The recent Republican debate was more the resurrection of Ronald Reagan than ten candidates vying for the party nomination.
The name of the late President was evoked 19 times.
"What we can borrow from Ronald Reagan ... is that great sense of optimism," said Giuliani.
"Ronald Reagan was a president of strength," said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
And so on and so on and so on.
The debate was practically a postmortem set-up for the late President. Not only was the event staged at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, widow Nancy sat in attendance.
All politics is staged. Whether 100 flags fly in the background or 100 military vets stand at attention, it's all about the nonverbal.
It's all about the implied message, baby.
Through the channeling of the two-term President, the candidates are flagrantly attempting to spirit the Reagan base of the party back to the days of the Great Communicator-backing away "in haste" from the present-a bumbling President who whisked into the White House on the wing and the prayers of an evangelical base with the hell-bent vengeance of a neocon.
Reagan Republicans comprise a social base of persons who "feel that they lost something, or lost out, in the Vietnam era and after. It is among those who see their power diminished, their profits dissipated, their mobility curtailed and their security endangered." (The Nation, 11/3/1984).
It is this segment of the party that the Republican candidates intend to target in order to set the tone and terms of the debate-the Run for the Presidency-with the "good old days" of Reaganism.
Of course, the debaters evoked Reagan's name so much-distracting rather than impacting-I was tempted to pull a six pack from the fridge and guzzle a Yuengling each time I heard the name. (Make that a 19 pack).
If the theme of Reaganism remains a constant in the 2008 campaign, better tap a keg to get through each upcoming debate.