RENO, Nev. —AP- [1] John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Barack Obama’s praise of the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan – an anathema for many Democrats, particularly union members considered crucial to winning Nevada’s Democratic caucuses Saturday.Obama responded by suggesting Clinton would be a “president whose plans change with the politics of the moment” as part of one of his most direct critiques of the New York senator yet.The intensity reflects what polls suggest could be a tight contest Saturday as Nevada plays its most prominent role ever in a presidential nominating campaign. Nevada was granted a coveted spot right after Iowa and New Hampshire in an attempt to bring more racial and geographic diversity into the selection.The novelty means there isn’t a reliable way to determine who is likely to turn out at caucuses across the state. In addition, nine caucuses are to be held in casinos for the first time to allow shift workers to participate on a busy holiday weekend – making the result even more unpredictable.Obama got a boost when he won the endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union that represents 60,000 housekeepers, bartenders, waiters and other employees on the Las Vegas Strip. Then a judge dismissed an attempt to eliminate the casino caucus sites. But Clinton still holds an edge in most polls.
Amazing stuff, really.
[2]Think of it; The Democrats of today are doing something that the Democrats of Reagan’s own era could not; Trying to co-opt his message. There’s several reasons they couldn’t at the time; They opposed everything Reagan stood for at the time… still do, actually, but not quite so overtly as they did then… he was the competition, for pity’s sake. It’s the same reason, today, really, that the Democrats find so much fault with our Iraq efforts in spite of the massive successes there. They’re the party opposite, and can never, therefore admit that any Republican can do anything right.
But the Democrats are finding they have to deal with the Reagan message, now. Granted that they have to twist it to fit an agenda that Reagan himself wouldn’t have stood for for one hot second, but they’re trying to deal with it, decades after Reagan was in office and years after his death.
Even Edwards, in his way, pays homage to Reagan, in that he’s playing to the MoveOn crowd by still running against Reagan.
“Ronald Reagan, the man who busted unions, the man who did everything in his power to destroy the organized labor movement, the man who created a tax structure that favored the richest Americans against middle class and working families, … we know that Ronald Reagan is not an example of change for a presidential candidate running in the Democratic Party,” Edwards said.
Reagan also “was destructive to the environment by removing a lot of the regulation that existed,” Edwards added in a later telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I would never use Ronald Reagan as an example of change.”
Well, that’s because you’re an idiot, John. Then again, you’re kinda boxed in . The fact was and remains that Reagan in those acts revealed the way the left had been lying for years about such matters… and created an economic recovery the likes of which America hadn’t seen before or since. The American people don’t forget such successes quite so easily. Play to your ever smaller, if more vocal base if you must, but know that in the doing, you’re back to sliding toward irrelevancy, again. Your devotion toward leftist ideals is why you’re being rejected by the American people. … even by Democrats.
The Democrats are not the only ones playing this game… the Republican front runners, to a man are playing the same game in a slightly different way; Trying to lay claim to Reagan’s legacy, arguing which of them is more like Reagan…while laying out policy proposals, and in some cases, having voting records, of which Reagan would never have approved, and that he would have used the power of the veto to fight. Thus are all but one of them coming up short in the judgment. Interestingly, the ones making the most noise about being the reincarnation of Reagan are without a doubt in the world the least qualified for making the claim. We call them RINOs. McCain, for example. Huckabee. To a lesser degree, Giuliani and to a lesser degree still, Romney.
But…. Why?
Why would they all … from both parties…. be chasing after Reagan? Because history has made it’s judgment, outside and above the political heat of the moment… the Reagan era was a success, is why. A level of success seldom seen in American politics before, and certainly never since. Success they’re all desperate to capture a piece of. They recognize that Reagan’s ideas and ideals are still a potent force in American life and American politics today. They know the person who captures that mantle, and capitalizes on it, will be our next President.
[3] In reality, there is but one man currently in the hunt for the White House that can legitimately lay any claim to the Reagan Legacy. Based on voting records and policies proposed, that man is Fred Thompson. And isn’t it interesting he’s the one making the least noise about Reagan? Perhaps he figures he doesn’t need to convince anyone on the point.
BBCT: Memeorandum
Related, Michelle Malkin, [4]Fellow Swamp Stomper Sister Toldjah [5], Captain’s Quarters [6] Q&O [6]