Reagan versus the quintessential modern day pundit...Dick Morris...on how the Republicans can win in the fall (of any year)...or why Reagan is smarter dead than Morris is alive.
Dick Morris, former advisor to among others, Bill Clinton, is probably one of the most prominent of pundits who believe that nominating John McCain and "going to the center" is the only way for the GOP to win the White House.
Morris used the "go to the center" strategy successfully for Clinton...not understanding that what works for a liberal is the OPPOSITE of what works for a conservative. We thought it would be fun for Morris and some others to debate this issue with Ronald Reagan, the father of the modern Conservative movement. Reagan's quotes were pulled from a couple different speeches he gave in the mid 1970's. Morris' quotes were pulled from his blog site...material written in last three weeks or so.
MORRIS: "Any rational observer has to conclude that McCain has a better shot of winning than Romney does. The stakes are too high to ignore the issue of political practicality in making a choice."
REAGAN: "I don't know about you...but I am impatient with those who say 'we must broaden the base of our party' when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents. A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs, which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers."
MORRIS: "It isn't so much that McCain converted conservatives, but that Romney ran out of them. There weren't enough of them. The GOP electorate isn't very conservative."
REAGAN: "It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. Our people look for a cause to believe in. A new and revitalized party...raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakable where we stand on all the issues troubling the people."
MORRIS: "McCain's record offers much to attract Democrats and independents...his sponsorship of (legislation related to) global warming, opposition to water boarding of terrorists, support for Campaign Finance Reform, backing regulation of tobacco...puts him in position to win Democrats. It is only the economy that is his weakness. When (the McCain team) will examine Romney's record in the companies he turned around for how many layoffs resulted...the economy could backfire on Romney."
REAGAN: "Let our banner proclaim a belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us call for an end to the nit picking, the harrassment and overregulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets. Let us include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people's earnings government can take without their consent. Let us ward off socialism...(let us) not increase government's coercive power but increase participation by the people of our industrial machine.
"It is time to reassert (those) principles and raise (them) to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principls, then let them go their way."
WRIGHT: I call that game, set, and match to Reagan. No further review needed. Ronaldus Magnus covered the point spread too.
Got that McCain....Morris...others in the party apparatus? Maybe time for you to go your own way.