Reagan is dead. Get over it.

[Spiffarino]

You know, the freepers are so caught up in Reagan worship they fail to understand what a friggin' disaster the man was as a president.

He got over 200 Marines killed in Beirut ("Unloaded guns...WTF??).

He cut and run from Lebanon immediately afterward, thus emboldening Islamic terrorists. In fact, this episode so emboldened them that it is still featured in al-Qaeda training manuals.

He invaded a tiny island nation within a few weeks of the Beirut debacle to make himself look tough. The operation was poorly planned and coordinated from the top, and many soldiers died needessly.

He signed into law the first tax on Social Security benefits.

He made an illegal arms deal with a sworn enemy, Iran, which barely a few years earlier had held Americans hostage, and which was giving financial aid to the murderers of a CIA station chief and a U.S. Military attache.

He ran arms to Central American thugs and drug runners.

He took a relatively small deficit and turned it into a much bigger one.

By his fifth year, he was completely senile and his wife was running the show.


History will probably be kinder to him than it will to Bush, but that isn't saying much. True, he was better than Bush in many ways; but in most ways, his was a presidency marked by epic mistakes that we are paying for today.


Flame away.

[Sandpiper]

1. A small minded, small souled man

Whose body outlasted what little brains he had, and who deservedly died an empty shell, drooling himself to his last breath.

[robre]

2. Traded in illegal arms while banning the same guns in the US.

1986 full automatic gun ban, his only legacy.

Don't believe the tales of him being a fiscal conservative either. He wasn't.

[Menshevik]

3. But...but...

Reagan single handedly ended the Cold War all by himself!

LOL

[jdots]

4. hey i went to the Ronny Reagan Library in Simi Valley

There is a bible and a copy of reader's digest,fifteen republiturds were walking around expounding on how great an actor he was.
haven't seen that many leisure suits since Wayne Newton played vegas.

[yorgatron]

5. if there's a hell

ronnie is burning in it.

[GRLMGC]

6. I checked that out

It's lame. The Nixon one is better(More interesting, though not exactly honest. What do you know?). Also, I hate Simi Valley.

[Spiffarino]

30. Hey, I grew up in Simi Valley

It's OK, really. The people there were mostly cool, at least when I was growing up there. Of course, I haven't lived there in 16 years so who knows.

[rooboy]

12. Reader's Digest.... how incredibly IRONIC...

when the anti-nuclear activist Dr Helen Caldicott recounted her meeting with Reagan, she mentioned how his entire knowledge of the nuclear threat came from an article in the Reader's Digest. When she tried to correct him with some more factual information, he dismissed it as propaganda.

A truly ignorant, scary dude.

[not fooled]

38. yeah...interesting...

...how come Dem/liberal actors/actresses are condemmed, but 'puke B-actor sacks of shit like raygun and the boobengrabber are A-OK??

At least next time they could foist a good actor on the public.

[donheld]

7. OK

It took me a while to recover. I think it was 15 nanoseconds. I'm all better now.

[Swamp Rat]

8. ¡Já já!

Buena suerte Spiffarino. ;)

[Ruffhowse]

9. The worst thing about Reagan was that his presidency gave legitimacy

to the emerging far right wing of the Republican Party. Suddenly these guys had power and position to take over the party. The current Democratic Party looks more like the moderate Republicans of 30 years ago, and the current Republicans look like religious zealots and fascists. All of politics have moved far to the right and we can thank good ol' Ronnie Ray Gun for this.

[UdoKier]

10. Get Over it? Good riddance!

He got many more happy healthy years than most, and certainly more than he deserved.

I hope he is comfortable in hell.

[WCGreen]

11. I missed his passing as I was in a coma

for the whole month of June....

One of the first things Mrs. WC Green told me when I woke up was RR was dead.....

I reportedly repied....

Damn I missed it.....

My doctor use to ask me who was president as I was coming out of it being that he knew I was a fervent dem....

He knew I was getting better when one day I answered "The Ass Hole"

He cracked up......

[Cooley Hurd]

20. Great answer!

& glad to hear you're doing better now.:thumbsup:

[LiberalinNC]

22. Priceless!

Sorry to hear about your coma, but your answer to the doctor was priceless!

[mogster]

13. He also built and equipped the Al-Queda

Here's my favourite from the election campaign - sorry if I offend anybody ;-)

[rooboy]

14. He taught us that deficits don't matter :) n/t

[MsConduct]

15. As far as I'm concerned, he was the beginning of the end. n/t

[Piperay]

16. They worship him so much because

without him there would be no chimp regime.

[LoveCore]

17. New to the DU

Hey everyone... new here. Anyway, I don't really know much about Reagan... seeing as how i'm kind of a "young gun". But, my freeper bashing family got a good laugh out of this "bio" http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/presidents/ronald-reagan/ Don't know if any of you have read it... pretty funny stuff in any case.

[Darth_Kitten]

18. History won't be kind to this guy.

Just my feeling. :)

[ProfessorGAC]

29. The Tide Is Already Turning

Yeah, i know the hyperliberal, foaming at the mouth academics and all. But historians are already reforming opinions.

Those that thought he was great (how, i don't know) are now backing down to "good solid president". Those that thought he was somewhat above average are now down to "more hype than accomplishment". Those that thought he was a marginal president are now reading the econometric works about his period (including mine!!!!) and starting to believe he was an economic disaster and have greatly downgraded his contributions there. Foreign policy academicians have begun to rethink the value of his tough talk, and there are books coming out by historians invalidating the "Spent the USSR into oblivion" theory.

I expect by 2020, the consensus will be that he was a poor president who did far more harm than good. Yeah, i know that's 15 years, but i'll be patient, since i already know all of that to be true.
The Professor

[NewJeffCT]

37. I always respect your opinion, but

Reagan has such powerful spin-meisters & cheerleaders working for him that I have actually heard the opposite - he was considered 'average' 10-15 years ago and has now made it to 'above average'

I think Reagan is one of the worst, as he's responsible for the state of the media today and for dragging politics far to the right, as well as for running up massive deficits to prolong the Cold War.

[pen dragon]

19. Reagan was a vacuous jingoist

Bush has completely given new depth to those two words

[OneTwentyoNine]

21. Little tidbit on Saint Ronnie and his Grenada party....

"Reagan ordered a complete press blackout surrounding the Grenada invasion. By the time reporters were allowed on the scene, soldiers were engaged in "mop-up" operations, and the American public was treated to an antiseptic military victory minus any scenes of killing, destruction or incompetence. In fact, as former army intelligence officers Richard Gabriel and Paul Savage wrote a year later in the Boston Globe, "What really happened in Grenada was a case study in military incompetence and poor execution." Of the 18 American servicemen killed during the operation, 14 died in friendly fire or in accidents. To this day, no one has been able to offer a reliable estimate of the number of Grenadans killed."

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Public_Relations/TorLob_Grenada_TSIGFY.html

Bush pulled the same shit in 1989 in Panama.Doing quick strike Wars without telling anyone until its almost over.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. I just found an old cassette tape from March 1981

It contains some interesting news items from the time. The one that really struck me was the news that son of a bitch Reagan was wanting to cut more than $200 million from the budget that was supposed to help mothers and infants! It was too much even for Orrin Hatch!

[American Tragedy]

24. I was born when he was running for reelection so I don't remember him

personally, but as a history student I certainly agree with your assessment. My parents and grandparents concurred with that as well. Having recently completed a term paper on the military-industrial complex, I would add that he did not win the Cold War. The Soviet Union had been spending itself into oblivion for years, and their abortive and illegitimate invasion of Afghanistan accelerated that process (oh dear, sounds familiar).

However, I would like to say this. As tempting as it is to be vindictive of the man, nobody deserves to die slowly of Alzheimer's disease.

Please believe me. Last February, I watched someone very close to me fade away due to the condition after years of agony. Her physical infirmities rendered bedridden a fiercely independent and progressive woman. She suffered terribly, and felt humiliated by her inability to remember her own children and grandchildren. Eventually, she transformed from a sweet, tolerant old lady into a savage, bitter personality, paranoid and gripped in terrifying hallucinations, convinced that all of us were responsible for her pain and dependency.

With all of my heart I could not wish that fate on my worst enemy. During the relentless coverage of the funeral, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Nancy, having witnessed what my grandpa endured.

[Spiffarino]

31. Agreed - nobody deserves Alzheimer's

That goes for family members of victims as well. I watched my dear grandmother waste away from this horrible disease, and it is truly sad.

Notice nowhere in my original post did I say anything about his death. His death was tragic, as were the final years of his life. My heart goes out to his wife and family.

That said, his record stands for what it is. The tragedy of his final years will never change the reality of how he ran the country in the 80s, much of which has come back to bite us all in the ass.

[American Tragedy]

34. Yeah, I wasn't addressing you specifically when I said that

I was referring to the few out there who might have derived satisfaction from his prolonged suffering. When it happened, I did hear a few people on message boards say that they were happy about Reagan's demise. This was especially disturbing as it was just a couple months after my grandmother succumbed to the illness, and still very vivid in my mind.

It hurts me to think that anyone would welcome that level of suffering and indignity on any other human being.

[Spiffarino]

36. Wholeheartedly agree

And no offense was ever taken. I was also addressing those who might be tempted to wish the man ill.

I recently heard a Buddhist who told of a great way to abandon hatred of even the most awful people...

"This person was your mother in a previous life - meditate on that."

[HCeline69]

25. Slightly OT

That's the great thing about W, he makes us appreciate the intellect of Reagan and the integrity of Nixon.

[Spiffarino]

32. Slightly OT, but

...very true. And very funny. :headbang:

[Lone_Wolf]

26. The right have been trying to make him a diety for years...

The has been an active propaganda campaign to create this Reagan myth where he was this great leader who saved the world from evil communism and how conservatism prevailed over progressive ideas.

The best way to combat this is to set the record straight on Reagan. He was a salesman for the right who could put a happy face on their assinine policies. Reagan probably didn't even understand his own administration's policies.

[bunkerbuster1]

27. The other night on Bukakke Hannity's show, I heard some wingnut caller

who was agreeing with Hannity as Sean spewed the usual business about how Ronnie Raygun built up the military and bravely deployed them cruise missles even though Europe "hated" them, thus single-handedly destroying the Commies...

Hearing this revisionist garbage from Sean isn't new; hearing someone in his amen corner nodding along and going "a-yep, that's right" on the phone isn't new either. But I was a little shocked when Sean said, "Well, as always, it's nice talking with you, Secretary Rumsfeld..."

Just a little.

[IrateCitizen]

28. Yet he's still the most influential President since FDR...

I'm no fan, but Ronald Reagan's shadow still holds sway over the political scene.

Insane defense spending -- that's a legacy of the Reagan era that is still accepted as basic truth

Government invervention in the market = bad -- that's still a legacy of the Reagan era accepted as basic truth

Enabling corporate power, especially over workers -- Reagan era legacy

Corporate-managed trade as "free" trade -- Reagan era policy

In fact, if you look at basic Democratic Party policy stances now, they will bear more resemblance to the Reagan years than they do to the New Deal. Just as FDR's legacy was the defining force of the political scene for decades after his time in office, Ronald Reagan's legacy defines our political scene perhaps more than any other politician out there.

[DireStrike]

33. Don't forget he wanted to be a communist

But they wouldn't let him in.

I can't find any articles on this, they're all 404 suddenly.

[ArkDem]

35. How many casualties were there in Grenada?

[not fooled]

39. By his fifth year, he was completely senile and his wife was running the s

don't forget: his wife and her ASTROLOGER.

Oh well, who needs facts anyway? Another portent of the current * admin and its fantasy world.