I was wrong to vote for Reagan in 1980.

[sweetheart]

I'm sorry. Truly i am. I knew his track record of overextending the treasury from his California days, and it was all too obvious he'd run up the credit card for US. I had this romantic image of america being a "kickass country" as from a beavis and butthead comprehension of "foreign policy".

What he did to the country and the world under "our" names is why people died in beiruit and geez, a littany of tragedy... and all is excused as "we did it to win the cold war... it was acceptable to endure wage slavery for a great war... and now that the war is over, the peace dividend of a monopolar world is this orwellian "dictato-facisto-democracy"

I made a mistake and voted for the wrong guy. I'm not saying carter was the right guy... but in that single mistake, now with junior, the cheap-labour neocon's early incarnation is much more visible... and risable that the republican party would let itslelf be hyjakked by people who would tamper with the separation of church and state. Grrr... I have not voted since that election, which is why i am still registered republican. I feel guilty for voting for reagan. So i would hope to go to an embassy and vote for kucinich in a democratic primary, but then i can't vote against bush also from within his own party.... so is there any wisdom in registering democrat?

For all the people who need an apology. I'm sorry.

[Flubadubya]

1. If you still don't vote...

there is no wisdom in registering in any party... seems to me.

[sweetheart]

2. i will vote this time round

I'm sorry.

[trotsky]

3. Reagan gave the neocons the pretty face they needed

It's really hard to blame anyone for voting for Reagan. The guy was good-looking, a fairly popular actor, and made Americans feel good about their country. Virtually undefeatable. People didn't really have to think about a vote for him - which plays right into neocon hands.

Bush will never face serious competition from within his own party for the nomination - don't bother trying to oust him in the primary. Register Democrat, and vote your conscience. Redeem that 1980 vote!

[Gore1FL]

5. It also didn't hurt

That he made a deal with the iranians to keep the hostages until after the election.

If they would have been freed under Carter, He'd have had two terms.

[trotsky]

7. No doubt.

That was probably the election-clincher. But it wasn't Reagan who made the deal, it was Poppy Bush.

People could still remember Watergate all too well, and wanted to still hang that on the Repug party. The hostages negated that.

[Rocinante]

8. I was

young in 1980 and was raised to be a republican. By my parents. On a little farm. Pretty ironic, considering how much republicans think of folks like that.

[NicRic]

16. Misguided Voters !

It always amazed me at how many people that vote repug without realizing that they are voting for a party that could care less about people in their situation. My grandfather (bless his soul) who owned a small sausage co. in Chicago, always told me the repugs are the party of the very rich .They will always work against the middle class and even the upper middle class peoples interest .When we say the repugs are for only the rich .We are not talking people that have a few million ,we are talking about multi nationial corps with billions of dollars ! I have some friends that vote repug ,they are fairly successful and think because of tax breaks the repugs are for them .However what good do the tax breaks do them when the small business the own has had a 50% drop in business, due to unemployment, lack of confidence in the economy, etc. They are actually voting against their own best interest ,for a few hundred dollars more on their tax return. Some people that are "smart" can sometimes be so stupid. Blinded by greed, they are shooting themselves in the foot by voting for the wrong party !

[MarianJack]

9. 1980!

I was a Kennedy '80 Democrat who voted for Reagan for 2 (Bad as I realize now) reasons.

1. To thumb my nose at Jimmy Carter. An honorable man, but a terrible President.

2. I didn't see a president that the rest of the world would respect. I saw Carter (held in contempt by the rest of the world) and Reagan (feared by the rest of the world). I chose fear over contempt.:crazy:

I WILL NEVER DO SOMETHING THAT STUPID AGAIN. I was 25, an active alcoholic and not too bright in 1980. Now I'm 48, sober and smarter.

Any D over any r in '04!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. You Could Have Voted For John Anderson

[MarianJack]

15. True...

but I don't believe in third parties.

[SteveG]

19. True, and I did

but, when I realized how close that election was, I regretted not having voted for Carter. Anderson was the last real Republican to run for the Presidency, but his form of Republicanism has been destroyed by the Theo-Facists, and Neo-Cons that now control that benighted party.

[LEFTofLEFT]

24. You are so very wrong.

"Jimmy Carter. An honorable man, but a terrible President."

This is just more of the right wing garbage that you have not been able to shake.

I can name ten good things that President Carter did for every right wing slur you can find.

[MarianJack]

25. Slur?

I did not slur Jimmy Carter. I am not a right winger. I worked for George McGovern in 3 primary states and have voted for every other Democratic candidate for president since I've been able to vote.

I supported Ted Kennedy in 1980. Many other Democrats did, too. I stand by my original statement, but I'll amend it to say that he's the greatest ex-president ever. I wish he'd been as good a president as he's been an ex.

[SharonAnn]

31. You're right, took me years to understand that I'd been

brain-washed with one of those right-wing "memes".

Sort of like * bringing "integrity" into the White House.

[rasputin1952]

14. I don't know how 'good looking' Reagan is/was...

but I do know he was a 'B' actor, and the best work he did was Bedtime for Bonzo, where the chimp was the better actor. Ironic how a chimp stole the show, and another chimp stole the election; (you gotta love a sense of irony).

I have regretted voting for Reagan in '80. I still have no idea why I did...must have been in one of those alcohol induced stupors that I occasionally fell into. But I realized my mistake within a few days.

Reagan was the perfect choice for the GOP, all he had to do was read scripts, and use some of that 'grandfatherly' magic. He was like a huge valium for the country, people could 'relax', "don't worry, be happy" was the mantra. However, instead of valium, reagan turned out to be the worst acid trip this nation could have.

23 years later, and we're still trying to put the sanity of the nation back together. Unfortuanately, both bush's are like unwanted flashbacks of demons and hellish nightmares.

Fortunately, I learned from my mistake, and haven't voted GOP since.

:dunce:

[Wonk]

4. You helped Al Qaeda grow.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/timelinebefore2001.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=115311&mesg_id=115311

I didn't have a clue in '80, either. I was way too young to vote, though.

[lcordero]

6. Yes there is wisdom in registering Democrat

We need as many people voting in the Primaries in order to prevent having to pick the lesser of two evils.

[aquart]

18. I'm registered Democratic, myself.

I don't choose to adopt Republican vocabulary.

[sweetheart]

29. Chosing republican vocabulary

:-) HA HA HA !! Clearly i've sold my english language down the tubes by being aware of the irony of new-speak. ;-)

"Whatever wins" is my new mantra. Triple-double-speak is a small price to pay for rolling back the dark tide.

[Liberalpolitico1]

10. Unfortunately the Bush II administration.............

is a manifestation (more like infestation) of all that was Reagan. The overwhelming support for Iraq II is a sickening legacy of what Reagan started-might makes right.
Although I was only 8 when Reagan was elected, I have seen America change for the worse or more like the worst of America was always there but Reagan just gave people courage to be themselves.
Now we have an administration in charge which echoes live for today attitude which became so popular during the '80's.

[rogerashton]

11. I was wrong to vote for McCarthy in 1980 --

as long as we are apologizing for 1980. It was pure '60's nostalgia. (Damn it was good to be young and left and WINNING -- for a while -- in '68).

In all the talk about Reagan's 1980 landslide, the point is often missed that he barely had a majority of the popular vote. Remember, John Anderson did to Carter in 1980 what Perot did to Poppy in '92. McCarthy's 1% didn't weigh in the scales. Really, it is the folks that voted for and supported Anderson who ought to apologize. They need to have their heads candled.

Carter could have been re-elected by sending the Marines into Iran. He kept us out of war, probably knowing that he would lose the election as a result. I cannot think of another 20'th century president who had the guts and integrity to do that. Consequently, I do think he was "the right man," though, by logic, an unelectable one.

Thinking of it as a game theorist, though -- if the Repubs had not been confident that Carter would not send in the Marines, then they would not have made their crooked deal, since 1) it would gain them nothing, and 2) it could very well come out. It seems that Carter needed a credible threat of sending the Marines in -- not a threat against Iran but against the Republicans. He was too decent a man to do it that way. What a shitty world we live in.

on edit -- minor grammatical correction.

[Maccagirl]

12. My two proudest votes

Both AGAINST Ronald W Reagan.

[Piperay]

39. Yeah, mine too and I was

a California rePUKEliCON but because of timing I lucked out and never voted for that moronic old fool. When Raygun ran for Governor here I was way to young to vote and by the time he ran for prez I was repulsed by him :puke:, voted for Ford in the primary and by the time of the general election I had turned Democratic and voted for Carter, whew. I am sooo glad that I NEVER EVER gave him a vote. :-)

[aquart]

17. Congratulations. You made all this possible.

I'm sure God will forgive you when you ask for a place in heaven next to all the victims of these congenial monsters.

[redeye]

33. God doesn't exist...

...and neither does heaven. The dead are gone; we should be focusing on the present, on the living who might die, rather than what's already been done.

[MiltonLeBerle]

20. John Anderson popped my presidential voting cherry in that election-

You never forget your first one.

[GalleryGod]

21. Apology accepted!

:bounce: Always was a simplistic dickhead:bounce: Can you believe that W:wow: actually gave Nancy the Medal of Freedom:wtf: ???

[LEFTofLEFT]

22. "I'm not saying carter was the right guy"

Why would you say this?

The right wing machine has made many people believe that President Carter was a bad president.

That is NOT true.

[sweetheart]

27. you are right about president Carter.

I said that almost kneejerk... and right you are.. carter was a good man, and would have made an excellent president for a second term.

I have not revisited that assumption for a long time, and its old right wing apology programs running... summary judgements of carter without any balancing of facts... He was the right man, the repukes spun up lies about his real performance.

By not accepting reagan's legacy as a "good" or even "necessary" president, the root principals of republican revisionism are made bare... if GWB is an evil president, reagan was also an evil one... people i meet in europe assure me that GWB seems mild in terms of his perceived ugliness next to reagan... i was not outside the nation during his term enough to see the damage like i've seen it done by GWB... erosion of confidence and goodwill at staggering proportions.

You are right about President Carter. I am sorry.

[Clete]

23. My husband and I still had faith in Carter and voted for him, but

many of our friends jumped ship and voted for Reagan even after the mess he left in California as Governor. Okay, they were mad about the hostage situation. Although, we too wondered why Carter didn't send in the Marines at the time, we now realize it was a situation exploited by the Republican Party for votes.

What I really never understood is how Reagan got a second term or why it was a landslide election. By then we all knew the sinkhole he was leading the country into. All we could conclude is that the majority of American voters are either shallow or stupid.

[bluestateguy]

26. Apology accpeted, BUT

Why would you not vote since then? It would seem to me that if you voted to put someone in office who you dislike, you would have an even greater obligation to vote him out of office.

I really hope you are not from a swing state that Al Gore narrowly lost in 2000.

[sweetheart]

28. connecticut i think, maybe NYC

My non-vote in that election would have been part of gore's victory margin in connecticut... and against lieberman for any office in that same state... Even if i ended up voting in NYC, gore won there also... so i was one of those invisible nonvoters who would have just pushed up a victory margin.

[SharonAnn]

30. I was wrong too, but I "saw the light" and was "born again" as a

Democrat.

Seriously, I don't know what I was thinking when I voted for Reagan. I must've been drinking, hey, I was at that time. Anyway, I got smart about him even before I got sober and I didn't vote for him in 1984 or for GHWB in 1988.

What happened? Well, I realized that everything he stood for was against my self-interest and that of my family. I realized that he and those who surrounded him (most of whom I now know were GHWB men) were not the moderate Republicans I had grown up with. I realized they were right-wing and were interested only in their own wealth. Oh, and I twigged to the fact that they preferred to line their pockets from tax payer funds or citizens' properties (Federal lands for logging, mining, drilling, grazing, etc.).

Anyway, I called myself an Independent for some years thought I voted consistently Democratic. Finally I registered as a Democrat. Don't know why, but it was hard to make the jump in one step so I made it in two steps.

[MattNC]

32. but..

don't you all know that God (I mean Reagan) won the cold war single-handedly and is responsible for the economic prosperity of the 90's? Come on, people. :9

[sweetheart]

43. did he really win the cold war?

... or, did he just wait out the inevitable collapse of that empire. With new evidence now out about inflating military intelligence, the soviet threat was trumped up to spend taxes on the military industrial complex... not to win any war... that was luck.

We'll never know as long as it is antireligious to question the dear leader's competence, and now that his felony's of office are being institutionalized, to disclaim reagan is short of treason. He was the corruption before the crime. American presidents should be forced to retire to the town where the most shafted people during their reign lived. The statue of reagan in the town square is gonna have to go.

[redeye]

34. I don't need an apology...

...although 'twill be nice if you reregister as a Democrat and vote in the primary election (preferably for Dean, who supports separation of church and state much more than Kucinich).

The past is gone. The future never really exists. It's the present that counts.

[are_we_united_yet]

35. If it came down to this adminstration and Ray Gun's

Ronald woulde be a shoe in.

And I didn't like them so much.

[inthecorneroverhere]

36. Reagan was the start of all this mess

I wish I coulda voted in that election (for Carter). I was certainly a Dem at that time, and had not had any disillusionments. I was 17 years old on that election day and turned 18 about a year later.

My mother was a California resident who voted for Reagan and told me during Clinton's 1st term that she regretted her Reagan vote.

Reagan's only real achievement, IMHO was winning the Cold War. Financially, he was a disaster, and his Central American policy was a disaster.

I voted Dem consistently every election from 1982 through 1988. Then, in 1990, I had a very serious run-in (violation of wage-hour laws) with an individual that loudly proclaimed themselves to be a 'liberal Democrat.' If liberal Dem's like this supervisor, who was basically my most prominent example, had no respect for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's basic wage and hour laws, then I had no reason to support them, but I wasn't going to support the Republicans either. So, the Dem's lost my vote from 1990 all the way through 2000, because I didn't vote at all in those elections. I voted Dem in 2002 *only* for Constitutional reasons to attempt to maintain a balance of powers. I intend to vote Dem - "any candidate" in 2004 for Constitutional reasons, and to attempt to protect what few rights working Americans have anymore.

During the years that I did not vote, I was an non-voter in states with large, not small, Republican majorities.

edit: more info

[whoYaCallinAlib]

37. Why bring this up now?

Seems kinda wierd that you would apologize to this board at this time. I for one don't need your apology. You didn't do anything to me. Your vote didn't change the outcome of the election. And even if it did, you are not accountable to me or anyone else for your vote. It kinda makes me feel sorry for you that you felt compelled to write this post. Good luck to you. Hope you feel better.

[jafap]

38. exactly how I console myself

I also voted for Reagan, and perhaps even worse, for Abner. But neither of those won by just one vote. I am also sorry that I did not vote for Clinton in 1992, but he won anyway, without my help, just like Jesse and Dukakis and Fritz lost with my help. I did not vote for Bush Sr. or Perot, but I still say that, as evil as Poppy is, he still has way more class than his eldest son.

[sweetheart]

40. you may have missed my point in this

There is inertia towards the revisionist historical view that reagan was a "good" president, and as long as we call him good and don't disclaim him totally, we miss the root of the existing problem. Revisionism is who we are in this moment defining our history to be.... clearly it matters not to the history, but it matters to the present.

By writing the character of a now-democratic supporting once reagan voter, i exemplified a significant demographic of swing voters that are now friends, but who still have not revised their own political inertia. You are just not in that demographic, but others clearly are... and it is completely relevant in consolidating power that we see reganism for what it really was: "the brownshirt period in new american nazi-utopia."

Near the end, the post contained an election voting strategy, that is completely relevent to the present.

I'm sorry. It should be the tone of reagan voters... and if not, i'm curious what they don't disclaim... as these are the swing issues of this election in "one" demographic set.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

41. If I hear one more person...

If I hear one more person say that Reagan was the best president ever, I'm going to throw up on their ugly republican shoes. They must have blinders on and a selective memory. :puke:

[whoYaCallinAlib]

42. I'm with you!

Reagan was possibly the worst. He'd be at the bottom of the list were it not for Bush.