Bob Dole: Reagan Wouldn’t Survive In Today’s Idea-Free GOP

Bob Dole on Fox News Sunday, May 26, 2013.
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Bob Dole, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon wouldn’t be welcome in today’s Republican Party because they all had ideas and positive agendas, Bob Dole said Sunday.

“Reagan couldn’t have made it,” Dole said. “Certainly Nixon couldn’t have made it, because he had ideas. We might have made it, but I doubt it.”

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, the former Republican presidential candidate and Senate majority leader offered a brutal indictment of what his own party has become.

“I think they ought to put a sign on the national committee doors,” Dole said of the GOP, “that says closed for repairs until New Year’s Day next year and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas.”

Dole, 89, said the Senate is “bent really badly” and lamented that in his day, “at least we got our work done.” He also said the filibuster is being abused.

“No doubt about it,” he said. “There are some cases we can probably justify it, but not many.”

Dole also criticized President Obama, saying he although he’s a “great golfer” and “very articulate,” he “lacks communication skills with his own party, let alone the Republican Party. And he’s on the road too much.”

“There’s nothing like knowing the person you’re talking to on the telephone if you’ve had an opportunity to sit down with that person and visit, not about anything, but just visit,” he said.

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