. . . just a few things for FR's unappeasables to ponder:
If President Reagan was such a 'conservative purist', why did he do the following:
--sign an amnesty bill
--first cut taxes and then raise taxes multiple times
--help create the biggest deficit (as % of GDP) in American history
--empower the terrorists by withdrawing US troops from Lebanon after hundreds of our Marines were slaughtered
--'talk' the pro-life rhetoric but fail to promote or sign any pro-life legislation (in fact, he signed pro-abortion legislation during his tenure as governor)
--put two left-of-center judges on the Supreme Court (while failing to get Bork on the court)
--'talk' about reducing the size of government while actually presiding over an INCREASE in the size of government, and so on, and on
[President Bush has committed NONE of the aforementioned 'conservative sins' yet is continually lambasted by conservative purists?!]
If President Reagan was so universally beloved by conservatives, why did he post sub-par job approval ratings for much of his presidency (Gallup).
In fact, by 1987, 60% of Republicans/conservatives indicated that they DEFINITELY wanted a new direction and, if it were possible, would NOT vote for President Reagan again!
And by 1993, 61% of Americans considered Reagan's economic policies a FAILURE (Gallup)!
Yet at his funeral, President Reagan is lauded by Republicans and Democrats alike . . . He is now considered one of the best presidents of all time! . . . I predict the same result for President George W Bush, the most transformational president of modern times!
For more insight (and a major REALITY CHECK), please read the following editorial from COMMENTARY magazine:
IS CONSERVATISM FINISHED?
By Wilfred M. McClay
. . . We also forget that the Reagan administration itself, far from being happily unified, was driven by internal battles between “pragmatists” and “ideologues,” conflicts that prefigured many of the policy battles of the present. And we forget that, outside the administration, REAGAN GOT PLENTY OF GRIEF FROM HIS OWN RIGHT AS WELL.
The querulous Richard Viguerie, for example, an influential but notably unhappy camper in those halcyon days, began hectoring the Reagan presidency almost from the beginning, complaining to the Associated Press in January 1981 that with his cabinet appointments Reagan had given conservatives “the back of his hand.” A July 1981 op-ed by Viguerie in the Washington Post, entitled “For Reagan and the New Right, the Honeymoon Is Over,” was thoughtfully timed less than four months after the President had nearly been killed by an assassin’s bullet. By December 1987, Viguerie was declaring that Reagan had actually “changed sides” and was “now allied with his former adversaries, the liberals, the Democrats, and the Soviets.” A year later, in the final months of his presidency, when it was clear to all that Reagan had fundamentally changed the terms of debate in American politics, Viguerie announced that, thanks to his tenure in office, “the conservative movement is directionless.”
It is especially pertinent to recall such statements when one opens Viguerie’s current book, a catalog of Bush-administration horrors whose pages are replete with inspirational Reagan quotations and the highest praise for Reagan and his appointees. For a movement that claims to rest upon long perspectives and deep cultural sources, American conservatism can be remarkably short-sighted, impatient, brittle, fractious, and downright petulant. Indeed, conservatism has been found by its adherents to have “cracked up” or “lost its soul” more times than are worth counting in the years since 1980 (at least as many times as America has “lost its innocence”).
You can read this entire MUST READ commentary at
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10812&page=all
Good post! Thanks for the perspective.
HOWEVER... the Cold War was ended by Reagan. The possibility exists that you and I are alive today thanks to him.
That trumps a lot of bad.
This is ridiculous, Bush bashing, Reagan bashing.
I hope there is a republican on the thread besides me
I have to step in here. Parts of that are unfair to Reagan's legacy.
The abortion bill Reagan signed contained the usual three exceptions listed by even a lot of pro-lifers (rape, incest, and life/health). Reagan regretted parts of it because he was worried that it would be abused, but calling it pro-abortion is misleading.
He OVERWHELMINGLY supported anti-abortion measures as President. He didn't have a chance to sign any direct anti-abortion measures BECAUSE NO SUCH LEGISLATION HAD BEEN PASSED DUE TO CONGRESS.
He did put two judges on the Court that turned out to be left-of-center over time (neither Kennedy nor O'Connor was left-of-center their first few terms), but:
1.
He put Scalia on the Court. He got Rehnquist elevated to Chief Justice despite a VERY bitter confirmation battle.
2.
He had to deal with a Senate that was not at all favorable to originalist nominees.
There's no reason to trash Reagan in the process of defending Bush.
bttt
BRILLIANT!
I love how Reagan is now attacked with the kind of fervor on FR that I would expect to see on DU. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt you're capable of such.