Category: Ronald Reagan

Art of compromise lost during cantankerous debt limit debate

Posted by dcrim – August 2, 2011

The Senate is expected to approve emergency bipartisan legislation later today to allow the government to borrow more. Speechwriter and author Michael Cohen, writing for Politico, laments that the months-long debate for raising the debt ceiling — once a formality — provides a glimpse of the death of effective politics.

What we have seen over the past few weeks is the continuing erosion of the notion that political compromise, the linchpin of our democratic system, is the key to effective legislating and policymaking. Hostage-taking has replaced deal making in Washington with potentially devastating consequences for the political system.

Click here for the entire analysis.

Remembering Reagan assassination attempt 30 years later

Posted by dcrim – March 30, 2011

In the prologue to “Rawhide Down,” Washington Post reporter Del Quentin Wilber hypothesizes that the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and the president’s grace and courage in dealing with it, were the catalysts for his eight mostly successful years in office.

The public’s impression of Reagan certainly changed after the events of March 30, 1981. Indeed, John Hinckley may have created the “Teflon president” when he opened fire outside the Washington Hilton. Afterward, not even the Iran-Contra debacle could bring Reagan down. He had performed heroically after being shot, and America loves its heroes. Click here for the story.

When Reagan was shot, who was in charge at the White House? Click here to read an account from someone who was there.

‘She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition’

Posted by dcrim – March 14, 2011

Sarah Palin’s flamboyant rhetoric always has thrilled supporters but lately it is coming at a new cost: A backlash, not from liberals, but from some of the country’s most influential conservative commentators and intellectuals — the likes of George Will, Charles Krauthammer, the right-leaning Manhattan Institute and a former strategist in the George W. Bush White House.

This from Matt Labash, a longtime writer for the Weekly Standard:

“The appeal of conservatism is supposed to be people taking responsibility for their own actions,” said Labash. “But if you close your eyes and listen to Palin and her most irate supporters constantly squawk or bellyache or Tweet about how unfair a ride she gets from evil moustache-twirling elites and RINO saboteurs, she sounds like a professional victimologist, the flip side of any lefty grievance group leader. She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition. The only difference being, she wears naughty-librarian glasses instead of a James Brown ‘do.”

Ouch. Click here for the story.

As we near the 30th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan being shot by John Hinckley, Washington Post reporter Del Quentin Wilber is out with a new book that details just how close Reagan came to dying that day. “Rawhide Down” will be released Tuesday. Click here for the story.

McCaskill recasting herself as moderate for reelection bid

Posted by dcrim – February 9, 2011

Sen. Claire McCaskill may have been one of President Barack Obama’s most ardent supporters in 2008, but with a tough reelection battle looming, the Missouri Democrat is trying to recast herself as the moderate she was in 2006 — a prosecutor-turned-politician who prevailed in a red state.

Does Obama really suffer from what House Speaker John Boehner calls a “spending illness”? Not according to this analysis of his outlays on new legislation since taking office. In fact, the analysis shows Obama has slashed one tax dollar for every dollar he’s spent on government programs.

Politico columnist Michael Kinsley makes his case against the notion that Ronald Reagan was a great, or even a very successful, president.

A look back at the presidency of Ronald Reagan

Posted by dcrim – February 6, 2011

Real Clear Politics takes a look back at some of the most memorable moments of Ronald Reagan’s two terms as president on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Below is Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech in 1987, near the end of his second term.

Lou Cannon offers this look at the former president: Reagan was at once a man of conviction who thought seriously about the great issues of his time and an ordinary American, never braggy, who treated his audiences — all of us, really — with consideration and respect.

On Sheen, Reagan, Bachmann, Challenger and trading Pujols

Posted by dcrim – January 29, 2011

Saturday morning shorts while trying to digest the stunning news that Charlie Sheen has reportedly checked himself into a rehab facility after suffering a hernia during an all-night party with five porn stars:

• On the eve of the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, the Washington Examiner offers a retrospective on the nation’s 40th president.

• Politico reports third-term Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has developed a fan base like 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s: Energized, fiercely loyal and capable of making a critic’s life miserable with threats of political retribution. Meanwhile, Gail Collins of the New York Times writes: Is Michele Bachmann the new Sarah Palin? And do we really need a new Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t the first one be made to go away before we start considering replacements?

• Twenty-five years have passed since the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight. From the Associated Press: “ … images of the exploding space shuttle still signify all that can go wrong with technology and the sharpest minds. The accident … remains NASA’s most visible failure. … It was the world’s first high-tech catastrophe to unfold on live television.

• As the clock continues to count down on the Cardinals’ contract negotiations with Albert Pujols, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports the slugger will veto any trade proposals should that strategy emerge.