Thread: GOP chief: Republicans 'screwed up' after Reagan

GOP chief: Republicans 'screwed up' after Reagan

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press
January 5, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele offers a simple explanation for why the GOP all too often lost touch with typical Americans since the Ronald Reagan era: "We screwed up," he claims in a new book offering a blueprint for the party's resurgence.

That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.

In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.

"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support -- withhold it vigorously and consistently."

Steele focuses much of the book on familiar GOP denunciations of President Barack Obama's overall policies ("a roadmap to failure"), the $787 billion stimulus bill ("a reckless, wasteful, pork-laden spending spree"), liberal views on manmade global warming ("A threat to life on Earth? Depends on whom you ask") and other issues.

To regain the public confidence, Steele says the GOP should, among other things, expose the "reign of error" inherent in liberal policies, contrast conservative and liberal principles, and highlight the damage caused by Obama's policies while explaining conservative solutions.

More surprising, the GOP chairman directly or indirectly criticizes:

--President George H.W. Bush for raising taxes two years after President Ronald Reagan left office, though Steele ignores the fact that Reagan raised taxes too.

--President George W. Bush for not vetoing any spending bills during his first five years in office. He calls Bush and other Republicans "enablers for big government" and derides the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program as "a massive government slush fund."

--Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee, for backing censorship of political speech through the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Steele says the GOP erred in allowing itself to be associated with "a national political speech code."

--Republican lawmakers in general, who allowed spending to rise from 2001 to 2004, went along with TARP and McCain-Feingold, and supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.

"We must quickly learn our lessons, return to our principles and move on," Steele concludes.

One Republican who escapes Steele's intraparty criticism is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate. Then again, judging from the book's index, Palin is not mentioned at all in what the publisher calls Steele's "call to arms for grassroots America."

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2010/january ... book.shtml

I know they didn't secure the border and stop illegal immigration like Reagan said they would after his 1986 Amnesty.

And they didn't do anything when cities and states started declaring Sanctuary policies in 88!

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On the way home from work today, I saw an older couple in a car with a small but noticable picture of Reagan in thier back window. I wanted to pull up next to them and shout "God Bless Reagan" and tell them how my 3rd grade son is working on a report about him and how much I miss hearing his comforting voice.

I learned thru helping my son with his report that Reagan used to be a liberal. After some thought, I realized that he HAD to go thru that to become the staunch conservative that he was. What better person to be able to understand how a lib thinks and make it work so well as a conservative. I know he was not perfect - but he was great.

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