Newt Battles Mush From The Wimps

[Rheo]

American Spectator:

 

 

"Ford Declares Reagan Can't Win" -- Headline in The New York Times, March 1, 1980

Yet still more mush from the wimps.

To borrow a famous Reagan phrase: "Well, there they go again."

Somewhere an exasperated Gipper is doubtless shaking his head.

The war between conservatives and the Republican Establishment -- and make no mistake, this is a war -- is on once more.

The people who brought the GOP losing candidates from Dewey to Dole are at it again.

 

The hard fact of the political matter, to give the short version, is that with the advent of the American progressive movement at the beginning of the 20th century, there were many in the Republican Party who in their own fashion went over the side, abandoning the good ship of conservative principles. It's not that they necessarily left the GOP -- although some, most prominently Theodore Roosevelt -- did so. No, what happened is that they simply folded like a cheap suit, caving to what they were certain would be the eternal popularity of the progressive movement. Becoming what was eventually known as the "me-too" Republican. Or, in the tart summation of Barry Goldwater, supporters of "the dime store New Deal." Today, the name is RINO -- Republican in Name Only.

The real problem on display with the Romney-Gingrich duel is that since the advent of the GOP moderate, moderation has become the default position of the Republican Establishment. In the day, to decry the New Deal or the Great Society or, today, abortion or gay marriage or any number of other liberal favorites, is to open oneself up to social approbation from this or that set of self-anointed elites. Elites who put a premium on being seen as "moderate," "nice," and "smart" as opposed to "extreme," "mean," or -- God forbid -- "not very bright." Sniff, sniff and all of that.

 

So what do we have here?

The very same problem Thomas E. Dewey was discussing 63 years ago and that Gerald Ford was talking about 32 years ago. The difference is that neither man, running on an Establishment GOP platform, ever won the presidency.

Ronald Reagan, running flat out as a conservative, won it twice. In two landslides that changed America and changed world history.

The attacks on Newt Gingrich by the Establishment Romneyites are not about Newt Gingrich at all. They are attacks on conservatives. By the Republican Party Establishment.

Or, as the saying might go after all these years: still more mush from the wimps.

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Long article but good.

[Rheo]

The Progressive Era: The Great Age of Reform

 

Good timeline of the progressive era.