I am surprised Rush is keeping his feud with Gingrich about over his kick about “Era of Reagan is over”.
The “Era of Reagan” was over as soon as “kinder and gentler” George H.W. Bush stepped into the Oval Office. It was Gingrich who revived the principles and ideas of Reagan for a spell, from 1995 to 1998, despite Clinton taking the credit for most of his accomplishments and personal and political attacks from the media and both the left and the right.
As soon as Hastert and later “compassionate conservative” George W. Bush assumed power, not only the “Era of Reagan” was over, but his ideas and principles went out the window.
Anybody who was watching the political and economic developments in the U.S. in the last 20 years can’t be serious in maintaining that they were and are living in the “Era of Reagan”.
Political correctness or idolatry is no more attractive on the right than it is on the left. Today, Chinese no longer live in the “Era of Mao Tse-Tung” and Russians no longer live in the “Era of Lenin” than Americans live in the “Era of Reagan”.
We can strive for principles and ideas of Reagan and conservatism to be adapted to modern times and conditions, without insisting that we are living in the “Era of Reagan” - we are not. To hold the long-running grudge against Gingrich on this simple statement of truth or assigning to it the alternate meaning is just strange.
Were you listening to the beginning of the show, where Rush was addressing Newt claiming to be misquoted on the individual mandate, and that he misspoke with respect to the Ryan budget, since that was what started the entire discussion...
I don’t believe “Reaganism” is dead, because I believe, especially in light of the grassroots tea party movement, conservatism is still alive.
Reagan still tops the “best” Presidents lists that are put out each year, and many still harken back to him when speaking, and strive for his popularity. “Reagan Democrats” remain an important demographic.
My FRiend, we are living in modern times and the conditions today are no different then they were in the 1980`s. Liberalism is still the enemy of freedom and liberty, and for red blooded conservatives, this is still the Reagan Era. Reagan's Presidency was just one generation ago, ending a short 22 years back. Don't be so shortsighted.
The Reagan agenda was a serious effort in advancing and promoting both the principles and the policies associated with conservatism, republicanism and the Constitution.
Rush's ongoing feud with Newt is simple to understand. In the 1980`s there were many Republicans who embraced Reagan and aligned themselves with his conservative agenda. However, once Reagan was out of office, many of his staunchest supporters began a slow abandonment of conservatism and a return to more moderate and centrist politics. We saw this with GHW Bush and Bob Dole. Since that time we've seen it with many others.
In the 1990`s Newt, along with Dick Armey and Tom Delay, took many of the unsuccessful parts of the Reagan agenda and created the Contract With America. For the first time in 40 years, the GOP controlled Congress. A great success was the 1994 Republican Revolution. That was just 17 years ago.
Sadly, in the last 8-10 years even Newt has begun moving away from successes of Reagan's conservatism. Instead, Newt and others have tried to give a kinder and gentler feel to conservatism. Well, it hasn't worked. In fact, Compassionate Conservatism has been a failure.
Reagan was a big success and for the most part, so were his conservative policies. Those who want to abandon Reagan, are abandoning conservatism.