Bruce Bartlett was President Ronald Reagan’s Political Adviser
Last week at CPAC potential Republican candidates were invoking President Ronald Reagan ad-nauseam. Ed Schultz asked Bruce Bartlett, former adviser to President Ronald Reagan, how would Reagan have been treated at CPAC.
“I think he probably would be booed out of the crowd,” Bruce Bartlett said. “If only because he gave amnesty to illegal aliens back in 1986. Nativists like Representative Steve King routinely denounce Reagan for that. They would have denounced him for raising taxes eleven times. They would be have denounced him for raising the debt limit. They would have denounced him for running budget deficits. They would have denounced him for supporting labor unions. … And we are not even getting into all the Liberal things that he did as governor such as signing the most Liberal abortion law in the United States. I think this guy definitely would not be a favorite of this crowed.
Ed Schultz then asked if it is that Conservatives and CPAC attendees just do not know their history.
“Well I guess they have completely forgotten about George W. Bush whom they defended to the heavens when he was in office,” Bruce Bartlett said. “But yes they are really rather stupid and not very well read. To them Reagan is a distant figure in history.”
The continued intransigence in the House of Representative is palpable. When Republicans overtly start criticizing their mouthpieces, then something is wrong in the party hierarchy.