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GOP strategist: Reagan is dead; move on
The Hill ^ | 1 Dec 13 | Molly K. Hooper

Posted on 12/01/2013 6:01:24 AM PST by SkyPilot

A Republican strategist is reminding his party that President Reagan is dead.

ADVERTISEMENT Ford O'Connell, who worked on Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, says if Republicans want to win the White House in 2016, they need to break free of the "obsessive Reagan disorder."

Rule #1 of the political analyst's newly released book, "Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery," is: "Ronald Reagan is dead. Accept it."

Such a sentiment is sure to be tough to digest for a party insistent on using the 40th president's legacy as a GOP litmus test to prove conservative credentials.

"The Reagan fixation is a drag on the future success of the GOP at the national level. It undermines the candidates because it becomes a crutch for their inability to articulate an actual agenda or a forward-looking vision," he writes.

In an interview with The Hill, O'Connell says he combines his "two loves: politics and football" into his work “Hail Mary,” a sort-of political manual for presidential hopefuls.

The native Texan contends that he is "not pushing a personal agenda" in his blunt "playbook."

He says it is aimed squarely at the 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls, whom he handicaps in a chapter entitled “2016 Republican Presidential Scouting Report."

"This was an honest attempt to say, 'Hey, if you want to win the White House, you've got to understand the obstacles and what it's going to take to get 270 electoral votes, regardless of who the nominee is," O'Connell explains.

The book is geared toward political success at the national level, not the 2014 midterm congressional elections, a point he makes in Rule #9 "The Preseason Doesn't Win You the Super Bowl."

O'Connell says that Republicans failed to capitalize on the 2010 midterm election success when the GOP regained control...

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservative; gop; gope; mccain; reagan; republican; rino; uniparty
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To: SkyPilot
A lot of us are moving on, from the Republican Party. It talks a good game in conservative areas during elections, then reverts to being the self-appointed conscience of Democrats the rest of the time. That's not what we want, it's why Reagan has been so lionized. They act as if it's all just a cult of personality.
21 posted on 12/01/2013 6:16:56 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: SkyPilot

“Kill immigration reform kill the gop”. right there I had enough of this traitor.


22 posted on 12/01/2013 6:17:42 AM PST by amnestynone (Lindsey Graham is feckless, duplicitous, treacherous, double dealing backstabbing Corksucker.)
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To: SkyPilot

Karl Marx is dead. Move on.


23 posted on 12/01/2013 6:19:14 AM PST by LachlanMinnesota
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To: SkyPilot

Oh yeah, because we all want to pay money to buy a book written by the guy who lost about how to win. LOLOLOLOLOL


24 posted on 12/01/2013 6:20:50 AM PST by McGavin999
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To: SkyPilot
Whenever any "expert" urges the faithful to move on from Reagan, what they really mean is they want us to learn how to take orders from Dems and be the Dem-lite party. Instead of getting rid of the welfare state, learn how to manage it better. Then you might be able to go to lib cocktail parties and tell them what a wonderful person you are.

My own advice is to run screaming from these "experts." To move on from Reagan means to desert basic conservative principles. That we cannot do.

25 posted on 12/01/2013 6:22:41 AM PST by driftless2
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To: Bernard

Ford Courtlandt O’Connell has FIVE degrees: Swarthmore College (BA), Duke University (MPP), University of Virginia (JD), University of Mississippi (MA), and Northwestern University (MSJ). It appears that other than go to school, the only thing Mr. O’Connell has ever done is “work” as a political analyst and writer. Anyone who would take advice from this guy deserves what he/she gets.


26 posted on 12/01/2013 6:23:37 AM PST by Zebra
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To: Caipirabob

So is FDR but the Democrats still are trying (and succeeding) in implementing his policies. Why would anyone listen to someone who thinks McCain & Romney were good candidates??


27 posted on 12/01/2013 6:23:46 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: SkyPilot

Yes, Reagan is dead and the GOP has to evolve. But a big part of why the GOP is in the sorry state that it is is due to compromises and bad deals they made over the years—especially during the Reagan/Bush years. Motor Voter and the 1986 Amnesty (under Reagan) come to mind. I think border enforcement was probably better under Carter than Reagan.


28 posted on 12/01/2013 6:23:58 AM PST by rbg81
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To: SkyPilot
GOP strategist: Reagan is dead; move on

Let me guess: he doesn't want us peons to move on to Cruz.

29 posted on 12/01/2013 6:24:14 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Everyone get online for Obamacare on 10/1. Overload the system and crash it hard!)
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To: Zebra

Ford Courtlandt? Oh, Buela, peel me a grape!


30 posted on 12/01/2013 6:24:53 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: SkyPilot
"if Republicans want to win lose the White House in 2016, they need to break free of the "obsessive Reagan disorder." their voter base of conservatives.
31 posted on 12/01/2013 6:25:08 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: Paladin2

That’s a good start.


32 posted on 12/01/2013 6:25:40 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: Bushbacker1

Looks like GOP was slooowly infiltrated with progressives, and is being manipulated in the commie direction.
That would ‘splain the “eagerness” of going after Kenyan and his push for destroying US and fueling Caliphate domination.
Time to dump the RINO RATS and rejuvenate the GOP with Reaganite patriots.
GO SARAH!


33 posted on 12/01/2013 6:25:44 AM PST by Leo Carpathian (FReeeeepeesssssed)
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To: SkyPilot

Call this pig...

Ford O’connell \
2400 M St NW
Washington, DC 20037 (202) 758-2360


34 posted on 12/01/2013 6:26:00 AM PST by Walkingfeather
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To: SkyPilot
Ford O'Connell, who worked on Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, says if Republicans want to win the White House in 2016, they need to break free of the "obsessive Reagan disorder."

Oh! Well! A successful campaign worker of a solid Conservative candidate like McCain! And on a stellar year for us, 2008!

Well shucky darn, I better listen to EVERYTHING *this* expert has to say!

LOL!

35 posted on 12/01/2013 6:26:46 AM PST by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: Jim Noble

Well, I’ve been told that a significant number of Alabama fans and alumni annually visit the grave site of Bear Bryant to see if he has resurrected. And, I’m guessing that after yesterday, that number will jump up a bunch, lol !


36 posted on 12/01/2013 6:27:04 AM PST by snoringbear (E.oGovernment is the Pimp,)
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To: Leo Carpathian; RKBA Democrat; who knows what evil?; onyx

Uniparty Ping!


37 posted on 12/01/2013 6:28:06 AM PST by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: SkyPilot

Ford O’Connell parrots the same old, same old, tired rhetoric and failed thinking of Tokyo Rove. And it is completely wrong ... as McQueeg and Mitt proved.


38 posted on 12/01/2013 6:31:18 AM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: SkyPilot

I Like IKE, but I Loved Ronnie! What scares some people is they know Ronald Reagan stood for America and Loved America. Those people that hate Ronald Reagan also hate America. The truth is not difficult to understand. Thus those that say move on actually mean join them and be a hater of Freedom, Honor and Truth; everything President Ronald Reagan stood for. I’ll stand with President Ronald Reagan.


39 posted on 12/01/2013 6:31:36 AM PST by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: SkyPilot

What would be the advantage of electing a Republican that is Democrat-light?
And what pray tell would be the advantage of electing the Son of Satan rather than Satan himself?


40 posted on 12/01/2013 6:31:39 AM PST by vanilla swirl (searching for something meaningful to say)
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