Outside the Beltway

Politinerds: Matt K. Lewis On ‘Too Dumb To Fail’

Doug Mataconis
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Politinerds

Our guest on this weeks episode of Politinerds was Matt Lewis, senior Contributor at The Daily Caller, who we previously interviewed back in June of last year. Matt is back because he’s the author of the recently released book “Too Dumb To Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections (and How It Can Reclaim Its Conservative Roots).” In this edition of the podcast, Matt, Jazz, and I discuss the central premise of Matt’s book, the extent to which American conservatism has devolved into a movement that appeals to the lowest-common denominator and rejects intellectualism in favor of emotion. We also discuss how conservatives got to this point and how it explains the rise of political forces such as Donald Trump, and a movement seemingly more committed to purity than winning elections or accomplishing anything.

You can order Too Dumb To Fail from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Given the ongoing fight for the GOP nomination, this was a very timely discussion that should interest people on both sides of the aisle.

You can find links to all past episodes at the show archive. Additionally, the podcast is now available on iTunes.

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5 responses to “Politinerds: Matt K. Lewis On ‘Too Dumb To Fail’”

  1. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    I was quite politically aware during the Reagan era and I’m not so enthralled with his legacy. If the GOP were to return to any model, I’d greatly prefer Eisenhower.

  2. An Interested Party Avatar
    An Interested Party

    I was quite politically aware during the Reagan era and I’m not so enthralled with his legacy.

    Indeed…some people seem to be all caught up in how they remember the Reagan era rather than how it actually was…

  3. Slugger Avatar
    Slugger

    I also don’t quite understand the “Reagan legacy.” He did enter his presidency at a difficult time, and I give him a lot of credit for maintaining a positive attitude while Volcker was wringing inflation out of our system; influencing the national mood and being a cheerleader is part of the job that he did well. However, in his second term he clearly hyped the economy with a significant Keynesian spending approach that can not be considered ” conservative ” by anyone. His pumping up of the economy was transitory leading to economic declines and the unwelcome necessity for tax increases during the term of George HW Bush. Mr. Bush lost reelection as a consequence. I would think that conservatives would find this a cautionary tale, and yet Reagan is hailed as a hero of conservative economics.
    On foreign policy I think that he gets a lot of credit for the work of two Polish guys, Lech Walesa and His Holiness JP II.

  4. humanoid.panda Avatar
    humanoid.panda

    @Slugger:

    I would think that conservatives would find this a cautionary tale, and yet Reagan is hailed as a hero of conservative economics.

    The problem is that they have no other president in living memory to bask in: W, HW, Ford, Nixon are not an impressive bunch.

    On foreign policy I think that he gets a lot of credit for the work of two Polish guys, Lech Walesa and His Holiness JP II.

    With all due respect to those two, Reagan’s willingness to negotiate in good faith gave Gorbachev the space he needed to end the Cold War. This really was a towering achievement- and of course,its import and lessons are totally distorted by the cultists.

  5. humanoid.panda Avatar
    humanoid.panda

    @Slugger:

    I would think that conservatives would find this a cautionary tale, and yet Reagan is hailed as a hero of conservative economics.

    The problem is that they have no other president in living memory to bask in: W, HW, Ford, Nixon are not an impressive bunch.

    On foreign policy I think that he gets a lot of credit for the work of two Polish guys, Lech Walesa and His Holiness JP II.

    With all due respect to those two, Reagan’s willingness to negotiate in good faith gave Gorbachev the space he needed to end the Cold War. This really was a towering achievement- and of course,its import and lessons are totally distorted by the cultists.

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