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Yesterday, the House Democratic Caucus unveiled a video making the case for an increase in the debt ceiling, featuring one voice: Ronald Reagan’s.
The clip is an excerpt from one of Reagan’s presidential radio addresses, delivered in September 1987, condemning any effort to play games with the debt ceiling. The 40th president warned lawmakers about “default” and dangerous “brinkmanship,” before telling Congress, “The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations.”
Dana Milbank picked up on this to note that Democrats have adopted Reagan as their own, while Republicans deliberately reject the Reagan legacy.
Nobody knows what Reagan, who died in 2004, would make of the current fight over the debt limit. But 100 years after Reagan’s birth, it’s clear that the Tea Party Republicans have little regard for the policies of the president they claim to venerate.
Tea Party Republicans call a vote to raise the debt ceiling a threat to their very existence; Reagan presided over 18 increases in the debt ceiling during his presidency.
Tea Party Republicans say they would sooner default on the national debt than raise taxes; Reagan agreed to raise taxes 11 times.
Tea Party Republicans, in “cut, cap and balance” legislation on the House floor Tuesday, voted to cut government spending permanently to 18 percent of gross domestic product; under Reagan, spending was as high as 23.5 percent and never below 21.3 percent of GDP.
Indeed, the GOP agenda of 2011 — including spending caps and the Balanced Budget Amendment — would have made Reagan’s entire agenda impossible, including the military buildup that conservatives credit with winning the Cold War.
I continue to find this fascinating because of the striking disconnect between Republicans’ principles and their understanding of history. On the one hand, Republicans have a religious-like reverence for “Ronaldus Magnus”; on the other, they have no use for his approach to governance.
It’s comparable to evangelical Christians holding out Jesus as their model for salvation and perfection, only to ignore Jesus’ commitment to protecting the poor and less fortunate.
Wait, maybe that’s not the best comparison in this context.
Regardless, as Democrats embrace the Republican icon and Republicans turn their back on him, it’s time the mainstream starts to realize that this is no longer the party of Reagan.
The evidence has become overwhelming. Two weeks ago, a House Republican went so far as to dismiss Reagan as a “moderate, former liberal” who “would never be elected today.” Mike Huckabee said two months ago, “Ronald Reagan would have a very difficult, if not impossible, time being nominated in this atmosphere of the Republican Party.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had a nearly identical take last year, arguing Reagan “would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today.”
I agree, but shouldn’t that tell the political world something about the radicalism of today’s GOP? What should Republicans take away from the fact that, by 2011 standards, their party would dismiss their demigod as a tax-raising, amnesty-loving, pro-bailout, cut-and-run, big-government Democrat?
Dems are reveling in this. Indeed, just this morning, the House Democratic Caucus dropped off a letter at the office of every Republican lawmaker on Capitol Hill. The letter was from Reagan to then-Majority Leader Howard Baker — it’s dated November 16, 1983 — and it features the then-president’s plea for Congress to raise the debt ceiling and avoid “the full consequences of default.” It includes a message from today’s Democratic leaders, urging GOP officials to “take President Reagan’s message to heart.”
I never thought I’d see the day that progressive Democrats claimed Reagan’s mantle. I never thought I’d see the day that conservative Republicans let them.
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zeitgeist on July 20, 2011 1:32 PM:
and i never thought i'd see the day one could wrap themselves in Reagan's yoke and still be called a progressive Democrat.
*sigh*
c u n d gulag on July 20, 2011 1:37 PM:
Today's Democrats are Republicans, circa 1965-1990, and
today's Republicans are escapees from the John Birch
Society's Insane Asylum - Angry Racist and Misogynist Wing.
Burr Deming on July 20, 2011 1:39 PM:
The evidence is that, less than a year since stunning electoral victories, the GOP is racing toward a cliff. But it is not strategy that is at fault. It is technology.
Redshift on July 20, 2011 1:40 PM:
I don't think Democrats have "embraced" or "adopted" Reagan. Instead it's a way of demonstrating that raising the debt ceiling is such an uncontroversial, mainstream administrative action that there is no difference on it between a liberal Democrat and the GOP's patron saint, and the complete insanity of today's GOP puts them outside of any rational part of the political spectrum.
(The so-called "embrace" notably does not include any of the issues that have been incorrectly lumped in with the debt ceiling vote.)
Frank Wilhoit on July 20, 2011 1:45 PM:
The only thing that history will remember about Reagan is that he took sides. The Teabaggers are perfect Reaganites.
Conservative1 on July 20, 2011 1:50 PM:
There needs to be an effort not only to take Reagan back from people who claim his name while repudiating his legacy, but also to take back the label "conservative" from people who are conservative neither in doctrine nor in temperament. The Tea Party Republicans are reactionaries and should be referred to as reactionaries.
Grumpy on July 20, 2011 1:51 PM:
Democrats: Wrong Now, Wrong Then.
That's what they'll say.
RalfW on July 20, 2011 1:53 PM:
The Reagan-adoration is extremely apt to comparison to Jesus and his actual message v. what gets put forward on the Christian right.
I'm continually amazed, as I was again this morning as I watched Focus on the Family testify in D.C. against allowing same sex couples to have Social Security survivor benefits pass to their partners and partner's kids, now grossly anti-family they are.
When have you ever, ever heard FotF do anything that would help a poor family actually get by better in modern America? Crickets. Same can be said of most evangelical preachers in the US. Hellfire and Satan and stay poor, y'all!
Danp on July 20, 2011 1:57 PM:
i never thought i'd see the day one could wrap themselves in Reagan's yoke and still be called a progressive Democrat
It's just a ploy to get Republicans to denounce the dottering old relic.
bdop4 on July 20, 2011 1:59 PM:
I'm glad the ad just airs the statement, the phrase "adult moment," and nothing more.
That's one of the very few "adult moments" Ronald Reagan ever had. Let's try not to go to that well any more than we absolutely have to.
This party looks too much like Reagan as it is.
Texas Aggie on July 20, 2011 2:00 PM:
I agree with the sentiment expressed by Redshift. I detect a strong odor of snark in the letter that the Democrats sent to every republican, not an embrace of Reagan's political philosophy. St. Ronnie of Alzheimer (attribution unknown) was far to the right of any normal, decent human being, which means that he is a left/centrist by today's standards
deerang on July 20, 2011 2:01 PM:
Sorry for the off topic comment, but Pawlenty's campaign is not faring well (besides the obvious 2% polling) in that PPP is removing Pawlenty from it's match up with Obama (they're replacing Pawlenty with Rick Perry instead). Yet another sign that his campaign is floundering...
Here's the link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/20/996602/-PPP:-Pawlenty-no-longer-to-be-featured-in-general-election-polls?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29
Trollop on July 20, 2011 2:07 PM:
Ray-gun (of "star wars" fame, if I recall correctly) was a fuck-up opportunist, just like the ravenous tea-tards. Dangerously close to "the button".
T2 on July 20, 2011 2:09 PM:
I've said it before, but this slide by the GOP into anarchy and idiocy started the day in 2000 when the Conservative Supreme Court handed George W. Bush a presidency that he didn't win. It's been a full gallop toward insanity since then.
Ron Byers on July 20, 2011 2:11 PM:
It’s comparable to evangelical Christians holding out Jesus as their model for salvation and perfection, only to ignore Jesus’ commitment to protecting the poor and less fortunate.
What is the point Steve. Isn't that the way the movement "evangelical" Christians roll?
Blue Girl on July 20, 2011 2:12 PM:
It's basic psychology. When a criminal takes hostages, they bring their mom or dad to talk them down. In this case, the dad is dead but he left behind instructions in his own voice. Any hostage negotiator worth his or her salt would do the same thing if they had the chance.
martin on July 20, 2011 2:13 PM:
I'll try to get it going again.
The current breed of Republicans are NOT conservatives, they are reactionaries and should always be called and treated as such.
Reagan Democrats are Blue Dogs and we need to get the rest of them out of the party.
ckelly on July 20, 2011 2:17 PM:
Zeitgeist and cundgulag nailed it. It's a sad commentary on the rightward shift of US politics that Dems are "claiming" Reagan. If Reagan is the "center" or God forbid "Left of Center" the Republicans truly have won... again.
square1 on July 20, 2011 2:21 PM:
Great. Wonderful. Now, if someone would pipe Reagan's voice into the Oval office, we might start to get somewhere.
Vokoban on July 20, 2011 2:35 PM:
As if it needed more proof how right-wing America has become as nation...
I pity all reasonable US Americans. Yes, all 2-300 hundred of them.
gdb on July 20, 2011 3:13 PM:
@zeitgeist.. "and i never thought i'd see the day one could wrap themselves in Reagan's yoke and still be called a progressive Democrat."
For whatever it's worth, you haven't yet seen that day, at least with still being called a Progressive Democrat.
Marko on July 20, 2011 3:51 PM:
It's comparable to evangelical Christians holding out Jesus as their model for salvation and perfection, only to ignore Jesus' commitment to protecting the poor and less fortunate.
There ya go again, Steve... ;-)
mfw13 on July 20, 2011 3:59 PM:
Too bad the Dems didn't start doing this months ago...
Gregory on July 20, 2011 4:15 PM:
I never thought I'd see the day that progressive Democrats claimed Reagan's mantle.
Zeitgeist got it in one. The fact that the positions of Reagan -- who, let's recall, was once considered by many to possibly be too radically conservative -- is now closer to the modern Democratic Party, and roundly rejected by the radical Republicans, highlights how far to the right both parties have moved.
Doug on July 20, 2011 8:43 PM:
I think Mr. Benen may have chosen his words badly.
"...as Democrats EMBRACE the Republican icon..."
I beg your pardon? The only "embracing" I see is that of Mr. Reagan's position on raising the debt ceiling. How does THAT segue into embracing Mr. Reagan?
"I never thought I'd see the day that progressive Democrats claimed Reagan's mantle."
You haven't seen that day nor have ANY progressive Democrats claimed Reagan's "mantle". (His sideboy, now...)
Just because Dana Milbank headlined his oped "The New Party of Reagan" does NOT make Democrats into fawning admirers of St. Ronnie. Nor do the factual contents of that oped support such an idea. That is just Milbank yearning for the "good ole days" when it was "A New Morning in America" and all was right (sorry) with the (political) world.
What Democrats do support, as did Ronald Reagan, is raising the debt ceiling. As far as I can see, this gets filed under "stopped clock, relation to accuracy".
I would, however, like to know how much, if any, air time this ad is getting OUTSIDE the DC area.
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jhm on July 21, 2011 10:34 AM:
In re the Jesus analogy: if that prophet had any one overriding message, it was that the end was nigh. This comports rather well with GOP nihilism.
Egypt Steve on July 21, 2011 2:06 PM:
Bah. Modern Repugnican tax-cut fetishism began with Ray-Gun. Systematic executive lawlessness and impunity was perfected during Iran-Contra. In point of fact, every noxious weed that has grown uncontrolled in the garden of America since the Bush Maladministration grew from a poison seed planted by Ray-Gun. The modern Repugnican party is very much the party of their unholy saint.