GOP Needs to Forget Reagan: Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

wsj.com:

The Republican Party's unending tale of woe sounds like a friend's account of sitting through the New York Yankees' 22-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians at the new Yankee Stadium April 18.

In the 14-run second inning, three Indians hit home runs into the right-field seats, including a grand-slam. One ball hit a woman in the head because the fans had stopped watching the game. A nasty fight broke out in the stands. After the fourth inning (16-2), the subway trains taking Yankee faithful back to Manhattan were packed. Republicans know the feeling.

Read the whole story: wsj.com

Comments

[realdream]

Looks like Huff Post is turning into the Fox News of the left. It is simply appalling that they either didn't read or understand the article or on purpose used a headline that is exactly opposite of what the article says. This is not an isolated incident @ Huff Post but the one that put over the edge. Sloppiness, untruths etc. will simply turn us into the "enemy". Why not discuss how the article is wrong to assert that GOP's salvation lies with the policies of Reagan and Kemp (as some of the commenters are doing)?

[ObamAtomic]

What's happening the right are null,their voices tainted with inaccuracy can not advance
their platform and ideology here.
If you have a dream,dream!

[newshawk14]

I suspected that given enough time and perspective, Reagan would be realized as one of our
worst presidents, but then along came Dubya, who simply blew him out of the water.

[micmac]

You are wrong. Carter was the absolute worst president ever. I suspect Obama will blow him off that perch real soon.

[Rog49Thomas]

The president most deserving of that honor has barely left the District, yet, you fail to name him.

Former President Pan who two terms rank as the greatest setbacks to our national security and national economy on record.

[ObamAtomic]

You do not want to mention the Bushes? ...:)

[BabblingBrooks]

One would have to assume the reading comprehension of the HuffPost editors is atrocious or that they deliberately turned the point of the article 180 degrees in order to draw in lefty-delusional readers.

What the article said, clearly, was that the Republican Party should renew its understanding of the principles of Reagan and Jack Kemp, not that the party should forget them!

"Mr. Obama won the election and deserves time to see what his vision adds to the nation's productive life. If while it awaits that, the Republican Party can't renew what Reagan and Kemp gave them, its listening tour could last a very long time."

Get it?

[3dtrix]

Thinking Americans DON'T WANT a renewal of Reaganism - get it? It needs to be in a lead-lined box with a stake through its heart...

[Rog49Thomas]

A fair reading of the WSJ article.

But at the end of the day it's more delusion from the folks who destroyed our national economy and our national security.

Admittedly at times reality isn't comfortable or convenient.

Hallucinatory dogma and imagined utopias like Galt's Gulch are no doubt comforting.

But there does come a time to take the hard step and pull oneself up by the bootstraps to the real world.

[Amunaka]

I still can't understand how he became saint ronnie to those in the republican party...talk about rewriting history.....




1/26/87

The Tower Commission interviews President Reagan about the Iran-contra scandal. Though he is said by a source to lack a "highly detailed recollection," he acknowledges having authorized the arms sale to Iran in August 1985. This corroborates Robert McFarlane's testimony and directly contradicts Donald Regan's.

2/11/87

President Reagan tells the Tower Commission that after discussing it with Don Regan, he now remembers that he did not authorize the arms sale in advance. Commission members are disheartened when, while reciting his recollection from a staff-supplied memo, he mistakenly reads his stage instructions aloud.

2/20/87

"The simple truth is, 'I don't remember - period'" - President Reagan writing to the Tower Commission to set the record straight about whether he authorized the arms shipment in advance.

[Rog49Thomas]

I'm guessing from your post that either (a) you are not from the USA or (b) know little of US history.

Let me tell you we are an impressive but simple people.

From margarine to politics, the tactics and spirit of Lewis Cheskin are strong.

[Amunaka]

Huh....?

[white mende man]

Politics has and is making Americans very hateful and spiteful.

[mero909]

Uh, yeah. Well, the divide between conservatives and liberals is growing which obviously causes more friction between the two ideologies.

[Rog49Thomas]

You want bitter divisions.

Look at the presidential election of 1800 - the insults that the two candidates hurled against one another would make Karl Rove or Atwater blush with embarrassment.

There are more but let's fast forward to the 1960's.

"None Dare Call it Treason" - John Stormer who basically called every liberal a communist traitor or collaborator.
The John Birch Society.

Westbrook Pegler "Zangara Missed" - lamenting the failure of the attempt on FDR..

And on the other hand, the DP's "Daisy Commercial" against Goldwater and the whispering campaign that he was a certified nut.

[Mauiloa]

I wish I could forget him. He sure started a sh*t storm of political garbage in this country. We're still trying to clean up after him.

[BabblingBrooks]

Actually, th eproblems have occurred because Reagan's principles ae ignored. You are 180 degrees from reality.

[Forester]

babble on, babble on...

[Mauiloa]

Reagan lost his principles when he defected from the Democratic Party to become a Republican in the 50's.

That's if he ever had principles in the first place. I have my doubts. He was the perfect capitalist opportunist.

[Rog49Thomas]

there's an element of truth there in foreign policy

after the massacre of our marines in beirut, st. ronnie "cut and ran"
in fact i think he didn't even stop to cut, he just ran

his administration not only negotiated with the ayatollahs but gave them arms

sadly former president pan didn't apply either of these two "principles" in his foreign policy

[chitown8]

I'm with you on that Reagan was death to minorities. War on the poor I mean "War on Drugs".

[haval2]

Yeah best move away from him...he was the AIDS denier afterall.

[BabblingBrooks]

Really? I fine no evidence of that!

[3dtrix]

Really? You mean to say that in the critical first phase of the epidemic, his failure to acknowledge it and marshal resources - much less utter the word itself, were a form of activism or triage? Think how different things might have been. How many lives saved...

[northstar11]

you were too young to know

[chitown8]

I remember that it was blame the gay. Until Ryan White and Arthur Ashe died.

[hu.man]

GOP needs to come to terms with the failed presidency of Bush. The centerpiece of Bush's failed presidency is the Iraq war and the unrelenting support he got from his party on this grave misstep.

Prior to this costly misadventure, there was an aura of infallibility surrounding GOP and their nearly 30 year domination of the executive branch. That aura was wiped clean by Bush's arrogant refusal to recognize that his execution of Iraq war was heading toward being a disaster.

The rest of the party just stood by nodding, knowing full well that Bush wasn't cut for the task at hand. Rather than apply pressure and attempt to course-correct on this politically disastrous path, GOP chose blind loyalty to Bush's policy as the path to continue on.

They are paying the price now and moaning about it too. The time to do something was when overwhelming majority of Americans were telling you in no uncertain terms of their disapproval of Iraq war.

Not smart enough to pay attention to the polls? Or may be just too self-absorbed to stick your neck out for the people? Either way, it is called lost luster for some time to come. The emperor has no clothes and Republicans aren't so smart indeed. Actually, they are in danger of being totally marginalized if they don't own up to some past mistakes.

[ContraEgoiste]

Reagan along with his buddy Greenspan (you~know, the~one~who~finally~went in front~of~congress~to~apologize~because~his~ideas~turned~out~to be WRONG) put this country on the course to the abyss, out of which we are now trying to recover from.

He is the one who blamed government and proceeded to de~regulate (take the government's checks and balances out) the markets.

This trend of deregulation~was~followed and aggressively pushed by every republican in all offices while chanting "free~markets", started an era of winner~take~all, greed~is~good, Darwinian capitalism.

It started a frenzy of takeovers and corporate~raiders which created Corps "too~big~to~fail" that are~near~monopolies and decimated~many~small local business.

It allowed for the piecemeal~dismantling~and~selling off of our manufacturing sector~to~outside~shores.

It lead to the~aggressive~and~predatory~almost~usury~credit practices.

It led to an atmosphere where the bottom~line and return to the investor took priority to the actual worth being produced by any company.

It led to the making of vapor~assets created for the sake of profits in the market~place.

It pushed the elimination of the consumer protections.

Pushed oil and dismantled Carter's initiative for alternate energy.

Yeah, there was a false prosperity created as long as there were Co's to be raided and sold, fools to invest in the vapor~assets bubbles, etc. But sooner~or~later~the bill would come through! And here we are.

Reagan, Greenspan, et~al, created the Trickle~down "Voodoo" economics that have gushed the wealth to the top 3% and destroyed the middle~class.

Reagan should be unburied, hung~in~effigy, and live in infamy for eternity. And some cons are aware of this. That's why they are now trying to "forget" Reagan.

[Mikeeee]

Bravo, Bravo. I've always thought he should have been impeached, even postmortem.

[TheImpaler]

"Reagan should be unburied, hung~in~effigy, and live in infamy for eternity" - Simply: Yes!

[3dtrix]

Oh yeah - and by the way WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE! EVER!

[BabblingBrooks]

Actually ,his policies put the country on a 20+ year prosperity tour, and things bean crashing only after we detoured off the Reagan highway. Have you not paid attention to recent history?

[Buddy McCue]

Apparently you haven't.

[Phideaux]

Quick...
grab a bunjee cord,
hold on to both ends,
stretch the ends out apart as far as you can,
let go of one end while holding on to the other,
feel the pain when the snap hits your hand,
You've just experienced Ray-gun-omics!

[ContraEgoiste]

hmmm, seems reality still has a liberal bias. heh

[chitown8]

Maybe in your world but the Real American you know the "one that work for a living and can't barely survive" have been struggling for over 20+ years. Some folks started off bad was easy a bit with Clinton but are now worst off than ever before.

[Icantbelieveher]

The problem for the republicans is they can't agree on whether they should be more conservative or more center -- they can't figure out what the American people want and the "listening tour" is not a teaching tour, so it appears that they never will figure out what Americans want!

[BabblingBrooks]

Reading and running on polls is perhaps the way to win a few elections, but is it what's good for the country? The American people may well be wrong much of the time! Far better to fix on correct principles based upon an understanding of economics and human nature, grounded in reality, and sticking steadfastly rather than tacking all over the political ocean with every little wind shift.

Reagan was right. Jack Kemp was right. Obama's wrong. And his popularity means no more than asking a group of teenagers to vote on the "most popular boy." It bears no relationshi to life success down the road.

[ContraEgoiste]

"..The American people may well be wrong much of the time! .."

Many were for 8 years.

"...Far better to fix on correct principles based upon an understanding of economics and human nature, grounded in reality,..."

America just did so last November. heh

"..Reagan was right. Jack Kemp was right. .."

Nope, he may have gotten something right by accident on his second term when suffering from Alzheimer's.

[chitown8]

Jack Kemp was right but Reagan was wrong. I did not see Reagan include any poor minorities in his tent. Remember the walk around New York and blaming the welfare queens who did he show? Black women.... Remember the walk around DC seeing the homeless how many did he invite in for warmth?..... None he cut the funding instead. Reagan was a Charlatan at best.

[TrooAmerican]

They should. But thats because he was never that great of a president. He was involved in numerous scandals, CIA/Military financial, started the "Trickle down theory" that was all about giving rich people even More money, hoping they had So much they didnt know what to do with it and eventually some would filter down to the bottom.
He was anti union, and broke up the air traffic controllers union. The guys being abused and still are, for constant swing shifts, making our air traffic less safe.
He only got lucky that the soviet union went broke in the 80s. His one claim to fame.

[BabblingBrooks]

You might read some actual history rather than relying upon left-wing mythology. I would suggest "Reagan's War" by Peter Schneider, for starters.

[Mildmannered]

many young voting adults were born after Reagan was president

[essbird]

Here we have in black and white the core of the struggle between Obama New-New Deal Dems and Reagan Rugged-Individualist Republicans. The article oversimplifies the left side in order to make its point. To wit: Does the author really believe that government investment had nothing to do with Silicon Valley and the .com boom? Let me count the ways; I'm sure you can add more>
- Race to the moon and defense spending = the integrated circuit
- Defense spending, especially DARPA = the Internet
- Freeways = nice places to live and commute to the Valley
- Government-funded university research + state institutions of higher learning such as UCLA and USC = a highly-skilled workforce.

The problem comes when Republicans discount all things government, or public, in their formula as if a few guys with axes, shovels, and a dream could build Silicon Valley without concerted public effort. That's what the Green stuff is, that's what the renewable energy stuff is. The Republicans would sit back and run the as-is until they ran out of oil. Why? Because there's no immediate profit in doing otherwise. Say Amen.

[ContraEgoiste]

Many of the Think-tanks, School labs, and scientist where most of the innovations were originally born were funded by the Government.

[northstar11]

for those that dont know------- the internet was a government project----ARPANET.

[3dtrix]

Don't forget the internet for solid objects - the Interstate Highway System! That came through the Defense Department, as a means of moving large amounts of troops and supplies anywhere in the nation in case we were invaded (wink, wink). That's why some stretches are long and straight eight lanes wide in the middle of nowhere - to land planes. The subsequent explosion in interstate commerce - just a coincidence, giggle, snort...

[MIKEBC]

Reagan = massive deficits and i.r.a.n. contra

[mero909]

He was also a phenom leader. One of the greats? Maybe. In my opinion, he was the beginning of this current neo-con movement. He was a true conservative, but used by the power hungry conservatives (now known as neo-cons) to their advantage.

Can't we simply have a smaller, less intrusive, government without running up the deficit? Granted, most of the deficit Reagan built up was because of defense spending. *shrug*

There is more to Reagan than the deficit and i.ran contra affair. To simply equate his time in office to two negative events is simply shallow.

[3dtrix]

"Shrug" - that says it all, doesn't it?

[northstar11]

HE WAS A "B" MOVIE ACTOR

he could SAY HIS LINES WELL as an actor and when he acted as president.

[koppenberg]

The most interesting part of that WSJ column is the irony of what would not occur to Kemp or Reagan (so the writer thinks anyway), e.g. "It would not have occurred to them that America's next Silicon Valley -- Apple, Intel and Oracle -- could grow out of "investments" listed in the federal budget.".

The Internet, which certainly grew out of investments in the federal budget, has been one of the great engines of economic growth. Without it, we might have digital media players, but would we have the iPod and iTunes showing the way for commerce in entertainment? I suppose something like the Internet could have grown entirely out of private investment, but the fact of the matter is that it did not. I suppose the long distance wireless infrastructure is being built up privately though.

GPS--the federal budget put those satellites in orbit. The federal government (under Clinton) loosened up access, unleashing that federal/military infrastructure for free and now look at all the benefit gained from it by the general public as well as corporations.

[essbird]

Amen