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The Spectacle Blog
The Gipper’s 101st birthday on Monday merits a class in Reagan 101.
One of my points is that conservatives can’t win on principle alone, without doing the hard work of learning how to communicate those principles. The ability to communicate rather well, in at least a memorable fashion, is what has kept Newt Gingrich in contention during this primary season. I guess the third factor in the equation, one I left out in the piece linked above, is that the communicator must be a good messenger on a personal level — reassuring, trustworthy, likeable, and believable. That’s where Gingrich fails. If only we could again find somebody to combine the principles, the ability, and the likeability, then conservatives would finally be truly ascendant.
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/02/03/lessons-from-reagan
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Dr. Tesla| 2.3.12 @ 12:53PM
Is Romney likeable, reassuring, trustworthy?
I don't think so, yet Quin does not mention Romney, just Gingrich. If you want to believe that Romney, who ran as a liberal and governed happily as a liberal in Mass. is a conservative, or even a moderate Republican, you are are wish casting, and not being intellectually honest with yourself.
Dr. Tesla| 2.3.12 @ 1:22PM
A lesson from Reagan is don't be a nasty person like Jennifer Rubin if you want to persaude people you are right about things. Anybody who thinks Jennifer Rubin carries herself with class is delusional and probably lacking in class themselves.
Dr. Tesla| 2.3.12 @ 1:24PM
One thing these moderate Republicans always do when they are rightly criticized is trot out Reagan as a prop....they think they can use Reagan to deflect criticism. It's ghoulish to parade around Reagan and project your political beliefs onto a dead man, but this is what many moderates and liberals do these days.
Margie| 2.3.12 @ 1:28PM
Well, they didn't think Jesus was likeable when He told them they had to repent and believe in Him, did they??
No, but those who followed Him found Him likeable, reassuring, trustworthy and BELIEVABLE!!
It IS in the eye of the BEHOLDER!
Those of us who are already conservative RECOGNIZE other conservatives.
And while they are only Human and so not PERFECT like Jesus, we can accept them with all of their foibles.
Newt vs. Romney?
Most of us recognize the DIFF.
Windy City Commentary| 2.3.12 @ 1:49PM
Quin Hillyer says: Anyone but Gingrich, and by anyone, I include Obama.
Trinacria| 2.3.12 @ 1:58PM
There are few people for whom I have greater respect and admiration than Ronald Reagan; he was, to be sure, an exceptional leader and future generations will almost certainly come to view him as the last great leader of a fallen empire.
HOWEVER - truly exceptional leaders aren't those who attempt to emulate their predecessors, but rather those who forge their own path (Don't believe it? Who was Churchill emulating? In whose image did Ronald Reagan mold himself? Who was the template for John Paul II - OK you've got me on that one, but technically Jesus wasn't just another leader). If there is to ever be another truly great conservative leader, it won't be someone who attempts to mold himself in the image of Reagan - it will be an individual with his own bold vision and a unique blend of leadership skills.
We should all respect and appreciate the extraordinary contributions of Ronald Reagan; however, the sooner we stop invoking his name as the litmus test for prospective presidential candidates, the better off we'll be. Reagan once famously said, "Trust, but verify." In the present matter, one suspects his advice might be, "Appreciate, but move on."
Simon Templar| 2.3.12 @ 2:03PM
Quin, shut up.
Occam's Tool| 2.3.12 @ 2:32PM
Man, Allen West should have run.
RJ| 2.3.12 @ 2:33PM
Among Reagan's strengths was being a good communicator, but lets not forget that he was, unlike many candidates, authentic in the core principles that he put forward. He did not get them from focus groups. He also had unusual political courage and focus. It takes much more than the ability to give a good speech to be a successful leader.
Trinacria| 2.3.12 @ 3:55PM
Well said, RJ.
Mark in LA| 2.3.12 @ 7:12PM
Yeah, reagan was as authentic as any actor / corporate pitchman / politician can be. He was nothing but a gas bag who never did one thing he said he would except waste gobs of money on worthless and useless weapons.
Trinacria| 2.3.12 @ 7:59PM
My Dearest Mark,
Rather a pity we shant be seeing you at our MENSA club meetings, old sport; we do so enjoy mocking the blissful ignorance of those who insist on forming an independent view of history without bothering to consult something as trivial and insignificant as, well...documented facts.
I trust it's working out for you, though, no?
W| 2.3.12 @ 8:29PM
T
You probably saw Mark outside your meeting hall as one of the OCCUPY unwashed living off granny's trust fund. He was holding up the sign saying Unfair.
Mark in LA| 2.4.12 @ 10:33AM
Instead of platitudes about his "greatness" with nothing to back it up, maybe you can bring up just one instance where he actually said something and followed up on it with a policy.
Maybe you can talk about how he always brayed about how a country needs secure borders while looking the other way on illegal immigration and passing the amnesty that destroyed America.
W| 2.4.12 @ 3:10PM
How old are you Mark? If you were not around or can't remember: Reagan promised to cut tax rates, did it, and produced a long term expansion of the economy. Reagan promised to defeat the evil empire and did it. Reagan promised to bring home the hostages and they were released after his election. Go read a history book.
Mark in LA| 2.4.12 @ 3:42PM
The hostages were released BEFORE Reagan got in office so exactly how could he have done anything unless he was in collusion with the Iranians before he was elected which would be a case of treason. He cut taxes and raised them - especially on working people. He had next to nothing to do with the end of the USSR it didn't even collapse until he left office. It was already in a state of collapse when he got in office. It was just a matter of time. So I guess all those dead in Vietnam and Korea and all the trillions spent before Reagan had nothing to do with it?
He said he would never negotiate with terrorists and did just that in Iran-Contra. He expanded the war on drugs which militarized the police and destroyed more of our rights and had the CIA bring the drugs in to pay for the weapons for the Contras.
I could go on and on about Reagan's "character".
Nick| 2.4.12 @ 4:10PM
Those are all lefty talking-points, lies, and propaganda, Mark.
Not a shred of truth in any of it.
"I could go on and on about Reagan's 'character'."
No, you couldn't. Because your idea of character comes from your hero, Bubba 'The Rapist' Clinton.
W| 2.4.12 @ 5:00PM
Nick
Waste of time talking to Mark, he is still obsessed with Reagan, and hasnt received the new Dem talking points that Reagan is now a hero.
Mark in LA| 2.5.12 @ 12:14AM
The waste of time is people who don't have enough intelligence to actually research what happened and instead get all their "facts" from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
You have no real rebuttal so you assume I am as dense as you so you just throw Clinton's name out there. You want so desperately to believe in your hero that you never ever try to find out what really happened during his term.
The people obsessed with Reagan are you guys. Not once did any of you bring up anything significant that was tied to the real world. It was all made up crap, lies, and propaganda about his "greatness". Just like a bunch of trained parrots in the same way we heard from the left about the "brilliance" of Kagan for Supreme Court Justice - no instance of where that brilliance was shown just the constant repetition of the word brilliant. The same as you parrots braying about his "greatness" or "character" simply because Rush told you so or you liked what Reagan said in some speech you saw on you tube. But you never had the intelligence to go beyond that and find out what he actually did.
W| 2.5.12 @ 8:34AM
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Nick| 2.5.12 @ 2:20PM
El wrongo, Marky-Mark and the Skunky-Bunch!
Unlike the dirty, smelly, raping hippie protesters of today, I actually lived through President Reagan's two terms. And, I served in the U.S. Army for his last year in office.
All you know about Ronaldus Magnus' presidency are the marxist lies you have been taught to repeat, um, like a parrot. You are projecting, big-time.
President Reagan was one of the two great presidents of the 20th century, along with President Coolidge.
You keep worshiping your hero, Bubba 'The Rapist' Clinton, like the brainwashed, Useful Idiot that you are, okay?
oLDEFARTE| 2.3.12 @ 2:42PM
Amen, pure gold! There was/is/always will be just one Reagan sadly. As stated, his leutenants' liability is their somewhat lack of fortitude. Where they snipe and backbite, he's simply say something to the order of THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff Perren| 2.3.12 @ 3:32PM
"If only we could again find somebody to combine the principles, the ability, and the likeability, then conservatives would finally be truly ascendant."
Brother, from your keyboard to someone's ears!
Silver Bullet| 2.3.12 @ 7:46PM
I have been awaiting my summons to duty!!
Mike Rogers | 2.4.12 @ 8:10AM
If only we could again find somebody to combine the principles, the ability, and the likeability, then conservatives would finally be truly ascendant.
But No! There stood Herman Cain, with that winning combination, and too many people in the conservative movement stood silent and let him be drummed out of the race!
And, by the way, where are all those women now? Are they pursuing Herman and his money for their satisfaction? Of course not - they got their payoff from Herman's opponent(s) and vanished.
william-henry| 2.4.12 @ 9:13AM
Principles, Ability, Und Likeability? Hmmm...
urownexperience| 2.4.12 @ 4:20PM
Reagan cut taxes for the rich from 70% to 28% and increased taxes on middle class, as he raised taxes 7 of 8 years hitting hardest the lower & middle class. He also tripled National Debt - his tax cuts for the wealthy left budget holes increasing then national debt from $900 Billion to $2.8 Trillion.
With all that money going to the top tiers, it was easy to want more. One had to look no further than overseas to see the profit potential of cheap labor, no taxes and no regulation. Along with that extra money came the bonus of weakening the American labor force and demoting unions until they became relatively ineffective. Reagan fired 11,345 union workers for striking and his war on unions continues to this day.
Unions were very strong when the middle class was strong in the 50s. One wage earner supported the family back then, and supported it well.
Now it takes three or four in the family working multiple low paying jobs to make ends meet with a very reduced standard of living, while all the money of the fifties have gone to the top - Wall Street and large corporations.
As workers’ wages decline, their Social Security and Medicare contributions and benefits decline as well. This means that down the road, most workers will be broke. This is the Republican dream – the end of social safety nets and the end of high wages and benefits so that 2 or 3% of the population can control 95% of the wealth.
All of these lowered wages and benefits in America for poor and middle class Americans further line the pockets of corporations whose profits increase hourly.
teflon93| 2.5.12 @ 6:24PM
Oh, such nonsense on stilts. Go Google "The Real Reagan Record" from National Review. Among other things you'll learn is that if you were in the bottom income quintile at the start of the Reagan years you had a better chance of being in the top income quintile just 8 years later than of staying in the bottom quintile.
There was a reason Reagan won two landslides and why we'd be chiseling a spot on Mt Rushmore for him today were there room enough.
It is the Democrat Party which is the Plantation Party now and always has been. Is there any clearer indication of this than in the wage and benefit disparity between government bureaucrats, academics, and union hacks---Democrats almost to a person---and people who actually work for a living?
Jeff Perren| 2.6.12 @ 7:16PM
"There was a reason Reagan won two landslides and why we'd be chiseling a spot on Mt Rushmore for him today were there room enough."
There is; just get rid of Teddy Roosevelt, who has no business whatever being there.