“They jumped from the defensive side to the offensive side in the whole homosexual-marriage issue,” Armey told me, explaining that, in his view, Republicans overreached by putting ballot measures forward to define marriage. “When Republicans are fighting against the power of the state, we win. When we are trying to advance it, we lose.” Armey told me that he had doubts from the beginning about the Iraq war and now regards it as a mistake. He faults George W. Bush for “siding too much with the social conservatives and forgetting all about fiscal discipline.” He also has a more liberal view of immigration than many in his party. “Reagan went to Berlin and said, ‘Tear down this wall,’ ” Armey said. “We went to San Diego and said, ‘Build a fence.’ It was just stupid. You have Hispanics saying, ‘I’m not going to vote for those guys because they don’t like me.’ ”...Armey has nonetheless clashed with the religious right. He disagreed with Republicans’ attempts to inject themselves into the Terri Schiavo case and said that Tom DeLay and other important Republicans who remained after he left “got too wrapped up in social issues” and turned off voters. At one point, he referred to them as “those nitwits who took over after we left.”
You reference an article from the New York Times and expect me to change my mind about Dick Armey?
Not going to happen.
I don’t know of a single politician who I have always agreed with.
I greatly admire Dick Armey. I attended his retirement party at the Texas State Republican Convention.