over the next several weeks keep an eye on other candidates. carly fiorina on the debate stage last week talked about how the political class failed you. she s tapping into the anxiety. john kasich mentioned that the republican electorate is frustrated with its own party. these are voters who are serious about the process. even if trump isn t. if they perceive him not to be they will choose another candidate. quick question before i move on. he invoked ronald reagan with sean hannity. we ll see that later tonight. not a bad idea. not a bad strategy. invoking reagan can t hurt. at a time when so many voters don t even remember when he was president and so many were too young to understand his presidency, number one i don t think it helps a republican to make a big deal out of reagan. as iconic and important of a president as he was. i think he was comparing ronald reagan who was not
stupid okay. i guess i can t disagree with that. it makes no sense the way they re genuflecting to ronald reagan. i think they re in love with the fact that the country did love reagan and his presidency. but the things you mentioned are total opposite of what these candidates stand for. it makes no sense. ruth, what s your reaction to rand paul leading this cpac straw poll ahead of walker? what does it mean if anything to win this straw poll? i think it shows the straw poll doesn t mean a whole lot when the general election is concerned. this is the far right base and these are candidates many of whom are not going to make it in a real nationwide race with lots and lots of people who live in reality. but, you know like you said, walker is running as reagan. he s constantly invoking reagan.
distinguished fellow at demos. and karen marine, the political columnist for the chicago sun-times and the political editor at nbc 5 news in chicago. thanks to all of you for being here. so i want to start with you, carol. when you see ted cruz sort of invoking reagan, what does this tell you? i mean, do you see cruz as really standing in the legacy of reagan, or is it that reagan has become contentless, so he s just a thing we say. he s a person and a persona that we grab, but it doesn t work. i mean, ted cruz is i was listening to chris on tip o neill and thinking of dan rustoncowski. compromise wasn t a dirty word. for the tea party and ted cruz, it is a dirty word. so governing still comes up as the greatest principle that i think he s not willing to embrace. and so he s an image, but i
governor jeb bush said that even though 2012 might have been his opportunity to run for president, his willingness to compromise on issues like revenue increases could have been a deal breaker for the gop base. well, today, he went back another generation while speaking with reporters in manhattan. ronald reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have had a hard time if you define the republican party as having an orthodoxy that doesn t allow for disagreement, doesn t allow for finding some common ground. back to my dad s time and ronald reagan s time, they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support. we all saw the 2012 republican candidates make a big show of invoking reagan throughout the primary season but were they kidding? if reagan had been a contend they are time around, according to jeb, we have been drummed out early on. up next, is president obama s likability enough to
opportunity to run for president, his willingness to compromise on issues like revenue increases could have been a deal breaker for the gop base. well, today, he went back another generation while speaking with reporters in manhattan. ronald reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have had a harde an orthodoxy that doesn t allow for disagreement, doesn t allow for finding some common ground. reagan s time, they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support. we all saw the 2012 republican candidates make a big show of invoking reagan throughout the primary season but were they kidding? if reagan had been a contender this time around, according to jeb, he would have been drummed out early on. up next, is president obama s likability enough to overcome the struggling economy? that s ahead. and remember, you can follow me