This came to mind because of Jeb Bush's comments to Newsmax in which he acknowledges Sarah Palin's "charisma" but says she needs to add “some depth of understanding of the complexity of life”. He also recommends a "little intellectual curiosity". I thought this was condescending, so I decided to post his estimation back in 2009 that we should move beyond Reagan because the world is so complex, and conservatives "need to be more forward looking and relevant.".
This was the same argument always levelled at Reagan while he was in office. The world was too complex for a simpleton actor. In his own era, which was obsessed with the complexity of "insoluble problems" and the spreading notion that the Presidency was "too big for one man", Reagan often repeated one of his sayings, which is so true, "There are simple solutions-just not easy ones." That is not nostalgia. That is as true today as it was then.
It is somewhat ironic that Jeb Bush chose to make this statement, so often used as a knock on Reagan, almost thirty years to the day (February 26, 1980) after his father, the quintessential, but competent(so he said) moderate was vanquished by the conservative, but simplistic, Reagan.
Is he still on this kick? What a doofus.
Go away. No more Bushes.
F U JEB
The Bush Age is over.
IIRC, they were visiting pizza shops on their tour. Good grief, all I can say is “Stay out da bushes!”
Jeb ol boy your dumber than your brother..... go away we done want none of what your selling.....
ping
The Bushes wish they collectively possessed a tenth of Reagan’s leadership ability and patriotism.
The more I here this idiot talk, the more I think he was adopted....
TIME FOR THE GOP TO STAY OUT DA BUSHES ONCE AND FOR ALL!
(Jesse was right for once in his silly life).
I’m sorry, Jeb; you’ve obviously been confused for someone relevant.
This must be Jeb’s way of bowing out of the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Quite frankly Jeb, I am for leaving the Bush’s behind. Forever.
Shove off, Jeb. We tried it your way in ‘06 and ‘08. It was a disaster . . . and so are you.
Useful idiots.
The Republican party existed 100 years before Reagan - he became one of us with a gift to discuss it.
The Republican party is not the Reagan party.
If we stand up to our core values we will attract more Reagan’s.
Nostalgia for Reagan; nausea for Bush.
It is time to leave BUSH behind ... but Jeb is another McCain butt buddy.
IMHO, it’s time (long past time) for the GOP to apply the lessons of Reagan to the issues of the day.
I’d agree conservatives can’t simply bask in 80’s nostalgia. But neither should they simply “forget” Reagan. The issues may be different than they were in the 80s, but the philosophical underpinnings of Reaganism are still relevant.
I believe in promoting the future...Sarah Palin....while at the same time, remembering the ideals that made Ronald Reagan a great president.
As conservatives, we can do both.