Ron Reagan: My Father Had More In Common With Obama Than Sarah Palin

(By Jon Bershad, Mediaite) - Just as a good Ronald Reagan quote will always inspire warmth in the heart of conservatives, a quote from his younger son, Ron Reagan, is sure to piss them off. The folks at ABC’s webcast 'Top Line' set him up from the beginning of their interview yesterday, leading off with the question of whether his father was more like Barack Obama or Sarah Palin. From the moment Reagan started his response with “Just on the basis of intelligence . . .” you knew this would be another quotable interview.

“’It’s not surprising that Republicans revere him as an icon and want to use him in that way. He’s almost a fetish object, as I’ve said, over on the right,’ Reagan told us. ‘True enough, he was a lower-taxes-and-small-government kind of guy. But of course the top marginal rate when he was in office was 50 percent, so he might be pretty happy with things the way they are now. I don’t know though — I can’t speak for him. A lot of other people do like to speak for him though but I think it’s a mistake. Many of them have never even met him, of course.’

He said he’s not sure what the tea party movement would make of his father, were he active in politics today.

‘Of course my father cut taxes when he was in office, but he also raised taxes as well when he was governor of California. He signed one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country and offered amnesty to illegal immigrants as well. That probably wouldn’t sit too well with the tea party of today. But again, those were different times.’”