Talking Point of the Week: Reagan Was Not Conservative?
WaPo’s Eugene Robinson picks up where Andrea Mitchell left off:
The Republican Party tries to claim the Reagan mantle but has moved so far to the right that it now inhabits its own parallel universe. On the planet that today’s GOP leaders call home, Reagan would qualify as one of those big-government, tax-and-spend liberals who are trying so hard to destroy the American way of life.
Some Republicans, I suppose, might be so enraptured by the Reagan legend that they are unaware of his actual record. I hate to break it to Sarah Palin, but Reagan raised taxes. Often. Sometimes by a lot.
Tries to claim the Reagan mantle? Now, that’s funny.
What Robinson doesn’t mention at all is that Ronald Reagan – as both governor and President – could only wield Executive Power. Under our system of government, the Executive is not endowed with the power to tax, even in California. I don’t know what the California legislature was like when Ronnie was governor, but I do know that the U.S. Congress was controlled by Democrats throughout the Reagan administration. It is more likely than not that any tax hikes and non-military government growth during the Reagan years is attributable to the Democrats in Congress at the time (who in fact overrode many a Reagan veto), rather than to Reagan being a Schwarzenegger Republican. The notion alone is so silly as to be amusing, especially since it wasn’t that long ago that Reagan was in power.
Why, I remember how much the Left and the MSM used to hate Reagan as well as I remember shopping for cassette tapes to hear on my Walkman (if you don’t know what a Walkman is, do some research – you’ll be amazed). They must be desperate to try to invoke his memory now and make Reagan their own. Try again in a generation, Mr. Robinson. Maybe – just maybe – it’ll work then…
