Monday, June 7, 2004 10:17 a.m. EDT
Kerry's Former Campaign Manager: I Dreaded Reagan's Passing
Sen. John Kerry's former presidential campaign manager said Monday that he'd been "dreading" the prospect of Ronald Reagan's death because it was likely to give President Bush a major political boost.
"I've been dreading this every election year for three cycles," said Jim Jordan, who resigned from the Kerry campaign last year, in comments to the New York Times. "Bush has totally attached himself to Ronald Reagan. He's going to turn Reagan into his own verifier."
Kerry campaign aides said they hoped the political impact of Reagan's death would fade by the summer, but top Republicans believe that the many Americans will view Bush as the Republican icon's rightful political heir.
"The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them," Republican National Committee chief Ed Gillespie told the Times, an apparent reference to the fact that the hallmarks of both the Bush and Reagan presidencies have been strengthening national defense and cutting taxes.
Another problem for the Kerry campaign: Kerry himself was a staunch Reagan critic who worked hard at undermining his anti-communist initiatives.
As an early backer of the nuclear freeze movement, Kerry made common cause with European leftists who denounced Reagan as a reckless cowboy for countering Soviet SS-20 missile emplacements in Eastern Europe with U.S. Pershing IIs.
More dramatically, Kerry made a highly publicized trip to Nicaragua in 1985 to offer support for Soviet-backed Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. A photo documenting the episode shows Kerry shaking the hand of Ortega, who flew off to Moscow the next week to cement military ties with the Politboro.
Kerry even criticized Reagan for being too aggressive in the war on terrorism, blasting him for bombing Libyan dictator Col. Gadafy's presidential compound in 1986 after Gadafy had been linked to an attack on a Berlin disco frequented by U.S. troops.
In a 1986 letter unearthed by radio host Sean Hannity for his recent book, "Deliver Us From Evil," Kerry wrote:
"It is obvious that our response was not proportional to the disco bombing and even violated the Administration's own guidelines to hit clearly defined terrorist targets, thereby minimizing the risk to innocent civilians."
Kerry added that it was a "mistake" for Reagan to have targeted the "head of state of another country - no matter how repugnant we find the leader."
"We are not going to solve the problem of terrorism with this kind of retaliation," he concluded.
Kerry's Former Campaign Manager: I Dreaded Reagan's Passing
Sen. John Kerry's former presidential campaign manager said Monday that he'd been "dreading" the prospect of Ronald Reagan's death because it was likely to give President Bush a major political boost.
"I've been dreading this every election year for three cycles," said Jim Jordan, who resigned from the Kerry campaign last year, in comments to the New York Times. "Bush has totally attached himself to Ronald Reagan. He's going to turn Reagan into his own verifier."
Kerry campaign aides said they hoped the political impact of Reagan's death would fade by the summer, but top Republicans believe that the many Americans will view Bush as the Republican icon's rightful political heir.
"The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them," Republican National Committee chief Ed Gillespie told the Times, an apparent reference to the fact that the hallmarks of both the Bush and Reagan presidencies have been strengthening national defense and cutting taxes.
Another problem for the Kerry campaign: Kerry himself was a staunch Reagan critic who worked hard at undermining his anti-communist initiatives.
As an early backer of the nuclear freeze movement, Kerry made common cause with European leftists who denounced Reagan as a reckless cowboy for countering Soviet SS-20 missile emplacements in Eastern Europe with U.S. Pershing IIs.
More dramatically, Kerry made a highly publicized trip to Nicaragua in 1985 to offer support for Soviet-backed Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. A photo documenting the episode shows Kerry shaking the hand of Ortega, who flew off to Moscow the next week to cement military ties with the Politboro.
Kerry even criticized Reagan for being too aggressive in the war on terrorism, blasting him for bombing Libyan dictator Col. Gadafy's presidential compound in 1986 after Gadafy had been linked to an attack on a Berlin disco frequented by U.S. troops.
In a 1986 letter unearthed by radio host Sean Hannity for his recent book, "Deliver Us From Evil," Kerry wrote:
"It is obvious that our response was not proportional to the disco bombing and even violated the Administration's own guidelines to hit clearly defined terrorist targets, thereby minimizing the risk to innocent civilians."
Kerry added that it was a "mistake" for Reagan to have targeted the "head of state of another country - no matter how repugnant we find the leader."
"We are not going to solve the problem of terrorism with this kind of retaliation," he concluded.
