Tactics and Substance in the 2004 Elections GoogleNews: Howard Dean

June 14, 2004

by V

Weekend at Ronnie's III

Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times, typically a shill for the current White House, seems to have rediscovered a prior flame and found the insecure, angry Republicans of 2004 wanting:

The New York Times > Washington > White House Letter: Trying on Reagan's Mantle, but It Doesn't Exactly Fit
...Mr. Bush's effort to wrap himself in the Reagan legacy drew plenty of skeptics, including a number of top Reagan officials, who said, all anonymously, that the presidencies could not have been more different. Mr. Reagan was pragmatic, they said, but Mr. Bush is ideological. Mr. Reagan was a unifier, they argued, while Mr. Bush has polarized.

"Bush wants to defeat his opponents, Reagan wanted his to join him," one former official of the Reagan White House said.
While I wouldn't exactly agree with the Reagan half of that quote, given that it's a Republican saying it, I'll happily repeat it.

Also, Ron Reagan's eulogy for his dad had some interestingly sharp edges in it:

Transcript: Reagan's Children Deliver Remarks at Service (Washington Post)
He used to say, a gentleman always does the kind thing. And he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. A gentle man.

Big as he was, he never tried to make anyone feel small. Powerful as he became, he never took advantage of those who were weaker. Strength, he believed, was never more admirable than when it was applied with restraint. Shopkeeper, doorman, king or queen, it made no difference, dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy. Acknowledging the innate dignity in us all.

The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. And he lived a good, long life. The kind of life good men lead. But I guess I'm just telling you things you already know.

...Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.
Nicely put.

Phrased another way: GOP 2004 is NOT your father's Republican Party. Don't be silent when people pretend it is.
Posted by V at June 14, 2004 01:32 PM
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