Reagan Democrats mourn loss
One of the remarkable things about President Reagan was his ability to attract Democratic and blue collar votes from their traditional Democrat loyalties. He did this with his unabashed patriotism, strong anti-communism, social conservatism, and ability to explain how his tax relief would help working families, not just Wall Street. All the meanwhile the Democrats were sliding further and further into the abyss of social liberalism, pessismism, tax and spend economics, and “blame Americaa first” foreign policy of the McGovern/Mondale variety. The Democrats have not recovered from this, yet the Republicans have not fully taken advantage of this, though President Bush is trying hard, and I believe resonating with blue collar voters.
As a proud “Reagan Democrat” I have put together some interesting articles that cover this part of the President’s legacy.
“On the South Side of Chicago, where precinct captains in the 1980s fished for Democratic votes, Ronald Reagan made it difficult to hook them.
Streets and sanitation workers who begged for overtime, who went to church on Sundays and raised their kids in upright Georgians, found a home in the soft-spoken words of Reagan the Republican. He gave birth to a generation of so-called Reagan Democrats who shared his work ethic and respected his small-town beginnings.
Many of those laborers never returned to the Democratic Party….
Reagan’s 1984 campaign commercial using Lee Greenwood’s song, “I’m Proud to Be an American,” with scenes of rolling farms, steel mills, churches and coal miners set afire a passion for the Republican Party” See here
Mayor Daley of Chicago says Democrats fueled Reagan’s rise
“Christian County Republican Party Chairwoman Willee Cooper described herself as a “Reagan Democrat.” Growing up in a labor family in western Pennsylvania, she said she did not vote for him in 1980. But after witnessing his strong, steady leadership and tax policies, she said she realized he was not only good for America, but also the world.
“His respect for the rights of individuals both born and unborn made me Republican forever,” Cooper said. “I could not return to my former party.” See here
Democrat turned Republican Congressman mourns Reagan
Macomb County, Michigan “home” of the Reagan Dems on his legacy.
Central PA evolved into GOP country under Reagan.
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