senate service, Weicker was always regarded as somewhat of a maverick, and a liberal voice in an increasingly conservative Republican Party. President Reagan referred to him in his diaries as “a pompous, no good, fathead”, a reflection of Weicker’s attitude towards the Reagan administration.
Weicker’s tense relations with establishment Republicans may have roots in receiving strong support from President Nixon in his 1970 Senate bid, support repaid in the eyes of his critics by a vehement attack on the White House while serving on the Watergate Committee. Later, his relations with the Bush family soured, and the brother of then Vice President Bush (Prescott Bush, Jr.) made a short-lived bid against Weicker to gain the 1982 Republican Senate nomination. Finally, conservative animus spilled into overt support for Joe Lieberman in 1988, both from national sources such as National Review (publisher William F. Buckley, Jr., and his brother, former New York Senator James Buckley, both endorsed and campaigned for Lieberman in 1988), but more importantly, from rank-and-file Connecticut Republicans irate with Weicker’s effort to make the local party more liberal and prevent the nomination of conservatives to state office, and the poor showing of Weicker-backed candidates in the 1986 elections. Weicker was defeated in the 1988 election by less than 1% of the vote, owing in large part to defections by Republicans to Lieberman.”
Just re-checked: I was the one who erred. I identified Weicker as NH, when he was from CT. The Reagan Diaries do not identify him at all.
Weicker is one of the most disgusting and vile human beings ever to hold office in this country. It seems fitting he was born in Paris.
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