The Quest Continues: Rubio Is Media's Latest Reagan Heir

Written by Chelsea Rudman

Published

Right-wing pundits frequently use former President Ronald Reagan's name to apply a stamp of approval on anything or anyone they deem symbolic of the ideal conservative -- even when Reagan's actual record on issues ranging from taxes to the deficit deviated far from the ideological standards of today's conservative movement.

Republican darling du jour Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) is the latest to receive the Reagan badge. Ahead of his delivery of the GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union address, Karl Rove said Monday that “in Rubio, the Republicans have got probably one of their best communicators since Ronald Reagan.” On MSNBC's Morning Joe, The Daily Caller's Matt Lewis called Rubio “Reaganesque.” And in November 2012, pundit Cal Thomas published a column on Townhall.com titled, “Marco Rubio: A Hispanic Reagan?”

Rubio is just the latest in a long line of Republican politicians to receive the ubiquitous accolade:

  • Mitt Romney: Fox News figures repeatedly linked former presidential candidate Romney to the Gipper during both opinion and news shows in the months leading up to the 2012 election. Bill O'Reilly said that Romney “is going to mirror the ghost of Ronald Reagan,” while political correspondent Carl Cameron said Romney, on his bus tour, spent a lot of time “sort of echoing Ronald Reagan.”

  • Rep. Paul Ryan (WI): Fox News figures from K.T. MacFarland to Megyn Kelly compared Ryan to Reagan as part of their cheerleading for Ryan after he was chosen as Romney's vice presidential candidate.

  • Gov. Chris Christie (NJ): Fox Nation highlighted a column by the director of the American Enterprise Institute with the headline, “Christie's Starting to Look Like Reagan.”

  • Sarah Palin: A post on Breitbart's BigJournalism.com said that Palin “carries the torch of liberty and American exceptionalism in the palm of her lovely hand” before calling her the “surviving embodiment of the spirit of 1776 and the Reagan reformation.”

  • Gov. Scott Walker (WI): On Sean Hannity's Fox show, conservative radio host Mike Gallagher called Walker “the Ronald Reagan of our time.”

  • Gov. Bob McDonnell (VA): Karl Rove, on Hannity's show, called Virginia governor Bob McDonnell “a Reaganite conservative.”

  • Gov. Bobby Jindal (LA): In February 2008, Rush Limbaugh called Jindal “the next Ronald Reagan.”

Right-wing media figures have splashed the “Reagan” label about so freely that they're in danger of rendering the compliment meaningless.