Stories related to: Ronald Reagan

John McCain today hit Barack Obama harder than ever, Talking Points Memo notes, saying the Democrat’s willingness to talk with Iran proves he “does not have the knowledge, the experience, the background to make the kind of judgments that are necessary to preserve this nation’s security.” Of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, McCain wondered, “What is it that he wants to talk about with him?” More »

Ronald Reagan’s influence on American courts remains unprecedented, and his transformation of the nomination process is only part of the story. With sheer numbers and ideological consistency, Reagan created a legacy that will influence American justice well into the 21st century, and perhaps beyond, USA Today reports. More »

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the architects of the war in Iraq who resigned from the Bush administration when the US became mired in the insurgency, is writing his memoirs, Reuters reports. The 75-year-old former congressman won't take an advance and will donate the book's proceeds to a not-for-profit foundation. The memoirs will cover his life from the Depression through the Bush years. More »

Bill Clinton is costing taxpayers significantly more in publicly funded perks than the two other surviving former presidents, reports Politico. From 2001 through the end of this year, $8 million will be spent on Bill Clinton, compared with $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush and $4 million for Jimmy Carter during the same period. A big chunk goes to lifelong secret service protection, pension, staff and travel expenses. More »

Top Republicans continue to fall in line behind John McCain, despite skepticism about his conservative credentials. The latest to back the candidate is former first lady Nancy Reagan, who met privately with McCain at her southern California home. Her endorsement is an important boost for McCain, linking him to the former president who stands as a GOP icon. More »

The former legal counsel to Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush is siding with Barack Obama, calling the Democrat “a person of integrity, intelligence and good will.” Doug Kmiec disagrees with the candidate on gay marriage, abortion, states’ rights, and the place of religion in the public sphere, but he says Obama’s ability to engage opposing viewpoints won him over. More »

Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union's atheist empire, Mikhail Gorbachev has admitted he is a Christian, reports the Daily Telegraph . On a visit to Italy the last president of the Communist state prayed at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, and later told priests the saint had played a fundamental role in his life. "St. Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ," said Gorbachev. More »

William F. Buckley may have been the architect of the modern conservative movement, but what will it do without him? Evan Thomas even wonders, in Newsweek, if what he created still exists at all. Buckley was “a man who could spar intensely with the late liberal icons…and then have a laugh over a martini.” Rush Limbaugh he was not. More »

William F. Buckley Jr. was a titan on the political scene, carving out his own brand of conservatism. But one day after his death, writers differ on his legacy: At Slate, Timothy Noah notes Buckley’s more noxious stances—defending segregationists and Joe McCarthy—and says it’s good fortune “Buckley’s man Ronald Reagan” didn’t accomplish goals of turning back civil-rights law and shrinking government. George W. Bush’s ascendance thankfully marked a return to Republicanism at peace with the New Deal. More »

Conservative columnist and editor William F. Buckley Jr. died today at age 82; he suffered from diabetes and emphysema. Buckley founded the opinion magazine National Review , hosted the show “Firing Line” and wrote 45 books. The author of God and Man at Yale and defender of Joe McCarthy was “replete with $10 words and a darting tongue,” the New York Times eulogizes. More »

Barack Obama is ratcheting up the aggression in his campaign, lashing Bill and Hillary Clinton both for “unbelievable falsehoods” about his stance on Iraq and his praise for Ronald Reagan. The new tone was evident in appearances yesterday and in an interview aired this morning on "Good Morning America" in which he said the former president "has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling.” More »

Barack Obama's comments that Ronald Reagan tapped into Americans' desire for change in a way that presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton did not have touched off a fiery backdraft from other Democratic candidates. Hillary Clinton lashed her rival for praising Republican ideas over Democratic positions, while John Edwards bristled at the late president's intolerance for unions. More »

Mitt Romney's Michigan win leaves the outlook for the GOP as muddied as before, writes the New York Times . So far in the race, three different Republican candidates have won three different states appealing to three different sets of voters. With South Carolina and Nevada voting this weekend, the GOP race could soon have five frontrunners. More »

Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party and muffled free media. But some critics say Gorbachev now fears for his legacy. More »

Ronald Reagan played George Gipp in a movie about the football star’s life, but now a furor has erupted over the exhumation of Gipp’s body, 87 years after his death, the New York Times reports. Relatives and residents of his Michigan hometown remain incensed about the televised removal of his remains to prove—unsucessfully as it turns out—he fathered an illegitimate baby. More »

Dennis Kucinich is already treated as a bit of an alien by the other presidential contenders; it only got worse at this week's forum when interrogator Tim Russert pushed him about Shirley MacLaine’s claim that he saw a UFO at her home. A trapped Kucinich offered tersely, “I did.” But before he moves campaign headquarters to Roswell, as he joked he would, the LA Times points out that he's not alone. More »

Conservatives at the Value Voters Summit in Washington, DC, gave Giuliani polite applause today as he admitted his moderate-to-liberal views on abortion and other issues, the AP reports. He stressed shared stands on Iraq, school choice and conservative judges, but kept mum about gay marriage. "We may not always agree," he said. "I don't always agree with myself. But I will give you reason to trust me." More »

As President Bush's popularity among congressional Democrats plummets amid a storm of threats and vetoes, some have grown nostalgic for a bygone era—the Reagan era. "I never thought I'd say this, but I long for the pragmatism of Ronald Reagan," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel. Aided by a healthy dose of relativism, the Gipper is making a comeback, Politico writes. More »

A spokeswoman for presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is calling an appeal from private fundraisers for $9.11 donations “an unfortunate choice.” During tomorrow’s national house party night, top GOP rainmaker Abraham Sofaer will host an event aiming to net that telltale amount from attendees, the AP reports. More »

Maybe Mitt Romney and John Kerry should hold their flip-flopping heads high: Changes of mind have furthered the causes of abolition and civil rights over the centuries. Ronald Reagan defiantly claimed his biggest reversal—promising feet “in concrete” about raising taxes, then singing “the sound of concrete cracking” when he hiked them—but flip-floppers are often less than pure. More »