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I remember well the outright disdain that many conservatives had for Reagan.

Had he not appealed to Democrats, (Reagan Democrats), he would not have been elected. It was crossover voting that elected Reagan, and also helped propel him to two terms.

Rhetoric aside, Reagan had a lot of moderate support as he was a moderate. He was closer to Rudy then he was Fred.

Today's Conservatives use old Reagan quotes to create a personality that never really existed. It's unfortunate for the truth, that each and every time we try to point this fact out we get blasted by people who have created a false perception and now believe it.

Reagan's popularity should be a clue as to his politics, but this is ignored by those who are hurting the party, leading the right wing off a cliff and guaranteeing the Democrat party a win by our default and not true democrat support.

Had he not appealed to Democrats, (Reagan Democrats), he would not have been elected. It was crossover voting that elected Reagan, and also helped propel him to two terms.

Rhetoric aside, Reagan had a lot of moderate support as he was a moderate. He was closer to Rudy then he was Fred.

Actually, though, he was more of a libertarian than Mayor Giuliani, and he was much more strongly in favor of personal rights than many FReepers would like.

On immigration, he made a mistake, but I doubt he'd have done it again. These candidates have seen the effects of Reagan's action and we must judge on whether they want to repeat the mistakes.

> I remember well the outright disdain that many conservatives had for Reagan.

Yes? Who? I remember the election of 1980 well: it was my first election ever, and I paid attention to everything. I remember that the idiots on our college campus were calling Reagan a Fascist and a Nazi and would often disrupt our student GOP “get out the vote” tables. I didn’t get a chance to work on the campaign as much as I wanted since I was a freshman and overloaded with work, but I don’t recall any conservatives who had the kind of serious misgivings we have today with Rooty, for example.

You sir, are dead on.

I loved Ronald Reagan for the good things he did, but he was no Conservative the way the folks around here define it.

He pulled out of Lebanon after the Marine barracks were bombed.

He appointed two moderates (Kennedy and O’Connor) and two conservative (Rhenquist and Scalia) to the Supreme Court. That’s a 50% record partially by pandering to the feminists.

He raised taxes as part of a bargain with Democrats (he should have known by then that Democrats never keep their bargains).

He gave amnesty to illegals (once again after bargaining with Democrats).

He was divorced and had one gay son and one extremely Liberal daughter. He supported gay rights at least to some degree.

The balance...He freed the world from the yoke of Communism and won the “unwinable” Cold War.

Isn’t it amazing that he didn’t receive the Nobel Prize for Peace, but Gorby did? -end sarcasm- Nobel Joke prize!!!

I remember well the outright disdain that many conservatives had for Reagan. Had he not appealed to Democrats, (Reagan Democrats), he would not have been elected.

I don't remember it that way. There was some disillusionment with Reagan in his second term. Some prominent neoconservatives thought he was too soft with Gorbachev. And there was always Howard Phillips and his third party of the day.

But I remember pretty solid support for Reagan among conservatives both in 1980 and 1984. He was the conservative candidate in those years.

In those years when there were still many more Democrats than Republicans, Reagan did have to win over disaffected Democrats, but that wasn't because conservatives wouldn't vote for him.

It was crossover voting that elected Reagan, and also helped propel him to two terms.

I think you're on solider ground there. Reagan had more of a "big tent" conception of the Republican party than many do today.

He stood firm for what he believed, but he wasn't going to disdain support from anybody -- including moderate to liberal RINOs or conservative to moderate Democrats.

Still, I don't think you can say that he ran as a moderate or didn't have solid conservative support.

You've only got to look at what Carter or Mondale (or Ford) said about Reagan to realize that he was running on the right. His appeal wasn't to conservatives alone, but he wasn't primarily seen as a moderate by any means.

The author may be writing a hit piece on the Republicans, but he does have a point.

It's the old "FDR or Truman or JFK wouldn't have a chance at the Democrat nomination this year" argument but used against today's Republican Party, and it's no more or less valid on its face than that argument has been.

Rhetoric aside, Reagan had a lot of moderate support as he was a moderate.

Bald-faced revisionist history.

In 1980, Reagan was seen as a conservative...even an ultra-conservative. He was despised by academia, even then. His radio commentaries were still fresh in the minds of many people, and in them, Reagan consistently promoted his conservative ideals.

In 1976, he had challenged Gerald Ford for the nomination, and nearly won it. He was clearly positioned as a conservative.

Moderates of the day were more apt to support John Anderson, who had previously been a Republican congressman.

You may think you can pull the wool over everyone's eyes, but some of us are old enough to remember these things.