Ron Paul and Reagan

A recent debate, which was held at the late president's library with Reagan's widow, Nancy, looking on, echoed the mention of Ronald Reagan. The GOP hopefuls invoked his name 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.

However, most of the candidates refused to embrace one of Nancy Reagan's pet causes: embryonic stem cell research.

Only two candidates, Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain, suggested they would support expanding federal funding for such research.

"This is a tough issue for those us in the pro-life community. ... We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering," McCain said.

Giuliani said, "As long as we're not creating life in order to destroy it, as long as we're not having human cloning ... there is plenty of opportunity to then use federal funds."

After all this information about the candidates supporting Reagan and quoting Reagan... wouldn't it be nice to know what Reagan said about one of the candidates?

Ron Paul was one of only 4 Republican congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for President. He led the Texas delegation to nominate Ronald Reagan.

"Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country."
- Ronald Reagan

Http://www.militaryforpaul.com/reagan.html

It seemed the candidates mentioning Reagans name 19 times, where taking a page of the book from Ron Paul, as he mentioned his name once on the previous debate, drawing applause. When asked about why his foreign policy differed from others running, Ron Paul said,
"Ronald Reagan in 1983 sent Marines into Lebanon, and he said he would never turn tail and run. A few months later, the Marines were killed, 241 were killed, and the Marines were taken out. And Reagan addressed this subject in his memoirs. And he says, "I said I would never turn tail and run." He says, "But I never realized the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics," and he changed his policy there. We need the courage of a Ronald Reagan.

Paul has raised more money and drawn more support from the troops, and their families than any other candidate.

The GOP field was largely dismissive of Democratic calls for withdrawing troops from Iraq, but some of the candidates were critical of the war's execution.

McCain reiterated his optimism that Bush's latest initiative in Iraq, which involves increasing troop strength to try to get a handle on the violence, was working.

"[The war] was badly mismanaged for four years, but we have a new strategy that I think and pray every night will succeed," he said.
But Texas Rep. Ron Paul -- who has opposed the war from the beginning and voted against it -- was alone in calling on the GOP to return to a "non-interventionist" foreign policy, unless acting in self defense, although he still advocated trading and negotiation and thus still a "non-isolationist" policy. He mentioned how Bush won in 2000 on a very humble foreign policy, which was the traditional American foreign policy and the Republican foreign policy.

In Reagan 's 2nd term he ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the Soviet Union rejecting the previous strategy of détente. He portrayed the USSR as an "Evil Empire" and publicly supported anti-Communist movements worldwide. Despite his rejection of détente, he negotiated with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to shrink both countries' nuclear arsenals, and is regarded as a major driving force behind the end of the Cold War.

Republican Dwight D Eisenhower once said

"Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose."

"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war."

"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing."