Ronald Reagan

The general view about last night's debate is that Rick Santorum didn't do well. Rich Lowry put it best: Santorum spent too much time "explaining why he voted for things he opposed (NCLB, Title X)," got "tangled up in his Senate record," and was in general "too defensive, too insider, too complicated."

There's one mention of Newt Gingrich in The Reagan Diaries. It's in Chapter 3, which covers 1983. Page 123 in the book:

The Obama administration is using an internal budgetary review of the Department of Defense as cover to undertake what amounts to an off-schedule Nuclear Posture Review—one that ices out Defense and State Department experts usually consulted on nuclear issues. It is also beginning a new round of talks with Moscow here in Washington next week that many observers believe will result in the United States offering to trade U.S. strategic weapons in exchange for reductions in Russian tactical weapons.

During Tuesday night’s national security debate on CNN, Newt Gingrich said he was “prepared to take the heat” for his position that immigration laws ought to be enforced “humanely” in order to avoid unnecessarily breaking up families.

John Podhoretz calls Chris Christie's speech last night at the Ronald Reagan Library a "brilliant performance." And one questioner last night said, "I've been listening to you tonight. You're a very powerful and eloquent speaker. You know how to tell the American people what they need to hear." The audience seemed to agree, as they gave Christie a standing ovation after the questioner finished asking Christie to run for president.

Texas congressman Ron Paul is out with a new ad attacking Texas governor Rick Perry for his support of Al Gore in the 1988 presidential election, when Perry was still a registered Democrat. Watch the ad below:

Full marks to Jay Cost for his deft evisceration of Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman, and their resurrection of Dwight D. Eisenhower as a liberal Democrat. What Fineman and Matthews don't know about American history could fill a book—and in each instance, has done so.

What would President Reagan do in the debt limit battle? That’s unknowable, but we do know what his goal would be: get the best deal possible under the circumstances. Reagan never let the perfect or the unattainable keep him from achieving the good.

"U.S. Officials Behind 'Fast and Furious' Gun Sales Should Be Tried in Mexico, Lawmaker Says"

George Will: "Burning down the house"

Jonah Goldberg: "Obama's Reagan parallels are falling away"

"Global race on to match U.S. drone capabilities"

Claire Berlinski: "Airport Security and Common Sense"

Ross Douthat: "More Perfect Unions"

In a new documentary, John Lennon's last personal assistant, Fred Seaman, reveals that by the end of his life the Beatles star was in fact a closet Reaganite, according to contactmusic.com. If true, this would indicate quite an astonishing political conversion: 

"House to vote on authorizing or ending Libya mission"

What? "Newt Gingrich had second line of credit at Tiffany and Co."

Peter Wehner: "The Unintended Consequences of a Retreat"