Has the Right Gone Mad? (Guest Voice)
Has the Right Gone Mad?
by Michael Reagan
They say they are all Reaganites and that they want my father to return — my father, who lived by his so-called 11th Commandment that no Republican should speak ill of another Republican.
What makes them think he would want to return to any party whose members use hatchets on their fellow Republicans? And do it in public? Ronald Reagan didn’t pick up his toys and go home like a spoiled brat when things didn’t go his way, even after a hard-fought loss in 1976. He supported the winning candidate as he would support today’s nominee, no matter who might be chosen.
Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons
He understood that Republicans can always win when they are united. They have a message the voters understand and support. We can beat Barack Hussein Obama and his socialist message if we are unified, but if we are divided and broadcasting a confusing message — which is what Obama craves — it will help him win another four years in the White House.
He’ll get it, and America will suffer if Republicans spend their time attacking each other. Republicans must understand that the American people are tired of all the intraparty bickering. They want a party that offers solutions, not cat fights.
The don’t need a conservative voice such as that of Michael Savage, attacking a top conservative such as Newt Gingrich by offering him $1 million to bow out of the race. Or conservative hero Glenn Beck publicly announcing he’ll back a third-party candidate such as Ron Paul if Newt is the GOP candidate. That’s called political suicide.
Like it or not, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the overwhelming favorite among Republican voters, and among many Democrat voters as well. They like the cut of his jib. He leaves no doubt where he stands on the issues, and he’ll fight like the dickens to defend his stands.
Sure, in the past he’s done a lot of stupid things, But just who hasn’t? He willingly admits he’s often been wrong. At the moment, however, he’s right as rain.
The GOP establishment doesn’t like Newt. He’s too outspoken. They like wishy-washy candidates. Their problem is that the majority of Republicans in the real world prefer candidates who hold strong convictions and speak out forcefully and clearly. Every time the GOP picks a candidate with weak Republican convictions, the Republican party loses. And lose they should. A party that will not defend its principles doesn’t deserve to win.
If Republicans turn their guns on Newt instead of on Obama, Obama will be our president for another four years. Is that what they want?
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press, 2011). He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his website at www.reagan.com, or e-mail comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.©2011 Mike Reagan. Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate. His column is licensed to run on TMV in full.
10 Responses to “Has the Right Gone Mad? (Guest Voice)”
Newt IS a wishy-washy candidate.
Don’t know many Democrats who would cross the street to spit in Newts burning guts. “My father, My father, My father, My father, My father, My father, My father, Mein Kamph….
So your father didn’t think that primaries should be used to weed out unsuitable candidates? What did he think they were for? He was certainly quite enthusiastic in his attacks on Jerry Ford in the North Carolina primary, attacking and seriously weakening someone who was not only a fellow Republican, but the sitting incumbent President.
Btw, the “Eleventh Commandment” wasn’t Reagan’s, but was created by Gaylord Parkinson. Did you ever actually meet Ronald Reagan, or just read a comic book about him?
It’s right and proper that the front-runner is the person who won every single one of the Republican debates. Obviously, that person is Barack Obama.
My father is dead Bob. My father was a democrat.
I’m referring to M.R.’s incessant and ever annoying use of “his father” to make a living.
Mr. Reagan, you keep invoking your father as though he is actually relevant to today’s GOP.
Reagan is no more relevant to this party than Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. Which is to say, not at all.
I don’t remember him campaigning for Ford— and he broke precedent to try to take the nomination away from a sitting Republican president.
In today’s party of cannibals dear dad would be a RINO- because he understood that the government works by having the two parties compromise. And he could just forget about those golf games with Tip O Neill!
Don’t be so hard on poor ol’ Michael R. He got kicked out of the house and missed a lot of what ‘actually’ happened during those years.
I was referring to Reagan’s father, not yours. Sorry if it was ambiguous.
@Bob: I knew that when I read it. I guess that Allen was feeling a little sheepish at a possible insult. I’m sure he accepts your clarification. LOL
Meanwhile, bluebelle said it quite correctly: R. Reagan would have a hard time winning as the Democratic nominee for president going against the current Republican establishment. He raised taxes on the rich, he made deals with terrorists, he bailed out the S&L’s, he compromised with those evil, dastardly [circa 8,546 expletives removed] Demoncrats. The only thing he had going for him was that he was considered to be slightly more conservative than the previously elected Republican (Nixon–see earlier comments of mine about his left-wing accomplishments including EPA, lowering voting age, getting us out of Vietnam before they were completely secure, trying to pass universal health care, and many others).
I really wonder where M. Reagan gets his history from. It might be N. Gingrich; he’s a history prof. right? Since he insists that he was ousted by a conspiracy orchestrated by Nancy Pelosi (when he was the Speaker of the House, thus the House was predominantly Republican) I suppose he might have been able to tutor Michael on all sorts of non-history.
Rcoutme-
And don’t forget RR’s cardinal sin: he “cut and ran” in Beirut after the Marine barracks was bombed by terrorists.