“… In other words, we said to Osama bin Laden we think getting rid of Saddam Hussein is seven times more important than dealing with you. – President Bill Clinton (2006)
POLITICO GRABBED the RNC platform that was mistakenly uploaded on to the Internet. Republicans aren’t claiming it’s the final language. This is how it begins:
Trying to recapture Ronald Reagan in a Todd Akin era, the right, who controls the party platform and who is nominated, continues to hold on to an antiquated notion that the Republican Party is the national security title holder. It’s a fantasy that demands they forget George W. Bush existed and that Dick Cheney’s torture policy didn’t disgrace our country, but also crimps where these two men can travel in the world for fear they’ll be confronted as war criminals. Henry Kissinger still has the same problems. It also ignores that Mr. Reagan got very lucky, because he should have been impeached for Iran-Contra, which was clearly illegal and a gross violation of Reagan’s powers.
It must be something living amid the Republican Party in the era of Todd Akin, whose philosophy is represented through Mitt Romney’s popular vice presidential selection, Paul Ryan, the next generation Reagan, who actually doesn’t represent anything Reagan represented, because the Gipper couldn’t get nominated in today’s Republican Party. So, the only way to immortalize the man who revitalized conservatism after the Barry Goldwater calamity is to rewrite him as a fictional character, which is exactly what’s happening today.
Republicans can’t accept and won’t grapple with the reality that George W. Bush never made Osama bin Laden a priority after Gen. Tommy Franks blew it at Tora Bora. Bush was besotted by neoconservative misadventurism that had America in a needless war in Iraq, with the choice to ignore Afghanistan causing the current struggles Pres. Obama is having there today. That Bush waged his scattershot foreign policy off the books, while thinking cutting taxes at a time of deep military involvement was a good idea, should make the Republican marketing slogan of “peace through strength” something that is derisively covered in the media as a complete and total fantasy that you have to be inside the Republican bubble to believe.
The “fictional” character thing has been going on for quite a while. They have forgotten so much of what Reagan actually did that it’s not even funny. What’s even less funny is Obama’s embrace of him and the fact that he’s probably to the right of Reagan.
“What’s even less funny is Obama’s embrace of him and the fact that he’s probably to the right of Reagan.”
I will never understand Obama’s channeling Reagan. Is that what a true Democrat would have done? I have never forgotten what Reagan did. And what’s so amazing is the myth that he brought the end of communism. The USSR was ready to implode. I lived in Europe during a good portion of Reagan’s presidency and the early 90′s, and believe me when the USSR finally imploded, it wasn’t because of Reagan. Communism had failed big time.
And then there WAS that little Iran/Contra thingy.
Ronald Reagan and all that he represents have been deadly to all of us. California was a truly great state before Reagan became governor and began to dismantle the state university/education system, closed many of the mental health clinics and hospitals, and generally wreaked havoc on all citizens–especially the poor and troubled. When he became POTUS, he did the same to the entire country.
I agree with Ga6thDem about Obama–I have never understood why a supposedly intelligent person would find anything admirable about Ronald Reagan.
The Republican Party are blockheads for even mentioning Reagan. Why go Reagan Baby when Akin Baby is so much more fun and entertaining. Heck with being the whole moderate angle. The Republican Party is the party of “pull yourself up by your boot straps” and “tough love”. Then let’s roll Republicans. Hard right with the rich dude and charismatic sidekick leading the message. Let America know you’re not compromising a damn thing and will be as RIGHT AS THEY WANNA BE!
Once again, modern campaign directors suck. America is about the spectacle. Play into it. Speak loud and carry a big stick!
*sarcasm partially off*
And beside…Reagan couldn’t even win a state primary in the repugnantklan/teabagger/UBERChristian party now.