WaPo's Ezra Klein: Reagan 'Would Have Been Destroyed' at Debate
If there is a standard liberal line on Ronald Reagan today, it is this bizarre notion that Reagan is so far left of the current Republican contenders that they'd rip him to pieces if he were alive.
Today's case in point: Washington Post columnist/blogger Ezra Klein insists Reagan "would have been destroyed" on the stage last night, since he had such a deep pragmatic streak as president. Yes, that's the same president the media often portrayed during his two terms as an ultra-conservative nut. (Not so much Ezra Klein, who was born in 1984.)
Klein wrote:
There’s no doubt who won last night’s Republican presidential debate: Ronald Reagan. He even got a montage set to the Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. But the funny thing is that if the actual Ronald Reagan had been on that stage defending his actual record, he would almost certainly have lost. In fact, he would have been destroyed.
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Klein trotted out the old line that Reagan raised taxes four times from 1982 to 1984, and his 1986 tax reform supposedly would have made Walter Mondale proud (so grumped old adviser William Niskanen).
I want to be very clear: My point isn’t to suggest that Reagan was some closet liberal. This is still the president who signed one of the largest tax cuts in history. My point is to say Reagan was a conservative who was willing to compromise with reality. And that’s not something I heard a lot of on the stage last night.
In this perfunctory exercise of How Wacky to the Right Are They?, Klein seemed unwilling to consider that perhaps a President Romney or Perry or Bachmann or Santorum would be more pragmatic once they sat down in the Oval and looked at the votes in Congress. After all, Barack Obama on the campaign trail in 2007 sounded a lot more radical than President Obama -- especially on Iraq and the war on terror.
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Comments
Today's media reserves the
Submitted by okie-pastor on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:12pm.
Today's media reserves the right to change history to fit their narrative.
Someone more computer savvy than me should put up a link to Ronald Reagans speech on national healthcare. And the debate between him and Jimmy Carter.
Reagan on Healthcare
Submitted by stunned on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:42pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs
tired of liberal lies
Reagan vs Carter
Submitted by stunned on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:47pm.
Wow Reagan would have cleaned Obama's clock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9qDRZ6pSRE
tired of liberal lies
Ain't he the guy....
Submitted by NeoKong on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:12pm.
that fired all the air traffic controllers...? Didn't his wife endorse an anti-drug campaign instead of declaring war on cupcakes?
Did he not confront the Soviet Union to their face at the Berlin Wall ?
Wasn't he the Star Wars missile defense president ?
Were not he and the Iron Lady of Great Britain fast friends ?
Did he not leave the Democrat party ?
What the hell is Klein talking about....?
And don't forget two biggies ...
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:14pm.
. . . that earned him all kinds of labels from the Left: fascist; imperialist; warmonger; anti-democratic; etc.
1) The invasion of Grenada
2) Active support of the Contras in overthrowing the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua
YouTube 'Ronald Reagan speaks
Submitted by okie-pastor on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:34pm.
YouTube 'Ronald Reagan speaks out against socialized medicine'
I wonder if Ezra ever heard that.
THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ezra Klein doesn't know
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:23pm.
Ezra Klein doesn't know Ronald Reagan.
I suggest Ezra watch the debates Ronald Reagan had with William F. Buckley. Anyone who is able to successfully debate Buckley is no pushover as Klein seems to think regarding Reagan.
Those debates with Buckley, along with the debates he had during his Presidential runs all show Reagan to be masterful at debate and would have done exceedingly well if he were at last night's debate as a participant.
To claim Reagan would have been to the left as Klein seems to be doing as part of his argument is a very pathetic attempt to revise Reagan's legacy and also to revise history. Reagan would be considered conservative now just as he was then.
Klein's little personal fantasies need not be aired.
Klein's little personal fantasies are aired openly
Submitted by djwolf12 on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 7:24pm.
on MSLSD. Yet, we, the realists in the electorate, are the only ones that see it because nobody watches MSLSD
Of course Reagan would have been destroyed last night
Submitted by rolling_o on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:29pm.
While Zombie Reagan was munching on Brian Williams' brain, Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann, who I believe are both licensed for concealed carry, would have drawn their pistols and done what needed to be done.
I object
Submitted by Demonhunter on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 5:03pm.
Your point assumes facts not yet in evidence, ie that Williams has a brain.
Well if he does have one it
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 10:15am.
Well if he does have one it would only provide a light snack.
Isn't Ezra Klein a former
Submitted by buddyc on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:33pm.
Isn't Ezra Klein a former "Journolist" guy?
If so why would anyone care what he said about the debate?
buddy -- KLEIN ran
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:51pm.
buddy -- KLEIN started and ran JournOpist... till he was outed.
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
As Jack says, Ezra was the
Submitted by celator on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:45pm.
As Jack says, Ezra was the heart, soul and founder of Journolist.
I am completely convinced that there are yet several such MSM conspiratorial email lists and efforts to protect Obama.
They spin the news toward the radical left, move the country away from strong conservative candidates, and general cook up whatever story needed to glorify Obama and his policies. How else would there still be so many synchronized common themes using the same words and phrases and timing in the MSM?
And add to that that Klein was 4 years old when . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:25pm.
. . . Reagan left the Oval Office. Having been an adult during his entire Administration, I can assure Mr. Klein that Ronald Reagan was anything but a liberal or even centrist Republican.
The whole purpose of this retro-fitting of Reagan is to try to convince a couple of generations of Americans that the current batch of Republicans is further to the right than Reagan, an iconic Republican President.
Liberals also insisted Reagan was "unelectable"
Submitted by Free Stinker on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:47pm.
. . . Just like they insist that Palin is "unelectable"
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Is Palin running?
Submitted by mandrake on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:52pm.
This is news to me. I really need to keep up if I'm going to hang here!
She hasn't announced . . .
Submitted by Free Stinker on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:55pm.
But that hasn't stopped the MBM from repeating over and over that she is "unelectable"
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
It's no wonder...the drive-by
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:08pm.
It's no wonder...the drive-by MSM absolutely fear and loathe Palin.
Ezra was sitting in his own crap and babbling...
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:48pm.
....when Reagan was president at the end of his first term. Ezra would zero personal knowledge of Reagan except that manure he was taught later by lefties on the faculty.
Somebody should wash Ezra's mouth out with a wire brush for even mentioning Reagan's name.
Instead of a wire brush
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:10pm.
Instead of a wire brush perhaps Draino?
Here Ronald Reagan bests
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 3:50pm.
Here Ronald Reagan bests George Bush on taxes...
http://www.financialstocksanswers.com/taxes/bush-reagan-debate-1980-on-t...
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
Awesome!
Submitted by okie-pastor on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:15pm.
Awesome!
RR would have mopped the
Submitted by Edhenry on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 4:06pm.
RR would have mopped the floor last night. His vision for america's future, ability to talk over the BS media, clear objectives for economic growth, likability and quick wit.
But it doesn't matter, the levers in Nov 2012 will have 1. "O" or 2. any living mammal over 35 who roots for America; individual freedom and responsibility = prosperity and the means to take care of the truly needy.
In 1980, Gerald Ford said
Submitted by Maestroh on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 5:37pm.
In 1980, Gerald Ford said that Ronald Reagan was too extreme to get elected President. Amazingly enough, we hear this tune every four years no matter who gets selected for the GOP nomination.
Maybe when you've lost 9 of the last 14 elections to such "extremists" you should try something else. Because the only times the GOP has lost has been when moderates got the nomination.
California smart
Submitted by Rackie on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 5:42pm.
for someone who was still pissing his pants when Reagan left the WH he sure is smart
Not really
Submitted by 98ZJUSMC on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 9:22pm.
Not really
Reagan isn't far left of the
Submitted by redfish on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 5:52pm.
Reagan isn't far left of the current field, but he would have be attacked as such by conservative pundits. Called a 'RINO' and so on.
Yawn
Submitted by Free Stinker on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:21pm.
Yawn
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Yea, its a boring
Submitted by redfish on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:47pm.
Yea, its a boring observation, but I'm pretty sure its true.
President Reagan was a
Submitted by Maestroh on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 11:12pm.
President Reagan was a conservative who led his ideology rather than letting it control him. Fact is he was called an extremist and he was - he extremely massacred both Carter & Mondale and the voters chose his anointed heir by landslide margins.
I would pay to see Ezra the chump
Submitted by djwolf12 on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:03pm.
get into a heated exchange with Newt Gingrich. Gingrich would have Ezra in tears and he would go running back to M.S.S.R. (MSNBC) looking for shelter
I have no doubt Reagan would
Submitted by Maestroh on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 8:01pm.
I have no doubt Reagan would have told Klein he was paying for the microphone.
And would somebody on the left PLEASE make up your minds whether Reagan CUT or RAISED taxes so we know which lie to refute?
Anybody ever seen Ezra and Maddow in the same room?
Submitted by Texndoc on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 10:06pm.
I think not.
Anyway, America has about had it with these snot nosed punks. Let him now attack Perry, who when he was "Ezra"s age was an Air Force Captain.
Live in the real world
Submitted by Flying_Flynn on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 6:36am.
Saying that Reagan would get destroyed at the debate is like a Red Sox fan saying Babe Ruth would suck if he were playing today's game. So what??? Live in the real world...Reagan is great, Obama is not!
The problem with this notion is
Submitted by phryingphish on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 8:04am.
If JFK were running today they would call him a Tea Party Candidate!
Not only that
Submitted by octavioj on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 7:03pm.
phryingphish,
the bigger problem is that president Kennedy could NOT be elected in today's Democratic party. Strong national defense? No. Tax cuts? No. Catholic in the White House? No. Too religious. He would not be electable in today's Democratic party.
If anything he would have destroyed the others
Submitted by octavioj on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 12:18pm.
These people are simply lazy. If they took the time to hear president Reagan on YouTube, his speech at the 64 convention, his speeches later in life, they would know he would probably be extremely proud of the positions been taken by the field. And he would probably say they are a bit timid. I do not see many of the current field giving the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speech.
Can't Beat It
Submitted by IrateNate on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 3:23pm.
Fantasy "what if" contests, always a hot topic of children who spend too much time in their parent's basement engaging in one-hand internet surfing.
Ezra Klein- publicity-seeking hound
Submitted by bluecollarbytes on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 8:38pm.
Ezra Klein got what he was after. Youngins know how to work that dang innernet