TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Song Of Reagan Thrills Pasco GOP Diners

ADVERTISEMENT

By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 3, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - On a night when microscopic lapel pins bearing John McCain's name winked from every lapel or spaghetti strap, Pasco's Republican faithful were jerked to their feet not by mention of their presumptive presidential nominee - the septuagenarian who claims, abundant evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, to be a foot soldier for Ronald Reagan - but instead by two able pols who, though scarcely having cracked puberty the second time the Gipper took the oath of office, actually march the march.

Of course, in the case of the preternaturally youthful Adam Putnam, the Bartow congressman, reports of his pubescence remain uncorroborated.

That lame and obligatory poke aside, the evening belonged to Putnam and Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, vibrant Republican pups whose ages combined fall short of McCain's. For conservatives unsettled by the prospect of a McCain cap-and-debilitate, open-borders, anti-speech, pro-lobbyist presidency, Putnam and Rubio represent limited-government resurgence personified.

Welcome to the Pasco Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner, the somewhat-annual reaffirmation of shining-city-on-a-hill conservatism over pinkish prime rib and fresh carrot cake. GOP straits being what they are these days, Reagan Day '08 arrived - not a minute too soon - just eight months after its predecessor, the one coinciding with the late, fizzled and unlamented presidential campaign of Fred Thompson.

Mr. Earnest Meets Capt. Caffeine

Dinner was well over and the keynote speaker stifled a yawn when Putnam seized his moment. The Republican most likely to depose Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate, according to Pasco GOP boss Bill Bunting, waxed wonkish for most of a half-hour. He scolded his peers for the corruption and wanton spending that boosted Nancy Pelosi into the speaker's chair; chided Democrats for their failure to hold Americans to lofty standards; and hailed the prospects of a resurgent GOP as the party of "brightest, best and most honorable intentions."

His earnest, if overlong, treatise skewered every presumption upon Reagan-esque liberty and self-reliance currently practiced by Congress' Democratic majority and favored by the party's likely nominee.

Finally, just after 10 p.m. and jolted awake by coffee, Rubio took over. And, jolted by this shot of human caffeine, the room rocked to life.

Gipper With Spanish Accent

In 23 minutes, the West Miami wunderkind demonstrated many of the qualities that conjure images of a Cuban descendant ascending to the White House. Like Putnam, Rubio thumped themes of individual responsibility, governmental restraint, strength in the world and security at home, but he made them sound fresh, dazzling and compelling.

He's a bilingual Reagan without the B-movie filmography. Honor the Bill of Rights. Respect paychecks. Limit government intrusions. Lift all boats.

Oh, for a return to 1984. On a Friday night in May, when the world outside Spartan Manor reeked of bleakness for the America imagined by the man in the brown suit, the kid Speaker made the notion of conservatism as the path to national renewal throb anew.

Look out, sky. Here comes Marco Rubio.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT