Haley Barbour to tea party: ‘Reagan compromised on everything’

NEW ORLEANS — Former Mississippi governor and national GOP chairman Haley Barbour on Friday delivered an impassioned defense of Republican pragmatism — even as the tea party attempts to take out his longtime home-state ally, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

Barbour didn’t mention Cochran or his opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, in his speech at the Republican Leadership Conference, but the primary this coming Tuesday was clearly on his mind.

“In a two-party system, purity is the enemy of victory,” Barbour said, repeating a construct he has used before.
Barbour also noted that, when faced with a split Congress, Ronald Reagan worked with Democrats.

“Reagan compromised on everything,” Barbour said, adding:
“It’s idiocy to think 60 million (Republican voters) can agree on everything.”

via Haley Barbour to tea party: ‘Reagan compromised on everything’.