Apparently, it’s fealty to Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan isn’t on Mount Rushmore. But lots of Republicans think he should be. Thus, it is no small matter for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison when doubts are raised about her commitment to the party’s hero.
Dust off those clippings from 1976, a seminal year for Texas Republicans. Reagan’s challenge brought legions of enthusiastic newcomers to the party – and some friction between them and the traditionalists who had labored years to break the Democrats’ grip on Texas.
President Gerald Ford had named Hutchison vice chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and she sided with him against the insurgent, naturally.
“But after that, certainly I was very pro-Reagan,” Hutchison said last week. “Loved Ronald Reagan. Supported him, was chairman of his Women for Reagan committee in Texas [in 1980]. I’ve got a lot of Reagan supporters supporting me for governor right now.”
Because nothing says “We are a modern-day, forward-looking political party” like using a campaign from 1976 as a litmus test of candidate purity. Greg, from whom I got the link, gives us a preview of the next nine months.
By the end of any primary food-fight, Kay Bailey Hutchison will be in full agreement with the top five priorities of today’s Republican Party: 1) too many people today vote and this needs to be put to a stop; 2) illegal immigrants are the worst thing in the world and there’s really nothing we’re going to do about it; 3) all government properties should bear the name of Ronald Reagan; 4) abortion is the worst thing in the world and there’s really nothing we’re going to do about it; 5) poor kids + health care = straight from the pit of hell.
She won’t look a thing like the Kay Bailey Hutchison of today.
I’ve commented several times about how KBH seems to have snoozed through the campaign so far, leaving much of the initiative to Rick Perry. Maybe that’s been for the better.
Pingback: Wednesday Evening Press Clips « Texas Republic News Blog