Amanpour Hails Obama as ‘Reaganesque’ But Contended Tea Party Too ‘Extreme’ for Reagan
ABC’s Christiane Amanpour hailed President Obama’s State of the Union address as “very Reaganesque,” but in October, holding herself up as some kind of protector of Reagan’s legacy, she discovered “a long and venerable tradition of conservatism in this country” exemplified by Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley and “all of that sort of intellectual conservatism,” yet now, she feigned distress, “people are looking at the Tea Party and saying this is not conservatism as we knew it but it's extreme.”
Asked for her “take” on Obama’s address, Amanpour trumpeted his “Sputnik moment” as “remarkable,” heralding Tuesday night on ABC:
Well, full of sunny optimism, very Reaganesque, on and on about American exceptionalism in many, many instances and full of Kennedyesque encouragement to break a new frontier. That Sputnik moment was remarkable, of course harking back to 1957 when the Soviet Union put the first un-manned satellite in space and started the space race and really launched a whole new era of technological, scientific and all sort of progress and the President calling for more of that here.
(Two MRC colleagues tweeted Amanpour’s “Reaganesque” characterization here and here.)
Back on the October 17 This Week, she argued:
There's been a long and venerable tradition of conservatism in this country. You can go back at least to Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, all of that sort of intellectual conservatism that lasted about 30 years, and people are saying that right now, it's really gone to the extreme. People are looking at the Tea Party and saying this is not conservatism as we knew it but it's extreme.
— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
The TEA party is Reagan.
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:31am.
The TEA party is Reagan. Reagan left the Democrats because they drifted too far left and the TEA party is because the GOP has drifted to the left.
What does the conservative graduate ask?
Submitted by hayate1 on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 7:14am.
Why are most of my professors liberals? And why can't we just hire more conservative professors or create conservative institutions of higher learning?
Well, because learning occurs when minds are open to new ideas and progress. stuff based on data and facts not ideals and pithy labels. Having an open mind to change is liberal. conservative is against change, and worse, interested in going backwards into some idealized, fake utopian past.
Tea party people are radical and confused. they mix up a love for the constitution with a demand that the power and size of gov be cut way back. They talk about the founding fathers as their models but they are actually talking like anti-federalists who fought the founding fathers and were against the creation of the constitution. the ant-federalists were very conservative and the founding fathers were the liberals who fought for, sought and welcomed progressive change.
"Facts are not decided by how many people believe them. Truth is not determined by how loudly it is shouted."
Flipping Out
Submitted by Thunder Lizard on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:34am.
You know the Left has flipped out when people like Ms. Amanpour use Reagan and Buckley as tools to attack conservatives. This is like something out of Alice in Wonderland.
This pitiful broad................
Submitted by Patriot II on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:49pm.
Is NUTS!!!!!
This woman looks really good
Submitted by WarEagle66 on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:36am.
This woman looks really good in her cheerleading uniform....with the big O on the front.
Let the campaign begin!
The media is a joke.....especially these people on the networks.
Well Amanpour is a fool
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:42am.
Anyone who has ever heard Reagan speak knows he would be leading the charge of the Tea Party. Amanpour has never listen to a thing Reagan has said. It's obvious she only knows of Reagan through the libtard lens.
BTW I thought that both Ryan and Bachmann did a great job in their rebuttal last night. I highly recommend everyone listens to each of them.
I couldn't watch SOTU
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:57am.
but did watch all of Ryan's response. I was ready to vote for him.
Actually Reagan is a step down from Messiah
Submitted by Lipton on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:40am.
I love Reagan, and I see they are trying to make this like 1984 (there is an ironic pun there), when Reagan won by a landside. Good luck MSM.
Extreme only in distance
Submitted by neutron on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:40am.
Conservatives look "extreme" to Amanpour and her fellow libs, only because they are so far to the left, that anything on the right looks distant and thereby "extreme." If she wants to understand extreme politics, she should look in the mirror sometimes.
Tea Party?
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:44am.
The activists in the Tea Party are castigated as being racist, old, all white, stupid, homophobic, uneducated, terroristic, sheep-like, racist (I know I already listed this but the media has run through all of the list more than once too in hopes of provoking a response), old, all white, stupid, homophobic, uneducated...
Now we are to be dismissed as being too radical for Ronald Reagan the new hero of the left?
Gee. Who'd have thought that Tea Partiers were such a group of radicals for wanting America to survive this century?
Define
Submitted by 10ksnooker on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 10:54am.
loopey louis.
She has always been more than a little bit extreme.
Amanpour
Submitted by RightRealDeal on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:01am.
Is this one an American citizen?
I wonder which Reagan she is talking about.
Submitted by acaiguana on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:02am.
Is it the Reagan painted by the Liberals and Democrats as 'just an actor'; stupid personified; the evil ogre who threw out the mentally ill in California; the Reagan who was insanely pursuing 'Star Wars'; the Reagan who was way off base with his 'Axis of Evil'; the Reagan who had dementia in his latter White House Days; the Reagan who never had an idea and depended on his 'handlers' for his Presidential presence; the Reagan who made the biggest faux pas in the universe when he made his Berlin Wall speech; the Reagan who slashed taxes...
Or was it the Reagan who brought down the Soviet Union; who fired the Air Traffic Controllers; whose simple election scared the Iranian nut jobs so much they immediately released the hostages???
Which Reagan is she talking about?
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
She means
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:02pm.
Ron Reagan, the poof in the ballerina outfit. (Or is that Rahm Emanuel? I forget.)
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Christiane is too busy fighting for ratings ...
Submitted by Kenyon Schraeder on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:05am.
... to be concerned with pleasing anyone but liberals at this point. After all, they are the ones signing her ABC paycheck and so she positions herself accordingly.
Sad to say, but she no longer has the chutzpah to be her own person and tell it like she told it during the Gulf War as an embedded journalist. Another talking head spouting fluff.
Where oh where have all the real journailts gone?
Amanpour and ratings
Submitted by Cdn Neo_con on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:47am.
I find myself agreing with you, on the positionning for rating by ABC
With CNN dying a slow death, MSNBC turning into Air America with video and CBS Newsnow only preoccupied with Katie Couric's daily hairdo, ABC News has got to be asking: Are we next ??.
They may well be scared enough into letting Amanpour turn into some sort of "Braniac"version of Maddow.
Every now and then a news
Submitted by maxvolt on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:08am.
Every now and then a news reporter comes around and reminds us all that a degree in communications really doesnt take much intelligence...Amanpour is this weeks reminder
Recognize this for what it
Submitted by Hunter12 on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:09am.
Recognize this for what it is. Rebranding Obama as a conservative. "Obama's just like Reagan!!!" "Obama's just like Reagan!!!" "Obama's just like Reagan!!!" The mantra of the MSM for the next month or two will be a repetition of this line, tied to something he's doing that would probably be conservative if not for the fact that there will be no follow through and Obama has 15 years of ultra-liberal baggage dragging behind him. A projected move to the center is his only prayer in 2012, along with the wink-wink-nod-nod to the extreme left that these politicians always get a pass on from the media to pick up his true base at the polls as well as anyone dumb enough to fall for this simulated move. Watch Obama get credit for any progress the actions of the House GOP generates in the economy. Any improvements on any front will be laid at his door, along with this new tag.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
ABC’s Christiane
Submitted by Snappy on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:24am.
ABC’s Christiane Amanpour is quickly climbing the ranks in my list of smug condescending idiots that I despise.
Maybe she should read history
Submitted by octavioj on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:26am.
President Reagan's confronation with the air traffic controllers would make Tea Partiers cry of happiness. President Reagan's battles to lower taxes would make Tea Partiers do back flips. Where was the talk president Reagan was too extreme? Oh right, they WERE calling him too extreme but now want to somehow diminish his determination and commitment to individual freedom and responsibility.Constitutional principles are always "extreme" to freedom-hating
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:40pm.
...commies like Amampour, as this nation's founding document has always been a major thorn in the side of those who wish to destroy the God-given freedoms and liberties affirmed within it.
Let's hope that most unique document continues to be a roadblock to the designs ov the advocates of tyranny.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave, here is the problem in a nutshell
Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 1:09pm.
There are a couple of intrepid liberals on the Gator boards, where I found this (embarassing) post:
Liberals and unions gave this country
.. the 8 hour day
.. child labor laws
.. voting rights act
.. the end of segregation
.. paid holidays
.. paid vacations
.. sick pay
.. medical insurance
.. pensions
.. workplace safety
.. Social Security
.. Medicare
.. Medicaid
.. GI Bills
.. student loans and grants for college
.. Consumer Product Safety Commission
.. requiring truth in advertising
.. Food safety
.. safety in drugs and cosmetics
.. requiring auto makers to recall and fix unsafe vehicles
.. clean water
.. clean air
.. free public education
I am a liberal. I belong to a union.
So what have conservatives and anti union folk given us? Of course they'll complain about things on the list above but won't be able to name a single thing conservatives have done.
And there you have it. You can argue all day long about the "given" part, and why people aren't owed, but you can't get the liberal to accept the premise. They simply believe they are "owed".
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
→ Blonde
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:59am.
And you get (a percentage of) what you pay for.
I bet you are glad that you
Submitted by hayate1 on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 6:55am.
are able to benefit from all those liberal rules and regulations that protect us from the predilections of the free market.
Think about the clean water you drink, the relatively sanitary food you eat and the safety you enjoy in your car and at work. those are brought to you by regulations and mandates from liberal politicians. All of which were fought against tooth and nail by conservatives every step of the way. Could you imagine what a basket case this country would be had everything been left up to the goodwill of big companies? Well, we have gained some insight into that over the last 10 years as we deal with the consequences of the free market's work.
"Facts are not decided by how many people believe them. Truth is not determined by how loudly it is shouted."
That's right
Submitted by sentry_99 on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 8:43am.
Those evil big companies lead by man must be stopped by the good big government led by...uh man. One seeks evil power and money, the other seeks good...uh power and money. Oh and sources for claims are still not needed.
hayate1
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 9:03am.
OK - I'm no economist so maybe you can explain how the following is wrong:
Consider for a moment an imaginary world in which people had no choice but to buy dirty water, cruddy food and unsafe cars.
It wouldn't take a genius to realize that if their company offered clean water or sanitary food or safe cars to the public that they would dominate the market place. Others companies, seeing this, would obviously follow suit and adjust their standards as well. In this regard, our system would be self-correcting.
What am I missing?
No Comparison
Submitted by cestes on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 2:22pm.
Comparing the current white house communist to Ronald Reagan is an insult of the highest degree!! They have nothing in common other than BHO studied his (Reagan's) words and speeches to co opt his message as theatre. "It's not that our liberal friends are ignorant, it's just that they think they know so much that just isn't so".
Dumb and Ugly
Submitted by BW222 on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 3:18pm.
Is it possible that Christine Amanpour could be as dumb as she is ugly? She would have said Obama was "Reaganesque" if his entire STOU speech consisted of reading the White Sox linup when they played at old "Comininsky Park."
Really? Is this the strategy?
Submitted by JLin on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 4:45pm.
They are trying to make Obama look like Reagan? They are hoping to turn Independents their way with this sophmoric theater? LOL
Idenity crisis
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 11:04pm.
Ye gads! Obama has an idenity crisis. during the campaign he was Lincoln, then Kennedy. Now he is Reagan. Some one please get him some help!
...
Submitted by Wesley Mcgranor on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 8:20am.
This is really bogus.
Of course Obama isn't Reaganesque
Submitted by hayate1 on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 6:47am.
Reagan was more to the left than Obama is on most issues! Reagan raised taxes 11 times, Obama has cut them 35 times. Reagan negotiated with terrorists, Obama is escalating the fight in Afghanistan. reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants, Obama is enforcing the law against illegal immigration, for now at least. Reagan pulled out of Lebanon after the barracks were bombed, Obama is fighting terrorists. Obama continues the build-up of the security apparatus and there is still torture going on. How on earth is he a lefty when compared to Reagan?
Of course there is healthcare but that is hardly socialistic as it merely mandates private insurers cover more people and that people buy coverage. The same plan created, implemented and advocated by conservatives when Mitt Romney did it in Mass.
"Facts are not decided by how many people believe them. Truth is not determined by how loudly it is shouted."