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Reagan and Gingrich (from 1980) In his 1980 debate with President Carter, Ronald Reagan famously said: "...I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as...

Republicans are already celebrating their comeback — and promising an even bigger year in 2012. Oddly enough, Walter Mondale knows exactly how they feel. His party's obituary was written by the press after the 1980 election, when Ronald Reagan capitalized on stagflation to score a 44-state landslide over Jimmy Carter. Just like Obama, Reagan came to power with enormous expectations and soaring popularity — only to watch it all melt away in his first two years on the job, thanks to a brutal recession and double-digit unemployment.

There was only one presidential debate in 1980 and here is a short clip from that debate between Governor Ronald Reagan and soon to be unemployed president jimmy carter. Reagan proved the best way to handle an elitist liberal like carter is with humor and an ability to speak in a conversational manner directly to the individual American voter in a simple and honest way. Reagan's warmth by contrast made carter look like a stiff jerk and i hope that tonight even in small measure Sen. McCain will be able to duplicate that masterful performance by the great President Ronald...

The World According to J.C. "Tedious" doesn't begin to describe the new book by America's worst ex-president. BY BRET STEPHENS Jimmy Carter's 20th book is a tedious meditation about the appropriate uses of moral values in political life--as wisely and humbly exemplified by Himself--and of their misuses under the current Bush administration. But tedious isn't quite the right word here, because it suggests mere boredom while Mr. Carter's prose manages to be irritating as well. Is there an English-language equivalent to the German Rechthaberei, which loosely translates as the state of thinking and behaving as if you're in the right...

Jimmy Carter aspired to make Government "competent and compassionate," responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation, and continuing tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations. Carter, who has rarely used his full name--James Earl Carter, Jr.--was born October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Peanut farming, talk of politics, and devotion to the Baptist faith were mainstays of his upbringing. Upon graduation in 1946 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Carter married Rosalynn Smith. The Carters have three sons,...

Ronald Reagan won because he won the only debate. He won it not because of Carter's debate performance ("I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was. She said she thought nuclear weaponry ... "), but only because Reagan had Carter's briefing book. And Reagan had it because this columnist gave it to him.

Good evening. I want to have a frank talk with you tonight about our most serious domestic problem. That problem is inflation. Inflation can threaten all the economic gains we've made, and it can stand in the way of what we want to achieve in the future. This has been a long-time threat. For the last 10 years, the annual inflation rate in the United States has averaged 6-1/2 percent. And during the 3 years before my inauguration, it had increased to an average of eight percent. Inflation has, therefore, been a serious problem for me ever since I became...

<p>A former American University chemist yesterday reported that he and a Virginia entrepreneur had created a safe, pollution-reducing and mileage-boosting replacement for harmful gasoline additives.</p> <p>In a well-received paper presented at the annual American Chemical Society meeting that ended here yesterday, Paul Waters explained he had created a polymer additive for gasoline called polyisobutylene.</p>

CARTER'S REMARKS TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, BOSTON Mon Jul 26 2004 19:45:57 ET My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm not running for president. But here's what I will be doing: everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him. Twenty-eight years ago I was running for president, and I said then, "I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people." I say this again tonight, and that is exactly what we will have next January...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal, which calls for a number of one-time fiscal maneuvers and no new taxes in the fiscal year beginning July 1, won't prevent a $6 billion deficit in the following year, a top state official said Tuesday. State Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, offering her initial public comments on Schwarzenegger's 2004-05 spending plan, praised it as "a solid starting point" with many "positive" features even as she panned the absence of tax increases and reliance on various uncertainties. "The budget presented by the governor ... poses serious questions and concerns for the Legislature," Hill said. "We think...

Judge Rejects Suit Against Bush Over War The Associated Press Wednesday, April 30, 2003; 12:53 PM LINCOLN, Neb. - A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former congressman alleging that President Bush violated the 1973 War Powers Act by attacking Iraq. Former Rep. Clair Callan had no legal standing to file the court action and failed to show that he would be personally injured by Bush's actions, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf ruled. The judge also said the issues raised involved foreign policy and military decisions that are outside the jurisdiction of the judicial branch. Callan,...