Time magazine crafts a 'crying Reagan' to show 'how the right went wrong'
 Conservatives face "gloomy and uncertain days," having become detached from their foundational principles, and are now facing an uninspiring slate of presidential candidates, according to a new Time magazine cover story. The magazine's cover features a photograph of former President Ronald Reagan with a digitally inserted tear drop on his cheek to illustrate "how the right went wrong."
"They are handcuffed to a political party that looks unsettlingly like the Democrats did in the 1980s, one that is more a collection of interest groups than ideas, recognizable more by its campaign tactics than its philosophy," writes Time magazine's Karen Tumulty. "The principles that propelled the movement have either run their course, or run aground, or been abandoned by Reagan's legatees."
Speaking to the fact that conservatives have not been true to form in coalescing around an "annointed" candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and that the current frontrunner for the nomination, former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani, is pro-choice, pro-gay-rights and thrice-married, Republican Ralph Reed tells Tumulty, "We're in the political equivalent of a world without the law of gravity...Nothing we have known in the past seems relevant."
Citing the President's mishandling of the Iraq war, one Republican campaign consultant believes that no matter who wins the nomination, Republicans will have an uphill battle. "In this environment, nobody looks good if you have an R by your name. It doesn't matter who you are...I don't see how that changes between now and Election Day. It's the war; it's huge. It's just huge."
Conservative activist and movement leader Richard Viguerie asserts that the war itself was a break from conservative principles. "It's not a Ronald Reagan type of idea to ride on our white horse around the world trying to save it militarily," said Viguerie. "Ronald Reagan won the cold war by bankrupting the Soviet Union. No planes flew. No tanks rolled. No armies marched."
Tumulty writes that activists are uneasy with both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who have not always adhered to conservative orthodoxy and thus inspire mistrust among conservatives. "What bothered conservatives wasn't just the fact that he challenged the Anointed One in a party that treats its primaries like a royal accession," writes Tumulty of McCain. "It was also the glee with which he went after all its institutions, from the special interests to the theocrats to Big Business."
Romney, meanwhile, has reversed his positions on both abortion and gay marriage, having once called for "full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens." He now boasts a life membership with the National Rifle Association (NRA), after having supported the Brady Bill and an assault-weapons ban while governor.
LINK TO FULL TIME STORY
Photoshopping Reagan
The website Radar Online is accusing Time of getting "crafty" with its Reagan cover.
"Is Time hoping a little controversy will draw attention to its redesign?" Jeff Bercovici asks, adding that, "A somewhat cryptic credit in small type on the (revamped!) table of contents describes the image this way: 'Photograph by David Hume Kennerly. Tear by Tim O'Brien.' Nowhere does it specifically state that the cover is a photo illustration—in other words, that it's Photoshopped."
Bercovici ponders two questions: "Is the wording of the credit enough to make its provenance clear to unsophisticated readers? And, equally important, how will the conservative acolytes who worship Reagan as a demigod feel about seeing a faked image of their hero used for a story criticizing the movement he championed?"
An update added later to Bercovici's article quoted a spokeperson for Time who defended the cover, explaining that "Time regularly runs conceptual covers, as we did last week with the 'Verdict on Cheney' cover, depicting the vice president standing under storm clouds.'"
"That image was far less subtle in its artificiality, but fair point," Bercovici responds.
The spokesperson's statement continues, "This week's cover image is clearly credited on the table of contents page, naming both the photographer of the Reagan photo and the illustrator of the tear."
The conservative Drudge Report website is linking to the Time cover story with the following banner headline in bright red capital letters: 'CRYING REAGAN' TO LAUNCH TIME MAG REDESIGN.
Broder: Premature burial
However, in Thursday's Washington Post, columnist David Broder argues that "the rush to bury the GOP is as hasty as it is premature."
Broder criticizes a recent New York Times article that reports on Republicans' unhappiness with their 2008 prospects, citing its evidence as "thin."
"Support for President Bush and his policies remains high among Republicans," writes Broder. "His overall job rating among GOP voters is 75 percent, 'and by overwhelming numbers they approve of his handling of foreign policy, the war in Iraq and the management of the economy.'"
Broder goes on to write that plenty of Republicans currently running or considering a run meet the criteria desired by conservatives, including Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), former House speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN).
Broder cites the impatience of political observers as the reason for Republican pessimism.
LINK TO WASHINGTON POST COLUMN
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