Especially since Reagan was an "appeaser". (According to Kriston and the neos)
Reaganism isn't about what Reagan was, its about what people wish he was. Ironically had Reagan followed Reaganism, he would have been just as bad a President as his successor who actually tried.
Reagan, prepared to fight, chose to talk to the Soviet Union -- the second-most powerful nation in the history of the world and one that had weapons of mass destruction aimed at our cities. At the time, and since, neocons have roundly criticized Reagan for this. Whatever they liked about his domestic austerity policies vis a vis infrastructure and the needy, they DETESTED his approach to our enemies.
Now, after getting it wrong for almost eight years and attacking Democrats for being "appeasers", the Bush administration is -- according to Bolton, anyway -- "negotiating with Iran". Bolton thought he was discrediting Obama's characterization of Bush foreign policy. But what he really did is betray the conservative double standard: When Republicans negotiate, it's diplomacy. When Democrats negotiate, it's appeasement.
