When Billy Clinton praised Reagan directly

[BarackBucks]

"It was a remarkable moment: A young, free-thinking presidential hopeful named Bill Clinton sat down with reporters and editors at The Post in October 1991 and started saying things most Democrats wouldn't allow to pass their lips.

Ronald Reagan, Clinton said, deserved credit for winning the Cold War. He praised Reagan's "rhetoric in defense of freedom" and his role in "advancing the idea that communism could be rolled back."

"The idea that we were going to stand firm and reaffirm our containment strategy, and the fact that we forced them to spend even more when they were already producing a Cadillac defense system and a dinosaur economy, I think it hastened their undoing," Clinton declared.

Clinton was careful to add that the Reagan military program included "a lot of wasted money and unnecessary expenditure," but the signal had been sent: Clinton was willing to move beyond "the brain-dead politics in both parties," as he so often put it.

His apostasy was widely noticed. The Memphis Commercial Appeal praised Clinton a few days later for daring to "set himself apart from the pack of contenders for the Democratic nomination by saying something nice about Ronald Reagan." Clinton's "readiness to defy his party's prevailing Reaganphobia . . .," the paper wrote, "is one reason he's a candidate to watch."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402801.html

My, my, my how are the HilBots going to explain this one away...? Hmmmm...?

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. true to form, this piece will be dismissed as a rightwing hitpiece....n/t

[emilyg]

2. 1991? Gimme a break.

[TeamJordan23]

3. And what has changed about the Reagan presidency since 1991? nm

[BarackBucks]

4. Oh, what year did praising Reagan become verboten?

Hmmmmmm.....?

[mdmc]

9. even I was saying good things back then

:eyes:

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Hey! Just like Barack Obama!

Birds of a feather!

--p!

[niceypoo]

6. There is no need to explain anything away

Only Obama and his supporters whine and cry. Everyone else knows how to take it on the chin then move on.

[Meldread]

7. You won't see the Billary-Bots responding. They are allergic to the truth and facts. -nt-

:kick:

[Meldread]

8. Kick

:kick:

[indimuse]

10. Obama's pandering ::we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism

More on Obama's pandering to the right and praising of Ronald Reagan:

***In an interview Monday with the Reno Journal Gazette editorial board, Sen. Barack Obama riffed on a range of political topics ranging from Katrina, the home mortgage crisis and, of course, fodder from the campaign trail.

But perhaps the most interesting offering was when he tried to place his candidacy into a historical context. Which elections does Obama see as analogous to 2008? And with which presidents does he share personal similarities? That would be John Kennedy in 1960 (hardly surprising) and Ronald Reagan in 1980 (more daring). But not, it should be noted, Bill Clinton in 1992.

In fact, Obama offered praise for the Gipper, lauding him for tapping into the country's concern with the growth and "excesses" of the federal government, and its desire to "return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship" -- hardly a welcomed interpretation within progressive circles. Said the Illinois Democrat:

"I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what is different is the times. I do think that, for example, the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. They felt like with all the excesses of the 60s and the 70s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think he tapped into what people were already feeling. Which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."***

[Blarch]

11. What a douchbag