Reagan's Blues

This has been a terrible week for conservatives. Since the financial crisis began, McCain's support has been plummeting in the polls. The most recent data also suggests that the election might result in a Democratic landslide for Obama and also in the congressional races, potentially giving Democrats a filibuster-proof Senate.

Perhaps just as bad for the long-term future of the Republican Party the McCain-Palin campaign has adopted a new vicious tone. This hearkens back to previous campaigns, when we have seen Republicans embrace a strategy rooted in Cold War conservative attacks by Republicans on Democrats for their alleged ties to communists.

This is in stark contrast to one of the most successful Republican campaigners in recent history- Ronald Reagan. He believed that to succeed, conservatives also need to sell a positive vision for America or they would suffer the fate of Barry Goldwater in 1964. The central conservative message, according to Reagan, had to revolve around what conservative policies could do to make America a better and stronger place. Reagan's rhetoric was framed in optimistic and positive terms.

While many Americans strongly disagreed with what Reagan said and he could be as tough as any politician, his insistence on counterbalancing his message with a positive outlook was essential to his victories. Jimmy Carter's pollster Patrick Caddell had noted early on how difficult it would be to turn Reagan into another Goldwater, given that his demeanor and language made him appealing to main street America. In contrast to Carter's pessimism in 1980, Reagan said that "the American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves." Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign featured an ad, "Morning in America," which provided an optimistic description of the American economy and local communities.

During the past week of the current campaign, desperate to reverse the falling polls, the Republicans have decided to take the low road and have rejected Reagan's formula for conservative success. Governor Palin has been giving speech after speech focusing on Barack Obama's relationship to a former member of the Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, to suggest that Obama has unexplained relations with "terrorists." Yesterday, McCain for the first time brought up the issue and today released an ad on the subject. "When convenient he worked with terrorist Bill Ayers. When discovered, he lied," according to the television spot.

Recent postings on YouTube have captured extremely aggressive words coming from the people lined up to see McCain and Palin. Palin said nothing at one event when someone in the crowd, revved up by talks about terrorism, screamed out "Kill Him!"

The damage that Republicans are inflicting to the conservative movement could be severe, even if this causes some bounce at the polls for the GOP, which thus far it has not. Reagan understood that no party could build a strong coalition simply through hatred. If the current sounds and sights define how Americans think about the GOP, McCain could succeed in undoing what Reagan had accomplished for the party back in 1980.

Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He is the co-editor of "Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s" (Harvard University Press) and is completing a book on the history of national security politics since World War II that will be published by Basic Books.

Comments

[theone718]

Reagan left us with a 200 BILLION dollar deficit and a 60+% approval rating. If that isn't a damn good politician I don't know what is.

[dolphy]

Ronnie and Ferdinand Marcos were buddies when they were in Congress. Anyone palling with Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos is either a crony or just plain corrupt like them. I hope both of them are having fun in their special place in hell.

[UncleSamb]

Well I guess this proves that McCain is a maverick who is willing to go against his own party.

[Oldbuck]

McCain and the Republican party can not hide from the disaster of the economy and the roll of deregulation of the major corporations they have let the fox guard the hen house. John McCain keep saying look at my record well his record show he is one of the leader of the deregulation. If people could go back to 1929 things would seem strangely the same as today. The Republican party has lost it's mantle of the conservative party. The Republican party and their tax cuts for the rich only and corprate welfare has been a disaster.

[DAE]

Let's hope so.

[certainot]

it is now the PARTY OF LIMBAUGH. we wouldn't be in this disaster without the talk radio monopoly to give them the biggest soapbox int the country. palin was chosen to bring in the talk radio base. she and the ads and the crowds are just repeating what limbaugh and hannity have been saying for days and weeks to 60MIL americans. until progressives quit ignoring the talk radio monopoly and begin listening calling complaining boycotting and picketing their LOCAL talk radio stations this crap will continue to grow.

[Figglebob]

Hahaha! Boycotting and picketing talk radio stations? The real question is why are there no prominent liberal talk radio personalities to provide a counterpoint to them? I'm sure there's a HUGE base of willing ears.

[PDinCA]

We liberals listen to music on the radio, and talk with our friends. :)

[Liberal2]

Gotta explain reality again to another reichwinge­r...

"I'm sure there's a HUGE base of willing ears." Nope, that's the first fact you can't grasp. Liberals don't need to be told what to think. So we don't need our "liberal buttons" to be pressed. Rethugs always need to be reminded what they hate. It's like the Constitution thing: show a rethug the Bill of Rights and they'll call it a commie plot. So they need constant reminder of the phrases and words in the document that can be twisted to meet their hate du jure.

The reason liberals listen or watch Olbermann and Maddow is to get more stories that the corporate media and "johnnie-one-notes" like Dobbs and O'Reilly never touch. I don't listen Olbermann and Maddow to know what to think, but what to think about.

After listening to all the news, not just what corporate media has approved, I don't constant repetition of "official" liberal positions the way you need all the rethug official positions pounded into that cesspool of a brain of yours.

[rich misty]

http://election.princeton.edu/2008/10/10/a-hard-look-at-reality-and-what-you-should-do/#more-1773

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

The John McCain Hate America '08 Tour

[ohioan73]

I was 11 when Regan ran the "Morning in America" ad. I saw it again a month ago on some web video. There was only ONE black guy in that entire ad.

1. My grandpa reached retirement age in 1982 and somehow thanks, to Reagan, his retirement or Social security was slashed. He had to cut grass in the neighborhood and shovel driveways in the winter to make enough money to survive. I don't know why or what happened, I was only 9 and all I know is he was pissed at Reagan.

2. My grandmother had to work well past her 70s because HER retirement was also affected. She used to curse Reagan and slice government cheese all the time. That cheese was pretty good.

3. In the late 70s, my mom and dad were in a beautiful 3 bedroom house. By 1986, I looked out the window at the ghetto for the first time and saw crack heads. We got poorer and poorer every year. I remember more Reagan curses. And more cheese in brown boxes.

4. I had nuclear anxiety VERY badly as a child. I get nervous just hearing the word "nuclear". That's all I have to say about that.

(I don't know WTF happened when Reagan was pres. I was 17 in 1990 and I didn't care. I know that my family cursed Reagan...a­nd his "omics")

I hope everybody else in the 80s was having a good morning because mine sucked.

[Pagon]

You are right - but weren't plainspoken enough.
Reagan's "southern strategy" was rascist to the core - plainly demonstrated by his choice of Philadelphia Mississippi for a speech.
Remember that place? It's where the white and black civil rights workers were murdered.
He set the winning strategy of race and class divisiveness that the Republicans have used ever since. They love him because it works for them.
Interesting that the Democrats do not stoop that low, isn't it?
Reagan !

[ohioan73]

Unfortunately, we have to respond to that strategy which puts us in the position of coming dangerously close to stooping to their levels sometimes. That's an interesting analysis of class divisiveness because I found myself without white friends after about 1986. I didn't even see white people again for a long time. LOL!

[GrainOSand]

"Reagan understood that no party could build a strong coalition simply through hatred. "

Reagan was a better liar.

[MPCarr]

What makes the difference in this campaign is that Obama has the media totally on his side, like having10,000 publicity agents working for him throughout the country.

Pro-Obama articles and interviews dominate every publication, news show, and TV show. Counts have been done, and the media, with the exception of talk radio, FOX News, and blogs, are all in the tank for Obama.

So McCain has no choice but to do the attacks on Obama himself. There are volumes of information on Obama, with Ayers, Rev. Wright, Rashid Khalidi, Tony Rezko, Louis Farrakhan, ACORN, Obama votes against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, and Obama's own books, detailing his far left politics views.

But the media could care less. I bet everyone in the country know's the name of Palin's five kids, but doesn't know anything about Obama's record.

[FearlessFreep]

WHAT counts have been done?

[rich misty]

We both know there are no counts ;)

Unless they are criminal charges, and the GOP is on trial, like Palin's mentor Stevens

[alguien]

maybe if mccain & his people hadn't gone into attack mode at the media, starting at the convention and increasing the animosity ever since, the press would be a little kinder to him. the treatment they have received at the hands of the mccain campaign has been abominable and the press has no incentive to write anything nice about him.

seeing as mccain has cut off most media access to himself and sarah palin, they probably shouldn't be reporting on mccain's activities at all.

[Doomestic]

Am sorry are you living on the same planet the rest of us are? Because around here all they seem to be talking about is Ayres this and Ayres that, Wright this and Wright that...

[Ged2012]

So what can you say about President Bush whom you voted for twice to the Presidency?

Look, even McCain had been hanging around with shady characters. In fact, McCain's wife continued doing business with Keating after he was made responsible for the economic collapse in the late 80s.

Then we also have Sarah Palin whose husband was a member of the Alaskan Independent Party till 2002. This is an organization that wants to separate from the United States. And Palin no less prepared a video for the group last summer.

Have you ever asked yourself why these things are out of the radar?

Let me answer it for you: the Democratic Party is somewhat lukewarm about negative attacks. If they do attack, they are quite slow, which led to them losing in 2000 and 2004 to your beloved President, George W. Bush, whom many of you surprisingly now love to hate.

[PBW44]

Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, "everyone" was on Obama's side because we see his so-called "associations" as innocuous and irrelevant, particularly in light of his clear plan of what needs to be done to get this country back on the right path and his obvious leadership abilities. Maybe, just maybe, if you got your information from sources other than FOX, talk radio and right wing blogs, you would know of his past accomplishments and vision for the future. McCain/Palin has no vision for the future other than more of the same and, judging from their hatefilled rallies of the last week or so, appealing to the lowest life forms among us.

[PDinCA]

Indeed. At some point, shoudn't you entertain the possibility that the reason so many people are pro-Obama is that he actually *is* the better choice, instead of that it's a conspiracy? Not all bias is biased. Sometimes one side is actually right.

[Toonadude]

Nancy was Ronzo's dark side and "inspiration" .... he was the happy-go lucky facade.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

Well, Johnny, well, Sarah, there you go again.

[dolphy]

Everyone just have to remember Reagan's mantras to know that the guy is a fraud:

1. Government is the problem (except when the rich need bailouts).
2. Trickle down aka voodoo economics works.
3. Practically saying greed is good.
4. I can break the law until I get caught.
5. Deficits doesn't matter.
6. Aids only affects gays.

and on and on........­........

[JiminNC]

Ketchup is a vegetable.

[Senzasord]

I don't recall___

[PDinCA]

His mantra on AIDS was "what?"

[dolphy]

I knew Reagan was bad for the country in 1981 when he started union busting, that was the first sign that he was not working for the good of shmucks like us who have to work to live.

[Kathreen]

Palin's Obama "terrorist" remarks can be countered by Reagan's own hobnobbing with HIS "terrorist" INVITEES TO THE WHITE HOUSE:

http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=194

[dolphy]

The Reagan strategy worked because of the bad economy and the hostage issue. The other reason is the presence of low info voters.