In Search of Reagan
IT is now a part of the Republican catechism to regularly invoke the name of Ronald Reagan and to ritually wrap oneself in his cloak. This year’s Republican candidates (and even one Democrat, Barack Obama), have all called down the spirit of St. Ronald of Dixon, Ill., to bless their candidacies.
But they will have a hard time topping the greatest Reagan pander of all time, delivered in the summer of 1995 by Senator Bob Dole, embarking on his quest for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, which he won, only to be crushed in the general election by the incumbent, Bill Clinton.
“I’m willing to be another Ronald Reagan,” Mr. Dole told Republican Party officials in Philadelphia, “if that’s what you want.”
Read entire article at NYT Week in Review
But they will have a hard time topping the greatest Reagan pander of all time, delivered in the summer of 1995 by Senator Bob Dole, embarking on his quest for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, which he won, only to be crushed in the general election by the incumbent, Bill Clinton.
“I’m willing to be another Ronald Reagan,” Mr. Dole told Republican Party officials in Philadelphia, “if that’s what you want.”