a href=”http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ron_pauls_abortion_rhetoric”>Big Government libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas released an attack ad this week against his intra-state rival, Gov. Rick Perry.
Paul has been running for president off and on for a quarter of century, but, according one-time Paulestinian Dave Weigel at Slate.com, this is the first attack ad ever released by a Ron [...]

35,000

Number less of non-military federal employees under Pres. Obama, compared to Pres. Reagan. Obama, like every Democratic president starting with Jimmy Carter, has cut federal employees, while every Republican, starting with Reagan, has increased them. When Reagan employed 2,875,000 non-military employees in 1980, the American population was 226.5 million. Obama employs 2,840,000 serving a national population of 330 million.

The House Democratic Caucus found this audio from Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1987:
REAGAN: Congress consistently brings the Government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, [...]

The question is, if Ronald Reagan could compromise, why wouldn’t folks who idolize Ronald Reagan be willing to engage in those same kinds of compromises?

– Pres. Barack Obama, trying to understand why today’s Republicans allow themselves to be bullied by Ronald Reagan protege Grover Norquist, putting their pledge to him above Ronald Reagan himself.

Today’s Republicans give lip service to Ronald Reagan as if he were the paragon of tea party conservatism, but they conveniently ignore his actual record, particularly the fact that, as president, he raised taxes at least seven times, including the largest corporate tax in history, and, as governor of California, one of his first acts [...]

There they go again. The drumbeat on the right for impeaching Pres. Obama is reaching a feverish pitch.
The GOP put impeaching the president on the table last summer, even before it was a cinch they would retake the House in November. Over at the birtherist site, World Nut Daily, they even published a book [...]

One of the first things Ronald Reagan did upon becoming governor of California in 1967 was ram a $1 billion tax increase — about $5.5 billion today — through the state legislature. The additional revenue was needed to balance Reagan’s first state budget, which included a deficit as well as a huge increase in government [...]

[One] of the most heartening signs we have had in this brief administration is the recent poll which indicates most of our citizens favor our [$1 billion tax hike] revenue package and, of those who favor it, 70 percent do so because they see the need to balance the budget. Perhaps the Federal government could take note of this.

– California Gov. Ronald Reagan, in 1967, advocating raising $1 billion in taxes to balance the state budget. Despite tea party mythology, Reagan had few qualms about raising taxes. He did it at least seven times as president, including the largest corporate tax hike ever.

While folks born from the late ’70s on reflect fondly on the 100th birthday of Pres. Ronald Reagan, I wanted to inject a little reality on the subject of the Gipper.
As someone who was already around when he was in office, I have a different view of the golden age conservatives now see as [...]

You know, I agree with that, that those standards have to be high for someone who would ever want to run for president, like, umm, wasn’t Ronald Reagan an actor? Wasn’t he in Bedtime for Bonzo, Bozo? So that Ronald Reagan was an actor. Now, look it — I’m not in a reality show. I have eight episodes documenting Alaska’s resources, what it is that we can contribute to the rest of the U.S. to economically and physically secure our union. And my family comes along on the ride because I am family. Family is — and my family comes along on the ride to document these eight episodes for The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel.

- Sarah Palin, comparing herself to Ronald Reagan four days after she told Entertainment Tonight reporter Mary Hart that she might run for president.