I’ve written articles like Steven Benen’s in the past and will probably do so in the future, but, lately, whenever I’ve been tempted to craft one I just drop the idea and move on. Why? Because I’ve come to the conclusion that today’s conservatives are utterly unconvinced by the argument that their hero was considerably to the left of where they are today.
They don’t see Reagan’s presidency as the ideal. They see it as the beginning. He was the great man who got the ball rolling, not the man who governed (Goldilocks-style) just right. If Reagan raised taxes more than any peacetime president it was because he had to deal with Tip O’Neill and a bunch of RINO’s who have since been drummed out of the party. Reagan was as conservative as he could get away with being.
So, telling Republicans how reasonable Reagan was doesn’t impress today’s Republicans; it just reminds them of how much progress they’ve made.
And I’m tired of writing things that make Republicans feel warm all over.
