By Jwilkes from Eyes on Obama:
Ronald Reagan's famous movie line, "win one for the Gipper" earned him the nickname for the rest of his life. With John McCain's utter disgrace of Ronald Reagan's core principles, it's no wonder the Gipper's staunchest supporters are defecting in droves to the other guy- Democrat Barack Obama.
There probably aren’t too many members of the youngest slice of the voting populace that would have seen the classic movie about Notre Dame‘s most prominent football coach, "Knute Rockne, All-American," though many of them are probably familiar with it’s famous catchphrase. Towards the end of the movie, a dying George Gipp- played by a young Ronald Reagan- looks up at Coach Rockne and pleads with him to rally the team the next time they’re down by telling them to "just win one for the Gipper." The quote was so memorable that the American Film Institute put it on its list of the top 100 movie quotes of all time. More than that, for the rest of his life, Reagan would be called "The Gipper" by those who admired him.
Every few years since the Reagan era reached its full swing, Republicans dust off the old quote to pay tribute to their Party’s iconic figure. In 1988, Reagan himself used it at his Republican National Convention speech in support of his vice president, George H.W. Bush. In 2004, George W. Bush proclaimed that he could "now truly win one for the Gipper," just after Reagan had died.
But what’s ironic is that if either candidate were carrying Reagan’s mantle, it would have to be Democrat Barack Obama. Why? Because Reagan was a conservative first, and a Republican second. And as his critics on the right have said many times over, John McCain is not a conservative at all.
One of the primary goals of Reaganomics was to dramatically reduce federal spending, but McCain couldn’t be further removed from it. Though he loves to talk of how he’ll reign in pork-barrel spending, he's decidedly less enthusiastic about reigning in spending in general. This, after George W. Bush- the man he’s seeking to replace- took Bill Clinton’s budget surplus in excess of $125 billion, and drove it $435 billion into the red. That’s a net flip of $560 billion in just eight years, the most rapid expansion of the federal government since the New Deal. And when you spend more than you make, that means you have to borrow the rest and put it on the national credit card- the national debt. That swelled the national debt from $5.7 trillion under Clinton (and 2000 saw the largest debt reduction in US history) to more than $10.5 trillion today. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute, McCain’s increased spending and decreased tax receipts would result in another $5.7 trillion in debt over the next decade.
This is to say nothing of McCain’s utter disregard for Reagan’s "11th Commandment," which is, thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans. McCain has made a career of alternately attacking and praising fellow Republicans as political expediency permits. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was a great example: Bob Novak pointed out that McCain repeatedly lambasted Alito, as well as Bush for nominating him, only to turn around and call him a "magnificent" choice some nine months later.
Moreover, Reagan was a strict federalist, at least in theory. But McCain has pledged to continue No Child Left Behind, which substituted the judgment of politicians in Washington for the local school boards with democratically elected members who deal with the issues facing their schools on a day to day basis. That isn’t just inconsistent with the Reagan approach, it’s downright antithetical.
Contrast all of that to Obama, who has pledged to cut federal spending and balance the budget, to pay down the national debt, to cut taxes for 95% of middle class American families, and to do away with intrusive programs like No Child Left Behind. You have to ask yourself: who is the real conservative here?
And maybe that’s why so many of the surviving members of Reagan’s administration have bolted for Barack Obama's camp. There’s his Fed Chairman Paul Volker, his National Security Advisor Colin Powell, his director of the Office of Legal Counsel Doug Kmiec, his White House Press Secretary James Brady, his Soliciter General Charles Fried, his SEC Chairman David Ruder, and his senior White House advisors Ken Adelman, Francis Fukuyama, Bill Ruckleshaus, and Larry Hunter.
Even Reagan’s kids express serious doubt about McCain. Michael Reagan wrote a column titled, "McCain Hates Me." He said: "As I watched McCain and Governor Romney go at it during the debate at the Reagan Library I was struck by the huge gap that separates McCain -- whose contempt for his fellow humans is patently obvious -- and my dad, Ronald Reagan, who had nothing but the deepest affection and respect for the American people."
It’s no wonder McCain is hemorrhaging support from what should be his core base. He’s spent more than 30 years alienating conservatives only to try to disguise himself as the second coming of the Republican Party’s most revered figure in the 11th hour.
The Gipper ended his plea to Knute Rockne by telling him that when he asks the Fighting Irish to win one for him, he adds, "I don’t know where I’ll be, Rock, but I’ll know about it, and I’ll be happy." Somewhere, Ronald Reagan is relieved that no one has asked McCain to "win one for the Gipper." Because in this case, even the Gipper would have been pulling for the other guy.