Two "go to" names every Republican candidate calls on- but no new ideas!

Where are the Republican ideas?

Ideas are irrelevant in the Republicans' rhetoric.  Instead, they call on the imgry  of Ronald Reagan and vilify Hillary Clinton. They cannot conceptualize any new ideas.

Republicans have no inspiring ideas. Instead of ideas, they defer to buzz words. Oftentimes, they call up two names:

1. They speak with adoration about President Ronald Reagan.

2. With similar zeal, they dislike Mrs. Hillary Clinton

Therefore, the Republican line up of candidates call on these two "go to" names when they need an excuse for being void of ideas.

Incredulously, Florida Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio says he isn't showing up for work, missing votes in the Senate, because he's fighting to win an election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"I don't like missing votes, I hate it," said Rubio when asked about missing votes. So, he blamed his absence on Mrs. Hillary Clinton?

Marco Rubio continued to defend his missed votes in the Senate on Thursday, using the morning after a strong debate performance to argue that his spotty attendance record is all in the service of stopping Hillary Clinton from winning the White House.

“Here’s what I would hate more", Rubio added, "and that is to wake up on the first Wednesday of November in 2016 to the news that Hillary Clinton has been elected President of the United States.” (I'm mystified about how vilifying Hillary Clinton has anything to do with Senator Rubio's voting record!)

Meanwhile, the GOP candidates reverently call on the name of President Ronald Reagan, when they want to generate nostalgic political energy. Unfortunately, the Republicans could use the leadership of the President Ronald Reagan. Just calling on Reagan's name posthumously won't help them to fill his Presidential shoes.

But, a mutual political dislike of Secretary Hillary Clinton coupled with a misplaced adoration of President Ronald Reagan won't help any of the Republican line up to win the US presidency.

Here's what The New York Times writer Timothy Egan wrote about Ronald Reagan, published in The Week:

Ronald Reagan, Heretic

When Republican candidates gather for their second debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 16, they will pay their tribute, "to the patron saint of all true conservatives."  

But, the GOP has moved so far to the right since Reagan's presidency that today he "would never be allowed on stage".

The real Reagan, not the mythic one, granted amnesty to nearly 3 million illegal immigrants. He vastly increased the size of the federal government, raised taxes at least four times, and nearly tripled the national debt.  On abortion, Reagan, "mouthed the pro-life line" as president, but as governor of California, he signed a legalization bill that enabled abortions in his state to rise from 500 a year to nearly a million. Having been shot (in an assassination attempt) himself, he advocated "sensible firearms legislation" supporting both the Brady Bill and an assault weapons ban. He supplied money and arms to the Afghan rebel group that "would grow into the Taliban."  

In defiance of Congress, Reagan secretly sold arms to Iran's mullahs and was commander in chief when 248 Marines were killed by terrorists in Lebanaon, a debacle that makes Benghazi look like a game of pinocle." 

By today's standards, Reagan was a conservative "heretic".

Obviously, the Republican line up of candidates can't continue going to the two iconic names "Clinton" and "Reagan", when they really need inspiring new ideas. Rather than bashing the CNBC debate moderators, vilifying Secretary Clinton and wrongly sanctifying President Ronald Reagan, it's time for the Republican line up of presidential candidates to produce a vision articulated by leadership.  Republicans are looking very sophomoric when they continue to play "cry baby" politics about debate moderators. Surely, they can't win a presidential election when they can't even agree on how to participate in benign primary debates.  Ronald Reagan left the world some excellent debate training videos the Republican could study i.e. "there you go again".....while Secretary Hillary Clinton continues to speak about her progressive vision for America. Maybe, Secretary Clinton would consider including Reagan's legacy in her campaign? Just a thought, but Reagan's conservative record makes more sense, in today's politics, than the right wing rhetoric being spewed by today's Republican line up.