BACK TO THE EIGHTIES?

BACK TO THE EIGHTIES? Jonathan Martin on the Politico blog quotes a survey which finds that Republicans don't think that George Bush at all resembles Ronald Reagan, the current idol among the conservatives pining for the good old eighties. What a relief! This means that all the Republican presidential contenders can now brush up on the mannerisms and sayings of the Gipper:

So all of the top contenders try to use Reagan for their own unique advantage. To neutralize those issues where he differs with the party base, Rudy cites Reagan's maxim of, "My 80-percent ally is not my 20-percent enemy." Fending off charges of a politically convenient conversion to the right on many of those same issues, Romney oft notes that, ya know, Reagan himself wasn't always a "Reagan conservative." And McCain, still viewed with suspicion by Republican regulars in part because of his willingness to make common cause with Democrats, reminds party stalwarts that even the unapologetic Reagan compromised and worked with liberal Speaker Tip O'Neill to get things done.

It will be interesting to see if this works among the Republican voters, given that the eighties was as long time ago and that there were two Republican presidents named Bush after the "glorious morning-rising-in-America" era.--J. Goodrich