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How Jack Kemp Changed the World
Townhall.com ^ | May 3, 2009 | Matt Lewis

Posted on 05/03/2009 8:34:01 AM PDT by EveningStar

...as much as I loved the man, Reagan worship does sometimes have the unfortunate side effect of obscuring the accomplishments of other conservative heroes who helped build the so-called "Reagan Revolution". One of those heroes is Jack Kemp...

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: conservatives; jackkemp; kemp; obituary; tribute
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1 posted on 05/03/2009 8:34:02 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar
I hope this is a dispassionate political discussion of the late Mr. Kemp, a good man and a helluva good football player, if there ever was one.

One question....didn't he, along with Bill Bennett, denounce and travel to California to defeat Proposition 187?

This was the ballot proposition that would have curtailed taxpayer-funded welfare and other services to illegal aliens.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

My opinion is that Mr. Kemp was economically conservative but socially liberal.....mutually exclusive terms, of course.

Leni

2 posted on 05/03/2009 8:48:25 AM PDT by MinuteGal
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To: EveningStar

Bad part is Bob Dole pick Jack Kemp as VP caindate with him in 1996 I think two reason why Dole is lost is because Dole missing message and picking Buffalo Bill QB make you loser because we all know

BILLS CHOKE they don’t slash or win a game


3 posted on 05/03/2009 8:50:29 AM PDT by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us, resistence is futile")
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To: EveningStar

Everyone is due their just rewards. Jack Kemp will always hold a special place in the hearts and minds of conservatives. But Kemp never extended himself in the political arena. He served in the House and was instrumental in getting Reagan to push for the tax cuts of 1980 and more.

OTOH, Jack Kemp called himself, a “bleeding heart conservative”. Unlike Reagan, Kemp didn’t have the stomach for serious elective office.


4 posted on 05/03/2009 8:53:35 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: MinuteGal
One question....didn't he, along with Bill Bennett, denounce and travel to California to defeat Proposition 187?

The Bush team from Texas bad mouthed Prop 187 too.

These big Fed gov insiders, along with their state government co-conspirators burned our ballots and declared California's free election illegal.

The results of this government intrusion into free elections, can now be seen from coast to coast.

5 posted on 05/03/2009 8:54:14 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: MinuteGal

You have it right. Kemp described himself as a “bleeding heart conservative” which served as a warning of his liberal side. Much like Bush’s “compassionate conservative” description did.

Kemp and Bennett flew out to California to oppose the grass roots volunteers who worked to pass Prop 187. They got the cold reception that elitist busybodies richly deserve. And as HUD Secretary Kemp fought the local officials of Costa Mesa who tried to remove illegal aliens from taxpayer subsidized housing. Kemp’s “fiscal conservatism” always got tossed aside when his liberal bleeding heart was moved by illegal aliens.


6 posted on 05/03/2009 9:11:08 AM PDT by Pelham (America, an extinct culture formerly occupying Mexifornia and New Aztlan.)
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To: Reagan Man
"..Jack Kemp called himself, a “bleeding heart conservative”.

That means I ( Kemp, et al ) will feel real good about myself, so long as I don't have to see the ugliness of having the IRS and the Sheriff get money from productive taxpayers.

Lefties feel good with your money.

7 posted on 05/03/2009 9:12:01 AM PDT by Leisler ("It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged."~G.K. Chesterton)
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To: MinuteGal
My opinion is that Mr. Kemp was economically conservative but socially liberal.....mutually exclusive terms, of course.

I think he was a compassionate conservative like W...just more compassionate and more conservative.

8 posted on 05/03/2009 9:12:58 AM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: Gondring

Although much has been made of his self-descrittion as a “bleeding-heart conservative,” Kemp was a pro-life, born again Christian.

- JP


9 posted on 05/03/2009 10:24:26 AM PDT by Josh Painter ("I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: Pelham

One question....didn’t he, along with Bill Bennett, denounce and travel to California to defeat Proposition 187?

Yes Jack was all for the illegals,


10 posted on 05/03/2009 10:54:43 AM PDT by JoanneSD (illegals represented without taxation.. Americans taxed without representation)
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To: MinuteGal

“My opinion is that Mr. Kemp was economically conservative but socially liberal..”

Kemp, if my memory serve me correct, called himself a “progressive” Republican; which is really an oxymoron.

http://edgray4america.blogspot.com/2009/01/jack-kemp-fights-cancer.html

“Jack’s effusive optimism and evangelical belief in the power of free-market capitalism to create wealth and upward mobility for all Americans inspired a generation of conservatives.” from http://corner.nationalreview.com/

However, when you look at how Kemp tried to translate his “social concerns” into policy solutions, it seems he was no socialist either - the idea of “enterprise zones” is a typical middle-of-the-road kind of solution; tax breaks instead of tax subsidies.


11 posted on 05/03/2009 11:01:04 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: Reagan Man
"Unlike Reagan, Kemp didn’t have the stomach for serious elective office."

Huh? Ran for POTUS at least twice. The country and the party would both be much better off if they'd gone his way. The sheeple chose to follow the liberal bleating of Judas goats like the Bushes and Doles. Definitely not Kemp's fault.

RIP Jack. Say hi to Ronnie for us. We miss you both.
12 posted on 05/03/2009 11:14:24 AM PDT by CowboyJay (Mitt would be a sight for sore eyes in the WH about now.)
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To: CowboyJay
IIRC, Jack Kemp ran for potus once in 1988 and didn't get anywhere. That year, Reagan endorsed Bush, not Kemp. Kemp was on the cutting edge of tax reform, but supported liberal immigration policy, special rights for illegals and affirmative action. Policies very unpopular among conservatives. Kemp should've ran for the for Governor of NYState, or the Senate and beefed up his credentials. Instead, Kemp played the Rodney King of the GOP, with his can't we all just get along attitude. He was pro-military and pro-life, but not a mover or shaker in recent years.
13 posted on 05/03/2009 11:46:14 AM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: Reagan Man

Yes. He was wrong on illegal immigration (Ronnie was too). Yes. He held out an olive branch to (socially conservative) inner city. For the most part, he chose to evangelize them on conservative principles rather than pander. He did support AA. Like it or not, AA was a necessary evil at one point in this country’s history. Whether or not that’s still the case is barely debatable. That was then. This is now.

He was right on pretty much everything else, and had a profound impact on what is now known in the vernacular as the ‘Reagan Revolution’.

The man is dead. Could you wait a day, (or a week, or whatever) to start spitting on his headstone? Some of us would like to take the day off in memory of a solid conservative and a good man.


14 posted on 05/03/2009 12:59:46 PM PDT by CowboyJay (Can a dead guy get a break around here?)
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To: Gondring

W made a mockery of “Compassionate Conservatism”. Kemp’s ideas were right.


15 posted on 05/03/2009 1:02:12 PM PDT by dfwgator (1996 2006 2008 - Good Things Come in Threes)
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To: EveningStar

Reagan should have picked him for VP in ‘84.


16 posted on 05/03/2009 1:32:13 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: CowboyJay
Yes, Jack Kemp is dead. But I'm not spitting on his headstone. I'm simply stating facts and correcting the inaccuracies you posted.

>>>>>Like it or not, AA was a necessary evil at one point in this country’s history.

Pure nonsense. Affirmative Action was special rights based on race, ethnic or gender. It created the dreaded quota system that was at the core of the Dems liberal policy agenda. Something a majority of Americans have always opposed.

>>>>>Yes. He was wrong on illegal immigration (Ronnie was too).

Reagan's signing of the IRCA of 1986 (Immigration Reform and Control Act) wasn't done just to legalize 2.7 million immigrants. It was suppose to stop future border crossings through strict employer sanctions of up to a million dollar fine and tougher border control measures. If that policy was followed and not gutted by Ted Kennedy, we wouldn't have the problem today with 15-30 million illegals awaiting patiently for passage of amnesty legislation.

Also, Reagan wasn't one to make the same mistake twice. Reagan wouldn't be supporting another round of amnesty today. Kemp supported the 2006 McCain-Kennedy, Senate bill, S.2611. Nuff said.

17 posted on 05/03/2009 1:44:38 PM PDT by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
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To: CowboyJay
Would you wait a day, (or a week, or whatever) to start spitting on his headstone? Some of us would like to take the day off in memory of a solid conservative and a good man.

Solid conservative? Not hardly.

Kemp was a anti- Prop 187 mouth piece.

The big Fed gov insiders, along with their CA state government co-conspirators burned our ballots and declared California's free election illegal after it passed overwhelmingly.

The results of that blatant government intrusion into California's free elections, can now be seen from coast to coast, in every single town and county.

It opened the gates of Mexico wide open, and emboldened millions of illegals to walk right into the U.S. and trash it, while the fed gov and their state co-conspirators forced Americans at gun point to pay tens of billions annually to subsidize tens of millions of illegals.

This violent invasion became so overwhelming during Bush's 8 years, it all but made citizenship pointless, and has now undermined and compromised our entire system, including our very electoral process.

18 posted on 05/03/2009 2:07:29 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: CowboyJay
He did support AA (AFFIRMATIVE ACTION) . Like it or not, AA was a necessary evil

Does anyone wonder why, after comments like this the GOP has been fragmented like a pipe bomb?

Anymore of these "Necessary evils" and you can erect that headstone you spoke of, for the U.S.A.

19 posted on 05/03/2009 2:18:50 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: EveningStar
RIP, Jack.

Prayers for his family.

20 posted on 05/03/2009 3:26:44 PM PDT by Churchillspirit
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