While I respect a lot about Reagan, he was largely myth...

[Bullshot]

He's being credited for bringing down communism, largely from his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down your wall" speech in Berlin. Does anyone believe that this would have happened if you didn't have movers and shakers inside the iron curtain such as Gorbachev, Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul to create the uprising which brought down the Soviet empire?

Reagan is being revered for reducing the size of government. The stats indicate otherwise. Plus, he made runaway deficit spending acceptable and he did sign off on what was then, the largest tax hike in U.S. history. All of this while the Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate for six years while he was in office. So much for Republicans being the party of fiscal responsibility.

He has been called a moral leader. How many people knew that Nancy was 3 months pregnant when she and Ronnie married? And Ronnie was coming off a divorce, to boot. Then, there's Iran-Contra and some other scandals under his watch that he pleaded ignorance on, and the media and general public just seemed to let slide.

He was regarded as strong on defense. Didn't the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut get blown up by terrorists under Reagan's watch, resulting the deaths of several hundred Americans? How do you think the media would have treated this had it happened under Clinton or another Democrat's watch?

Any time I hear someone bitching about the liberal media, I just think back on the Reagan years and the treatment he received despite the fallacies of his administration that I mentioned above.

[mopaul]

1. entirely a myth

an actor, as president? total mythology. that's what killed me the most, a cheap ass washed up actor as president. it's utterly obvious what his whole purpose was. to front a fascist regime.

[Cocoa]

2. a local news tribute touted his small town values

said he was a hero to the ordinary guy.

Anyone notice he chose to live in Bel fucking Air?

[mopaul]

3. hero and reagan should not be in the same sentence.....n/t

[Jose Diablo]

4. But it is not a myth that there are power centers

that present people like Reagan and Bush* as the leaders.

Corporations of themselves do not posses a real body or mind, it is the power behind the corporate papers that is the real 'evil'. After all, it is only people that are living.

To lump it all as a label 'fascism' begs the definition of who exactly it is we speak about. There are real people that are behind the public masks place in front of the public.

It is only by remaining anonymous that the power people are escaping justice for their deeds.

I would think it would be most important at this point to expose who these puppet masters are.

[ronatchig]

6. My thoughts exactly, JellyBean

It is past time that the "powers behind the throne" are exposed to the light of public scrutiny.
To some degree these people are facing exposure, for example Lay, Shultz, Cheney, but there are many more for whom truth is the enemy.
I believe this may be Bush II's greatest(unwittingly) achievement while in power.
His incompetence has exposed to a greater degree than any other(since Reagan) the true goals of the industrial-military cabal that he represents.
These people must face justice for their crimes against humanity imho.

[olddem43]

5. On morality

Don't forget the date-rape story

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Reagan might have raped Selene Walters

http://slate.msn.com/id/1000336/

[Snellius]

8. There is a generational difference in the way Reagan is seen

Younger Americans, especially those who have forgotten or never saw his autocratic, reactionary role as California governor, inflaming the student antiwar riots of the 60s, seem to dwell more on his cosmetized media persona than the reality of his public policy: corporate, white-bread, militaristic, privileged class. I don't think Reagan himself much considered the real effects of his ideas. He was so in love that good-guy Western image of himself. He was almost tragic in self-delusion.

[mopaul]

10. excellent point. many of remember him DIRECTLY

and we remember wishing he'd never been born.

[Wapsie B]

9. He was a prop for the shadow government

that was running things behind the scenes. The book "On Bended Knee" details the kid-glove treatment the media gave the gipper.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. Beirut barracks

was quickly followed by an invasion of a dot in the Carribean called Grenada. The media forgot all about Beirut and swooned over the gipper's victory over an island with a population of less than North Little Rock, Arkansas. In contrast, Carter caught hell when the US helicopters crashed during the attempt to rescue the embassy hostages in Iran.