Posted on 11/10/2010 12:38:16 PM PST by pinochet
The recent Republican take over of congress was a great achievement for conservatives. But younger conservatives need to be educated on how far America has come, over the past 30 years.
In 1980, America did not have Fox News. There was no conservative talk radio, because America operated under the so-called fairness doctrine. Can you imagine an America that did not have Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Dennis Prager, and other conservative commentators? There were very few nationally-known conservative columnists. There was no internet, where you could discuss conservative policies with your fellow conservatives. There was no Newsmax and other conservative news websites.
The American people were completely at the mercy of the mainstream media. The lefty Walter Cronkite of CBS, was described by his MSM colleages as "the most trusted man in America". And Dan Rather was one of America's most respected journalists, according to his MSM colleages. Ha!
When Ronald Reagan sought the Republican nomination for President in 1980, he faced a massive wall of opposition. The MSM hated him. The Rockefeller Republicans hated him. Bush 41, who was his rival for the nomination, called his supply-side economic policies voodoo economics. There was no Fox News or talk radio to support him.
Reagan did not just win election on the basis of his economic policies alone. He was also a man with great charisma, wit, and charm, and his powerful presence on the TV screen was unlike anything that Americans had ever seen. While Democrats retained Congress in 1980, many Democrats fell in love with Ronald Reagan, and voted for him that year. When Steve Forbes ran for President in 1996, he had ideas similar to those of Reagan, but lacked the overpowering charm, charisma, wit, sense of humor, optimism, confidence, and sheer likeability of Reagan.
Not even the liberal MSM could stop him. Before Ronald Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall, he first had to overcome the wall of hostility of the mainstream media. He looked the American people in the eye, and told them to believe in America again. The American people believed him, and not the MSM.
She never changed her opinion of the Republican party. She loved Reagan, but hated the Republicans. I do not know if she would have qualified to be described as a "Reagan Democrat". The Republican nominee in 2012, will have a tough act to follow.
-PJ
“How Did Ronald Reagan Get Elected President In 1980, Without Fox News?”
Simple
He was running against the biggest jackass to ever infest the White House until the current occupant.
I will admit, outside of hosting “Death Valley Days”, I didn’t really know much about Reagan. Nor did I listen to very much of what he had to say. Nor to be perfectly honest did I care.
For me, voting was as easy as ABC (anybody BUT Carter).
How did Reagan get elected in 1980?
Who wanted four more years of THIS....?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7spOEfRN-0&feature=related
jimma cartaa?
ditto
Don’t forget also that Reagan was elected in the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis. He made it clear that he would deal with them militarily if they were not released.
I was 14 years old at the time and I HATED Carter with a passion because he was afraid to deal harshly with these camel jocks. We were America, we didn’t take that crap from a nothing nation.
I think there is some truth to the expression it took a Carter to get a Reagan.
Obama may help deliver another great conservative President as long as republicans don’t shoot themselves in the foot again with another McCain.
Two words:
Peanut.
Boy.
Like a lot of others, I walked into the voting booth on primary day, a registered democrat, and saw that my choices were Jimma and Ted Kennedy.
I left the booth and changed my registration to Republican....
Yeah, well, Carter himself has another theory and I think you should consider it:
http://politifi.com/news/Jimmy-Carter-Reagan-Won-Because-of-3rd-Party-Candidate-Video-1248538.html
Simple. Carter was Carter and Reagan was Reagan.
>>>>Because Walter Mondale went on the existing MSM and said that he would raise everyone’s taxes
That was the 1984 Presidential election. In 1980, Reagan was running against Jimmy Carter.
He said “There you go again”.
He was running against the biggest jackass to ever infest the White House until the current occupant.LOL!
I was a Senior in High School in 1984. A teacher in our civic class(obvious democrat) ran a mock election in the class.
It was unanimous landslide for Reagan.
EVERYONE from the preppies,burnouts, punk rockers, jocks,new wave MTV’ers, and average kids voted for Reagan. When asked for reasons by the teacher why we voted for Reagan, the most common answer written by the students was that they did not want to return to the days of Jimmy Carter.
If a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds loathed Carter that much on 1984, I’m sure the regular population in 1980 was just as appalled.
1980 was his third go at the Presidency, couple that with his movie and TV career and he was pretty well known in the country. People were not the news hounds back then as they are now, so TV had less of an impact (also, they made a much greater effort at being objective). Most people got their news from newspapers and there were quite a few conservative papers to read - much more balanced. Finally, he was given the gift of Jimmy Carter as opponent. Reagan’s optimism was a breath of fresh are after downer Jimmy.
The televised debates were crucial. Hugh and series.
-PJ
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