Could someone give me a realistic list of the good things that Reagan did?

[maveric]

Because the reasons I have been getting for his adoration have all been bullshit.

[Don_G]

You Asking Me?

He died.

That's it as far as I'm concerned.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. 1st one

only at DU (BTW I AGREE!)

[leftofthedial]

1. your post covers it quite thoroughly already.

no need for added items.

[Miss Authoritiva]

2. Well, I've been thinking hard about this, and

the only good thing I came up with is that apparently he never had a face lift. Also, unlike most people, I like "Bedtime for Bonzo."

[NV Whino]

8. He didn't have a face lift, but

he appeared to have used shoe polish on his hair.;-)

[question everything]

26. If no one has done this, yet

welcome to DU :toast:

[NMDemDist2]

4. bingo Mav, you got it in 1! He did no good

he backed regimes in Central American that killed 100's of 1000's

He gutted the mental health systems and released 1000's of patients who became homeless

He dealt with terrorists and bad guys (OBL, Saddam and the Ayatollah Khomeini)

He allowed the CIA to ship drugs into our inner cities to fund arms deals for right wing strong men

He raised taxes on the poorest Americans

He busted unions and allowed the corporations to walk away from labor and collective bargaining

need I go on?

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

5. ... but is paraphrased thusly in a Reagan webpage

"This home page is dedicated to the winning of Cold War and the resulting freedom for hundreds of millions of people; to the revival of the American Spirit from a point of near-surrender to one of unparalleled greatness; and to the Reagan Era expansion—one that would grow to become the greatest peace-time expansion in U.S. history. The Reagan Era was a time in which every income quintile saw gains in overall wealth and income, a time in which the middle class gained the most and our economy grew by a third.

Ronald Reagan championed four "Pillars of Freedom": individual liberty, economic opportunity, global democracy and national pride. With this site we hope to educate people throughout the world about his achievements."

[NMDemDist2]

16. Clinton had the greatest expansion in history

raised more people out of poverty and lowered taxes more than raygun

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1746794

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/opinion/08KRUG.html

[Lefty48197]

53. Oh crap, where did I leave the barf bucket?

that's worth a couple of bucket-fulls right there.

[maveric]

9. Just how I thought this thread would go.

All week long these freeper types I work with keep saying that he was such a great man that did so many great things. I ask them what he did that was great and most of them say "He did lots of great things. I just cant think of any right now." Or, "He ended the Cold War", to which I would aske them how and their response was "He told the Russians to tear down the wall and that scared them".
Poor stupid creatures.

[indepat]

Not bad for starters

[EndElectoral]

6. He was good at telling jokes.

[leftyandproud]

7. You n eed to understand..

Your definition of "good" is the exact opposite definition of what the right considers good. Just as right and left are opposites, so are their definitions for what is good and bad...Everything you hate about Reagan, they love...and everything they hate about our guys (Ted Kennedy/Kerry, etc), they HATE.

[qwertyMike]

10. Nothing for the average American

except raise taxes on the middle and lower classes (municipal, property, sales) to pay the tab.

He hid behind that big grin.
He wasn't the Gipper, he just played him.
He betrayed his colleagues in the acting profession.
He had no friends (sure giveaway), just cronies.
He abhorred the poor, the blacks (PC?), the mentally ill.
He was a homophobe.
He had no family values.
His kids didn't like him (sure giveaway)
He didn't win the cold war.
He had no courage, Beirut.
He was a coward , Grenada.
He had no soul, there's no more in that casket than there was when he was alive.
He created Saddam.
He killed thousands of Central American.
Ad vomitum.

No I can't really think of any good things he did, and neither, in all the adoration, can anyone else it seems.

Ho hum

[LifeDuringWartime]

40. the CIA created saddam

although back then the reagan administration gave him all of those weapons so i guess he did partially make him what the world thinks/thought of him today

[ShaneGR]

11. He was well liked in most of the USA as well as East & West Europe....

Even the Russians liked him. He had personality. His policies of massive defense spending finished off the Russian economy and toppled communism (Insert 9 million bad things it did to the US social system).

But, he was a good American. For the most part he stood for what he believed in and generally stood by it. Like all other Presidents, he had his mistakes which were serious.

Overall, Reagan was for the most part a self-made man and was respected, on both sides of the aisle, by those who served their country during the same time.

George W Bush wishes he was 1/10th the President Reagan was.

[NV Whino]

12. GWB is 1/10 the president Reagan was.

Now let's see... what's 1/10 of zero?

[maveric]

13. So you are convinced that Reagan's defense spending ended communism?

I work with a russian woman who tells me that the russian people think its hysterical that reagan gets credit for that.

[BeFree]

24. Watch what I can do!

Sun, Rise in the East!

You just watch, it will.

See, anyone can do it. That wall, and the Soviet Union were gonna fall, no matter what we did.

[Lefty48197]

54. Lech Walesa led the movement that brought down the iron curtain

he spent many years under surveilance and in and our of jail for all of his dissident activities related to the Solidarity Labor movement. I really don't think it's proper to give Ronald Reagan credit for bringing down the iron curtain.

[Ironpost]

76. the problem is * thinks he's 10 time the president of Reagan

[htuttle]

14. He made us all feel so good about ourselves!

Both the few of us living in mansions, and the tens of millions of us living in cardboard boxes. We were all so happy it was now Morning in America, and we could put those guilt-ridden, introspective Carter years behind us.

Even if we didn't have any food to eat except government cheese, and our sister had become a crack whore since they were selling eight-balls for $15, and there was gunfire in the street outside every night -- it didn't matter, since we all knew we had Ronald Reagan sitting in the White House, defending us from the Evil Empire.

Greed was Good! The sky was the limit! Wheeee!

Daaaaaaamn. That new medication they put me on makes me giddy!

[James T. Kirk]

15. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

I've always liked the work he did to help force the Berlin Wall open.

[maveric]

17. What "work" did he do?

I keep hearing this but no one can give me a real answer.

[James T. Kirk]

22. Cold War work

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

http://www.nationalreview.com/document/reagan_berlin200406070934.asp


1. He kept up the political, military and economic pressure on the Soviet Union. The speech above is just one example. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I thought, and everyone else thought, we'd be stuck with the Soviet Union forever. But now it is gone. Reagan, along with Kennedy, Truman, John Paul II, Vaclav Havel and countless other Americans, Europeans and Russians helped cause it to collapse.

2. He provided logistical and financial support to Solidarity, which opposed the puppet occupation government in Poland.

[maveric]

27. Other presidents did the same in terms of military and economic pressure

The fall of european communism just happened to occur during his term, and neo-con spin artists gave him the credit.

I really should stop feeding the trolls.

[James T. Kirk]

32. Yes, all the post-war presidents helped defeat the Soviet bloc.

Good for them! I think Reagan was especially good in this area. He did a lot of things wrong, like Iran-Contra, but his anti-Soviet work was a good thing.

[TO Kid]

42. They did, but

Every postwar president before him operated on the premise that the best they could hope for is stalemate. Reagan was the first one to believe it was winnable and that scared the hell out of most of us at the time. I remember election night in 1980, damn near everyone I knew was certain that he'd start WWIII by taking a hard line with the Soviets, but he prevented it by earning their respect.

[James T. Kirk]

35. Truman and Kennedy also did especially well this area.

I'm glad the Soviet Union is gone. When I was a kid, I was seriously scared of getting nuked by the USSR. Now I'm not.

[struggle4progress]

68. Well, the nukes are still around.

Now you should be afraid that an old Soviet nuke gets into the hands of a terrorist.

[James T. Kirk]

70. I am afraid.

Bad handling of nuclear materials was yet another one of the Soviet Union's faults. I saw a show on PBS about it. They've got radioactive materials all over the place with very little control. Even a non-fissionable "dirty bom" (dumb name for a bomb) could be made with stuff found or stolen there. The threat from these types of bombs is much less than thousands of nuclear missiles pointed straight at us though.

[htuttle]

19. Actually, Hungary was probably more responsible for the fall of the Wall

They opened their borders in Aug, 1989 to allow East Germans to travel to the West. At that point, there wasn't much sense in the Wall being there anymore.

IIRC, I don't think that the destruction of the Wall was actually planned out. A few months after the Hungarian government allowed free emigration for East Germans, the GDR government, hoping to stem the tide of East German workers out of the country via Hungry, decided to open the East/West border. Once news got out, millions of Germans from each side of the border just sort of showed up in a spontaneous frenzy of hammer-swinging and destroyed the wall (and had one hell of a party, or so I've heard).

[James T. Kirk]

39. Hungary influenced the timing, but it would have happened anyway.

Sort of the same way World War I was triggered by an assassination, but would have happended anyway.

[Lefty48197]

56. You mean that it would have happened because of REAGAN right?

I mean, Lech Walesa spending a lifetime in and out of jail for his dissident activities, and the fact that Solidarity had already won several reforms before Reagan was ever even President probably helped a little.

[James T. Kirk]

71. Partly because of Reagan.

He certainly did not do it alone. Reagan, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Thatcher, John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Havel, countless dissidents in the Soviet bloc, and millions of soldiers, workers and politicians in the free world won the Cold War.

Saying that Reagan won the Cold War would be like saying that FDR and Truman won World War II. They didn't win it alone, but their foreign policies made sure we won and won quickly. Same with Reagan.

[Ghlif]

58. some things he did, whether good or bad is point of view...

Anti-trust law- forbids postal workers and air traffic controllers from going on strike. IMHO bullshit.

Big defense budget- depends on where you sit on the issue.

Communism- if anyone posts how he ended communism, I will use all my powers to come through my computer and your cable line, and punch you in the eye. Gorbachev has HUGE, BRASS, gonads that clanged together when he walked. He ended communism in Russia as we knew it. Reagan and the elder Bush did nothing but allow Gorby's efforts to fail. Putin is there now. Do not be fooled he is old school hard-line communist boy. Had Reagan truly given a damn, Russia and its federated states could now have been our greatest ally.

Oh yeah, and he took the deficit from 800 billion to just under 3 trillion in 8 years...yay! Now my kids can work that one off.

[union_maid]

18. Did you catch Mario Cuomo on Lou Dobbs today?

We all should watch it over and over because that's the way it's done. He spoke glowingly of Reagan while lambasting his economic policies, all with kind gentility. He also outlined Reagan's positive qualities - affable, pleasant, avuncular and so forth, but didn't come up with one of any substance when it came to policy. When he pointed out that Reagan forced the tax burden downward onto the working people while cutting money for education, housing and heathcare, he said it with a gentle tone. When he said he failed with his supply-side theories and was a "repentent supply-sider" and had to raise taxes on six occasions after the initial tax cuts, he did it without sounding the least bit vitriolic. This is how you get people to listen to what you're saying. This is why Cuomo was famous for his oratory.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

20. he died

n/t

[Just Me]

21. Not today. Sorry. n/t

[question everything]

23. Showed us how a real president reads from a script

without mangling the words and with correct intonation and facial expressions.

[Endangered Specie]

25. Well, a few decent one liners... AND maybe Nancy...

will grow some spine and fight for stem cell research?

[Zomby Woof]

28. I'll list 5

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Zinfandel]

Here are some of Reagan's deeds...

Before you go signing a petition to get Reagan on the dime or on Mount Rushmore, there are a few things that you must remember about Ronnie. We hear this talk about how infectious was his love for America and how optimistic he was. Hold up. If I recall correctly, he declared war on the United States Government during his inaugural address. "The government is not the solution, the government is the problem." Whatever happened to JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"? Reagan asked how can this country's government be dismantled. True American optimists believe that the best is yet to come. Like Bobby Kennedy liked to say, "Some people see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not." They say Kerry is a flip-flopper, but Reagan was the original flip-flopper. Back in the day, he was an FDR Democrat only to declare war on everything that FDR had built by presiding from the far right.

The very standard to which neo-cons hold the economy was responsible for the sharpest recessions in American history. That's what happens when you slash taxes and balloon defense spending. Shortly before his reelection, Americans living in poverty had reached an 18 year high of 15.2%. Thanks to Reaganomics, 1 in 7 lived in poverty. He was eventually forced to raise taxes. He decided that the best group to take taxes from was the middle class. He did so with a smile and we thanked him. Reagan had the working class and middle class arguing for tax breaks for the rich. He had them believe that they too could become rich someday. But they couldn't. The middle class shrank at an alarming rate during the Reagan administration. Reagan's administration represented the greed and debauchery of the '80s. When he would talk about America being a "shining city on a hill" and "morning in America" he must've been referring to the suburbs because urban America was in the dark ages. Thanks to a growing poverty rate and government deregulation, downtown was a scary place to be. Gangs, drugs, and smut plagued urban areas. Just take a look at movies like American Psycho and Friday the 13th part 8. I'm not referring to the plots of the movies rather the setting. American Psycho has been lauded for the brutal yet truthful portrayal of what New York City was really like during Reagan's '80s. We're talking porn shops in Times Square and homeless families sleeping in Central Park and historic neighborhoods. What did Reagan do about the squalor? He made his position painfully clear on Good Morning America in 1984: "One problem that we've had, even in the best of times, is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice." I couldn't make this shit up. But Reagan could. His infamous "welfare queens"--the stories about whom turned the nation against its impoverished--were FABRICATED! For those who aren't familiar with Reagan's story,

Conservative politicians have a talent for telling memorable anecdotes that capture the essence of their beliefs on any particular issue. One of the most enduring of these came from Ronald Reagan on the subject of welfare. He cited a Chicago "Welfare Queen" who had ripped off $150,000 from the government, using 80 aliases, 30 addresses, a dozen social security cards, and four fictional dead husbands. The country was outraged; Reagan dutifully promised to roll back welfare; and ever since, the "Welfare Queen" driving her "Welfare Cadillac" has become permanently lodged in American political folklore.

Unfortunately, like most great conservative anecdotes, it wasn't really true. The media searched for this welfare cheat in the hopes of interviewing her, and discovered that she didn't even exist.

As a bit of class warfare, however, it was brilliant. It diverted public attention from insider traders in their limousines to Welfare Queens in their Cadillacs, even though the former were stealing thousands of times more from the American people than the latter. Just one example of the cost of white collar crime would become apparent a few years later, when President Bush bailed out the Savings & Loans industry with $500 billion of the taxpayer's money -- enough to fund 20 years of federal AFDC.

The Reagan Administration believed that if it's a good story and it makes the point, it's worth telling--EVEN IF IT'S A LIE. His own spokesman said in 1983 that "If you tell the same story five times, it's true." What can you expect? The country elected an actor for Christ's sake! Actors make a living by acting (pretending, lying). Reagan had no problem doing that promising to take care of children while cutting government programs designed to help kids."

(Scroll down in the link to more of Regan's deed's)
http://thescarletleft.blogspot.com/

[Zomby Woof]

51. I take it that's an error

If your post was directed at me. No one on DU hates that dead sonofabitch cocksucker more than I do. :-)

[unfrigginreal]

55. "No one on DU hates that dead sonofabitch cocksucker more than I do."

Wanna bet?:)

[Zomby Woof]

59. well, we can be equal

I said 'more', so let's just say 'equally', and kick some freeper ass instead. :-)

[jtb33]

29. He banned the manufacture of new machine guns...

for purchase by citizens (in 1986).

[mopaul]

30. here........

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lisa]

33. "a wife with bigger balls than he had"

Gotta disagree with you on that -- Nancy is tougher than a lot of the guys who held the job!

[unfrigginreal]

36. LOL

Remember, the only time a democrat won is when he acted like a conservative. Clinton did it best by being centered.

And look at the respect he's gotten for it from scumbags like you! Go back to Freepville punk.

[uhhuh]

38. 6. ???

What do you have against peanuts??

I'm eating a few right now. What of it?

Of course, he did lie about what he knew about Iran/Contra, but I know a blowjob is much more important.

[kiahzero]

46. Wow

Worst... disruptor... ever.

You don't even make sense. Half of the supposed "good things Reagan did," were things that he either "didn't do" or things that others did.

1. He didnt let his dick ruin what would have been a great presidency.
2. He didnt lie under oath about his involvement with an intern half his age.

Fine.

3. He didn't "loathe" the military and let the USA become the laughingstock of the world.

No, that'd be your boy Bush. Let's see... cuts of veteran benefits, sending them into elective wars on false premises; seems like loathing to me.

4. He didnt have a wife with bigger balls than he had.

Bullshit.

5. He gave optimism to a country.

How, precisely, is talking about "winnable nuclear wars" optimistic?

6. He never grew peanuts.

Bullshit.

7. There was never an attempt to impeach him.

There probably should have been; Giving arms to one group of terrorists to fund a group of rebels while batering with a second group of terrorists seems like a high crime / misdemenor.

8. He loved this country and the people in it.

That's not exactly an action, now is it?

9. He was about truth, honor, and held the office of president with INTEGRITY.

Iran-Contra?

10. He hated communisim, liberals(communists), and people who spend thier life trying to tear down a great country.

Bullshit. Liberals are not communists, for one thing, and we are hardly "tearing down a great country."

When will the extremists(liberals) realize that people dont want homosexuality shoved down their throats, or the opening of tent so big it encompasses all the sick garbage put out by people whose only intent is to bring the country into a socialist environment and strip it of its values and honor.

Two points:
1) Who is forcing "homosexuality" on people? If we're talking about homosexual acts, that'd be the guards of Abu Ghraib... funny, I seem to recall a large number of conservatives saying "it wasn't so bad."

2) You know what the most socialist institution in the United States is? The military. I guess our military doesn't have any values or honor, in your estimation. What happened to supporting the troops?

[Zomby Woof]

47. LOL!

Instead of refuting everyone of your points (yes, even Reagan had articles of impeachment introduced against him), I would just like to ask you a few questions...

1. Why did someone who professed that "government is the problem" fight so hard to become the #1 official in said government? I would think an anti-government person would avoid it like the plague and let it be left to its own devices. Makes Reagan a hypocrite.

2. How come such a self-professed conservative sign the largest tax increase in history on the backs of the people who could least afford it? Why did he run up larger deficits than anyone in history until both 'conservative' Bushes? (Before you blame the Democrats, consider that 6 of the 8 budgets they proposed concurrent to Reagan's had LESS spending and SMALLER projected deficits than his). 75% isn't a good average unless you're a tax and spend conservative like Reagan.

3. How come a man of such integrity spawned Osama Bin Laden, helped along Saddam Hussein with weapons procurement, negotiated with Iranian terrorists, and had over 200 officials in his administration indicted or under investigation... including 4 investigations of his AG? Hmm? Isn't allowing a privatized national security apparatus under your watch a sign of LACK of integrity?

4. Clinton at least had a dick. Reagan's was as worthless as his brain, already rotting from Alzheimer's long before he went public with it (and there's the way he lied about dyeing his hair too, vain asshole!)

5. Drives you nuts we hate Reagan, doesn't it? :P I wouldn't waste a good dump on his grave though.

6. Finally, the conservatives have run America long enough, and look at the mess they made of it. Maybe we should have elected more Democrats, espeically those 'socialists' ones whose beliefs were more in tune with the framers of this nation.


You obviously are anti-American and hate freedom. Your bigotry is not a value a free society should aspire to if its wants true greatness.

[maveric]

48. You crack me up dude!

1. He didnt let his dick ruin what would have been a great presidency.

Neither did Clinton considering the fact that we had 8 years of peace and prosperity

2. He didnt lie under oath about his involvement with an intern half his age.

She was an adult and that was no one's business but theirs and possibly Hillary's. BTW 67% of americans polled during that time could have cared less about it.

3. He didn't "loathe" the military and let the USA become the laughingstock of the world.

Where'd you get that bullshit, RW spin? Hedidnt "loathe" the military and we were never the "laughingstock" of the world.

4. He didnt have a wife with bigger balls than he had.

Nancy had to tell him what to do and say during his 8 years in office.

5. He gave optimism to a country.

Clinton put people to work giving us optimism like no other before him with the exception of FDR.

6. He never grew peanuts.

No he didnt. He just made stupid "B" movies often playing second fiddle to a chimp.

7. There was never an attempt to impeach him.

The GOP lowered the bar for impeachment my friend. Dems save that procedure for really bad incidents.

8. He loved this country and the people in it.

He loved the country but hated the poor, handicapped, blacks, gays, liberals... Oh yeah, he loved the people.

9. He was about truth, honor, and held the office of president with INTEGRITY.

He just "couldnt remember" the events of the Iran-Contra affair and put a wreath at an SS cemetary in Germany.

10. He hated communisim, liberals(communists), and people who spend thier life trying to tear down a great country.

Oh yes, liberals are all communists and all we do is think about ways to destroy the USA.

C'mon Skippy, you have to do better than that.

[PretzelWarrior]

49. GW Bush is letting his dick ruin his presidency

so I kind of see what you mean. He actually called the shots himself and could ad lib an answer to a question that didn't make him sound like a blind drunk.

[ContinentalOp]

52. LOL!

I love how the one freeper reply doesn't even attempt to list any actual positive policies or actions that could be attributed to Raygun! Even his fans have to admit he did nothing of any value!

[NMDemDist2]

61. wow tombstoned in only ONE post ROFL eo,

[Philostopher]

34. He fathered a real spitfire of a son.

That's about it, for me.

[James T. Kirk]

41. Wasn't his son on a very special episode of "Webster"?

[Philostopher]

44. Entirely possible.

His life was, one imagines, like a very special chapter of 'Mommy and Daddy Dearest.' Webster is probably as close as Ron Junior got to being around a real family for many years.

[waruimono]

37. he was a great philosopher--one of his speeches

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."

Ronald Reagan -October 27, 1964



I am a Wyoming democrat so I am a bit on the conservative side

[uhhuh]

45. I Guess you and I

Must have a different idea of what amounts to good philosophy.

I must be a raving commie pinko since I don't buy the gipper's Randian bullshit.

[Name removed]

50. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NMDemDist2]

63. ahhh ZW don't hold back now, tell us what you REALLY think LOL

[Zomby Woof]

67. I have a favor to ask

PLEASE don't incur my considerable wrath by using trite, tired, and smarmy sitcom-flavored clichés like THAT. :puke:

Why do I hate that phrase so much?

Because HONEST and FORTHRIGHT expression is frowned on in American culture, and in its place, has been replaced by relentless irony and passive-aggression. Fuck that! Saying what one thinks should be encouraged, and not met with the ever-present deflector of sitcom irony.

:-)

[NMDemDist2]

62. i gotta agree with one sentence in there--

those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path.

Homeland Security anyone? How about a Patriot Act?

[Djinn]

66. Almost certaibly written by someone else

Maggie Thatcher (a great fan of Ron's) use to say he "nothing between his ears" the man was marginally brighter than Chimpy

[mmonk]

43. Give you a realistic list?

there is a catchword in that which makes it difficult.

[politicaljunkie3]

57. He gave a good speech....

....after the Challenger exploded in 1986.

[ScreamingMeemie]

60. He was a devoted husband to Nancy.

:hi:

[Zomby Woof]

65. because he couldn't function without her

I remember her prompting him when reporters would flub him with a question. You could hear her audible whisper, and he would echo it out loud for the reporters.

He could not function without taped outlines on the floor, telling him where to stand, when to speak... he was the most cue-carded and controlled president in history. Sad, weak, and pathetic.

Doddering old shitbag was a festering cancer upon America.

More true stories:

When meeting with the PM of Israel during important talks, seems to be listening intently, but stops to interrupt, "You know, your nose looks just like Danny Thomas's."

At his first cabinet meeting , turns to his new HUD secretary (the token black appointed), and asks, "How are things in your city, Mr. Mayor?"

The media covering for him by saying he had a "detached" or "relaxed" management style. :eyes:

No, he was senile, hateful, useless douchebag. Long before coming out in '94. He was a clear and present danger and ought never have been allowed to serve in ANY capacity. A nuclear-mad cowboy with delusions of his own greatness, and now we're paying for it.

When governor of California, not long after Kent State happened in Ohio, encouraged the use of force for protestors at Berkeley. Said, "If it takes a bloodbath to do it, let's get it over with." Ah, compassion!

Said the women-and-children-killing thugs of Nicaragua were the "moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers."

Was propped up with money from Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and their ilk.

Fuck his corpse with a 2x4. Death doesn't absolve one of their rotten life!!! Should we speak well of other scumbags too? Hitler? "Hey! He sure was devoted to Eva Braun!" :puke:

Great thing about ripping dead assholes is that they don't give a shit.

[Solly Mack]

64. Maybe they latched onto Reagan because of how bad the GOP looked

after Nixon and Watergate.


he was their come-back candidate, so to speak.

Ford didn't fit the bill...the country was still too tired of it all....

Frankly, I couldn't listen to a reagan speech without laughing..he often made the most idiotic of statements...and he couldn't separate fact from fiction..and this was in his 1st term as well.

I didn't find him motivating or charming..and I never understood why people claimed he was both.

I think it was just a very good PR job and people bought into it...accepted it as fact, repeated it back..and came to believe it as if they had always thought that way.

the crumbling of Nixon shattered many republicans...latching onto reagan brought them a measure of pride again...and when your pride is damaged that badly, even the devil looks like a savior....

[struggle4progress]

69. The long answer to your question is: No, not really.

[James T. Kirk]

72. Reagan ended the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Carter had totally screwed up relations with Iran. The Iranians hated Carter and there was no way they'd let the hostages go while he was in office.

Reagan would have given them a radically different foreign policy if the prisoners were not released and the possibility of that change forced the release of the hostages.

[James T. Kirk]

73. Protection of children with disabilities

After an incident in which an infant with Down Syndrome was denied life saving surgery and died of dehydration, Reagan ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to use civil right regulations to protect children with disabilities.

[Dees]

74. Safety net nonsense. It was the first time

I heard anybody describe aid to the poor as a safety net. Reagan promised to keep the net in place. He may have left the moorings in place but the net became porous and the butt of many a right wing joke. Remove the net and then make sure the parity of wealth gap increases to an all time high. He was one benevolent SOB wasn't he.

[James T. Kirk]

75. List of the good things Reagan has done, from the US Senate.

Here is a resolution UNANIMOUSLY approved by the US Senate. If you don't like the list, go bug your senator.
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SR374

RESOLUTION
Honoring President Ronald Wilson Reagan .

Whereas Ronald Wilson Reagan , the 40th President of the United States, was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, to Nelle and John Reagan and raised in Dixon, Illinois;

Whereas as a lifeguard at Rock River in Lowell, Illinois, a young Ronald Reagan saved the lives of 77 swimmers;

Whereas Ronald Reagan enrolled in Eureka College where he played football, acted in amateur theater, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and sociology;

Whereas Ronald Reagan landed his first job as a radio announcer for WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and went on to become a popular sports announcer;

Whereas Ronald Reagan launched a movie career that spanned 50 movies, including his most famous role as the football legend, `The Gipper';

Whereas Ronald Reagan , who received more fan mail than any other actor at Warner Brothers Studios except Errol Flynn, served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1960;

Whereas on March 4, 1952, Ronald Reagan married his great love, Nancy Davis, who was to become his lifelong confidante and companion;

Whereas Ronald Reagan was the father of 4 children: Maureen, Michael, Patti, and Ronald Prescott;

Whereas Ronald Reagan hosted the popular television series `GE Theater' from 1954 to 1962;

Whereas in 1962, Ronald Reagan switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and 2 years later delivered a major televised speech in support of Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater;

Whereas in 1966, Ronald Reagan won the governorship of California and in 1970 was reelected to a second term;

Whereas Governor Reagan campaigned for the Republican nomination in 1968, and again in 1976;

Whereas on July 16, 1980, the former Governor won the Republican nomination and on November 4, 1980, won the United States Presidency in a landslide vote;

Whereas President Reagan appointed the first woman to the United States Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor;

Whereas on March 30, 1981, only 2 months into his Presidency, Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt and upon meeting Nancy in the hospital, quipped with characteristic good humor, `Honey, I forgot to duck';

Whereas President Reagan delivered on his promise to cut taxes for American workers in 1981, and achieved the historic tax cuts of 1986 which overhauled the Federal tax code and reduced tax rates for almost all taxpayers, including removing 6,000,000 Americans from the tax rolls;

Whereas under President Reagan's leadership, inflation fell, interest rates declined, and by the seventh year of his Presidency, the stock market hit an all-time high;

Whereas President Reagan presided over the longest economic expansion in the history of the United States until that time and rebuilt the national defenses of the United States;

Whereas President Reagan won reelection in 1984 carrying 49 out of 50 States--one of the biggest electoral victories in the political history of the United States;

Whereas during summit meetings with Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1987, President Reagan signed a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces;

Whereas President Reagan's steadfast opposition to communism, his unshakeable resolve to defeat the `Evil Empire', and his secure belief in government for and by the people, led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and victory in the Cold War;

Whereas President Reagan's belief in freedom as a God-given right of all peoples led to a democratic revolution across Central America; and

Whereas Ronald Wilson Reagan , father, husband, actor, and dedicated public servant, restored the pride, optimism and strength of the United States and earned the deep respect and affection of his fellow citizens: Now, therefore, be it:


Resolved, That the Senate notes with deep sorrow and solemn mourning the death of Ronald Wilson Reagan .

Resolved, That the Senate extends its heartfelt sympathy to the wife and family of President Reagan .

Resolved, That the Senate commends the former President for his Presidency and its many accomplishments.

Resolved, That the Senate calls on all the people of the United States to reflect on the record of the 40th President of the United States during this national period of remembrance.

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the former President.
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from www.senate.gov