LIVING POLITICS
Howard Fineman
The Gipper Lives On
Why John McCain needs Ronald Reagan.
In 1974, as Watergate was destroying the Republican presidency of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan arrived in Washington to cheer up—and electrify—a rising generation of New Right activists. His patriotic speech ("We are … the last best hope of man on earth") was the first shot in what came to be known as the Reagan Revolution. The address was laced with praise for three recently released POWs he had brought with him. Proof that America was not a "sick society," he said, could be found in the "men who went through those years of torture and captivity in Vietnam." One of them was a Navy pilot who had become Reagan's (and his wife Nancy's) close friend. His name was Lt. John McCain.
Every Republican invokes Reagan, but none needs to more urgently than McCain, who still must win over conservatives who regard him as more of an apostate than an apostle. Although he's been winning primaries, he is losing among the self-described conservatives who form the GOP base. When McCain appears at this week's 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, aides will play an audiotape of the Reagan speech to back their candidate's claim to have been a "foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution." "John is and always has been a conservative," says Charlie Black, a top adviser.
Everybody doesn't know that. True, McCain has an 83 percent positive lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He is a Reagan-style war hawk and foe of deficit spending and abortion rights. But he has committed many a grave sin in the eyes of the conservatives. He opposed the Bush tax cuts and the idea of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. He worried aloud about global warming and offered an immigration plan that would give a "path to citizenship" to illegal immigrants. He supports limits on issue-advocacy spending and said he'd "entertain" the idea of being Democrat John Kerry's running mate in 2004. Last week he was endorsed by two men anathema to the right—Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger—and, worst of all, by The New York Times. The response has been loud. Rush Limbaugh accuses McCain of "moving to the left"; Laura Ingraham says he has all but abandoned the GOP.
Still, McCain is not without "movement" conservative friends. Endorsers include Sen. Sam Brownback, whose pro-life credentials are impeccable; and this week Steve Forbes, whose anti-tax bona fides are hard to top, is expected to get onboard, too. But more important is the network of Reagan "foot soldiers" who stayed in Washington after the revolution ended. In a daisy chain of access protection, they are reaching out to their unreconstructed cousins. "The idea is to keep lines open," says Craig Shirley, a PR executive and Reagan veteran who is advising McCain. "He has to show he is willing to listen."
One of those McCain is listening to is Grover Norquist, the anti-tax crusader who demands that candidates sign his "pledge" not to OK a tax increase. McCain refused to put his name on it. Yet in recent months, his advisers devised a tax plan with input from Norquist and others. First, McCain said he'd fight to make the Bush tax cuts permanent—even though he originally opposed them. Then, before New Hampshire, he unveiled a plan to cut corporate and investment taxes and to abolish the alternative minimum tax. "I'd still like to get it in writing," Norquist tells me, "but I'm pleased with McCain's tax-cut position now." That might not be good enough for folks at CPAC, and probably wouldn't have been good enough for Reagan. But the Gipper isn't coming to CPAC this year, except on an audiotape.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: dawei @ 05/11/2008 11:55:00 PM
Comment: I think all three candidates are worthless. Abama and Clinton will not handle terrorists correctly, all three will not handle China corrcetly, and McCain is an idiot in understanding Economics. Two of the top five qualifications should be Economics and military action. Not reserves or just service in the Army, Navy or Marines. I mean action in a war and probably nothing less than Captain. I saw a new blog site that is good. www.stopthenonsensenow.blogspot.com. I don't know hoe long until he gets to todays issues but he is writing about the liars in the white house during the 80's and the elite killers and terrorists, the CIA. His mission statement says he wants the people of the US to revolt and take back the government. He is right.
After Watergate destroyed Nixon, Reagan had his chance to destroy the US. And Papa Bush helped.
Posted By: Nins @ 03/13/2008 10:54:41 PM
Comment:
Dear Illinois Voter, I'm sorry, but you have been mis-informed about the vote you are referring to. At issue was a bill to mandate care to "pre-viable fetuses born alive." The first thing to note is "pre-viable." Fetuses below 26 weeks of age never survive, even with the best ICU care. Fetuses older than 26 weeks already have a law that mandates they be given medical care to save their lives. The bill you are referring to was promoted by the pro-Life camp and it was really quite clever. Had that bill passed it would have overturned Roe v. Wade, but only in the State of Illinois. It would have immediately been legally challenged by the pro-Choice groups and immediately struck down, since the Supreme Court has already ruled on that issue. Even though I am pro-Life, I could see how this bill was just a political ploy. It was designed to be used to smear the reputations of any politician who voted against it. It was not designed to protect the unborn, because the people who wrote it knew that the pre-viable fetuses in question would all die anyway.
This kind of thing is one of the reasons why Republicans like me are becoming disenfranchised from the GOP. Politics is not just some clever shell game that insiders play while we the taxpayers foot the bill for their power plays. We want our real issues heard and legislated for in effective ways.
Believe it or not, as a pro-Choice Christian I think I have gotten better legislature out of Barack Obama than out of my own interest group. Obama has taken the time to listen to the religious voice and made some modest compromises with us, like voting against late term abortion and against partial birth abortion, even though he still has supported a woman's right to reproductive freedom by voting in favor of early abortions. To me, this is a good compromise. I know he's liberal at heart, but he listens to the other side, and that is important to me. It's a brave new world for conservative Republicans when we look to liberal Democrats to help us with our issues. But I'm a pragmatist. I go with what works.
Posted By: Payne23 @ 02/09/2008 5:21:50 PM
Comment: Reagan was a bridge between old school Constitution driven conservatives and what we have now: truth is secondary to winning and the Constitution is only invoked if it helps us win. The fact that Rush and whats her name don't like McCain should give him stature in the eyes of anyone honest. I am not a conservative but some of their ideas must have merit just not the current manifestation of them. I am reading a book on Goldwater, who seems to have been a principled conservative. He would have even told Rush and whats her name to check their facts and to quit using the Constitution for monetary gain, as the current conservative movement has done for many. McCain sees the danger in changing the Constitution to adhere to religous ideals. Are we a free country or a religous one. If we are religous and christian then we must scrap free market capitolism.It goes against every teaching of Jesus and what is next ; stoning children who disrespect their parents or perhaps the mutilation of adulterers, of course this knocks out Newt, Rudy, Reagan, Foley, Haggard, and many other so-called conservatives. Lets just start treating Rush and whats her name as their words and actions have shown them to be. Unscrupulous, dihonest, cheerleaders for an agenda that merely serves to seperate; never unite. And this agenda seves maybe 20% 0f the population. It has never helped the average Joe. They have abused their right to a dicussion of their ideals and deserve no further discussion or audience. By the way McCain may be the first Republican I ever vote for. I need to see more from Obama idea-wise and I voted for Bill twice and while Hillary is brilliant I don't see people pulling the lever for hercome crunch time. I speak mostly of sourthern white males maybe women can counterbalance that time will tell. Also an Al Gore endorsement would help her. Most Tennesseans have realized how they screwed up there and chose style over substance, Rush and whats her name over the truth. All I have talked to will not let it happen again and most lean toward Hillary but the fact that many even consider voting for a woman or an African-American just floors me. 5 years ago these were racist sexist people on the outside but deep down they are allright and will vote for the truth whatever race, sex, or age she hides behind.