Jeb Bush: GOP Needs To Forget Reagan

Washington Times:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election.

"You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said.

Read the whole story: Washington Times

Comments

[tydicea]

Jeb is absolutely right, Reagan's presidency was every bit as disastrous for the country as his brother's, only difference was it was decades before the effects of his policies to manifest. The effective dismantling of the middle class began with his presidency.

[justoverit333]

They cannot be rid of the Christian Right because
that is their base. Without them, they are history.
The Party of No is in quite a dilemma and will be
for years.

[justoverit333]

So the Party of No is trying to learn how
to listen to the regular folks. LOL. That's
a joke.

[Mnemanth]

Sit down, Tubby.

[albanianmomforobama]

This country has suffer enough from the Bushessssssssssss. Enough already! Go way creeps!!

[OKSunny]

clueless....the country does not need any more reminders of the Bush family---why on Earth are they using Jeb Bush to promote any message at all? Are the Republicans seriously this dilusional, it seems to me that most of the country is not going to listen to or trust what anyone from this family has to say.

[Chapmanp2]

The scary part is, that the only one making any sense what so ever in the Republican party seems to be yet another Bush...

[K.J. Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

[Romney] said. "We don't have to come up with all the answers today, thank heaven," he added, "but certainly by 2010, we better." . . .

Republicans have no concrete ideas. They had eight years and five election cycles to define their platform and all they could think to do was try to match their "maverick" (appealing to blue dog dems) with their rifle-totin' beauty queen (appealing to their nutty fringe, which now has become their core). Romney saying "thank heaven" effectively concedes that the Republicans are intellectually bankrupt.

"We have principles, we have values. They are the values that are shared by the majority of Americans, there's no question about it. But we have to now take those principles and values and apply them to the challenges that our country faces today and in the future. ... he [Jeb Bush] said.

This is the equivalent of people who call themselves writers who've never produced a single completed opus. They're all "ideas" and "values" with absolutely no substance.

Republicans only option is to come up with vague generalities that will appease their ignorant base while hopefully appealing to their more moderate members. All their rhetoric, however, has nothing to do with actual governance and concrete programs that address the problems at hand. That's why they will continue to fail under present circumstances.

However, Repubs still have powerful media constructs and have proven themselves to be masters of manipulation. We have to remain diligent; holding their feet to the fire at

[davism97]

To think republicans started out as an anti-slavery party in 1860. They've fallen quite a ways since then ...

[StevenevetS]

Nothing in this article indicated to me that these Republican leaders have any clue of why their party is crumbling. Over and over they talk about their conservative values and how if they communicate them better the party will make a comeback.

The problem isn't their stated Conservative values. The problem is that they don't live by them.

If you want to be the party of personal freedom, stop legislating what people can do in their bedroom. Stop telling us that gays should not have the rights that others have. Stop telling women what they are allowed to do with their own bodies. Stop telling the sick that the things that could save their lives is immoral.

If you want to be the party of fiscal responsibility, realize that Capitalism run-amok has destroyed our economy and that the spending that they freely took part in did much of the damage. But now, with the damage done, they want to block spending needed to SAVE the economy. The investments are huge, but now necessary - they call pork. But they didn't call unnecessary war in Iraq pork. They didn't call tax breaks for the rich pork.

The GOP should worry less about rebranding and more about sincerely becoming what they say they are. (But really aren't!)

[RhymeAndReason]

You have hit the nail on the head.

[mdn]

Reagan is the father of deregulation! It worked so well that the financial meltdown we are now in, leads straight back to Reaganeconomics.

[Redeemer777]

You can never have enough Bushes and Baldwins

[JanineMarie]

I knew it was just a matter of time before they trotted out the other white meat. I guess they figured since the first one made us sick, and the second almost killed us, he would be easier to digest.

BUT THEY ARE SOOOOOO WRONG.

[TovSquirrel]

Governor/President Ronald Reagan is the reason I stopped voting Republican all those years ago. Bless his heart.

[catzoned]

Jeb could start listening to people who do not want to be kept alive by tubes and machines when they are brain damaged as in the case of Terry Schiavo. Jeb turned a family tragedy into a full blown media circus because of his pro-life position. Some of us will never forget or forgive you for what you did.

[serialcoma]

Anyone who listens to any member of the Bush family should have their head examined.

[djmc831]

here here!