Monday, March 29, 2010

Ignoring Reagan while waiting on him

Many Republicans ... certainly many conservatives ... have said we need another Reagan.

Some of the same ones say that the GOP needs to clean house, replacing liberals and moderates with more conservative candidates.

I don't disagree with either. And they are not mutually exclusive. But many are going about it the wrong way. And I've been guilty, too.

The conservative movement needs someone like a Ronald Reagan. Perhaps he ... or she ... is already there, just not yet fully realized. But, I have faith that it'll work out.

The other piece of the puzzle is getting conservatives in office. In Florida, for instance, everything is pointing to Marco Rubio winning the Republican nomination for Senate over that state's governor, Charlie Crist. And that's a good thing, since Rubio is the true conservative in that race.

But we need to be careful. We don't need to be criticizing Republicans already in office that aren't conservatives. You know. RINOs. Like GOP chairman Michael Steele. Or John McCain. Or Lindsey Graham. Or...

Now, I might be ruffling some feathers when I say don't criticize them. Because those Republicans are often criticized by other Republicans or conservatives.

I say again: we shouldn't be publicly criticizing the RINOs.

We should be following Ronald Reagan's example: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

This isn't to say that RINOs get a pass. Rather, we need to be smart about how we replace them with conservatives. But we do need to replace them with conservatives.

But it would be just plain wrong to violate the teachings of Ronald Reagan while we seek out the next Ronald Reagan.

More comments at IMAO.

1 comment:

  1. Basil, you and I are both old enough to remember Reagan challenging a sitting US President in 1976.

    I can not remember any specific "ill speaking" by Reagan toward Ford. (even though I'm pretty sure he threw barbs at Ford).

    Regardless, the very fact that he ran against a sitting President in his own party said to me that Ronald found Gerald to be lacking in many ways.

    It can be argued that Reagan's criticism of a Republican already in office that wasn't a conservative launched your homeboy, Jimmuh, into the big chair.

    I'm not so sure Reagan was right with his 11th Commandment. Heck, about half the Republicans here in Louisiana are nothing more than Dimocraps sporting an R on the ballot.

    Call a spade a spade...even if they claim to be on your team. Call 'em a spade out loud, and on purpose. Maybe you'll drum them out of the party, or shame them in to doing the right thing.

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