As the nation prepares to bury former President Ronald Reagan, Republican insiders fight among themselves over plans by the political team of President George W. Bush to use images of and speeches by Reagan in new television ads aimed at jump-starting a faltering campaign.
“They’re disgusting,” says one long-time Republican who participated in a focus group to preview the new television ads. “They dishonor the memory of Ronald Reagan and if President Bush allows these ads on the air I, for one, will not vote for him in November.”
The ads, ordered up by Bush political advisor Karl Rove immediately after Reagan’s death last Saturday, use images of Reagan and excerpts from his speeches in what one angry GOP conservative describes as a “callous attempt to tie George W. Bush to the legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan.”
One proposed ad even goes so far as to show Reagan saying “George, go out and win one for the Gipper.” The clip comes from Reagan’s speech to the 1988 Republican National Convention where the former President’s request was to Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, in his successful 1988 run for President.
...Former First Lady Nancy Reagan has sent a message to the White House expressing her “extreme displeasure” at any attempt to use her late husband as a campaign tool in the Presidential campaign.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” says a GOP operative who served in the Reagan White House. “Nancy doesn’t like President Bush. If he’s smart, he’ll tell Rove to burn the ads. George W. Bush doesn’t want Nancy Reagan as a public enemy.”
Some GOP consultants, however, defend the ads as a necessary tool in what is becoming an increasingly tough campaign.
“A Presidential campaign is war,” says one, “and in a war you do whatever it takes to win.”
Capitol Hill Blue article
“They’re disgusting,” says one long-time Republican who participated in a focus group to preview the new television ads. “They dishonor the memory of Ronald Reagan and if President Bush allows these ads on the air I, for one, will not vote for him in November.”
The ads, ordered up by Bush political advisor Karl Rove immediately after Reagan’s death last Saturday, use images of Reagan and excerpts from his speeches in what one angry GOP conservative describes as a “callous attempt to tie George W. Bush to the legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan.”
One proposed ad even goes so far as to show Reagan saying “George, go out and win one for the Gipper.” The clip comes from Reagan’s speech to the 1988 Republican National Convention where the former President’s request was to Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, in his successful 1988 run for President.
...Former First Lady Nancy Reagan has sent a message to the White House expressing her “extreme displeasure” at any attempt to use her late husband as a campaign tool in the Presidential campaign.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” says a GOP operative who served in the Reagan White House. “Nancy doesn’t like President Bush. If he’s smart, he’ll tell Rove to burn the ads. George W. Bush doesn’t want Nancy Reagan as a public enemy.”
Some GOP consultants, however, defend the ads as a necessary tool in what is becoming an increasingly tough campaign.
“A Presidential campaign is war,” says one, “and in a war you do whatever it takes to win.”
That's three wars now in which his judgment seems to be impaired. A different kind of Trifecta.
