Ronald Reagan’s elder son Michael Reagan declares that some tea party candidates were “absolutely fools” for getting involved in moral controversies instead of concentrating on economic issues.
Observers in the media have been saying that the GOP lost the presidency and the Senate because the party put up too many tea party candidates.
Republican strategist and best-selling author Reagan tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview: “Listen, some of those tea party candidates are fools. Absolutely fools.
“If you want to get in those arguments about abortion and rape and so on and so forth, go run a church. That’s where you belong. And we put some of these people forward.
“It’s interesting. Ronald Reagan was supported by the moral majority. He didn’t reach out to them, they reached out to him. We need to get back to that position where you have a message where people want to reach to you and you don’t have to reach to them.
“Social issues are important. I get involved in social issues, but those are not the issues that unite a country. What unites the country are, in fact, the economic issues.”
With reference to social issues like abortion and gay rights, Franklin Graham told Newsmax in the aftermath of the election that America has turned its back on God.
Asked if he agrees, Reagan says: “Well, as my father said, ‘When we cease to be one nation under God, we’ll be a nation gone under.’
“A lot of people make the argument we, in fact, are a nation gone under. But you can’t force God on people. You’ve got to live a Godly life.
“My father was pro-life but supported his daughter Maureen, who was pro-choice [when she ran for political office]. Why? Because he agreed with her 80 percent of the time and the person who actually got elected, he disagreed with 80 percent of the time.
“So my father understood the art of negotiation. We now belong to a party that doesn’t want to negotiate.”
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