Two of the nation’s most popular conservative commentators, challenging the GOP to stop playing defense and moving to the middle, have called for a second Reagan Revolution.
“I’m kind of pissed off right now. I’ve had it about up to here with what they are doing to our country,” talk radio’s Mark Levin said late Thursday in accepting one of the right’s top media awards from the Media Research Center.
Levin received MRC’s annual William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence and in his acceptance speech compared Reagan’s and Buckley’s get tough rhetoric with quotes from some current Republicans more eager to win elections than policy.
“We seek to preserve our liberty here, our Constitution and our country and I believe the hour is getting late and the time is now for another Buckley-Reagan Revolution,” Levin said to applause.
“Our ideas work,” added columnist Cal Thomas, who spoke after Levin at the glitzy annual MRC dinner. “I think that one of the things that we as conservatives need to stop doing is playing defense,” said Thomas.
The dinner is typically home to unapologetic conservatives just as quick to hit moderate Republicans as Democrats and Thursday was no different. Thomas addressed apologies up front.
“We don’t have to prove that we don’t hate women, we don’t hate African-Americans, we don’t hate immigrants, we don’t hate Hispanics, we don’t hate anybody. But we haven’t been in charge of the major institutions of this country for a very long time,” he said.
“I think we need to get off defense and start playing offense and making them defend what they’ve done to America,” he said, echoing Levin.
Levin quoted Reagan and Buckley, the conservative columnist who influenced the Gipper, at length to argue that the GOP has forgotten their lesson.
He pulled one meaningful quote from Reagan to make his point. “Is a third party what we need or is it a new and revitalized second party,” he quoted, adding, “a political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised for political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.”
Levin said, “I’m reading these quotes for a reason, because people need to be reminded.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
