That day is here.

GOP says No to Reagan

Conservative RNC member James Bopp Jr. is circulating a draft resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support if they wish to have party backing. The resolution calls on the Republican National Committee to end funding and endorsements for any candidate who deviates from three or more of the positions. RNC chairman Michael Steele will now have to choose a side between those who would expand the party ideologically and those more concerned with conservative purity at the next RNC meeting in January.

So why just 10 positions to abide by? And why only two are allowed to be broken before being booted from the party? Because as the resolution states, “WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed, as a result, that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent.” Unfortunately, of the 10 positions listed Ronald Reagan completely failed on more than half of them.

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;
Reagan = FAIL

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
Reagan = FAIL

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
Reagan = FAIL

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
Reagan = FAIL

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
Reagan = FAIL

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;
Reagan = FAIL

And to sum it all up the resolution states: “RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy positions of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee; and be further.”

So, good bye Ronald Reagan! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out! It really looks like the GOP learned the wrong lesson last Nov. 3rd.

Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

Bunch also does a great job at describing how the Right has attempted to use a distorted description of Reagan’s presidency, stressing only its actions that fit the Right’s current agenda. For example, Reagan’s tax cut of 1981 is constantly emphasized by right-wingers even today, while ignoring the several tax increases he signed into law each of the seven years remaining of his two terms. His “heroic” statements regarding foreign policy are equally stressed, while the cautious foreign policy he actually practiced are forgotten. It amusing for a man who never left the safety of Hollywood during World War II or even completely reading presidential briefings while in the Oval Office that Ronald Reagan is given credit for winning the Cold War over Russia.

Even odder, Ronald Reagan was never that popular a president according to records of opinion polls during his presidency. Issue by issue the majorities of Americans were against Reagan’s policies throughout both his terms, but due to the appearance management of his handlers, voters managed to somehow elect him back into office a second time. Thanks to Bunch Reagan’s false myths are shot down repeatedly in his book however. Bunch accurately displays a more factual synopsis of how the Reagan presidency historically occurred, which is a much different account of events than the mythologized version the right continues to portray.