Conservatives searching for the next Reagan

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17062331.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

Conservatives searching for the next Reagan
By Matt Stearns
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Conservative leaders know whom they really want for president in 2008.

Alas, he's dead.

"I still think what most conservatives around the country are looking for ... is the next Ronald Reagan," said Gary Bauer, president of the socially conservative group American Values. "I don't think people are looking for a continuation of the Bush era. They're looking for somebody who resembles more clearly what they remember from the Reagan era."

Much as memories of John F. Kennedy cast an intimidating specter over Democratic presidential contests for decades, so Reagan does now among Republicans seeking an electoral Messiah during the party's darkest time in years. They miss his sunny optimism; his appeal across the conservative spectrum, uniting social conservatives, economic conservatives, and national security conservatives; his communication skills; and his true-grit combination of toughness and humor.

So far, no Republican candidate can claim Reagan's transcendent, transformative mantle.

"Reagan communicated to the population at large the truths of conservative ideas and ideals," said Bill Greene, president of the conservative Web site rightmarch.com. "We don't have, at least in the top tier, someone that is able to do that."

Frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor? Not being a social conservative hurts him with many activists. "I don't think the party can successfully nominate a pro-abortion candidate and win the White House," said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council. "I think it's a ticket for Hillary Clinton to win the White House."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who leads the GOP field so far in fundraising? He has the Reaganesque hair and good looks. Yet doubts fester about whether his recently adopted conservative stances on social issues are "a road to Damascus, not a road to Des Moines, experience," Bauer said Wednesday at a press breakfast.

Arizona Sen. John McCain? He's long fought the conservative fight. Yet he's also famously fought with conservatives - he called some religious conservatives "agents of intolerance" in 2000, and others are wary of his quest for campaign finance reform - and that's remembered even as McCain tries to patch things up.

"It's not just record," Perkins said. "It's capturing the imagination of the American people."

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past. Their ship is sinking, and they know it.

ever, even attended church and only in his later years adopt such things as pro-life. I guess if your hard up, you will make a god out of anybody.

Reagan ripped the solar panels off the White House roof and he gutted the alternative energy commission set up by President Carter.

Now look where we are.

While he is tucked away in a grave in Simi Valley we're dealing with the problem of the century.

Their policies are just about as up-to-date.

Especially the social/religious/fundies. When you see money not coming in to the party you know they are in deep kim che. I predict the GOP will turn into a moderate-libertarian hybrid in 2012. Reagan and Bush will become dirty words and a pejorative to Republicans.

the conservates dumped the moderate jack ryan because of his divorce scandal and chose alan keyes. the majority of republicans refused to vote for keyes or voted for obama and obama crushed keyes in the election

the republicans believed they had a mandate to rule the country from the extreme right and now they realize that they lost the center.

looking for Dutch.

American people got 12 years of "Conservatism" and
have had their fill. Even Regan could not fool
the middle now as he did in the 80s. When Perkings
says"It is capturing the imagination of the American
People" clearly indicates they do not get it.

Thank goodness.

A corpse in the White House will do less harm to the country than Bush has.