Ronald Reagan Quotes
I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And believe me, you are no Thomas Jefferson. (at 1992 Republican party convention, referring to Bill Clinton)
Reagan, Ronald. "Transcript of Speech by Reagan at the Republican Convention." The New York Times, 18 Aug. 1992, p. A15.
The minister's remarks had major repercussions. They were made at a rally for and in the presence of James Blaine, then a U. S. Senator and the Rupublican presidential nominee. Blaine refused to disavow Buchard's remark. That refusal became a major campaign issue, and "Rum, Romanism, and rebellion" became a negative campaign slogan. Blaine lost to Grover Cleveland. The difference turned out to be a 1,000 vote loss of New York State whose large Irish Catholic population went against Blaine.
Ickes was a patrician Republican who was an extremely effective politician and administrator. FDR had invited Ickes to join the New Deal Cabinet. He accepted and was the New Deal’s best and most enthusiastic salesman other than President Roosevelt himself. He also campaigned vigorously for FDR. In this case Wendell Willkie, another patrician Republican, a businessman with almost no political experience sought and won the Republican nomination. Ickes defined and framed Willkie immediately with his own classic sarcastic wit.
A professional mature female actress spoke the words. The Majority of the Republicans voted against the Medicare law that had passed under Lyndon Johnson. They lost millions of votes over that for years. Then at the end of the 20th century, many Republicans tried to reduce or privatize Medicare which by then was second only to Social Security among all government programs. The Democrats then used many variants of this Schwartz ad to great effect.
In 2012, the Republican party had shifted to the right and was split between two factions. None of the 4 leading candidates had the support of a majority of the activist Republicans who vote in Primary elections. The then started to vie with each other for the most conservative elements of the party and did so by attacking the other candidates, making moral pronouncements and attacking President Obama. None of them offered any positive programs or solutions to the problems they claimed existed, and the attacks on the others were always that they were “really not conservative” and “could not get elected.” The result was that all the candidates negatives rose.
The Republican convention delegates tended to be older than the Democratic convention delegates.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.
