Posted on 02/16/2007 8:30:44 AM PST by meg88
The GOP Should Dump Its Litmus Test By Michael Reagan FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2007
The philosopher Diogenes is said to have wandered around ancient Greece holding a lantern and seeking to find an honest man.
My fellow Republicans, sans lanterns, are now wandering around the political landscape seeking to find the perfect Republican presidential candidate.
I don’t know if Diogenes ever found that honest man, but I do know that those Republicans are never going to find the perfect candidate, simply because he does not exist.
Some Republicans insist that the only perfect candidate would be a clone of my Dad, Ronald Reagan. Aside from the fact that there is no such thing, it’s important to recognize that Ronald Reagan, as he often admitted, was anything but perfect.
One of the criticisms about former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney focuses on his record concerning the abortion issue. We are told by the modern day Diogenes clones that he can’t be trusted to fight abortion because he once, more or less, supported a woman’s right to butcher her baby.
It may come as a surprise to these purists, but Ronald Reagan once supported abortion too. Yet nobody ever questioned his strong pro-life credentials after his conversion to Republicanism. They accepted his sincerity. Why can’t they accept Mitt Romney’s?
Romney’s record shows he should be totally acceptable to all conservatives, yet because of one dubious question concerning the validity of his conversion to the pro-life side, he is deemed unsuitable to carry the conservative banner.
The same is true of Rudy Giuliani. On every major issue, he is a solidly conservative and extraordinarily adept executive, but because he backs abortion and some form of gun control, America’s mayor -- the hero of 9/11 and the man who did the impossible by cleaning up New York -- is all but ruled out as a 2008 candidate.
Not one of the major candidates is free of some real or imagined flaw that offends some conservatives.
This is madness, and if it does not stop, the GOP is going to lose the presidential election in 2008. In the search for the perfect candidate we are going to end up with an imperfect candidate. Keep in mind the truism that agreement with someone on most issues and disagreement on others is seen as normal, but should you agree with someone on every single issue imaginable … well… to put it plainly, psychologists say you’re nuts.
I recently got a letter from a conservative Christian organization that asked me if the current GOP candidates are the best the Republican Party has to offer.
“Is it possible that GOP conservative ranks are this thin?” the letter writer asked. “Has the GOP nothing better to offer? Should not pro-family pro-life voters also want a low taxes and limited government candidate before they vigorously support him? Increased taxes and expanded government hurts everyone. Was Ronald Wilson Reagan an anomaly and did he represent the values of his party?
“These GOP candidates,” the letter instructed me, “are little better than Bob Dole, Gerald Ford, or [George] H.W. Bush. Did anyone notice they all lost?”
This makes me wonder if anybody can stand up to the litmus test these people are applying to candidates.
Ronald Reagan had one litmus test he applied to candidates. Were they Republicans? If they were he backed them all the way. He would let the party choose the candidate and he would support and vote for the candidate. He didn’t go sniffing around trying to find some flaw in their character or their past. Once nominated, they were his choice.
And nobody was more candid in admitting that he was anything but perfect than my Dad. He knew that like all men, he had his flaws and he spent a lifetime combating them. Had today’s GOP litmus test been seriously applied to him, he could not have passed the test.
The Democrats don’t have litmus tests. If the nominee is a Democrat, they support their candidate all the way, and if they lose it isn’t because they didn’t fight like demons for their man or woman.
If we want to win in 2008, Republicans had better wake up, and quit talking Ronald Reagan and start being like Ronald Reagan.
Yes, it is. As Reagan the elder liked to say, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Very good piece.
He's right again. I will faithfully support and vote for our GOP nominee.
I guess Michael forgot his dad ran against a sitting Republican president.
I agree with the article. It's absolutely ABSURD that so many conservatives and Freepers are 'one issue' voters.
Exactly, this WOT thing is overblown. By the time it's over, the USA will be another France if we don't engage all the enemies of the republic.
Mike's a good guy. If you want to slap idiot sons of Ronald Reagan, slap Little Ronnie the Ballerina.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Excuse me Michael for wanting all the dirty laundry revealed BEFORE the nomination is given. All we need is for Hillary's secret police dropping a scandal bomb the week before the election and the Republicans not having the MSM on their side to offer a response.
LOL>....so true.....I don't think Rudy followers should take this as a wholesale endorsement. I'm not sure who I'll support yet, too eary, but I've been advocating for at least we be civil within the ranks.....sometimes on FR the hate to each other is worse than what the liberals show
Duncan would make a great VP for Newt! :)
I like his show. He doesn't come across as a Rudy shill, he actually seems to like Romney more than the rest. I think he's pretty fair and as frustrated and confused as the rest of us.
However, his basic point does have some merit.
A non elected sitting president and in the primaries, DUH.
I do not demand perfection, but I will not give up most of my views to settle on trash like Rino Rudy. I will go third party first.
Mike, Mike, Mike...
Where have you been? Stand up for your dad. The Rats are died-in-the-wool LIBERALS. First, foremost, and ALWAYS. They have "An America is Always Wrong" Foreign Policy Litmus test. They tried to drum Lieberman out of their party.
And they also manifestly DO have an explicit social litmus test on abortion. They are for "the right of the women (note not mother) to choose" infanticide in all but name.
How many truly Pro-Life candidates are there amongst the Rats who waffled and postured on the issue? How many Rats would openly declare themselves against the abomination of Roe v. Wade?
None that I recall.
Do you mean 'as in Rudy's public endorsement and vote for a far-left, extreme liberal socialist like Mario Cuomo',,,over the Republican candidate (Pataki)?? Does that count?
I'm not looking for "perfection" as I know that there was just One, and He wasn't RR but I am seeking a candidate who doesn't equivocate and doesn't need to change his views, depending on which electorate he is appealing to in given election years.
So far, I'm only finding one in the GOP pack and he's not in the "top tier" yet but, like Rush, it's way too early to tell what future events will bring.
Check the poll on this site a lot are going to stay home. We can and have to do better then Rino Rdy.
That is true. Mitt Romney could be an imperfect candidate ALL Republicans could get behind in the end. Maybe. We shall see.
One thing is certain, Rudy Giuliani is so far away from the GOP`s conservative platform, he isn't worth even considering.
I know plenty of people who claim to revere Ronald Reagan today who conveniently forget their criticisms of him when he was in office -- hypocrite for not getting rid of the Department of Education, senile fool being taken in by Gorbachev, out of touch, not a REAL conservative like Jesse Helms, appointing globalist internationalists and liberals like George Schultz and Richard Schweiker, etc. Of course now even lots of liberals claim he was a great President. This stuff never changes.
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