Really? That was ‘daring’? If you insist.

2) As part of (1), Ragan was a big anti-drug warrior, probably more than any President, ever.

‘Cept for Bush 1. Yeah, the DEA got huge under Bush 1. But don’t let your revisionism get in the way of the facts.

3) Reagan was a staunch foe of abortion.

Which is why he managed to ban it. Oh, wait a second. Abortion is still legal.

4) Reagan was a firm believer in the existence of something called “the American people”, a concept the modern non-socially conservative GOP sneers at.

Hello, my name is flenser. I majored in ‘grasping at straws’ and Bob Jones university. You really want that to be a point? Well, good on you. It is not, you know.

5) Reagan was a firm opponent of busing, which was a big “social conservative” issue at the time.

Busing, like abortion, was stopped under Reagan… Wait, no? Hang on a second… So his personal social conservative views (which I have not denied) had little to do with his actions as president. WOW. None of this was a eureka moment for you?

Seems to me that he based his domestic policy on getting the country back to work because of Jimmy Carter. His foreign policy was based on fighting commies.

Well, it’s unlikely you’ll read this. Nevertheless, it’s important that a reply is given, lest you think you won something.

I’m pleased to see that the New American Conservative Party has dropped the religious test for membership. Very pleased. I’ll give them another look.

Society has always regarded marital love as a sacred expression of the bond between a man and a woman. It is the means by which families are created and society itself is extended into the future. In the Judeo-Christian tradition it is the means by which husband and wife participate with God in the creation of a new human life. It is for these reasons, among others, that our society has always sought to protect this unique relationship. In part the erosion of these values has given way to a celebration of forms of expression most reject. We will resist the efforts of some to obtain government endorsement of homosexuality.–Ronald Reagan, July 12, 1984.

I’m sure Krydor has some weasely excuse for why this means nothing. No doubt it was all part of RR’s cunning plan to fool the foolish socons.

I love how I interpret something differently, and suddenly there is no way I could have even been born.

You were ten years old and in a different country when we were electing Reagan. I see you think of yourself as scientific. Science starts with the admisssion of ignorance. Admit you don’t know something and it’s possible to learn. Your lectures to us about what Reagan said, when he said those things while you were waiting for puberty to begin, are both ignorant and arrogant.

Name the socially conservative issues forwarded by Ronald Wilson Reagan when he was President of the USA from Jan 1981 to Jan 1989.

See my 11:37 for a partial list. You can add opposition to affirmative action to that.

If you can’t answer the question, then I will assume I’ve won the debate.

We can’t have a debate if you don’t know what words mean.

Your Big Idea is that social cons are a trivial minority who the GOP for some reason you just can’t fathom, keeps catering to.

I pointed out to you that the liberal state of California voted against gay marriage, and you still persist with your bizarre fantasy that “socons” are made up of a few rednecks chewing tobacco down in Arkansas.

If you ever feel like actually engaging the facts, feel free to get back to me. The facts are that America is a socially conservative country, and the ONLY remotely popular part of the GOP agenda these days is the socially conservative part.

1) He was a law-and-order anti-crime conservative. It’s forgotten now, but back in the day that was a radical and daring “social conservative” position.

2) As part of (1), Ragan was a big anti-drug warrior, probably more than any President, ever.

3) Reagan was a staunch foe of abortion.

4) Reagan was a firm believer in the existence of something called “the American people”, a concept the modern non-socially conservative GOP sneers at.

5) Reagan was a firm opponent of busing, which was a big “social conservative” issue at the time.

The fact that he opposed the Soviet Union abroad (on strict social conservative grounds) and high taxes at home, does not detract from his social conservatism as you seem to want to believe.

Something else for you not to read. It’s the 1980 Republican Party platform, and it’s packed with social conservatism.

Of course, your reaction will be “Sure, but that was just to trick the stoopid socons into voting for them”. That’s if you even bother to open the link, something you’ve never managed to do before.

flenser

I guess lesson one in “how to be a conservative by Flenser” is “logic and cohesive arguments are not for you!”

If you can’t answer the question, then I will assume I’ve won the debate. You’ve been asked more than once. You have called me names and intentionally misread and misquoted me.

Good day to you. Call me from the wilderness.

You say he ran and governed as social conservative. I say he didn’t. I base my opinion on his actual record and his actual campaigns.

Then you should have no problem citing his actual words, something only your opponents have done here so far. Why is that?

“just say no!”

Fine. So now you acknowledge that he was an anti-drug warrior, and that this was part of his social conservatism.

I can’t see that falling in line with either you or Morriseys goal of getting the government out of the “social issues”. You mentioned Prohibition upthread in the same vein as the war on drugs. You realise that you are saying Reagan was a Prohibitionist?

Um, no, you see, you first. That’s how this works.

I’ll tell you how this works, my young liberal friend. How this works is that you attempt to find out the first thing about conservatism before attempting to give lectures on it.

You are tossing words and terms around here whose meaning is completely obscure to you.

pssst… “just say no!”

Name the socially conservative issues forwarded by Ronald Wilson Reagan when he was President of the USA from Jan 1981 to Jan 1989.

You say he ran and governed as social conservative. I say he didn’t. I base my opinion on his actual record and his actual campaigns. On what do you base your opinion?

You, being the resident Ronnie expert, should be able to list off all his initiatives that were socially conservative. You’ve only got one, you know.

See, the problem here is that your knowledge of the term “social conservatism” ranks right up their with your understanding of the term “quantum mechanics”. Yet, you persist in attempting to give people lectures about it.

I’m pretty sure that what you just said was “The only social con issue Reagan spoke on was abortion”.

Which reveals your near total ignorance of both Reagan, and of conservatism.

I don’t see much in the way of social conservatism in that speech.

You would not recognise social conservatism if it bit you in your amply padded posterior.

Which is why we can sit here quoting Reagan to you from now till Doomsday and you’ll still be saying “That’s not social conservatism!”

And if by some chance you see something you can recognise as social conservatism, you’ll just shift your ground and say “But what legislation did he pass?”

Of course, you are a Canadian liberal, so perhaps we’re expecting too much of you.

I said a strong faith in God does NOT a social conservative make.

Um, no, you see, you first. That’s how this works. Ever take a course in debate or logic? I asked you a question and then you answer it. When you answer it, I will respond to your question.

You, being the resident Ronnie expert, should be able to list off all his initiatives that were socially conservative. You’ve only got one, you know.

You say they were so what did he do to forward the socon agenda in 8 years?

You brainless simpleton, tell me what you imagine the “socon agenda” to be.

No, it wasn’t!

Yes, it was!

See, I can “argue” with as much skill as you do.

Look, an argument isn’t you saying ‘no it wasn’t’.

Your brainless simpleton, you seem to think an argument is you saying whatever goofy thing tickles your fancy. I’ve quoted you Reagan expressing his own view of social conservatives.

Why are liberals always as smart as a box of rocks?

He never flaunted any sort of Mike Huckabee/George W. Bush social conservatism. That’s not who he was, and you know that. Name the social conservative things he implemented as President of the USA.

Name the social conservative things Bush implemented as President.

Let’s cut to the chase here -you’re just another in the long line of anti-Christian bigots here at Hot Air, and “social conservatism” for you means “Christianity”. When you say Reagan was not a social con, what you mean is that he did not invoke the Bible as much as Bush. So not only do you expose your bigotry, you expose your total cluenessness as to what social conservatism is.

But then, you are a Canadian liberal.