Stop The Deification Of Reagan

[smoochpooch]

I'm sick of the Reagan administration being revered in recent years by Republicans- and people seem to be buying it! Even before his passing, his presidency somehow gained an undeserved relevence. How can people forget the deficits, ambivalence towards AIDS, Iran-Contra, etc and somehow believe the man singlehandly defeated the Soviets? I understand he is a very grandfatherly figure and I don't doubt he was pleasant personally, but exactly what about his 8 years in office was so great as to warrant an unchallenged ascension to the league of great presidents?

[SeattleGirl]

1. I think it's because we live in a personality/looks-driven society.

Yes, Reagan did have a grandfatherly demeanor -- in public anyway. Not real sure how he was in private. Thus if he seems grandfatherly, he must be a nice guy who would never do anything to harm others. People don't look beyond the demeanor, and just swallow the myth about the man.

It's like in acting -- there are some bad actors out there, but they seem to get parts because they are good looking. Or they get attention because they are good looking, or have the "right" name. They could be serial killers but people would have a hard time believing that because of how they LOOK.

[smtpgirl]

13. Exactly

the cult of personality

[SeattleGirl]

23. If you act/look/sound the right way, then you're "in".

And people won't look past the outer you, to see what the inner you is really like. Sad, sad commentary on our society.

[Erika]

2. He did introduce amnesty to illegals and set precedence.

Carter's economic policies brought down the Soviet Union, not Reagan.

[question everything]

6. It was the Chernobyl disaster that brought down the Soviet Union

It was Reagan that for ever damaged the principles of separation of state and church, of plurality in this country by giving the Christian fundamentalists a strong hold on the Republican party.

It was "Reaganomics" that started the transformation of a manufacturing economy that provided stable jobs to millions of middle class people to a service economy where individuals are like interchangeable cogs.

It was "Reaganomics" that make Wall Street analysts and investor bankers the new millionaires while destroying good stable jobs through mergers and acquisitions while never having to risk anything of their own.

[Union Thug]

3. Back when that bumbling bastard was president...

my uncle routinely called him a laughable buffoon. He was great - he'd throw that out at family gatherings baiting every repuke in-law in hearing distance. My uncle was a drunk, but smarter than hell - and no one expected the verbal lashing that this old drunkard could dish out.

The Reagan legacy? Union busting, October Surprise, death squads, and the dumbing down of American politics.

[Erika]

4. Iran Contra, etc.

But he grinned at the "peasants" and spoke of a better tomorrow. The Bushbot types ate it up. He will also earn a special place in history entitled " the downfall of America".

[smoochpooch]

5. But it seems to be gospel now that

Reagan was a great president and no one seems to challenge it, at least in public. It serves to validate the conservative agenda for Americans who hear and believe it. If the Reagan administration's inadequacies are going to be ignored, bet that the right will eventually try to spin GWBush's legacy similarly.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. You are forgetting about how much money a few people made

because of his tax and defense policies. If you notice, those same few do most of the talking him up.

[bliss_eternal]

8. I really dislike speaking ill of the dead--

so I won't call him the names I'd like to right now. I will say that there is a sizable population of homeless people because of Reagans budget cuts to the mentally ill. Hundreds, if not thousands were thrown into the streets when psychiatric hospitals were shut down during his term.

Interesting how he was eventually diagnosed with a mental illness.

[WCGreen]

9. I thought you said defecation on Reagan.....

Well, since Lech Walsensa and Pope John Paul 11 and MTV and Levi Strauss and the power of the media and the growing islamic fundamentalism on the Soviet Unions southern flank and Billy Joel and Paul Mac and all the others who opened the Eastern Bloc to Western populism had absolutely nothing to do with the fall of the communist bloc, I guess Reagan can take credit....

[ToeBot]

16. Me too, long dead and still spewing shit!, eom

[niyad]

10. firing the air traffic controllers? when it was announced that he was

declared the winner of the election, I looked at my bottle of brandy, and my former, in one of his astute moments, said, "there isn't enough alcohol in the WORLD". I wore a black mourning band for months (note to self--should be wearing it again)

I also used to have a button that said, "jane wyman was right" very few people "got it"

when it was finally "revealed" that he had alzheimer's, I called a friend in CA and asked, "are you and I the only two who knew he had it when he was governor?" guess so.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. Mr. No Tax taxed tips.

All you need to know.

[Journeyman]

12. The judgments of history are slow and measured . . .

and rarely appreciated or dutifully contemplated by contemporaries. Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels. We may never see it, and probably won't appreciate the initial movement toward what will become the conventional wisdom, but the flow's inexorable and recent developments argue persuasively for the eventual ascension of reasoned voices. Take heart. Bushbots and Reaganauts won't write the final word.

[incapsulated]

14. I can't get worked up about a brain dead and gone president

When we have a brain dead "president" still in the white house.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Emendator]

15. Americans weren't fooled. He really was great.

You didn't see them lining up en masse, coming from all over the country, to attend Nixon's funeral. Similarly, they won't for Ford, GHW Bush, GW Bush, or Clinton. Lots of people will come for Carter, but it won't be like Reagan's.

Aside from a few details, the history books won't change all that in terms of Reagan's legacy. The people who knew him and worked with him have pretty much spoken. And as they die off, even less will change.

There's no point in fighting yesterday's battles. Despite what many Republicans think, GW Bush is a warmongering madman and is nothing like Reagan - as Reagan's own son will tell you. Nothing infuriates them more than reminding them of that. Let it go. The nutballs would be nutballs whether Reagan was a success or not.

[upi402]

17. I wonder how folks can say the media is liberal after his death

They tried to make that miserable politician a saint.
He took us from the biggest lender nation, to the biggest debtor.
He did dirty deals with Iran -telling them to hand on to the hostages until he won, and trading arms.
Broke the constitution by violating the Bolin amendmentI and II (Millman, Iran-Contra)
Union busting.
Outsourcing.
Lessening rights.
reducing protections for the powerless against abuses of the powerful, ad infinitum.

[tabasco]

18. Ketchup is a vegetable !

His brain was ketchup.

Just a know-nothing stuffed shirt to prop up for the cameras. The "have-mores" got a lot wealthier under Reagan while the working man got fucked!

[EFerrari]

19. Reagan, a fraud.

He killed a lot of people.

Fuck him.

[fishwax]

20. he was among the first allied troops to liberate auschwitz

oh, wait, no he didn't. But he apparently told Israeli Prime Minister Shamir that he was. Reagan never had a problem with the truth, because the truth was pretty much irrelevant.

btw, welcome to DU :hi:

[Sinti]

21. The Soviet Union brought down The Soviet Union

Reagan was scary at the time. Living in D.C. we expected the bombs to start flying at any given moment. Now, in retrospect, I really hate * for making me miss Reagan. By comparison he was a gentleman, a statesman, and a peacemaker... I don't see the grandfatherly bit, though.

[Blue_Tires]

22. welcome to the site!

[Duncan Grant]

24. Never have so few benefited at the expense of so many -

until now.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Golden Raisin]

25. I'll never forget the hordes of helpless & mentally ill

patients tossed out to wander the streets of New York thanks to the compassionate conservatism of that phony skunk Reagan, with his faux, avuncular, grandfatherly patina covering up the Ayn Rand-esque greed & creed (we've got ours --- screw everyone else). His presidency was, in so many ways, a nasty demarcation point where bad policies began to really take hold and begin to ruin this country. Yeah, a "new day dawned in America" and it was an ugly, mean day. The whore media's orgy-of-fawning 24/7 coverage of his funeral services, as if some sort of saintly combo Washington/Jefferson/Lincoln had died, made me puke. But now, with BushCo, things are much, much worse. Reagan was bad but he's gone. Hopefully, History will condemn him. Bush is here and doesn't even bother to lie anymore. He OPENLY breaks the law and OPENLY spits on the Constitution. Reagan at least called upon his acting skills and put up a phony front. Now we just get that damn, arrogant smirk. Fascism, Corruption and the War aside, Dubya's and the neocons' deficit spending and the staggering, almost incomprehensible national debt that is being created makes Reagan look like a miser. Reagan should not be deified, but we need to focus on the present dangers to the Republic.

[anitar1]

26. Yes, When Rancid Ronnie was Gov of Ca. he shut down the mental hoptitals

to cut the budget. Of, course states were eager to follow his lead. He was the absolute worst. Could hardly believe that he was elected president. One of his very wealthy backers, Holmes Tuttle, who has auto dealerships, is now ambassador to the U.K.Tuttle is the one that the mayor of London referred to last week as a car salesman.Reagan was just another puppet with a crooked cabinet.

[Disturbed]

27. Voodoo Economics- The trickle down theory.

Being Prez. was Raygun's biggest role. As a B grade actor he played that role for all it was worth. He fooled a whole lot of people and still does in the desperate re-runs of the RWingers depraved minds.