A Refresher in the Repulsiveness of Ronald Reagan

[omega minimo]

"Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?"
--Ronald Reagan, campaign speech, 1980.



http://www.thomhartmann.com "Poor dear, there's nothing between his ears." --British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher



PAUL SLANSKY is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, where his quizzes skewering the beyond contemptible Bush “presidency” have been appearing since the 2000 election was stolen. His work has also appeared in, among dozens of publications, The New York Observer, Spy, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Newsweek, Esquire, Playboy, Rolling Stone and The Soho News.

He is the author of The Clothes Have No Emperor, a New York Times best-seller about the Reagan presidency, The George W. Bush Quiz Book, and the co-author of Dan Quayle: Airhead Apparent and My Bad: The Apology Anthology. His latest book is Idiots, Hypocrites, Demagogues, and More Idiots. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-slansky-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-slansky-/deep-gloat_b_44020.html

http://www.geocities.com/thereaganyears/reaganquotes.htm
Quotes are from Reagan's Reign of Error by Mark Green & Gail MacColl, and The Clothes Have No Emperor by Paul Slansky

"Reagan's only contribution throughout the entire hour and a half was to interrupt somewhere at midpoint to tell us he'd watched a movie the night before, and he gave us the plot from WarGames, the movie.  That was his only contribution."
--Lee Hamilton (Representative from Indiana) interviewed by Haynes Johnson, Sleepwalking Through History:  America in the Reagan Years

"This President is treated by both the press and foreign leaders as if he were a child....  It is major news when he honors a political or economic discussion with a germane remark and not an anecdote about his Hollywood days."
--Columnist Richard Cohen

"What planet is he living on?"
--President Mitterand of France poses this question about Reagan to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.

"During Mr. Reagan's trip to Europe...members of the traveling press corps watched him doze off so many times--during speeches by French President Francois Mitterrand and Italian President Alessandro Pertini, as well as during a one-on-one audience with the Pope--that they privately christened the trip 'The Big Sleep.'"
--Mark Hertsgaard, On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency

"He demonstrated for all to see how far you can go in this life with a smile, a shoeshine and the nerve to put your own spin on the facts."
--David Nyhan, Boston Globe columnist
 
"...like reinventing the wheel."--Larry Speakes (Reagan's former press secretary) describing what it was like preparing the President for a press conference, Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House
 
"He has the ability to make statements that are so far outside the parameters of logic that they leave you speechless"
--Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) talking about her father, The Way I See It
 
"This loathing for government, this eagerness to prove that any program to aid the disadvantaged is nothing but a boondoggle and a money gobbler, leads him to contrive statistics and stories with unmatched vigor."
--Mark Green, Reagan's Reign of Error

"Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy."
--James David Barber, presidential scholar, On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard

"His errors glide past unchallenged.  At one point...he alleged that almost half the population gets a free meal from the government each day.  No one told him he was crazy.  The general message of the American press is that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually very acceptable this year."--Simon Hoggart, in The Observer (London), 1986


"Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close."
--Ronald Reagan to aide Stuart Spencer, 1966
 
"A tree's a tree.  How many more do you need to look at?"
--Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), quoted in the Sacramento Bee, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park, March 3, 1966

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."
--Ronald Reagan (Republican candidate for president), quoted in the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, February 15, 1980.  (In reality, the average nuclear reactor generates 30 tons of radioactive waste per year.)

"Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.  So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards for man-made sources."
--Ronald Reagan, quoted in Sierra, September 10, 1980

"I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The U.S. Geological Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone is greater than the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia."
--Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Detroit Free Press, March 23, 1980.  (According to the USGS, the Saudi reserves of 165.5 billion barrels are 17 times the proven reserves--9.2 billion barrels--in Alaska.)

"Trains are not any more energy efficient than the average automobile, with both getting about 48 passenger miles to the gallon."
--Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1980.  (The U.S. Department of Transportation calculates that a 14-car train traveling at 80 miles per hour gets 400 passenger miles to the gallon.  A 1980 auto carrying an average of 2.2 people gets 42.6 passenger miles to the gallon.)

"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas."
--Ronald Reagan (candidate for Governor of California), interviewed in the Fresno Bee, October 10, 1965

"I have a feeling that we are doing better in the war than the people have been told."
--Ronald Reagan, in the Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1967

"...the moral equal of our Founding Fathers."
--President Reagan, describing the Nicaraguan contras, March 1, 1985

"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal."
--Ronald Reagan, quoted in Time, May 17, 1976

"I know all the bad things that happened in that war.  I was in uniform four years myself."
--President Reagan, in an interview with foreign journalists, April 19, 1985.  ("In costume" is more like it.  Reagan spent World War II making Army training films at Hal Roach Studios in Hollywood.)

"We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education and the decline in profit over recent years."
--President Reagan, quoted in USA Today, April 26, 1983

"What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice."
--President Reagan, defending himself against charges of callousness on Good Morning America, January 31, 1984

"If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with."
--Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, early morning edition, May 15, 1969.  (Reagan reveals how he intends to quell student protests in the city of Berkeley, California.  Protesters were teargassed and fired upon with buckshot, killing one, blinding another, and wounding 128.  Reagan would later declare a state of emergency in the city and send in 2,700 National Guard troops.)

"Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders."
--California Governor Ronald Reagan, in the Sacramento Bee, April 28, 1966

"Not until now has there ever been a time in which so many of the prophecies are coming together.  There have been times in the past when people thought the end of the world was coming, and so forth, but never anything like this."
--President Reagan revealing a disturbing view about the "coming of Armageddon," December 6, 1983



 

[PM Martin]

1. Typical conservative.

Similar to his cousin Brian Mulroney. :puke:
:puke:

[ColbertWatcher]

2. This is some good stuff ...

... I'm going to add some of it to Reagan's page on the Truthiness Encyclopedia (http://www.wikiality.com/Ronald_Reagan ).

Thank you!

[omega minimo]

3. check out the books, too. "Clothes Have No Emperor" was all quotes and photos from news

Paul S dedicated it:

FOR THOSE WHO WERE PAYING ATTENTION.

:hi:

[ColbertWatcher]

6. That's excellent!

I will do check that out.

Thank you.

[baldguy]

4. Thank you.

The truth about the neocon demigod needs to be relearned.

[rurallib]

5. I can see why he is such a hero on the right

they revel in ignorance

[omega minimo]

8. he made all this -- and Prez Dumbya -- possible

[progressoid]

25. Yep - I know people that wouldn't see this as repulsive but reinvigorating.

They LOVE him for this crap.

[UpInArms]

39. If I could nominate a post for clarity and wisdom, yours would be it

:applause:

[Greyhound]

7. He was a dimwit representing the Paleo-cons? n/t

:kick: & R

[TlalocW]

9. It is amazing

To see the parallels between Reagan and W especially now that I'm older. Reagan's second term entered when I entered high school, and while I had started reading newspapers, you couldn't get how deeply stupid and ideological he was, but I can understand now my Dad coming out of the bedroom to get a bowl of ice cream and yelling, "Lying bastard!" at the TV when he was on (Dad was union).

The first time I felt real hatred for him was watching a documentary on Cesar Chavez and the forming of unions to pick grapes and other fruits. Reagan was governor of California at that time, and he gave a speech at some event in that ugly brown suit of his and basically poo-poo'ed in the most patronizing way possible people wanting to better their conditions. After the speech, he made sure he got caught on camera eating a handful of grapes with a shit-eating smirk on his face.

I'm hoping that the fact that W. was essentially Reagan Lite and is now almost universally hated will shed new light on what a dumbfuck Ronnie was.

TlalocW

[omega minimo]

12. Thanks DAD!!!

"Dad coming out of the bedroom to get a bowl of ice cream and yelling, "Lying bastard!" at the TV when he was on"


Reagan's voice still scares the crap outta me

[silverojo]

26. Reagan and W: "Bedtime for Bonzo"

Starring Ronald Reagan as the creepy guy, and Dumbya as the chimp.

Rated F for Fascism.

[Hekate]

29. You give me some hope that I didn't traumatize my own kids by yelling at the TV...

They did grow up to be liberals, after all.

Hekate

[hedgehog]

10. You got to admit, the man was ahead of his time -

"Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards for man-made sources."
--Ronald Reagan, quoted in Sierra, September 10, 1980


Isn't that the excuse now given by the Right for not addressing global climate change?

[omega minimo]

11. you're getting it.................. 'ya gotta catapult the propaganda"

[jobycom]

13. And those are the amusing parts of him. He also had a vile, racist side that was sickening even then

He kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS, a town famous only for the unpunished murders of three civil rights activists, and gave a speech on standing up for states' rights. There was no doubt in the minds of any southerner what he meant. He made George Wallace and David Duke look good. Filty damned animal. Those who are sure W was the worst president in history don't know much about Reagan.

[omega minimo]

22. "There was no doubt in the minds of any southerner what he meant."

"I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at the point of a bayonet,  if necessary."
--Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1965

"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
--Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1966

[jobycom]

30. Heh.

He should have let his speech writers talk to each other.

[Hippo_Tron]

36. ROFL indeed

[tabbycat31]

14. thanks for reminding me

I was not old enough during the Reagan administration to even know what politics is (I was born in 1980, the year he was elected). I remember my parents yelling at him though.

[Terran]

15. I'll never forget watching a documentary on Elizabeth II

and seeing a section where they royals hosted a huge party on the royal yacht, and the Reagans were there (this is while he was in office). They're both standing talking to the Queen, and a servant hands Ronnie a cup of coffee...and he turns to the Queen and asks her, "Do you have any decaf?"

He was an idiot; as bad if not worse than Bush.

[live love laugh]

59. That's funny. He WAS an idiot. I watched firsthand and not until Bush's reign of terror

did I understand why the press fawned over him despite his obvious shortcomings.

[givemebackmycountry]

16. I was watching CSPAN 2 awhile back and they were at a book festival...

I think it was in California.
Thom Hartman speaking, outdoors, couple of hundred people.
Woman stands up with the mike, and says...

"I'd like to know how politicians can worship Ronald Reagan, don't they understand he was nothing but a piece of shit?"

Tom laughed, crowd applauded.

I loved it.

[Historic NY]

17. "Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders." Raygun

Okay you freeloaders vacation is over get a job......if you can.

[HughBeaumont]

19. As warm as he was intelligent.

Reagan led the USA while showing contempt to outright hatred for 93% of the citizens in it.

[HughBeaumont]

18. Fundamentalpatient fuckface.

The Armageddon statement was particularly telling that "our leader"'s wheel was turning but the hamster had long abandonded it.

NEVER forget that this . . . abomination begat the steaming pile we're in today.

[hfojvt]

49. that was kinda common in its day

Hal Lindsey wrote a best selling book in the mid 1970s, "The Late Great Planet Earth". I remember seeing Superstar Billy Graham on TV saying that (Jesus' return) was sure to happen in his lifetime. It was a pet theory of his "moral majority" base.

[silverojo]

20. The Clothes Have No Emperor: Best...book...EVER!

It not only skewers Reagan with his own words, but also does the same for Bush 41 and "Braindead Dan" Quayle.

I also have "Ronald Reagan's Reign Of Error". If you can find it, get it!

To me, Reagan and Bushitler are tied as the worst Presidents ever. The Reagan era was the first time I'd ever heard of elderly people being forced to eat dog food in order to survive. :grr: :mad:

[Kitty Herder]

21. That shit would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Why do people vote for these idiots, these marionettes with nothing between their ears?

[omega minimo]

24. TV

BS

[jobycom]

31. The mainstream media. They created Reagan and Bush, and still sell them.

[Baby Snooks]

52. They have good astrologers...

In Reagan's case, he freedly admitted it. At least until he became president. Then it became Nancy's little "oddity." Oddity or not, well, there he was. They were both clients of Carroll Righter and had been since the late 1940s. He and Carroll Righter in fact were good friends, some say best friends, despite Nancy attempting later to say they were merely "acquaintances" despite everyone remembering her and Maureen attending astrology lectures at Carroll Righter's together. And remembering her and Ronnie at the parties at Carroll Righter's.

Most people think astrology is nonsense. But, well, what other explanation do you have for Ronald Reagan but good timing?

As for Ronald Reagan, all the world was a stage. He just got his lines mixed up occasionally. And occasionally forgot them. Nancy would just whisper them into his ear. Quite a few caught her.

And ketchup is sort of a vegetable. Unless you consider a tomato a fruit. In which case ketchup is sort of a fruit.

[omega minimo]

57. criminal subterfuge and media complicity

".......what other explanation do you have for Ronald Reagan but good timing?"

[truebrit71]

23. Trust me, I have NEVER forgotten how repulsive that vile piece of shit was...

..W was just a younger version, but they were both cut from the same fascist cloth...

[Hekate]

27. Ah yes, the patron saint of the modern Publican Party. I despised that man, both as...

... governor and as president.

Hekate

[anonymous171]

28. Zombie Raygun explains all:

[EFerrari]

32. That's exactly how I imagine that sociopath.

(I'm sorry, Ron.)

[VPStoltz]

33. Of this jerk, I think it was Roslin Carter who said...

"He makes Americans comfortable with their prejudices."

[Urban Prairie]

34. I remember having a radio on at work in 81

When Reagan said something during an interview, that pissed me off so much that I blurted out "Someone aughtta shoot that stupid bastard!!"

I said it loud enough that my boss heard me, stepped out of his office and walked up to my desk, and told me that I could get in trouble for saying that.

[TroubleMan]

35. Don't forget taking a hard line anti-drug stance, while people under him dealt drugs as part of

Iran-Contra.

Reagan pushed and signed into law harsh, draconian drug sentencing laws, and yet the guys in Iran-Contra were participating in the drug trade. Iran-Contra played a huge role in the crack epidemic in LA in the 80's. However, Reagan gained a ton of political capital playing the "Just Say No" campaign.

IMHO Reagan was the worst President, worse that bush II.

[EFerrari]

37. Reagan was the torture president's spiritual father.

Junior would have been impossible without Rayguns.

[Stand and Fight]

38. Anyone else remember this classic?

Captain America comic from the 80s -- even as a kid I totally got the subtext of what Marvel was saying. Even though the story centers around the water supply being infected with some serum that turns people to snakes, it was clear to me by the subtitle on the cover, "The Deadliest Snake of All" that Reagan was not the kindly old man he appeared to be through my initial impressions. This comic came out in 1988, so I was about 9 years old then. Since I was already reading a bunch and spent a significant time at the library, I spent a large part of the next year looking into Reagan. I should have looked into Bush I... LOL



EDIT TO ADD A LINK: http://www.armagideon-time.com/?tag=ronald-reagan

[omega minimo]

47. Brilliant! TY. Everybody please check this out

:toast:

Here's to 9 years olds and the power of the media

[lunatica]

40. He could have stopped AIDS before it became a world epidemic

During that time AIDS was killing everyone who got it. He refused to admit it existed. Refused to address it. Refused to allocate any funds for fighting it. In regards to AIDS he committed the ultimate sin of omission. In the world of Karma, that sin is equal to the sin of commission. His legacy is smeared with blood.

And as governor of California he closed all the state mental health institutions, turning people into the street. And people wonder why there are so many homeless crazy people. Reagan did it.

Lovable old codger? Hardly. It's more like callous murdering jolly prick.

[TWiley]

41. Reagan was an ass. He was also a criminal

he, ghwb, and ollie north were among the world's largest drug dealers. They used proceeds to finance a secret war among other atrocities. You dont accomplish that by selling nickle bags on a street corner.

[mulsh]

42. "People who admire RR-worse than child molesters,

at least molesters see their victims." Ror some reason the people I've said this to have a very negative reaction to it. but of course, after surviving 16 years under RR and even more enduring his admirers I mean it sincerely

[Enthusiast]

43. As with George W Bush,

imagine the very worst and you will have a close approximation of Reagan and his true character. He laid the foundation of the problems we face today. Even George H. W. Bush recognized his economic proposals as "voodoo economics". And he was right as rain.

[azul]

44. Beyond criticism for too many that have closed their minds in a false history.

Too bad that once dead only positive comments apply.

Too bad that people can be exonerated for murder -after they have died or spent their lives in prison.

Too bad too that crimes and murder cannot somehow be attached legally to fugitives wherever they may be, when the crimes and cover ups become known in high office cases. Where history needs to be set straight and the public be made aware of crimes to prevent the same thing from happening again and again. The crimes of false history and successful cover ups.

[omega minimo]

48. History needed to be made straight at the time. "Glad" to know there WAS something in the water (#38

"Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy."
--James David Barber, presidential scholar, On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard

"His errors glide past unchallenged. At one point...he alleged that almost half the population gets a free meal from the government each day. No one told him he was crazy. The general message of the American press is that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually very acceptable this year."--Simon Hoggart, in The Observer (London), 1986

[FightingBobsghost]

45. Ronnie

He was a serial killer by his inaction at the start of the AIDS crisis. He was a war criminal for his actions in Central and SOuth America. Anybody else remember his trip to the fucking SS cemetery in German where he referred to those murdering pigs as "victims". Then there was his sleazy career has President of SAG during the 50's where he was a sleazy FBI informant.
The only reason I would consider going to the Regan library would be to piss on his grave.

[BlueJazz]

46. I know you are new here but I like you Already!.. Well Said!

:)

[hfojvt]

50. I didn't remember that cemetery visit

and your summary does not fit what this article reports

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/06/international/europe/06REAG.html

"White House aides have acknowledged that the Bitburg visit is probably the biggest fiasco of Mr. Reagan's Presidency. The visit, which was made at the insistence of Mr. Kohl, was overwhelmingly opposed by both houses of Congress, Jewish organizations, veterans' groups and others."

Not an SS cemetery

"BITBURG, West Germany, May 5 — President Reagan presided over a wreath-laying today at the base of a brick cemetery tower looming over the graves of nearly 2,000 German soldiers, including 49 SS troops."

Remarks later

"Mr. Reagan, in his address, said: ''I have just come from the cemetery where German war dead lay at rest. No one could visit here without deep and conflicting emotions.''

He added: ''The evil world of Nazism turned all values upside down. Nevertheless, we can mourn the German war dead today as human beings, crushed by a vicious ideology.''"

Not all of the German war dead were "murdering pigs". Many were just ordinary German boys drafted into the army. The younger ones were taught NAZI ideology in their adolescence. Yes, I would say they are victims, but I have visited a German village where all of the about 30 people on the War monument are distant relatives of my mom.

[Baby Snooks]

53. Are all of our military "murdering pigs?"

That is the context it should be viewed. And was the context the visit to Bitburg was viewed although not initially. Sorry but there were some nice things about Ronald Reagan. That was one of them.

The German soldiers by the way had no choice. Ours do. Something to think about.

[omega minimo]

56. honoring SS troops was "nice"?

:shrug:

Certainly it was controversial, for good reason.

[Ikonoklast]

51. Reagan, The Amiable Dunce.

Willing tool for the wealthy, acting in his greatest role.

Miserable excuse for a human being.

Rot in Hell, you lying bastard. History will pillory your memory.

[Baby Snooks]

54. And a reflection of those who elected him...

Ronald Reagan was a reflection of those who elected him both as governor and then president. Misguided in their beliefs as was he. He probably did believe everyone had to sink or swim on their own without realizing many are never given the opportunity to swim. He definitely had a side to him that refused to see beyond black and white.

He started out a Democrat. The Democratic Party left him about the time Jane Wyman left him. Some say his politics broke up the marriage and some say her earning more than he did broke up the marriage. When he was elected president someone asked if she regretted divorcing him given that she might now be the first lady. She replied not at all. She was still earning more than he was. Something probably revealing in that. She of course was starring in Falcon Crest. And getting very rich again.

And then he married Nancy Davis whose father, really her stepfather, molded his ideology. Or perhaps merely scripted it. Some would say the latter.

It's impossible to defend his legacy but then his legacy is really his administration's legacy and his administration for the most part was the administration of George HW Bush despite appearances to the contrary.

[omega minimo]

55. Did it really take aphasia (or BS protectors) to see him for what he was?

Politics, Any Way You Slice It
Words: Jesse Ashlock
http://www.res.com/magazine/articles/politicsanywayyous...

One of the more revealing anecdotes about modern political oratory comes from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist Oliver Sachs' 1987 collection of tales from the frontlines of clinical psychology. Sachs recalls watching a speech by the late President Reagan with patients in an aphasia ward and being astonished when they roared with laughter. Why did they laugh at Reagan? Aphasiacs compensate for their inability to comprehend language by becoming highly attuned to subtleties of diction and manner -- so much so, Sachs concluded, that "one cannot lie to an aphasiac." Though they could not understand the president's speech -- because they could not understand it -- they could read all "the grimaces, the histrionisms, the false gestures and, above all, the false tones and cadences of the voice." Their natural response to such grotesquerie was hilarity.


You've got to be careful quoting Ronald Reagan, because when you quote him accurately it's called mudslinging.
Walter Mondale

Free enterprise is a rough and competitive game. It is a hell of a lot better than a government monoploy.
Ronald Reagan
Source:Speech Dec 8, 1972

How can you govern if you don’t believe in government? YOU CAN’T!!
Thom Hartmann http://www.thomhartmann.com

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
Ronald Reagan

For 18 months now, we have had under way a secret diplomatic initiative to Iran. That initative was undertaken for the simplest and best reasons: to renew a relationship with the nation of Iran; to bring a honorable end to the bloody six-year war between Iran and Iraq; to eliminate state-spondored terrorism and subversion, and to effect the safe return of all hostages... Durning the course of our secret discussions, I authorized the transfer of small amounts of defensive weapons and spare parts for defensive systems to Iran....These modest deliveries, taken together could easily fit into a single cargo plane.... We did not--repeat--did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.
Reagan Nov 14, 1986
Speech to Nation

I believe that the future is far nearer than most of us would dare hope.
Reagan 9/24/84

[glitch]

63. Thank you for posting that! It is one of my favorite Reagan anecdotes.

"One of the more revealing anecdotes about modern political oratory comes from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist Oliver Sachs' 1987 collection of tales from the frontlines of clinical psychology. Sachs recalls watching a speech by the late President Reagan with patients in an aphasia ward and being astonished when they roared with laughter. Why did they laugh at Reagan? Aphasiacs compensate for their inability to comprehend language by becoming highly attuned to subtleties of diction and manner -- so much so, Sachs concluded, that "one cannot lie to an aphasiac." Though they could not understand the president's speech -- because they could not understand it -- they could read all "the grimaces, the histrionisms, the false gestures and, above all, the false tones and cadences of the voice." Their natural response to such grotesquerie was hilarity."

Even though when he was "elected" I figured we were all goners.

[omega minimo]

64. it sure felt that way to me (tragic, not funny but OBVIOUS, undeniable) and yes...

"Even though when he was "elected" I figured we were all goners."

We were "goners" because it takes a brain disorder to perceive truth in body language? :wow: :wtf:


same page, glitch :hi:

[glitch]

66. After I read "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" I figured I must have some kind of brain

disorder, I spotted W (and all the rest of them too for that matter, including Bush Sr) for what he was right away. Perhaps this brain disorder, whatever it is, makes us particularly unsusceptible to propaganda? Whatever it is, I am thankful for it!

FWIW I think it's genetic, 70% of my family has the same trait, we call it our hyper-acute bullshitometers. The other 30% one believes whatever any authoritarian tells him, the other believes the opposite of whatever any authoritarian tells her (hey, it's a start). :)

[omega minimo]

69. blacksheepism?

yer lucky to have 70%! guess the majority means you're not the black sheep of the family

[glitch]

70. Well, not politically anyway! Thanks for the pic, I love that guy. nt

[FarLeftRage]

58. This guy was truly a fucking idiot!

And a most ignorant one to boot.
I still can't believe that he was president and that people... well actually sheeple voted for this dumb son-of-a-bitch!

[Deja Q]

60. Without intellectuals, we wouldn't have the media for them to exploit. Hell,

Reagan's ideology otherwise essentially praised Neanderthals.

http://www.liberalslikechrist.org/about/Reagan.html

[Betty]

61. just proves how many stupid Americans there are

that this type of shit was tolerated and then tolerated agin with the little asshole that just left the White House. Which means there's more where that came from. Obama will eventually get things running better again, the stupid American public will forget how badly bushler fucked everything up, and you can just see Palin being handed the presidency next.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

62. Makes one wonder how Ron and Patti turned out so well

They both seem like very intelligent and nice people and they are good liberals.

[Laelth]

65. I don't need a refresher.

But it's good to explain to the younger crowd why those of us who remember Reagan loathe him.

k&r

:dem:

-Laelth

[Skittles]

67. I'll never understand how so many Americans fell for Reagan's act

and how so many of them STILL BELIEVE HE WAS A GREAT PRESIDENT :puke:

[omega minimo]

68. ever since i've wondered "what are people thinking!?!"

til i realized, they weren't

:hi: skittles