Post by t-bob on May 5, 2009 14:23:07 GMT -5
Jack Kemp, according to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, was the single most influential modern Republican politician who never became president -- and it's difficult to argue with that assessment.
Kemp, who died Sunday at 73 after a short battle with cancer, was an accomplished figure: nine-term member of the House from a working-class district in upstate Buffalo, secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole's vice-presidential running-mate in 1996.
But Kemp's lasting contribution was in the realm of ideas -- odd for someone who came to office on the basis of having led the Buffalo Bills to two AFL championships as their star quarterback.
Yet Kemp had educated himself on the finer points of supply-side economics -- and in the late '70s turned Ronald Reagan into a committed convert. Upon becoming president, Reagan pushed through his own version of Kemp's plan for 30 percent across-the-board tax cuts.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kemp was directly responsible for the economic successes of Reagan's presidency -- the heart of the Reagan Revolution.
In the process, Kemp also transformed the GOP into the party of financial growth that won millions of middle-class adherents.
Kemp also was a firm believer in the notion that Republicans had to remain the party of Lincoln. He made a special crusade of reaching out to minorities and empowering blighted inner cities; in so doing, he became one of the earliest advocates of school vouchers.
True, he sometimes went overboard, as when he courted Louis Farrakhan and took a soft line on illegal immigration. And, sadly, he was surprisingly ineffective as a national candidate.
But he never lost his fervor for the bold economic vision he so enthusiastically espoused. And, in a time of bitter political divisions, his unwavering good will demonstrated that one can be sharply partisan without being rancorous.
Quoted from The New York Post
Kemp, who died Sunday at 73 after a short battle with cancer, was an accomplished figure: nine-term member of the House from a working-class district in upstate Buffalo, secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole's vice-presidential running-mate in 1996.
But Kemp's lasting contribution was in the realm of ideas -- odd for someone who came to office on the basis of having led the Buffalo Bills to two AFL championships as their star quarterback.
Yet Kemp had educated himself on the finer points of supply-side economics -- and in the late '70s turned Ronald Reagan into a committed convert. Upon becoming president, Reagan pushed through his own version of Kemp's plan for 30 percent across-the-board tax cuts.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kemp was directly responsible for the economic successes of Reagan's presidency -- the heart of the Reagan Revolution.
In the process, Kemp also transformed the GOP into the party of financial growth that won millions of middle-class adherents.
Kemp also was a firm believer in the notion that Republicans had to remain the party of Lincoln. He made a special crusade of reaching out to minorities and empowering blighted inner cities; in so doing, he became one of the earliest advocates of school vouchers.
True, he sometimes went overboard, as when he courted Louis Farrakhan and took a soft line on illegal immigration. And, sadly, he was surprisingly ineffective as a national candidate.
But he never lost his fervor for the bold economic vision he so enthusiastically espoused. And, in a time of bitter political divisions, his unwavering good will demonstrated that one can be sharply partisan without being rancorous.
Quoted from The New York Post
