Curious Queries – Interview II

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Prudence

scaeagles and SacTown Chronic: I'd like to know from each of you who your favorite politician is. Actually, I'd like to hear who your favorite dead politician is, and who you think best captures their agenda today.

Favorite dead politician is a no brainer for me. Ronald Reagan. He was the man who inspired my love of politics. I admired more than anything else his resolve on foreign policy issues. He had a plan to bring down the USSR, and it worked. Without Lady Thatcher he couldn't have done it, but he was the engineer. His ability to simply communicate his conservative ideals is unmatched.

He refused to back down from a strong defensive stance. When his opponents objected to Pershing II nuclear missiles going into Europe, he didn't care. He had the balls to walk out of....crud, either Reykavik or Helsinski, can't recall which....with Gorbachev because he wouldn't compromise on missile defense and convinced Gorbachev that we could and would do it. He rebuilt our military and rescued our country from the disaster of the Carter Presidency.

He is the only politician I can recall that I think really did not care what others thought of him. He was gonna do what he was gonna do and criticism be damned. All in spite of being described as everything from a war monger to frail, stupid man.

I could go on forever about Reagan, but it is those things more than anything else that make me admire him more than any other.

Sadly, there is no one today who can hold a candle to what he was or represented. Neither Bush was or is in his league. I see no Senator nor Representative nor governor who measures up. I once held high hopes for Newt Gingrich, and was a full supporter of the Contract with America, but he was not the communicator Reagan was and eventually could no longer handle the pressure and criticisms and that was the end of him. Rumor has it he'll be running for President, and that would be interesting. However, I cannot name one person who is even close to carrying the Reagan legacy forward.

If I had to name a fovorite politician now, it would be the junior senator from AZ, Jon Kyl. An honorable man, from what I can tell, and consistent in his conservative stance.