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March 1980: When the Establishment Believed Ronald Reagan Would Lead the GOP to Certain Defeat
Breitbart.com ^ | 18 Mar 2016 | James S. Robbins

Posted on 03/19/2016 9:58:11 AM PDT by Rockitz

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To: AC86UT89

Yes, but the Democrat controlled Congress actually had some conservatives Democrats in it, the Blue Dogs, which Reagan could work with.


21 posted on 03/19/2016 11:21:56 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
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To: texas_mrs

The arguments being made against him regarding the election are the same.


22 posted on 03/19/2016 11:22:53 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
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To: dfwgator

“The big difference is Demographics.”

Not as much as the GOPe would want you to believe.

Back then you had the FDR Democrats that were white and there was simply NO WAY they would ever vote for a Republican. They’ve mostly died off, replaced by immigrants, some of which are MUCH MORE OPEN to voting Republican (particularly Hispanics)...so I’m not so sure that the demographics are any worse now.


23 posted on 03/19/2016 11:23:27 AM PDT by BobL (Who cares? He's going to build a wall and stop this invasion.)
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To: Timmy
CRAZY CRUZ SUPPORTERS. THEY EVEN MAKE TED CRINGE...


24 posted on 03/19/2016 11:23:33 AM PDT by r_barton
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To: r_barton

“Reagan also came out in support of the Brady gun control bill in 1991 and NAFTA in 1992.”

Forgot about those.


25 posted on 03/19/2016 11:24:44 AM PDT by BobL (Who cares? He's going to build a wall and stop this invasion.)
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To: Rockitz

You are comparing Reagan to Trump??????

Hysterical.

Reagan was always varying degrees of popular. He was also intelligent. He was adept at policy. He had been a Governor. He was involved in politics for decades.

It’s also 2016 and NOT 1980.

Trump is loathed by over half the voting population. The ONLY thing Trump is going to do is to ensure that the Dims keep the WH, take back the Senate and put the House at risk.


26 posted on 03/19/2016 11:28:38 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: texas_mrs

Not even close.

And comparing 1980 to 2016 is utterly ridiculous.

The demographics are also radically different. Whites made up about 86% of the electorate then. They make up 69% today and a whole of of that 69% are LibTards.


27 posted on 03/19/2016 11:35:49 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: tophat9000

A simpleton. I also remember and gave thought of it often re: Trump.


28 posted on 03/19/2016 11:37:54 AM PDT by MarMema (2016 - Trump or Goldman Sachs)
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To: BobL

Bingo. My only comparison is to the name calling and fear of a candidate. I never saw Reagan as holy.


29 posted on 03/19/2016 11:40:35 AM PDT by MarMema (2016 - Trump or Goldman Sachs)
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To: Beernoser
True there is not the foreign crises of 1980 but there is a domestic one, and more and more people are coming to realize it and understand its consequences. Trump is standing against it and that is helping attract more voters to him.

If you look at the tracking polls starting early in the 1980 race you will see that as the election neared the gap between Reagan and Carter tightened, as the tallies often do as the time to vote draws closer. The polls were very close until the final debate, when Carter made the strategic blunder of letting Reagan have the final word. He used it to devastating effect by asking the simple question, are you better off now than you were four years ago? The few polls taken after the final debate showed the race blowing open, and almost all the undecideds breaking to Reagan in the final days leading up to the election. Whoever our nominee is has to hope for a similar result this time around. A lot of low-info and brainless types will be voting for Hillary because "it's cool to vote for a female President".

30 posted on 03/19/2016 11:41:54 AM PDT by chimera
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To: BobL

Yipee! We have trashed about everything else on here. Guess it is time to trash Reagan!


31 posted on 03/19/2016 11:44:32 AM PDT by gbscott1954 (Why not a real Conservative?)
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To: Beernoser

Trumps negatives are 2 points higher then Hillarys


32 posted on 03/19/2016 11:45:49 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ( Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered)
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To: gbscott1954

Truth is not “Trashing” Reagan was not God. He was not perfect


33 posted on 03/19/2016 11:48:16 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ( Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered)
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To: dznutz
"What office did George Washington hold before becoming President? Weren’t most of the Founding Fathers farmers?..."

..... Well .... those are good questions.

.... However ..... Even though they lived in very different times and a much simpler culture than today's .... They did have an important advantage over most people of that time .... Heck .... They didn't even have to learn the and outs and limitations of governmental procedure as well as the checks and balances built into the constitution .... Because they wrote it and amended as needed.

34 posted on 03/19/2016 11:53:55 AM PDT by R_Kangel ( "A Nation of Sheep ..... Will Beget ..... a Nation Ruled by Wolves.")
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To: chimera
I admit I don't understand the Trump phenomenon. He obviously has little understanding of our form of government and its checks and balances, and I don't see much of an understanding or knowledge of history. He supports the penny plan to balance the budget but won't cut entitlements or the military which is about 3/4ths of the budget making his position nonsensical. But anyway, here's an anecdote from my own life. My secretary is a Hispanic grandmother. She is from a very large family, she was the 11th of 12 or 13 children. She has grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts, uncles by the dozens. The family keeps track of itself through facebook. There must be 50-100 voters in the family on that facebook page. The facebook page for the last three months has been nothing but a Trump is a racist who hates Mexicans bulletin board. Just mention his name and you get cursing. My secretary voted for Rubio in the primary just hurls curses if Trump is mentioned. If there is anyone on the board who supports Trump, he or she has not said so. Anyway, this is a large group of voters, many of whom are Republicans who will not vote for Trump. He can't convince them either because they are beyond hearing. They have decided he is a racist who hates Mexicans and he's not going to convince them otherwise.
35 posted on 03/19/2016 12:08:10 PM PDT by Beernoser
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To: Rockitz
I was young back in 1980 but remember that year very well. I graduated high school and was headed for the Marine Corps.

Being from Massachusetts, I remember how John Anderson was the media darling and a much more reasonable Republican than that mean old Ronald Reagan who was sure to blunder us into WW3 (or so that's what we were told). I believe my parents went ahead and voted Anderson that November. I had just turned old enough to vote but didn't bother. I was still basically a kid and focused more on upcoming boot camp in Parris Island than that election.

So many memories from that year that is still vivid in my mind however. I remember the U.S. Olympic hockey team beating the Russians and eventually winning the gold medal. Mike Eruzione lived only a mile or so away from me and I went to see his homecoming parade.

Other memories were Mount St. Helens erupting. Graduation high school. Watching the movie Airplane with my father (as well as Urban Cowboy and Xanadu with girls on some of my first dates). Of course the electrifying acceptance speech by Reagan at the RNC convention - but back then, I did not realize the significance of his presidency.

I was slated to go to boot camp September 15th that year but I was wrestling with some cousins in the yard and they piled on top of me breaking my arm as they brought me down. So I didn't go to boot camp until the following February. In the meantime, I got to date some girls, work as a dishwasher in a busy restaurant (best job ever) watch the election unfold and then the year ended on a somewhat sour note with the Lennon assassination (was a big Beatle fan at the time).

But it was the start of the 1980s and if I had an opportunity to go back in time and do my life over again, I would probably choose 1980 as the year to go back to as that is when my adult life truly started.

36 posted on 03/19/2016 12:11:36 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Delegates So Far: Trump (646); Cruz (397); Kasich (142)
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To: SamAdams76

I must be about the same age as you. In 1980 I was in college in Europe doing a year study overseas in Austria. I was in the weird position of defending Jimmy Carter because I didn’t like foreigners insulting our President.

Anyway, I got on a train in France and the train split in half in Strassburg and I was on the wrong half so I was left in the Strassburg airport overnight. A few other American students made the same mistake I did and we spent the night in my tent. They had a radio and we listened to the US beat Russia in the Miracle on Ice. Just one of those cool memories of long ago.


37 posted on 03/19/2016 12:19:14 PM PDT by Beernoser
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To: Rockitz

The GOPe didn’t understand then and they don’t understand now; but as in November 1980 this November they will learn how wrong they are.


38 posted on 03/19/2016 12:21:04 PM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: jmaroneps37

Could be, or could be not. It could work out like 1980 and Hillary could be indicted in October and her ratings fall through the basement.


39 posted on 03/19/2016 12:23:40 PM PDT by Beernoser
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To: Beernoser

I understand there are a lot of haters out there. Haters are not a new phenomenon. I’m old enough to remember the Nixon-Kennedy contest in 1960. A lot of people swore to the heavens they hated Kennedy because he was Catholic and would be beholden to the Pope. A lot of people hated Nixon because, well, he was Nixon. Nothing else mattered. People hated Goldwater in ‘64 because they said he was crazy and would start a war (sound familiar?). So they voted in droves for Johnson and look what that got us, a disaster in Vietnam and a disaster at home (so-called Great Society). We’re still paying for those. People hated Reagan in ‘80 because he was “too old” and they said he was going to start a war (never happened). People went off the deep end from hating Bush in 2000-2008. Haters will always be with us. I’m not sure anything we do will change that. We have to keep a cadre of sane people around who can at least hold the Republic together, even if we’re a minority. It’s depressing, but it seems to be where we’re heading.


40 posted on 03/19/2016 12:25:27 PM PDT by chimera
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