From Reagan, you got it from his heart; from Romney, one cannot be sure from where it comes.

Here’s Jennifer Rubin at the AmSpec Blog:

On Today he invoked Reagan as an example of a President without experience in foreign affairs. But of course, Reagan had written and given speeches for years on Communism– the equivalent of writing and speechifying for years on Islamic terrorism.

This is no time to elect someone who’s going to talk to a team of experts whenever a decision must be made, just as it is not good to consult a team of attorneys every time you might need to use military force.

Beyond that, this is another example of Romney’s tendency to use President Reagan as an excuse for his own shortcomings. Another example of this took place last August, when FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Romney about his dramatic change of opinion on abortion. Romney tried to cover himself by insisting that Ronald Reagan as governor of California was “adamantly pro-choice.” This was a bald-faced falsehood.

A candidate worth his salt should be able to answer all questions about his current views and qualifications without invoking another, let alone the greatest President of most living people’s lifetimes. (Anyone remember Cal?)

Now, there is no reason that a conservative would not be able to overlook Romney’s use of President Reagan’s name for political purposes, but as someone who has admired and followed the doings of the man for longer than I care to admit, I am put off by this. Or am I fooling myself when I think of the Republican Party as the “party of Reagan”?