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Rush Limbaugh: Simon the next Reagan? Radio host urges governor candidate to stick with conservatism
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, March 7, 2002 | By Joe Kovacs

Posted on 03/06/2002 10:45:56 PM PST by JohnHuang2

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is trumpeting this week's California primary win by Bill Simon, saying he could be the next Ronald Reagan in terms of a political newcomer ousting a sitting Democrat governor.

"Reagan, when he ran for governor, he was dismissed just like Simon – too right wing, he was [an] actor, a novice," said Limbaugh yesterday in post-primary analysis.


Bill Simon

Simon overcame long odds and a 30-point poll deficit in a month to catapult past former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan Tuesday night and solidify his GOP candidacy against incumbent Democrat Gray Davis in this fall's general election.

"I'm not saying Simon needs to be Reagan. Nobody can be anybody they're not," said Limbaugh. "But what he needs to do is effectively articulate his principles and contrast them with Davis. Davis gets away with portraying himself as a moderate when he's not. He's a liberal!

"[Simon] needs to contrast his conservatism with Davis' liberalism and general incompetence, and his record of mismanagement – it's all there waiting. The Democrats ran that state, they controlled Sacramento when Reagan ran and won. He defeated a sitting Democratic governor, Pat Brown. It can happen here."

Indeed, Reagan – a political novice in 1966 – endured harsh rhetoric from members of his own party before winning the primary and eventually unseating then-Governor Pat Brown.

In published memoirs, Reagan laments the lingering split between conservatives and moderates in the California GOP:


Ronald Reagan on 1966 Newsweek cover.

"The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: 'Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.' It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since."

Like Simon, Reagan had defeated a former big-city mayor – George Christopher of San Francisco – before taking on an incumbent Democrat in the governor's mansion.

"After beating Christopher in the primary," Reagan wrote, "I had to deal with Brown whose campaign against me, simply put, asked a question: 'What is an actor doing seeking an important job like the governorship of California?'

"When Pat Brown commissioned a television commercial in which he told a group of small children, 'I'm running against an actor, and you know who killed Abe Lincoln, don't you?' I knew he knew he was in trouble."

In this year's California contest, Riordan had been urged to run by President Bush. He ignored conservatives throughout the campaign and attacked Simon in the final days, ending up with 31.4 percent of the GOP vote, compared to 49.4 percent for Simon.

While Limbaugh is heralding Simon's defeat of Riordan, he warned the 50-year-old investment analyst there's no time to celebrate.

"Beginning soon, the Davis camp and the California left will begin a strategy ... designed to define you as a racist, sexist, bigot homophobe, also as a rich trust-fund kid unqualified to serve as California's governor," cautioned Limbaugh. "They're going to portray you, Mr. Simon, as so extreme that you are dangerous."

Simon's father, William, served as treasury secretary under Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Limbaugh said it would be interesting to see if national Republicans would help the primary winner defend against any upcoming smear campaign after the White House shunned the more conservative Simon in favor of Riordan.

"I know that the national Republican apparatus looks at the conservative wing of the California Republican Party and they see Kooksville!"

Limbaugh said he was getting tired and frustrated at the continued need to educate the national Republican Party on how to win elections.

"What do they think won George Bush this presidential race?" he asked. "If it weren't for his wall-to-wall conservatism after McCain won the New Hampshire primary, he wouldn't have been in a Florida aftermath with Al Gore."

The broadcaster gave Simon a week to save his candidacy by fending off negative attacks by Democrats, adding Simon would lose to Davis if national Republicans avoid a concerted defense of Simon.

"Every time Republicans try this they lose big time," said Limbaugh. "Here's the guy that nobody ever heard of coming back from 30 points down. Why? He's a conservative! There's a lesson here for the national Republicans; there's a lesson here for the White House; there's a lesson here for a whole bunch of people who want to win elections to learn from."

Last fall, Limbaugh was among the voices chastising the president for not campaigning for GOP candidates in some high-profile races. Bush was enjoying an all-time high in popularity polls, but Republicans like Bret Schundler and Mark Earley lost their respective governorship quests in New Jersey and Virginia.

During this California primary campaign, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani – considered a moderate Republican – endorsed Simon, despite the fact Simon is pro-life and Giuliani favors abortion rights. Limbaugh hopes more GOP bigwigs, including Bush, get involved in the campaign.

"I know you can beat Gray Davis and I want to help in any way I can," Bush told Simon yesterday, promising to visit the Golden State as soon as he could. "I've got a lot of friends out there, including the folks you defeated."

The 1966 race pitting Reagan against Brown also drew some nationally known figures. Brown brought Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to California in an attempt to belittle Reagan.

Reagan wrote about that campaign, "[Kennedy] began a speaking trip around the state declaring, 'Reagan has never held any political office before and here he is seeking the top spot in the government of California.'

"He abandoned that theme after my next speech, when I said, 'I understand there's a senator from Massachusetts who's come to California and he's concerned that I've never held office prior to seeking this job. Well, you know, come to think of it, the senator from Massachusetts never held any job before he became a senator.'"

Simon gave no indication of diluting his positions during his acceptance speech and reveled in his role of underdog.

"The Democrats have tried to divide us. They say that California is a one-party state,'' Simon said. "But as Mark Twain once said, the rumors of the demise of the California GOP are greatly exaggerated."

The previous Republican candidate for California governor was Dan Lungren, the state's former attorney general. He, too, had a conservative platform but lost to Davis by 20 points four years ago. Thus, some national Republicans think California is not winnable. Limbaugh disagrees.

"If there's ever a Democrat mayor or governor who could be beaten, who's ripe for it, it's Gray-Out Davis – with just the last two years, everybody's memory fresh with this energy crisis and the boondoggle he was directly responsible for."

The "Gray-Out" moniker is a reference to the rolling electric blackouts and power shortages California experienced last year under Davis' watch. Limbaugh blames that situation on price caps supported by Davis.

During his own victory speech Tuesday night after an easy primary win, Davis indicated he would confront Simon about his conservative values.

"I respect the sincerity of his beliefs, but I believe many of his ideas are out of step and out of touch with most Californians,'' Davis said. "We need to keep moving California forward, not backward, and certainly not to the right.''

Limbaugh urged Simon and other Republicans not to back away from those beliefs, blaming liberal Democrats like Davis for much of America's problems.

"Every program they come up with is an abject failure," he said. "They ought to be apologizing to us every day for the money they've wasted and the lives they've destroyed with the Great Society.

"They have busted up the black family. They have busted up low-income families. The illegitimacy rate in this country is through the roof and it's because of liberal policies, pure and simple, which have made it unnecessary for fathers to live at home with the families they've created. Because government has become Big Daddy. It's unconscionable what's happened here."



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs
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Quote of the Day by MoscowMike
1 posted on 03/06/2002 10:45:56 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: AuntB;nunya bidness;GrandmaC;Washington_minuteman;tex-oma;buffyt;Grampa Dave;Jolly Rodgers...

2 posted on 03/06/2002 10:47:45 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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As of 8:05pm CST, 3/6/2002
Freeper State (Never Never Land) .. $4,872.45
California (931) --- $4,391.10
Texas (925) --- $2,885
New York (329) -- $1,950
Ohio (246) ---- $1840
Florida (457) ---$1,530
Virginia (365) ---$1,499
Pennsylvania (302) ---$1,255
New Jersey (177) ---$1,241
Arizona (179) ---$1,094
Washington State (254) ---$1,085
Michigan (196) ---$852
North Carolina (241) ---$847
Connecticut (91) ---$830
Illinois (231) ---$805
Massachusetts (131) ---$795
Georgia (230) ---$735
Missouri (179) ---$700
Wisconsin (141) ---$700
Minnesota (119) ---$675
Montana (14) ---$600
Alaska (44) ---$529
Maryland (221) ---$500
Colorado (153) ---$475
Indonesia (2) ---$400
Tennessee (172) ---$360
Kentucky (88) ---$350
Oklahoma (120) ---$340
Louisiana (98) ---$320
New Hampshire (46) ---$300
Oregon (122) ---$270
Indiana (143) ---$250
Alabama (104) ---$230
Kansas (90) ---$205
South Carolina (106) ---$200
Hawaii (25) ---$180
Delaware (18) ---$180
Mississippi (62) ---$175
Maine (34) ---$175
Arkansas (60) ---$170
Utah (47) ---$159
West (by God) Virginia (34) ---$159
Nevada (55) ---$150
New Mexico (61) ---$125
Spain (4) ---$100
Nebraska (42) ---$75
Vermont (11) ---$65
Iowa (60) ---$65
England (44) ---$50
Australia (15) ---$50
Chile (4) ---$50
Overseas Armed Forces (1) ---$50
Washington, D.C. (3) ---$50
Idaho (54) ---$50
South Dakota (25) ---$50
Canada (69) ---$35
Republic of Ireland (14) ---$30
Wyoming (10) ---$25
Rhode Island (11) ---$15
Sweden (7) ---$10
North Dakota (13) ---$10

Ok Freepers .. see the list above .. how about getting the number's of your State up ...

Y'all can do it .. LET'S ROLL!!!

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3 posted on 03/06/2002 10:48:49 PM PST by Mo1
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To: Mo1
Bill Simon needs to ignore the RINOs and the liberal media and stick to his conservative message. Gray Davis will try to make him hide it and that would be a big mistake. He needs to show the grassroots and the larger electorate that he'll stand up for his beliefs even when he's about to be beaten to a bloody pulp. Its going to be a mean and nasty campaign the Rats will be waging from here on and Simon better be ready for it.
4 posted on 03/06/2002 10:52:26 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: *CalGov2002
Check the Bump List folders for articles related to the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.
5 posted on 03/06/2002 10:57:09 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: JohnHuang2;doug from upland
ping
6 posted on 03/06/2002 10:57:29 PM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: JohnHuang2
"The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: 'Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.' It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since."

I wondered where that came from!

7 posted on 03/06/2002 11:07:03 PM PST by GeronL
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To: JohnHuang2
Remember the famous retort by Reagan that he had purchased that microphone and he wanted to be able to use it? In my opinion Reagan had to overcome leftist Republican leaders to press his candidacy forward in 1980. The Republican party leadership in California has the rep of being far left of it's constituancy. Buchanan was red hot in California in 1996. The young Republicans were favorable to him. Many others were too. But the state leadership turned up their nose and held out for Mr. Energy, Bob Dole. So did the national party. Look what happened.

If Simon can pull it off, and he manages to govern well, he's going to be a natural Presidential candidate in as little as six years.

8 posted on 03/06/2002 11:09:12 PM PST by DoughtyOne
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To: JohnHuang2
Rush Limbaugh: Simon the next Reagan? Radio host urges governor candidate to stick with conservatism

I like Rush but he's hardly a good prognosticator of elections. Remember how there was going to be a "Bush landslide?"

9 posted on 03/06/2002 11:10:58 PM PST by wayne_shrugged
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To: wayne_shrugged
In all fairness to Rush, most of us on this forum thought Bush had it in the bag too. No one anticipated the 2000 election was down to wire. Hindsight is the mother of all mea culpas.
10 posted on 03/06/2002 11:14:02 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop
In all fairness to Rush, most of us on this forum thought Bush had it in the bag too. No one anticipated the 2000 election was down to wire. Hindsight is the mother of all mea culpas.

I would cringe everytime he said something about a "landslide" before the election -- whatever happened to humbleness? Whatever happened to not being too cocky? There is afterall a difference between confidence and cockiness. If anything, we learned that after Election 2000!

11 posted on 03/06/2002 11:31:17 PM PST by wayne_shrugged
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To: wayne_shrugged
I'll take a vow not to predict Bill Simon will win in 2002 til AFTER the polls are closed and the votes are actually counted. :)
12 posted on 03/06/2002 11:42:49 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: JohnHuang2
Thank you John.
How wonderful it would be to see Davis saying goodbye ! He can go sit in the park with Condit and feed the pigeons. giggle

Thanks again for this on Simon.

13 posted on 03/07/2002 1:31:55 AM PST by Snow Bunny
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To: Snow Bunny
He can go sit in the park with Condit and feed the pigeons.

ROFLOL!!

14 posted on 03/07/2002 1:32:54 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: Snow Bunny
Maybe even the pigeons will shun them =^)
15 posted on 03/07/2002 1:33:27 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: goldstategop;JohnHuang2
I'll take a vow not to predict Bill Simon will win in 2002 til AFTER the polls are closed

HeeHeeHee - okay, me too. In the meantime, I'll work long and hard, looking forward to a celebration party. He came from Unknown to Preferred so, for now, I'll celebrate just that.

Thanks for the ping, John. Enjoyed the article immensely.

16 posted on 03/07/2002 4:09:06 AM PST by okimhere
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To: wayne_shrugged; goldstategop
..... whatever happened to Humbleness ....?

I dunno .....

..... changed his name to "Humility," maybe?

<];^)~<

17 posted on 03/07/2002 4:24:09 AM PST by Brian Allen
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To: JohnHuang2
Thanks, John.
18 posted on 03/07/2002 4:24:39 AM PST by Brian Allen
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To: JohnHuang2
It's an interesting analysis. I suspect Simon can win barring any cheating by the lib/dems. But I wouldn't discount the cheat factor in that state where the DEM party machinery is in charge of almost everything. DEMS also have a pattern of cheating and seeing that it is covered up until AFTER the election. After their guy is in, they really don't seem to care if their cheating is exposed because they consider those caught to be expendable in the process of meeting the overarching goal. It's that whole "ends justifies the means" thing.

I'm not sure what Simon can do about it other than get some folks on his campaign who can unearth the cheating early and break it BIG time as a major scandal. The difficulty there is that (other than Clinton/Gore), most of the DEMS have figured out how to break a mess of lesser rules, without ever doing the major blunder.

19 posted on 03/07/2002 5:11:03 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: JohnHuang2; ALL
Thanks for the ping, John. Utah Girl posted a great article last night from Newsweek about Bill Simon.
Bill Who?
20 posted on 03/07/2002 5:50:50 AM PST by Lorena
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