NYT: Reagan Legacy Looming Large Over Campaign

[bluestateguy]

WASHINGTON, June 6 — From the shores of Normandy to President Bush's campaign offices outside Washington, Mr. Bush and his political advisers embraced the legacy of Ronald Reagan on Sunday, suggesting that even in death, Mr. Reagan had one more campaign in him — this one at the side of Mr. Bush.

cut

Some Republicans said the images of a forceful Mr. Reagan giving dramatic speeches on television provided a less-than-welcome contrast with Mr. Bush's own appearances these days, and that it was not in Mr. Bush's interest to encourage such comparisons. That concern was illustrated on Sunday, one Republican said, by televised images of Mr. Reagan's riveting speech in Normandy commemorating D-Day in 1984, followed by Mr. Bush's address at a similar ceremony on Sunday.

"Reagan showed what high stature that a president can have — and my fear is that Bush will look diminished by comparison," said one Republican sympathetic to Mr. Bush, who did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the president.

Another senior Republican expressed concern that by identifying too closely with Mr. Reagan, Mr. Bush risked running a campaign that looked to the past, which this adviser described as a recipe for a loss.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/politics/campaign/07REPU.html?ei=5062&en=2b0daab7e3429b75&ex=1087272000&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=

[PartyPooper]

1. I hope Karl's panties are in a twist over this one!

HAHAHA!

:evilgrin:

[AnnitaR]

2. Did he actually say this?

"suggesting that even in death, Mr. Reagan had one more campaign in him — this one at the side of Mr. Bush."

If so I hope the Reagan's rip him a new asshole! Nancy has never liked the BFEE and I don't think she'll look to kindly on Junior using Ronnie's death for political gain. She still very unhappy about the whole stem cell research issue, so maybe she's up for telling Junior off over this too.

[readmylips]

3. Sounds like bushe's shorts in a knot....

But I want to be Reagan....please...let me.

Republicans to bush: No, you are a disgrace, you are not Reagan and don't even come close to Reagan-like. You're not even Nixon.

[Leilani]

4. I think all the Reagan hoopla dwarfs Bush

It shows how he is really a 10th rate Reagan wanna-be.

Hate Reagan if you like, but he makes Shrub look like a little boy.

Ronald Reagan grew up poor, with an alcholic father, & earned everything he achieved.

Bush has never accomplished 1 thing on his own, in his life.

[KittyWampus]

18. Yup, It Helps Expose How TIRED We All Are Of The Overmarketing Of Bush

Reagan, blast it all, was able to use his innate charm and acting ability (such as it was) to convince people.

Junior requires millions of dollars worth of advertising and propaganda.

[Lou_C]

5. I can hear * now

"Darn Daddy you said that we were going to compare me with Mr. Reagan and I would win again after the old fart died".

[TahitiNut]

6. Ghouls!

:puke:

[Piperay]

7. Chimp is pathetic if

he has to tie himself to a corpse to get another stolen term. :puke:

[Philostopher]

23. That is pretty bad, isn't it?

Wow ... the immense desperation of it, when you put it that way, really hits home.

Worse yet, he's trying to ride the coattails of somebody who, by the time he was out of office, already had galvanized a core of Democrats who would, ultimately, deliver eight years to Bill Clinton.

And finally, he's trying to hook his fortunes to a ship full of people who didn't respect his father, thought his mother was gauche and probably wouldn't have given him the time of day.

Yowsa -- I thought it would be ghoulish for them to do this, but it never occurred to me what cravenness it would show. They really are scraping the bottom of the barrel!

[Manix]

8. Repubs will do anything, no matter how despicable, to gain any advantage.

[radfringe]

9. not to worry

ROVEr-boy will figure out how to spin it and those who express criticism will be tarred and feathered as besmirching the memory of Reagan and are unpatriotic...

this is an opportunity to do a make-over on bush* and turn him into a mini-me-Reagan -- they won't pass it up

an ironic or at least curious comparison -- Reagan left office with the Iran-Contra scandal which involved the CIA, and bush* is up to his eyeballs with WMDs-Iraq Invasion-terrattacks which also involve the CIA

[Danmack]

22. Exactly correct (nt)

[xxqqqzme]

10. squatter's really N2

ripping off the dead. Sick rat bastard.

[teryang]

11. The chimp is incompetent and hated

...anything he embraces turns to s..t. The bushes loved Reagan so much because he stood in their way, so they arranged for their friend, John Hinckley junior to attempt assassinating him.

[dbt]

12. Comparisons with Reagan? BRING 'EM ON!

And let the first one be the ability to speak in public. Even the most fact-challenged Neocons will shit down both legs at the contrast.

Evil as he was, Reagan could make any set of words sound like they were his own thoughts. Evil as he is, bu$h cannot string five words together without three of them being "Um..."

Oh, HELL yes. Let the whole country compare bu$h to Reagan! PLEASE!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[underpants]

17. Repost:"My father sh*ts bigger than him"

-Ronald Reagan Jr.'s quote about comparisons made between his father and W.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. I don't see this as a problem. */Jr./Smirky is no Ronald Reagan.

If anything, his image is severely diminished by the comparison. I would consider this to be a public relations nightmare if I were Karl Rove. By resurrecting the Reagan Era, moderate Republicans will remember bipartisonship and civility in the legislative process, and neocons will be seen as the radical band of thugs that they are.

Republicans, take back your party!

[dusty64]

14. This "reagan effect"

is pure BS and so overblown. The man has been out of the public eye and pretty much gone for TEN years. The rethugs and corporate media minions really would want for this to have an impact, but try as I might I just do NOT see it happening at all.

[LittleApple81]

15. Bush* himself he IS NOT an RR REPUBLICAN: he is George W. REPUBLICAN!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5146260 /

At the end of the interview, after all the usual platitudes:


Brokaw: “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Bush: “Tom.”

Brokaw: “You think of yourself as a Ronald Reagan Republican?”

Bush: “Think of myself as a George W. Republican, different era.”

A GEORGE W. REPUBLICAN???? HE IS NOT EVEN OUT OF OFFICE YET! HE IS NOT DEAD YET! HE HAS SCREWED UP!!! SO WHAT IS A GEORGE W. REPUBLICAN!!!!

[Justice]

16. Remember Reagan Ended the Cold War Without Bloodshed

Nancy said Reagan wanted to be known/was best known for two things:

(1) sense of optimism
(2) ending Cold War without bloodshed

Whether you agree or not, Reagan is thought to have ended the friggin' cold war without bloodshed. That is a point of contrast with Bush*, the man who unleases troops and guns for foolish twisted motives (and based on false evidence).


Bush is also not optimistic - he uses terra, terra, terra to strike fear in people's hearts.

Let them compare, it only makes Bush* look worse (and who thought that was possible).

[Zech Marquis]

19. if * had been in charge during the 1980s

I dare say we mght not be here today, the whole world might be one giant nuclear parking lot...:scared: At least Reagan TALEKD and made agreements with the Soviets. * would have pressed the button and enjoyed one more bottle of Cold turkey... :eyes:

[Snellius]

20. Name one positive thing Reagan did for this country?

Reagan's myth as phoney as his dyed hair and cosmeticized complexion. Oh, but, he brought down the evil empire!

[Bridget Burke]

21. I'm not going to say one positive thing about the "Reagan legacy"

I was there; I know he didn't bring down the Evil Empire. And I remember those shocking documentaries about Calcutta & Bombay--where homeless people lived in the streets....

But, as bad as he was, Bush is worse. Even in the beginnings of dementia Reagan could speak as though he meant it. All show, all phoniness--but Bush doesn't even have that. This article in the Houston Chronicle indicates how both Bushes suffer when compared to Reagan: www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/reagan/2613212

[Snellius]

25. Bush would be worse if only if he had Reagan's "charm"

What made the Reagan years so unbearable is that so many people seemed to be sold on his good-guy cosmetic cowboy movie of himself. He was a charlatan. As mean as they come. And everyone just passed him off with a disregarding smile. After all, he was so "optimistic". So "charming".

At least with Bush there's the consolation that half of the country hates his guts.

[Octafish]

24. Remember what RON REAGAN JR said about Smirko...

"My dad's crapped bigger ones than him!"

[Lisa]

28. "an obnoxious drunk!"

Yay, Ron!

[PATRICK]

26. This is the kind of article

that the more paranoid(or astute) among us have seen as the typical approach to Dems.

This seems to bolster one theory: that Dem advisers gripe more openly destructively as sources than their GOP counterparts which has accounted for way too much bad press slant.

As obviously bad and in trouble as Bush is it is good to see the tables turned and his "helpers" stupidly helping to reinforce the negative- while no one in the Bush campaign is going to be moved to take their oblique advice in a press "leak".

Another sign of disintegration of disciple in the GOP camp. Not in a rout stage yet, but progressing very well.

[struggle4progress]

27. Bush does resemble Reagan in his later years.