Ronaldus Maximus and 2008

This past week, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has come under fire for some comments he made about Ronald Reagan, the greatest President of the 20th Century.  Here's what Mitt said according to Byron York on the Corner:

On Reagan, Romney in 1994 objected to being connected to former president, saying in his debate with Ted Kennedy, "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush." (emphasis is mine).

I do not usually agree with litmus tests but I so firmly believe that if you wanna be the GOP nominee, you must genuflect at the altar of Ronald Wilson Reagan.  Even McCain is smart enough to do at least this much (tho' he is foolishly opposed to Reaganesque tax cuts).

Now let's look at some of Rudy Giuliani's words about Reagan:

1.  From his speech to the 2004 Republican National Convention:  "Another one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan, saw and described the Soviet Union as 'the evil empire,' while world opinion accepted it as inevitable and even belittled Ronald Reagan's intelligence."

(Now, that's more like it!)

2.  From his March 7, 2004 appearance on Meet the Hunchback of Buffalo:  "I worked for Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan is probably my biggest political hero. I wrote about it in my book, I talk about it in my speeches. And the reason I respected Ronald Reagan was his consistent leadership, even though I didn't agree with all of his positions. "

VOTE RUDY in 2008!

BORU

Comments

[Matthew]

Remember two things: (1) At the time, Romney was a Republican running in the bluest of blue states and (2)Note that he said "Reagan-Bush". Bush had just been defeated two years prior after having squandered the Reagan legacy and leaving the country in a mild recession partially as a result of his tax increases. The country was also not far removed from the despicable Iran-Contra affair. I cannot necessarily fault Romney for running away from that legacy when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts.

[Brian]

I, however, can.