A covey of G.O.P. presidential nomination seekers were asked to name the greatest living president. Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump all named Ronald Reagan. Rick Perry refused to answer, Ben Carson said "I don't know" and Rick Santorum came the closest to actually answering the question when he said, "Probably a Bush."
Why did they have to dodge or go off the board and ignore the "living" part of the question? Because as Jonathan Chait points out, they couldn't name a Democrat…and no one with a different surname wants to be put in the position of defending a Bush.
Chait also notes that the Reagan they're hailing is not the same person by that name who was the 40th President of the United States. But we all knew that.