Haley Barbour Talks About Policy, the Political Environment, and the Need for Republicans to have a Big Tent
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Mississippi Governor and RNC Chairman Haley Barbour appeared before a luncheon meeting of The Ripon Society this past Wednesday, delivering a speech in which he talked about policy, the political environment, and the need for Republicans to be m
ks what Reagan used to say. Reagan used to say the fellow who agreed with you 80% of the time is your friend and ally, and not a 20% traitor. So in 1986, Specter was up for reelection. And Ed Rollins — who brought me to the White House — didn’t want Reagan to help Specter. He had said something to Specter to that effect, which Reagan got unhappy about because he didn’t authorize it and, frankly, didn’t feel that way. So we had a little meeting with the political people. Reagan says, ‘Well Ed, how much does Specter support me?’ Ed just smiled and said, ‘He supports you the least of any Republican in the conference — 59% of the time. The President nodded and said, “Now Ed, how much does that Democrat Congressman running against him support me?’ Rollins kind of turned red-faced and said, ‘Well, 17% of the time.’
“Reagan said, ‘You know Ed, this kind of reminds me of the bear story.’ ‘Bear story?’ he asked. ‘Yeah, the two guys were backpacking through the mountains one time and they were coming down this there path. When out from the woods jumps this 12-foot tall grizzly bear — drooling, nasty, obviously spotted his lunch. And one of them calmly sat down and started putting on his running shoes, took them out of the backpack. The other looked at him and said, ‘Fool, what are you doing? You can’t outrun that bear.’ The other one smiled and said, ‘I ain’t got to outrun the bear. I’ve just got to outrun you.’
“That’s the way we need to think in politics. Somebody who is far, far better than the Democrat has got to be our choice — even if he ain’t perfect. And our friends at the Club for Growth, and our friends at FreedomWorks and other places have got to learn that. They’re doing us a hell of a lot more disservice than the Tea Party. Because they’re putting money behind people to beat good Republicans who would vote right 80, 90% of the time.”
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.