Saturday Morning Links

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- Gerald Caplan serves up the definitive retrospective on Ronald Reagan and the conservative cause:

Only an ideological curmudgeon would deny Ronald Reagan his due. He was a wildly successful president, achieving a remarkable number of his goals.

He entered office in 1981 determined to block advancement for black Americans, to halt the sluggish march towards equality for American women, to make America walk tall again by beating up tiny poverty-stricken nations, to allow insatiable greed and ruthless personal ambition to reap lavish rewards, to fire up the economy through trillions of dollars in defence expenditures, to invite industry to desecrate the environment, and to legitimate a morality in which any means justified his ends.

Notwithstanding his unparalleled laziness, indifference to most issues and immersion in fantasy, in all these areas his administration triumphed, a splendid record for conservatism in action.

- But the multi-decade track record of failed right-wing promises of benefits for the wealthy paying for themselves isn't stopping the Cons from pushing ahead with more of the same.

- And as another normal part of their effort to keep the public from having any say about Canada's long-term priorities, Jeffrey Simpson notes the Cons are looking to keep any real policy off the table until after the election they're working to force:

The Conservatives, for their part, have been doing everything possible to soften up Canadians for an election, including insisting that they don’t want one.

Those ubiquitous (and disgusting) Conservative attack ads on TV are all about gaining partisan advantage before the writ is dropped. The Conservatives have oodles of money. Their chief fundraiser, Senator Irving Gerstein, has just sent out another of his hilariously alarming letters asking for more cash, warning about threats almost to life itself from the other parties if they don’t pony up. Once a campaign formally begins, spending limits kick in; before the campaign, parties can spend whatever, which is what the Conservatives are doing with these attack ads.
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The budget is likely to feature more of those itsy-bitsy targeted tax breaks this government adores and most economists hate. The government has already signalled it has no intention to make hard decisions on spending, any one of which might cause a political problem. Controversial decisions (such as the proposed merger of the Toronto and London stock exchanges) will be delayed until after the election.

- But hey, at least they still have Jane Taber to repeat their spin without a hint of independent thought.