Posted on 12/18/2011 5:35:15 PM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
There's a good pull quote from this website that far too many revisionist republicans hope would be forgotten:
When the administration proposed to abolish the Department of Education in 1981, Howard Baker, the first Republican Senate majority leader since 1954, actively opposed abolition.[x] Baker wanted to remain majority leader and was worried that getting rid of the department would alienate too many voters.
I was reminded of this the other night when I was listening to Mark Levin's show and he mentioned this. It was on the (Direct MP3 Download)december 14th show, between 18-20 minutes in.
Does anybody have further information about this? Were any bills specifically proposed then subsequently shot down by senate republicans? What words specifically did Howard Baker use in his opposition? I know there are people around here who remember, or have access to a better set of links than these.
"Before I was done [making rounds in the Senate]," Bell recalled "I had gone to virtually every member....The most optimistic estimate I could make was that nineteen Senators would support the president's bill to abolish ED and establish a foundation in it's stead. Eighty-one would vote against it."
Which comes from Terrel Bell's book 'Thirteenth Man'. And:
Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush
While not strictly an entitlement, but close enough, I would add that Reagan also attempted to eliminate the Department of Education. Among his most fervent opponents was Howard Baker, who was Senate Majority Leader at the time (and who had been George Will's favorite candidate in the 1979 Republican presidential primary). Reagan also attempted to block-grant most of the Elementary and Secondary Education funding, and much of it was.
Lee Edwards wrote many fine essays on Reagan and he usually hit the mark each and every time.
After the 1970`s decade of high inflation, rocketing oil prices, economic stagnation, along with Watergate, Vietnam, Roe v Wade and three failed Presidencies, the nation was ready for a steady hand and firm leadership. And Reagan was the right man for the job. Reagan's policies in the 1980`s succeeded in restoring America's confidence and spirit, rebuilding the military, bankrupting Soviet communism thus ending the Cold War, rolling back federal income taxes, boosting free market capitalism and reviving a battered economy. Reagan didn't limit govt as he wanted, but he roll back the growth of the welfare state. During his Presidency Reagan confronted Democrats head on, fought liberalism to a standstill and halted America's slide towards euro-socialism. The 1980's were a great decade for America thanks to Reagan.
Howard Baker Jr. is/was a sorry little 5#!+.
All the Dems in my family pointed to him as a “typical” Republican when I was young. Highway 63 in Scott County is named Howard Baker Highway. My uncle always said when we passed the sign that they didn’t make the road crooked enough. He helped give away the Panama Canal in exchange for making Leatherwood the Big South Fork Natural River and Recreation Area, instead of flooding it with the Devil’s Jump Dam.
He is a very accomplished photographer, though.
He also took another RINO out of the Senate when he married Kassabaum......
-——————My uncle always said when we passed the sign that they didn’t make the road crooked enough.-———————
LOL!!!!!
That’s a good uncle you got there!
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