Michael Reagan: Obama 'absolutely admirable' for not taking public funding David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday October 30, 2008





Print This Email This Republican strategist and prominent McCain supporter Michael Reagan stunned the hosts of Fox and Friends on Thursday morning when he stated, "Barack Obama has run a brilliant campaign" and called Obama's decision to opt out of public financing "smart politics."



"I would rather see us do private funding for elections," Reagan stated. "I think what he did was absolutely admirable. I wish Republicans would do that."



Obama's purchase of airtime to run a half-hour infomercial on Wednesday was made possible only by his reliance on private fundraising, for which he has been severely criticized by the McCain campaign. When Fox's Gretchen Carlson insisted that Obama had "lied" when he suggested early in the campaign that he might accept public financing, Reagan quickly cut her off.



"It's really interesting," commented Reagan. "Conservative Republicans have always wanted private financing, not public financing. So I think the McCain argument that he lied and he didn't take public financing ... I think it's really a bogus argument."



The Fox hosts appeared amazed by this positive reaction from Reagan, who has generally been harshly critical of Obama, recently writing, "How does he explain the proven fact that he has been wallowing in a sty surrounded by fervent socialists and sharing in their swill for most of his life?"



However, liberal columnist Kirsten Powers quickly agreed with Reagan's assessment. "If he didn't do it, it would have been political malpractice," she said of Obama's decision. "He couldn't have walked away from all that money. It just would have been stupid, I think."



"Barack Obama has run a brilliant campaign," continued Reagan. "The Republicans have run a campaign from last century. And the Republicans, if they want to win, have to come into this century and learn to raise money on the Internet."



Powers noted that McCain probably made a mistake in accepting public financing, but added that "I don't think he was going to raise anything near the amount of money that Barack Obama did, anyway. I mean, Barack Obama has raised such an insane amount of money."



This video is from Fox's Fox & Friends, broadcast October 30, 2008.









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