WI: Reagan crashes on Social Security issue during '76 challenge to Ford, not frontrunner in 1980?



http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19790910,00.html

And former Texas Governor John Connally really was on the cover of TIME magazine on Sept. 10, 1979.

Texas Monthly, Nov. '79

https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/the-truth-about-john-connally/

' . . . Although he perceives America’s problems like a Republican, he perceives the solutions like a Democrat. . . '

' . . . If there is any real difference in the parties these days, it is that Republicans tend to be more ideological, Democrats more pragmatic; surely no one in the country has any doubts about which of those two poles attracts John Connally. As recently as 1976, the very word pragmatist was in disrepute in certain Republican circles, . . . '

' . . . he is quick to be bored and slow to conceal it. His governorship was only weeks old before word began to circulate that he found much of the job boring. . . '

' . . . He always hated the ceremonial aspects of the job, for they offered no challenge. Once a group of Tigua Indians from El Paso came to make a presentation; they streaked his face with war paint and Connally made no effort to hide his disgust. He began rubbing the paint off before the ceremony was over. Such incidents often seemed to cross the line from boredom to arrogance and gave substance to the notion that Connally only cares about the rich. That is not quite accurate. A state senator who was close to Connally as governor says, “He doesn’t care much for the common man, but what people don’t understand is that he doesn’t care much for most big shots either. Everybody’s got to prove himself.” [Emphasis added] Connally admits that he likes to be around bright and successful people “because I learn a lot,” as he told a Florida luncheon. . . '
It is interesting that this '79 article is saying the Republicans tend to be more ideological, and Democrats tend to be more pragmatic. Doesn't make it true, but it's interesting.

And yes, Connally does seem to have his problems and obstacles, esp. if he wants to be a successful president. :p
 
'Reagan Defeats Connally in Florida Test'

Washington Post, David S. Broder, November 18, 1979

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...f56-99ce-1d800c288cdb/?utm_term=.085435fd453b

'Ronald Reagan won the Florida Republican Convention straw vote today, beating his most active rival in the state, John B. Connally, by a 4-to-3 ratio. . . '

' . . . the reception to the candidate speeches during the afternoon forecast the size of the Reagan win. He and almost all the others vied in critizing the Carter administration's "weakness" in foreign policy. . . '

' . . . The emotional peak came -- as it has elsewhere for him this week -- when Reagan promised that he would make America so respected in the world "that never again will a dictator dare to invade our embassy and hold our people captive." . . . '
The Americans at the embassy in Iran were taken hostage on Nov. 4, 1979. The conservatives are breaking an unstated rule, which they expect liberals to follow, of not criticizing the president during a time of war or international crisis.
 
'Reagan Defeats Connally in Florida Test'

Washington Post, David S. Broder, November 18, 1979

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...f56-99ce-1d800c288cdb/?utm_term=.085435fd453b

' . . . and Sen. Larry Pressler of South Dakota . . . '

' . . . Iowa Gov. Bob Ray, A GOP moderate who has yet to endorse any presidential candidate, . . . '

' . . . listened politely to two long shots, Pressler and Harold Stassen, . . . '
Okay, so several more candidates potentially in the mix in a Reagan-on-the-sidelines scenario.
 
October 28, 1980

The Carter-Reagan Presidential Debate

http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-28-1980-debate-transcript

Reagan: ' . . . Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago? . . . '
This is what I remember, Reagan asking his "Are you better off" question in his closing statement of the one and only debate he and Carter had. And Reagan indirectly referring to the American hostages in Iran, but not super direct and super upfront criticism of Carter.
 
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https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/830532.html

People sometimes forget that John Anderson first ran in the 1980 Republican primary.

And he stayed in the Republican primary longer than some of the other candidates. And he did better in the states in which the rules allowed cross-over voting for Democrats and Independents (presumably to choose to participate in the Republican primary instead of the Democratic primary).
https://books.google.com/books?id=G...ont, precisely because those states "&f=false

PS I don't see a liberal and maverick like Anderson winning the 1980 Republican nomination, but he does add some color to the race.
 

John Anderson

And if someone wants to give an account of how even a maverick Republican could win the nomination in 1980, I'm all ears!
 

Phil and Arlene Crane when he won a House seat in 1969.



and when Phil seeks the Republican nomination in 1980.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/...ssman-and-conservative-leader-dies-at-84.html

' . . . In his campaign for president [in 1980], he [Phil Crane] thought Ronald Reagan would not run or would falter and leave him as the true conservative alternative. . . '
And as this article says, he was a good-looking fellow who some compared to Kennedy. And yes, fairly or unfairly, that can help.
 
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https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/...ssman-and-conservative-leader-dies-at-84.html

' . . . Mr. Crane [Emphasis added] persuaded House colleagues of the importance of establishing conservative institutions comparable to those liberals used. The first was the Republican Study Committee, which he founded in 1973 with fewer than a dozen members. But it grew to dominate House G.O.P. ranks. By 2011 it had more than 175 members, about three-fourths of all House Republicans.

'Mr. Crane became chairman of the American Conservative Union, an existing umbrella group, in 1977. He led the organization’s opposition to the Panama Canal treaties, put forward by the Carter administration that year. He spoke against them across the nation and wrote a book titled “Surrender in Panama.”

'But his most innovative step was to put on the first political infomercial, a half-hour program shown 209 times around the country. Mr. Crane presided, calling the canal “the American Canal at the Isthmus of Panama,” which he insisted was “vital to our economy, our national defense and our spirit.” He introduced other speakers and urged viewers to write their senators and send money to the American Conservative Union. The organization turned a profit and sharply increased its membership after the broadcasts. . . '
Okay, so Congressman Crane was an active "movement conservative." I think that's the term conservatives themselves like.
 
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Why Gerald Ford Can Win in 1980, New York Times (New Jersey Opinion), James A. Quaremba, Dec. 23, 1979.

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/23/archives/new-jersey-weekly-why-gerald-ford-can-win-in-1980.html

' . . . The fundamental issue of the next Presidential election will almost certainly be inflation. Millions of hardworking Americans who have managed their personal and family finances in a responsible manner are now saying that they want an end to the irresponsible Federal fiscal policies that have caused inflation.

'President Carter recognizes inflation as the nation's chief concern, but there is no evidence that his policies will alleviate the problem in the year remaining before the election. That is why a movement in New Jersey to draft Gerald R. Ford [Emphasis added] for the Republican nomination is timely, if not long overdue. . . '

' . . . Some well‐known and widely respected Republican leaders in New Jersey are available to assume leadership roles in a movement to draft Mr. Ford. . . . '
And we might well see a re-match in 1980 with the results reversed, similar to . . . Benjamin Harrison beating sitting President Grover Cleveland in 1888, and then Cleveland coming back and beating Harrison in 1892.
 
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Madam Chairman: Mary Louise Smith and the Republican Revival after Watergate
By Suzanne O'Dea, University of Missouri Press, 2012.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xf1_L8czvdgC&pg=PT212&lpg=PT212&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false

' . . . He [Bob Ray] thought chairing the committee [Platform Committee in '76] could be the end of his political career, but "I decided I'd do it, because I didn't know that I'd ever run for office again anyway, and maybe I owed the party to make that contribution. I was really prepared for the worst." . . . '


And . . . . .


June 9, 1976​

MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT

https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/exhibits/campaign/004700267-001.pdf

FROM : Peter J. Wallison

SUBJECT : Convention Matters [Emphases added]

.

.


You asked for a list of those platform​
issues which might be especially divisive at the
convention. I would guess that the Reagan forces will
try to have planks adopted on:

Abortion
Equal Rights Amendment
Busing
Panama Canal
Detente
Capital Punishment
Gun Control​

Anyone of these issues would be likely​
to reveal the convention as far more "conservative"
than the President, and if the President opposes the
right wing wording which will be chosen for these planks
he may lose additional delegates.

Although the platform will ultimately​
be adopted by the convention as a whole, the recom-
mendations of the Platform Committee will be very
important, especially in matters of wording.

Although Bob Ray [Emphases added] is Chairman of the​
Platform Committee it may well be that the Reagan
forces will have working control. The President Ford
Committee should have a plan for dealing with divisive
platform proposals.
In an ATL in which Reagan flares out early in '76, maybe Iowa Governor Bob Ray is not too moderate to win the 1980 Republican nomination.

-------------------------

PS Please notice that, yes, members of the establishment do tend to close ranks against an insurgency candidacy like Reagan's in '76

PPS In part, I'm trying to find potential candidates for 1980 who are more than simply our usual suspects.
 
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"Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics!"

By James A. Baker, III, with Steve Fiffer, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2006.

https://books.google.com/books?id=J... joined the GOP to pass Gramm-Latta "&f=false

' . . . Sixty-three democrats joined the GOP to pass Gramm-Latta 253–176. [in early May, 1981] . . . When the Senate approved the budget resolution a few days later, the Reagan revolution appeared unstoppable.

'Then we shot ourselves in the foot.

'The issue was Social Security, . . . '

'Just two days after House passage of Gramm-Latta, the White House received an administration task force report on Social Security. Former Senator Richard Schweiker—the president's 1976 running mate, now secretary of health and human services (HHS)—headed the task force. [David] Stockman was an influential member. The report recommended major reforms, including stiff new penalties for retiring before sixty-five—penalties that would go into effect with little warning on January 1, 1982 [Emphases added]. . . '

' . . . As I feared, the blowback from the announcement was hot and heavy. Republicans complained about being blindsided, and Democrats, still smarting from their budget defeat, blistered us. . . '
So, the early Reagan administration tried to "reform" Social Security, and in clumsy, abrupt fashion. We could almost say, in clunk-a-saurus fashion!
 
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