5 Orange County Congressmen Praise Bush Speech

Response to the President’s speech by the five conservative Republicans who represent Orange County in the House was predictably enthusiastic.

“I think he out-Reaganed Reagan,” said Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), one of President Bush’s staunchest supporters.

“He really put himself into it. . . . It was the kind of speech that is hard to do when the barbarians at the gate have pulled away and you have to look inward. . . . You can’t just come up with Churchillian phrases.”

Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said the Bush speech was “a tour de force.”

“There’s no question after tonight’s speech why George Bush is the most popular President of the 20th Century. It offered a vision of America based on freedom, democracy, private institutions and free enterprise.”

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) said the marked contrast between the response of Republicans and Democrats to several of the President’s points foreshadows the battles to come in Congress this year.

“When the President said, ‘Let’s not mess with Social Security,’ the Republicans got up and cheered, but the Democrats were mostly seated. When the President said, ‘No new taxes,’ the Democrats did not cheer, did not stand,” Dannemeyer said.

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) said a measure of the speech’s success was a comment he overheard from a Democrat on his way out of the House chamber. “One fellow said the President gave a Democratic speech but submitted a Republican budget. That may have been a back-handed compliment,” Packard observed.

He said the speech demonstrated that Bush is “a very compassionate man who is concerned about the hungry and the homeless and the environment--and freedom and liberty around the globe.”