The Unforgettable Great Communicator

Campus Report ^ | May 12, 2009 | Malcolm A. Kline

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The Unforgettable Great Communicator

by: Malcolm A. Kline, May 12, 2009

The conservative pundits seeking to accumulate intellectual bona fides by aping the intelligentsia’s call to “forget Ronald Reagan” only succeed in proving themselves to be as vacuous as the allegedly educated elite.

For example, one cultured pearl of current wisdom is that conservatives have to move beyond “variations of no.” Well, for openers, you have to move towards it before moving beyond it.

A federal budget that rose by about $1 trillion when Republicans controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress does not indicate that the GOP took many opportunities to go negative. “Balancing the budget is a little bit like protecting your virtue: You just have to learn to say no,” President Reagan told conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. in a 1980 broadcast.

As president, Reagan used the veto more than any commander-in-chief since Eisenhower. “As governor of California for eight years, having that, I used the line-item veto 943 times,” President Reagan told Buckley in a 1990 interview. The former president was a guest in both instances on Buckley’s long-running Public Broadcasting System series Firing Line.

“I was never overruled once, even though the legislature that had sent me the things that I line-item vetoed—It took a two-thirds majority to send it to me,” President Reagan remembered in that latter taping. “It only took two-thirds to override my veto, but they never could get the two-thirds when they had to vote on an item standing out there all by itself where the people could see it.”

“When they could bury it in a package, well then they would try.” Reagan’s one-time supporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, may have done well to ape his predecessor’s approach as governator.....

[econjack]

...I used the line-item veto 943 times

I used to think the line item veto would put an end to stupid spending measures (e.g., the Bridge to Nowhere), but now I don't think so. The Dems would never favor it or use it if they could and the GOP doesn't have the stones for it.

[Dick Bachert]

But – but JEB and MIT have a BETTER IDEA!
· By all means, let’s have the conservative movement “…leave Reagan behind…” and invent some sappy, empty phrases — like “Hope” and “Change” —
that the ACORN morons can get a grip on and they’ll flock to the GOP.
Here are some that might work:
WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS MORE BUSH!
A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT.
2 CARS IN EVERY GARAGE.
A FREE LATE-TERM ABORTION FOR EVERY UNWANTED PREGNANCY.
A GAY BABY-SITTER OR TEACHER FOR EVERY CHILD.
FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE.
DEFICITS ARE OUR FRIEND.
MORE LIKE THE DEMOCRATS THAN THE DEMOCRATS.
WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS MORE MUSLIMS.
KISS A TYRANT — KICK AN ALLY.
A FREE ILLEGAL HISPANIC HOUSEBOY IN EVERY HOME.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s hurl ALL the traditional and time-tested values on which America became, in under 2 centuries, that shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom and a world leader over the side to appeal to the ravening masses of MTV, VHI, government school indoctrinated imbiciles that ACORN inticed to the polls with a pack of smokes and a pint of Ripple.
Sounds like a HELL OF A PLAN TO ME!!!
The late Congressman Larry McDonald frequently reminded us that “If you don’t stand for SOMETHING you’ll fall for ANYTHING!”
He must have known the Obama voters.
Feel free to add YOUR suggestions.

[Dick Bachert]