tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post7011167253379006201..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Catch of the DayJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-64718420088791079062012-12-07T09:46:05.071-06:002012-12-07T09:46:05.071-06:00I agree with Matt. In my memory, Ike's farewel...I agree with Matt. In my memory, Ike's farewell address was about balance, the capstone of his resistance to the leaks of the "bomber gap", then the "missile gap" and the Gaither Report by the military and their supporters in Congress. Even with his interstate highway system, he went with a trust fund/gas tax approach, not general revenues. And he always thought highly of his Treasury secretaries.Bill Harshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02094598931693185805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-88971538614154097752012-12-06T17:21:35.216-06:002012-12-06T17:21:35.216-06:00Fair points.Fair points.Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-83355305708362350772012-12-06T17:13:13.788-06:002012-12-06T17:13:13.788-06:00I think that's all fair, but I also think the ...I think that's all fair, but I also think the real story with Ike (as NWP used to say) is that what he really cared about was making the GOP and internationalist party, and was willing to go along with whatever else to get that.<br /><br />Certainly there are extra gradations of things: I wouldn't classify Ike as an outright liberal domestically, the way that Javits for example was.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-68444855878589097712012-12-06T17:06:53.527-06:002012-12-06T17:06:53.527-06:00FWIW, I'm not fully comfy with the idea of lum...FWIW, I'm not fully comfy with the idea of lumping Ike in with the Dewey side.<br /><br />Dewey definitely used Ike to block Taft from the nomination in 1952 (stemming from what I see as both a policy AND personality distaste for Taft). But, once in office, Ike very consistently used the language of anti-inflation to back his policy objections to Dems (post-1954, once they became more relevant again, at least). In so doing, he sounded not all that much unlike Taft. Granted, this is Ike we're talking about, and he could just as easily have been trying to SOUND like Taft. And programs he actually supported (like the freeway one could take from your house to mine) are definitely not on the Taft side of the ledger. But, like all Republican presidents during their years in the wilderness there (ie, Ike and Nixon), Ike's a slippery fish to neatly pin to any one ideological faction in the party.Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.com