©2007, UrbisMedia
A friend of mine idolizes Ronald Reagan; “Dutch,” he calls him, like others call him “The Gipper,” phony sobriquets for a phony who dressed up in military uniforms, but never served. That doesn’t matter too much, not as much as the fact that he might well have been called Ronnie “the Racist.” I bring this up because the Republicans keep saying these days—when you look at the line-up of dorks they have as nominees for the presidency—that they wish they had another Ronnie in the wings.
The Republican apotheosis of Reagan is constructed of the same kind of truth-bending that they used for George Bush. Reagan was supposed to have “defeated the Soviet Union.” Baloney. The USSR was heading for crumble well before Ronnie came along, and their Afghan war and the loss of oil revenues from dropping barrel prices of OPEC were what really did the commies in. Ronnie was just the opportunist to take credit for it.
That is how he became Ronnie “the Racist,” too. In his California governor days he opportunistically jumped on the “Cadillac-driving welfare queen” exaggeration and played it well enough that “she” just had to be a black woman from Oakland. By the time he was ready for president he was ready to ply the Republican “southern strategy,” of playing to those Southern states constituencies—particularly southern white males—who bolted from the Democratic party because of Lyndon Johnson’s Voting Rights Act of 1964. He stepped right into the abyss the Republican party wallows in today by selling its soul to southern racism and religious fundamentalism.
Being the great communicator” Reagan was masterful at, if not being an outright racist himself, using racism to political effect. He could hide it under the euphemisms such as “states rights,” which he did when he bemoaned, in the 1976 campaign, able-bodied (read Black) men “using food stamps to buy steaks.” Reagan didn’t always deliver what the southern conservatives and evangelists wanted, but they loved him for his unconstitutional Iran-Contra deal, and his de-regulation fervor, and he wasn’t going to pull a Lyndon Johnson on them.
Now the Republicans have a bit of a problem. The conservative movement and the religious right are showing signs of fracture. McCain kissed Falwell’s pompous fat ass (and then the Reverend went and died on him) Pat Robertson is endorsing abortion rightist Guiliani to the consternation of clinic bombers, another religious faction is endorsing the Mormon Romney when a lot of Christians regard Mormonism as a weird cult because they think the are the lost tribe of Israel and wear strange underwear, and the largest anti-abortion coalition is endorsing Thompson, a guy who looks like they mistakenly aborted his fetus and brought up the afterbirth instead. The Reb-publicans will likely end up having to choose between Romney and Rudy. Romney looks like Reagan (the hair), but Rudy is more like Reagan. Guiliani has divorced, is not anti-abortion, not demonstratively religious, tough-talking on defense, and a phony hero. He is close to being Reagan without the hair.
Is he Mr. Good-Bigot? The Reb-publicans might well choose him as their new Reagan. Why?
He could beat Hillary. And, if Obama is the Democrat nominee? They might have to get out the ole Cadillac.
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©2007, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 12.7.2007)