Posted on 02/25/2015 10:01:01 AM PST by detective
When conservatives gather Thursday for their annual confab there will be homages to Ronald Reagan everywhere. He’ll be mentioned in speeches, he’ll show up as a life-size cardboard cutout, and on posters and buttons. The event’s big dinner is in his name.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Reagan is king. And the many Republicans vying to be president will work feverishly to align with him. But do they?
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
” Government spending during 8 years of Reagan did indeed triple”
Who spent the money? Who threw “continuing resolutions” on his desk?
Who refused to submit a budget?
What parties ran the House and Senate?
Were you even ALIVE then? Most of us here were.
” Reagan gave instant amnesty to all illegals. It is well documented.”
YOU lie. Post the entire bill, then tell me where it said ANYTHING like what you just claimed!
Not sure what you mean by "pre-emptive military actions against the communists?" He had anti-Communists murdered; undermined anti-Communist Governments in the Third World; and, as others have cited, advocated the immigration policy his brother put through in 1965, which favored those with no historic ties to Americans, over those seeking to come from traditional sources of American descent!
His Secretary of State sought to out-do the Communists in undermining the cultures of other nations. Is that what you consider "pre-emptive?" It was a clear violation of principles of the "Law of Nations," recognized for over two hundred years. (And see American Foreign Policy.)
Yes, he did have writers who could write speeches full of pretty slogans. That does not excuse his efforts to move America to the Left.
Correct.
“tripling the size of federal spending.”
Reagan did not triple the size of federal spending. Constant dollar(2009) federal spending went from $1543.9 in 1981 to $1887.7 in 1989. This is an increase of 22% over 8 years.
Add to this the fact that some spending was based on formulas and could not be controlled, Democrats controlled Congress and the military needed to be upgraded after being defunded by the Carter Administration.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/
But that doesn't mean that some Freepers would not cherrypick a speech here, an interview there, and opine that "He's too squishy for me!" It will happen to every GOP candidate here before November 2016.
One thing I do know about Reagan is that he would cheerfully accept the support of moderate Republicans, even of Democrats, in order to win.
I don't think many Freepers hold with that nowadays. Look how we flame someone based not on his or her own views, but on who has endorsed them.
Very well said.
Times change and so do standards. It is probably unfair to compare a guy from 35 years ago to the conservatives of today. I am not sure that any republican candidate could sign gun control and pro-abortion laws as a governor and not be called a RINO by conservatives today. Romney did both. Romney, like Reagan, also said he changed his mind about abortion later. What do conservatives call Romney today?
Apparently “CROWDPAC” is another group that confuses Libertarian ideology with “conservative”.
Rand Paul’s positions on amnesty for illegals, more work visas, voting rights for felons, free trade with Cuba, being more “inclusive” on gay marriage,Plan B, etc., certainly don’t position him as the “most conservative” candidate.
Yea, the libertarian position goes so far to the right it often ends up right next to the extreme left position.
Don’t forget banning open carry as Governor of CA.
Supported (for a time, after he was Pres.) the Brady Bill.
Pulled our troops out of Lebanon.
Huge deficit spending.
In spite of those things (and the ones you listed), he was a great president. And I think we all need to remember those blemishes on Reagan when we are looking for the next Conservative candidate. They won’t be perfect. Reagan sure wasn’t.
Reagan was never proabortion Romney always was.
You bring up a bill from 1967, a year when Mitt’s father was running for president as the antiwar candidate, when Mitt was avoiding the draft in France, three years after Mitt and his father had stormed out on Goldwater’s conservatism in protest, three years before Mitt’s mother’s pro abortion senatorial campaign, six years before RoevWade and the great abortion wars, and the Reagan years and the 1990s and the 2000 election, the Bush years, years when Romney was fighting for abortion rights and raising funds for abortion rights and funding and raising funds for democrat candidates that were pro abortion, until finally in preparation for the 2008 campaign to win votes from the GOP base, Mitt at age 59 suddenly becomes pro life.
That bill from 1967 has zero relevance to Mitt Romney’s pro abortion activism and passion during the intense abortion wars during the following 40 years.
I never said it did. I am not a Romney fan, I do not know or care about his family history. I bring up a bill from 1967 because Reagan was governor in 1967. Abortion on demand was still abortion on demand before all the stuff you mentioned. I simply pointed out that Romney and Reagan both signed abortion laws and they both signed gun control laws while they were governors of states. They both came out later and said they had changed their minds about abortion. I do not think that a governor could do that now and not be called a RINO if he ran for the GOP nomination regardless of anything else he did.
1) his motto was "the government is not the solution to our problems...it is the problem"
2) to restore America's industrial might he proposed a bold new program:
to limit the government's role in the economy
to reduce taxes
to cut domestic spending by cutting into social programs
to lessen regulations
to use supply side economics rather than keynesianism
3)In foreign policy he was determined:
to strengthen America's defenses so as to face down the Soviet Union
to deliberately take a tough stance instead of compromising, in order to win the cold war
Mitt Romney never became pro-life, and Reagan was never pro-abortion.
The Bill that Reagan signed was an honest health of the mother bill that required that she receive permission from a board of doctors. the difference of almost half a century from today, is that in 1967 "health of the mother" was real, and credible, it was not used as it is today, today it has no meaning at all.
Farther to the right than he did in 1980.
The rest of his party has gone squishy and moderate.
Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile blockade.
The GOPe and ‘donor class’ would probably undermine/sabotage him at every turn, and he likely wouldn’t even get nominated.
The GOPe tried their damnest to stop Reagan. They failed.
Try not to hang yourself as you spin your lies with the truth.
Reagan was pro life. The congress holds the purse strings (however our RINOs in congress don’t seem to understand this). He screwed up with Amnesty; he believed the douche-bag liberals when they said they would secure the border.
I bet you love your Jeb and Cristy!
People who believe Reagan would be called a RINO ought to read his diary.
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