Even if Wednesday night’s Republican debate weren’t taking place at the Reagan Presidential Library outside Los Angeles, some of the candidates taking part would be likely to mention the GOP hero.
Mr Graham suggested that Russian forces would not be in Ukraine if Reagan were still in the White House, while Mr Pataki reminisced fondly about the 40th President’s sunny optimism. Democrats have Kennedy; Republicans have Reagan.
To begin with, is it healthy for a party – trying to reinvent itself for a new century and America’s new demographic realities – to continually define itself according to an idealized image of a man who left office in 1989 and who faded from public life before most young voters were born?
Donald Trump: Nothing he said will expand his appeal or make him look more presidential, two crucial tasks for him to win the nomination. “I think that’s a huge, huge difference”. Despite his reputation as a driver of economic growth, his policies produced large deficits.
TRUMP: Your brother and your brother’s administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have been elected. This particular plane flew seven presidents, including Ronald Reagan for both of his terms. I cannot imagine a room on this planet in which she does not command the respect of every person present.
“It worked very well because we’d say, ‘you can’t pick on Reagan because he’s a fellow Republican, ‘ ” Reagan press secretary Lyn Nofziger told biographer H.W. Brands. “To say, I’m just like Ronald Reagan”. Or in 1984 when he jokingly told Walter Mondale, who took a swipe at Reagan’s age, that he would not criticize the 56-year-old Mondale’s “youth and inexperience”. He always looks straight into the camera, which comes across as forced when you have people standing so close on either side. “What was not to like?” Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, despite taking a more active role in last night’s debate, continues to struggle. “Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold”. “And we were strong and resolute”, he said.
Shirley said Reagan needed the 11th Commandment because he was under personal attack from establishment Republicans who feared his rise.
Trump interrupted him then, and the two candidates attempted to talk over each other. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz argued for walking away from the deal, despite the fact that it was negotiated alongside allies.
“It’s going to be no-holds-barred”, said Reagan biographer Craig Shirley. Sometimes, the Reagan-ing borders on overkill. But his long shadow hangs more like a pall than a majestic rainbow over the 16 aspirants to the Reagan throne. Addressing a massive “kick-off” rally in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, Reagan called for the “building of an American economy that once again holds forth real opportunity for all”, and of America continuing to be “a symbol of freedom and guardian of the eternal values that so inspired those who came to this port of entry”. A shrewd politician, he also knew that crossing the line would help the Democratic opposition more than the home team.
“There really is none”, said Michael Reagan Wednesday on AM640 radio’s Bill Carroll Show when asked which candidate was most like his father.
He’s often remembered now as affable. Twelve years earlier, the televised speech that launched Reagan as a national figure, for 1964 GOP nominee Barry Goldwater, remains the most eloquent blueprint for the enduring conservative values of small government, personal freedom and a hawkish foreign policy. Christie said Americans don’t care.
Such rhetoric leads Schlapp to scoff at the idea that Reagan would perish in today’s GOP.