Bob Michael was a really nice guy and a supreme gentleman, but he pretty much invented and sustained the GOPe’s mantra of, “Go along with Democrats to Get Along with Democrats”.

His skill at seeking compromise with the Democrats...

It’s sometimes hard to believe that Reagan came out of Illinois sometimes.

Mr. “Go-Along to Get-Along”.

Or California. Both liberal hellholes.

RIP. His legacy will be as the ‘RATS favorite RINO appeaser.

Whenever I saw the guy, he was jolly and laughing, while Democrats were cutting our throats.

His district bordered the one I lived in for 62 years, until recently moving to TN. We had Tom Railsback, who was much like Michel, but the libs and unions got Lane Evans in back in 82, iirc, a young lawyer that turned out to be as extreme left as any congressman ever, IMO. He never married, and was rarely seen with woman other than his mom.

Generally a good man, but little more than a trained houseboy for the democrats.

That said.. RIP, Rep. Michel.

There were still deomocrats to get along with in those days. The blue dog was alive and well, at least in the South. Sherman, Lincoln, and Grant had not yet been dead for four generations.

De mortuis.... but he was a lousy minority leader.

Very true. As I recall that was very much a time of transition in politics, but it took a long time (too long) for many in the GOP to realize that people like Tip O’Neal and Ted Kennedy, among many other Democrats, were engaged in raw political warfare.

When one considers the individuals who bracketed Newt Gingrich in his occupancy of the office of Speaker of the House, one can only conclude that Gingrich was one of the very great Speakers and one of the very great vote getters for the Republican Party.

He stood out like a lighthouse of conservatism against the sea of Rinos. Gingrich was out of favor in this forum until the crowd backfliped when he supported Trump but he should stand on his own and must be counted a great Speaker even if he had opposed Trump.

RIP.

Just as the Democrats once had a conservative wing as wel as a liberal wing, so the Repbulicans once had an explicitly liberal wing as well as a conservative one. I doubt that those in the liberal wing, who now style themselves as moderates, or moderate conservatives, ever really had a problem with the agenda of the Democratic liberal wing.

Historically, the Republicans were the more liberal party up through the new deal, and only with Nixon does the liberal wing of the Pubs seem to be in a definite second place. With an emphasis on the word “seem.”

Newt gave us the “Contract with America.” He is an intelligent guy who doesn’t always think things through well before saying them.

I’m not sure what Bob gave us, but he seemed well-intended.

Was he conservative enough? I moved to Illinois in 2001, so I didn’t hear many of his views.

The rare Illinois politician who never went to jail.

What were the main differences between Republicans and Democrats, between 1950 & ‘70? I used google, to find that information, but that didn’t help. I was born in 1967.