Reagan and Eisenhower Administrations

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  • #15652
    cboyack
    Keymaster

    Murray Rothbard wrote a piece on Reagan titled “Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy”, which was highly critical of him. I’m curious if you could comment on this article

    #15653
    RedsPwnAll
    Member

    “I don’t know that the definitive book on W has been written. The two-volume Neo-Conned series has some great material on the war in Iraq.”

    Well, there is James Bovard’s “The Bush Betrayal” I just ordered. Though, it’s not a defiant account as it only goes over his first term. I’ll check that Neo-Conned series out though!

    “Murray Rothbard wrote a piece on Reagan titled “Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy”, which was highly critical of him. I’m curious if you could comment on this article.”

    I’ve skimmed through some of the Rothbard articles on Reagan, and I have to say…despite me being somewhat suspicious of Reagan……I do feel Rothbard seem somewhat…harsh. :-/

    #15654
    gutzmank
    Participant

    I agree with Tom that there’s not a dependable W book.

    My own view of the GHWB selection is that it was by far Reagan’s greatest mistake–although it could have been mitigated by Reagan’s coming out for a Reaganite in the 1988 primaries, which unfortunately he refused to do. Daddy Bush was generally supported by people who wanted a third Reagan term, despite protests from some few of us that there was no reason to think that Bush had changed his stripes. He hadn’t. In fact, Richard Darman later conceded that he went into the first budget negotiations with the Democratic congressional leadership determined to raise taxes simply to put the president’s promise not to do so behind us: lying was his principle. And, of course, Bush signed off on the result.

    Bush, Sr. also signed off on a “civil rights” bill that Pat Buchanan famously dubbed “The Quota Bill,” appointed David Souter to the Supreme Court (despite his saying in Senate hearings that he admired Justice William Brennan, literally the most avowedly anti-originalist justice ever), and otherwise made a hash of the Reagan legacy.

    Again, the Bushes are Reagan’s Big Mistake.

    #15655
    gborrego1991
    Member

    I would also like to know what Kevin Gutzman’s opinion on Murray Rothbard’s “Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy” is. Was Rothbard right on or was Reagan more principled than libertarians give him credit for?

    #15656
    RedsPwnAll
    Member

    http://mises.org/daily/4997/I-Dont-Like-Ike

    There’s this piece on Ike!

    I’m surprised there hasn’t been a more comprehensive critical look on him like other Republican Presidents like Bush and Nixon.

    #15657
    gutzmank
    Participant

    Shinobu, the idea was that although Reagan’s wing of the party had won the nomination, the Establishment-Eastern-moderate wing remained significant and needed to be placated. Of course Reagan didn’t know that he was bequeathing upon us an endless succession of Rockefeller Republicans named Bush, or else he might have chosen a different moderate as his running mate. Still, one mustn’t confuse Daddy Bush with Reagan.

    On the other hand,, while the GHW Bush-Scowcroft-Baker wing of the party was not the Goldwater-Reagan wing, we’ve seen in the two Iraq wars that Daddy Bush was not W. W is a new and far worse phenomenon, it seems to me. If we’re to suffer under Jeb, let us hope he is more like his father.

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