Jr., that is. Former President Ronald Reagan’s son Ron, in an interview with Larry King last night, made it clear today’s Republicans are a different brand from his father’s party.
CALLER: Do you think your father’s, this is for Ron, do you think your father’s Republican Party is the same Republican Party that exists today?
REAGAN: I’m probably not the best qualified to answer that, because I’m not a Republican and don’t hang out with Republicans all the time. But looking from the outside, I would say no. It’s a much meaner party today. It’s been largely coopted by the religious right. And the spirit of bipartisan cooperation and beat each other’s brains out during the day, but after 5:00 have a beer and you can be friends?
KING: Ronald Reagan was that way, Goldwater was that way too.
Reagan also said he’s in the “Anybody but Bush” camp.
KING: You said, dad was also a deeply unabashedly religious man, but he never made the mistake of wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. Were you referring to the president?
REAGAN: You know, it’s interesting.
KING: Everyone thought that.
REAGAN: I know. I wasn’t watching TV much after I delivered the eulogy for a few days. But after a couple of days I started getting calls from people saying, boy you really stirred something up, didn’t you? I thought, well, what? Well, you know, the stuff you said about Bush. I said, I didn’t say anything about Bush, why would I mention George W. Bush in my father’s eulogy?
No, no, no, no, the stuff about the religion. I thought, ha, funny, you then everybody thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I heard — everybody thought I was talking about George — but people connected with George W. Bush thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I began to think, maybe I was, I just didn’t know it.
KING: Do you think he wears his religion on his sleeve? He certainly refers to it more than your father ever did.
REAGAN: Well, you know, there was that answer he gave to the question about, did you talk to your father about going into Iraq? No, I talked to a higher father, you know, the almighty. When you hear somebody justifying a war by citing the almighty, God, I get a little worried, frankly. The other guys do that a lot. Osama bin Laden’s always talking about Allah, what Allah wants, that he’s on his side. I think that’s uncomfortable.
KING: Do you have thoughts on the war?
REAGAN: Sure, I have thoughts on the war.
KING: And what do you think?
REAGAN: And I think we lied our way into the war.
KING: You think it’s a mistake?
REAGAN: Absolutely, a terrible mistake. Terrible foreign policy error. We didn’t have to do it. It was optional. And we were lied to. The American public was lied to about WMD, the connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam, which is virtually nonexistent except for fleeting contacts. But they’re still trying to pull that one off now, Cheney and all are out there flogging that.
KING: Can I gather from that, that you will not support this president?
REAGAN: No, I won’t.
KING: Will you support his opponent?
REAGAN: I will vote for whoever the viable candidate is who can defeat George W. Bush, yes.
KING: So, you might vote for Ralph Nader?
REAGAN: If he were a viable candidate I might.
KING: So the obviously you’re going to vote — what did you think your father would say, if he were here and listening to this?
REAGAN: I don’t think he would have gone into Iraq. I think he would have been much more interested in going after Osama bin Laden, who after all planned the 9/11 transactions.
KING: Would he be mad at you for saying, I’m not going to vote for this Republican?
REAGAN: I can’t imagine he would be. So long as I was telling the truth he’d be okay with that. And I am. So — no, I don’t think he’d be upset. Again, these are just my personal feelings you’ve asked, so I’ll answer.
KING: You’ve answered.
REAGAN: I just think it’s a terrible mistake. Terrible mistake.