patrick.net

I was a teen while he was in office. Aside from when he got shot, my most enduring memory of Reagan's presidency was him saying during hearings, "Well, I don't seem to recall..." With no fond memories of his acting days, I remember thinking, Jeez, this guy has Alzheimers or something!

Can't say I HATE Reagan, but he's not the saint Republicans hold him up to be.

Automan Empire says

I was a teen while he was in office.

given you had Carter and than Mondale... you think he won by a landslide!

Automan Empire says

"Well, I don't seem to recall..."

.

Best answer... might want to check today how Ortega is killing off democracy in Nicaragua and turning it into a dictatorship. They should have hanged Ortega and fed him to the dogs

thomaswong.1986 says

Best answer... might want to check today how Ortega is killing off democracy in Nicaragua and turning it into a dictatorship. They should have hanged Ortega and fed him to the dogs

They being the US government directly supporting what would be called terrorists (except it the US supports them, then they are freedom fighters) who were trying to overthrow the government that had the bad manners to overthrow the government the US wanted to run the country. Nice.

Yes, we remember: the funeral(s) lasted for 8 days, including services on both coasts. The casket travelled nearly 7500 miles.

John Kennedy, by contrast, was in the ground three days after his assassination.

It was the last hurrah of an amazing institution in American history: Reagan's publicity team. And it was a chance for all of us to remember the actual person whose beliefs and record the right wing had completely rewritten for their own purposes.

If he ran today, he would not survive the first few primaries.

I lived through his two terms as Governor, his "if you have seen one redwood you have seen them all" * days and then his addlepated, vacuous, platitude spewing, two presidential terms, watching him sell out America to corporate interests.
What I called "Mourning in America".

Anyway those 16 YEARS watching at that ghastly rictus grinning fool destroy my country's future represented 1/2 my life at the time. I still have night terrors.

*Equally notorious from the period:
"If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with."
Ronald Reagan, April 7th, 1970
Speaking about Civil Rights and Anti-War activists, a few weeks before Kent State.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Reagan's body was thrown into a dumpster at the In-and-Out. Nancy had the hearse filled with champagne and rode with Frank Sinatra in it and blew him from coast to coast.

I heard this somewhere, that Nancy went down on Frank.

In that era Hollywood, if you were among the third tier washed-up sycophants like Reagan, you were pleased and proud if the Chairman of the Board picked out your wife to fluff him in the john as he waited for whatever Babe he was actually going to Fuck.

Robert Sproul says

In that era Hollywood, if you were among the third tier washed-up sycophants like Reagan, you were pleased and proud if the Chairman of the Board picked out your wife to fluff him in the john as he waited for whatever Babe he was actually going to Fuck.

Nancy and Ron met when she was a hospitality girl for the studios, who visited the stars' trailers to check up on them when they were alone and see if they needed any help.

I think that is very special, and shows a lot of concern for others on the part of Nancy.

Reagan when President would take out his hearing aids when he didn't want to field questions and just point to his ears and shake his head with a shit eating grin.

Senility also seems to be a useful trait in a sock puppet Pres, as long as he/she/it can read the monitors with grim sincerity and look at the blinking red light in the right direction.

Hillary's 10 percent loss of frontal lobes and brain matter after her stroke aren't necessarily liabilities. It has made her much more jolly in an Alfred E. Neumann kind of way.

Frank got tired of dragging Nancy around by his dick and told her to bite off. When she tried, he avoided her like a rabid dog ever after. When she appeared around Ronnie with snot and cum running out of her nose, he just gave her those twinkling eyes and that little smile of his and handed her a hankie before planting a big smooch on her lips saying, "hold the mayo next time, honey".

Frank's chapter is called "Fluffers remembered and Fluffers forgotten".

Ronnie's chapter is called, "Why did my precious Nancy have so many colds?"

Sam Giancana's chapter is called "Fluffers dismembered and Fluffers spared".

John Kennedy's is called, "I never met a Fluffer I didn't like".

Nancy is mentioned with honor in all.

Reagan warned us about lots of government and large government.

Now with the growth in the Government salaries from 1998 to 2007, and subsequent collapse of the economy, the massive loss of private sector jobs occurs and persists. Many forgot that its only only receipts from the private sector that funds the governments. Dems just forgot about progressism.

On top of this once the Bubble poppped due to Democratic driven, democratic control of Freddie, Fannie, and the push to private sector easy loans - he was right about this:

"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan" - We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Obama helped "You can keep your doctors, rates will be lower, ............ lies, lies.

"We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added." Obama proved this right. Hope and Change resulted in a doubling of people on Welfare - but dont forget vote for the Democrats because this was the Repubs fault.

Entitlemented says

Reagan warned us about lots of government and large government.

lol-Reagan grew governement spending on a scale never before seen (and only W. managed to come close to after).

Do as I say, not as I do--truly.

Entitlemented says

Reagan warned us about lots of government and large government.

As federal spending ballooned under his watch, and the deficit tripled.

The actor? Then who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?

I miss Reagan's capital gains rates being the same as ordinary income rates.

corntrollio says

Reagan's capital gains rates being the same as ordinary income rates.

What an ASSHOLE!

corntrollio says

The actor? Then who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?

I miss Reagan's capital gains rates being the same as ordinary income rates.

Yeah you know the guy, who's jock strap Obama is always riding. The left is always falling over themselves evoking his name and trying to compare their policies to his, so he must have done something right. And its funny how the most respected show on politics for the left is from a comedian on the Comedy Channel, but make a big deal about a former actor being in politics.

lakermania says

The left is always falling over themselves evoking his name and trying to compare their policies to his, so he must have done something right.

Not really sure what you're talking about or what world you live in. If you don't think the typical Republican politician doesn't name-drop Reagan quite frequently, I'm pretty sure you don't deserve being listened to.

In any case, I don't give a fuck about partisan BS, and obviously you've never seen Back to the Future, which was the real joke there -- the Jon Stewart comment seems out of "left" field.

Reagan did raise taxes quite a bit, in addition to cutting them quite a bit, because he was more of a pragmatist than the current people running his party. He also greatly increased the size of government and ran up the deficit and did other things that aren't supported by his party now, allegedly.

People still complain about the deficits of Reagan.

Here is a Congressional bipartisan report: http://www.nber.org/erp/ERP_2012_Complete.pdf

Here are the ratios of deficit to GDP for the past five presidents:

Ronald Reagan
1981-88 4.2 %
1982-89 4.2
Average 4.2

George H. W. Bush
1989-92 4.0
1990-93 4.3
Average 4.2

Bill Clinton
1993-2000 0.8
1994-2001 0.1
Average 0.5

George W. Bush
2001-08 2.0
2002-09 3.4
Average 2.7

Barack Obama
2009-12* 9.1
2010-12 8.7
Average 8.9

In summary Reagan, Clinton, Bush(s) all about the same. Obama wins by the largest margin.

My lord--that is about the most dishonest post I've seen in a long while. How about you post what the deficit (as a % of GDP) was at the beginning and end of each President's term? The average tells nothing.

I'll get you started by posting a graph. Look at the beginning and end of W.'s term and the beginning of Obama to present. How does that fit your narrative?

Here's another graph that tells the real story

On the deficit, there is the national debt, deficit spending, etc.

Cited a bipartisen report: http://www.nber.org/erp/ERP_2012_Complete.pdf

Something left out of Reagans deficit: We still had the USSR and the potential of Nuclear war. Reagan engaged a moderate Soviet leader (Gorb) and met with him, culminating in the removal of the Berlin Wall. Subsequently, many base closures, defense drawdowns ensued, so that Clinton was aided by this to balance the budget.

You left that wee little bit out about that the SDI, (Which now works) and the agreement of the end of the cold war. But hey, its easy to miss the minutia.

In your chart, its beneficial to supply the source. In god we trust - everyone else bring data.

In addition, many Democrats were writing article about how futile these talks were with Gorbo. But Reagan did not let up, he met with the Soviet leader in Iceland, Santa Barbara, and their wives became friends. Reagan had Gorbachev up to the Reagan Ranch, and its a humble home. Gorbo rode likely in the old Jeep and on the horses up there.

A year later, the moderate Gorbachev and the moderate Reagan agreed on treaties to eliminate the threat of Nuclear Anniliation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/summit/archive/dec87.htm

So much for the doubters. If it were up to the Democrats - we would still be in a cold war, the USSR would still be the USSR.

Now I await comments on:

- If Mondale would have won he would have also did the same (and he darn near won the election!)
- Even if the moderate Gorbachev had not been befriended and had detante with Reagan, Yeltsin and/or Putin would have agreed to end the cold war, because after all their more moderate that Gorbachev.

In Summary: Democrats make excuses, Republicans are progressive. Kennedy was progressive, what happened to the Democrats?

HuggyBumbers McLovkins says

Yes, we remember: the funeral(s) lasted for 8 days, including services on both coasts. The casket travelled nearly 7500 miles.

John Kennedy, by contrast, was in the ground three days after his assassination.

It was the last hurrah of an amazing institution in American history: Reagan's publicity team. And it was a chance for all of us to remember the actual person whose beliefs and record the right wing had completely rewritten for their own purposes.

If he ran today, he would not survive the first few primaries.

I had a business trip to DC. I saw the long line by the mall and I talked to some of the people who waited. People loved Reagan like he was part of their family. I talked to a person who said that they were going to make it one day, but the people kept on standing in line at midnite to see him. At midnite, this is unlikely due to publicity.

I was in the US Navy under Carter and the ships were like a Slum. Within a year of taking office, Reagan increased the maintenance on ships, and increase moral infinitely.

There are only 3 men I love, my father, Jesus, and Reagan.

Its very likely that we would not have this blog to debate on if it was not for what Reagan did, we might not have free Europe if we did not have Churchill an our landing. These are facts. Sorry if you Democrats cant contribute this much. Obama is looking like the US Chamberlin, but I pray that I am wrong.

Entitlemented says

In Summary: Democrats make excuses, Republicans are progressive. Kennedy was progressive, what happened to the Democrats?

a good question.

Entitlemented says

So much for the doubters. If it were up to the Democrats - we would still be in a cold war, the USSR would still be the USSR.

Nice sounding theories that reagan spent the soviet union into bankruptcy.Too bad it's simply not true. The soviet economy was falling flat on it's face by the time Reagan took office. Decades of mismanagement came to a head pretty much all at once. Plus the cost of the Afganistan war. Plus saudi arabia stopped protecting oil prices and collapsed the price of crude in 1985 costing the soviet union 20 billion a year that they made up by borrowing until in 1989 when no would would extend them credit any more. The soviets simply ran out of money in 1989 to stave off the collapse.

There is no evidence that the soviets increased military spending to match reagans increases. Gorbachev took office and implemented glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring"), demokratizatsiya ("democratization"), and uskoreniye ("acceleration" of economic development), before meeting with reagan. These polices are what let the lid blow off of all the problems and led to the breakup.

The 20 years of Reagan/Bush/Bush destroyed this country as a going concern.

Aside from the Big Debt ran up on their watches, Reagan and "W" were able to bullshit a lot of people, and their negative legacies live on.

Chief Justice Burger was replaced with Scalia, Marshall with some shithead, O'Connor with Alito, and that was the end of that.

Of course, neither Reagan nor the Bushes are 'true conservates' any more.

Conservatism cannot fail, it can only be failed.

It's not that our problems aren't fixable, they are easily fixable. The problem is the rise of conservatism and its belief in various dogmatic bullshit as valid approaches of problem solving.

This site is teeming with self-described conservative espousers of the BS now, and none of them have the slightest idea what's actually wrong here nor what needs to be done to fix things.

Their prescriptions are precisely what is wrong!

And this is why we're fucked.

Entitlemented says

On the deficit, there is the national debt, deficit spending, etc.

No kidding. I posted the data for budget deficit as a % of GDP. Debt is different than the deficit. I expect you know the difference.

Entitlemented says

Something left out of Reagans deficit: We still had the USSR and the potential of Nuclear war. Reagan engaged a moderate Soviet leader (Gorb) and met with him, culminating in the removal of the Berlin Wall. Subsequently, many base closures, defense drawdowns ensued, so that Clinton was aided by this to balance the budget.

You left that wee little bit out about that the SDI, (Which now works) and the agreement of the end of the cold war. But hey, its easy to miss the minutia.

I didn't leave anything out. There's always something going on--are you seriously going to say a deficit due to SDI is OK? I'm not missing anything. YOU were trying to make some sort of point about deficits. I simply showed you how utterly and completely misguided you are.

Bellingham Bill says

Their prescriptions are precisely what is wrong!

And yours?

bob2356 says

Nice sounding theories that reagan spent the soviet union into bankruptcy.Too bad it's simply not true. The soviet economy was falling flat on it's face by the time Reagan took office. Decades of mismanagement came to a head pretty much all at once. Plus the cost of the Afganistan war. Plus saudi arabia stopped protecting oil prices and collapsed the price of crude in 1985 costing the soviet union 20 billion a year that they made up by borrowing until in 1989 when no would would extend them credit any more. The soviets simply ran out of money in 1989 to stave off the collapse.

Democrats excuse N: Gorbachev, was going to bring down the Berlin wall - he was just fixin' to do it.

However facts stand in the way.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/summit/archive/june88.htm

In a surprise development, Gorbachev disclosed that he had tried and failed to persuade Reagan to approve a joint declaration endorsing "peaceful coexistence" and renouncing the use of force to resolve disputes.

Gorbachev handed the proposed statement to Reagan in their first meeting in the Kremlin Sunday night without advance notice, according to U.S. sources. "I liked the whole tone of it," Reagan said today, but he added that his advisers found "certain ambiguities" in it.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz and other advisers reacted negatively to the proposed declaration. A U.S. official called it "ambiguous, freighted with the baggage of the past," and too close for comfort to Soviet-American principles of relations negotiated in the early 1970s that collapsed with the demise of what was called then an era of detente.

"Peaceful coexistence" was a propagandistic Soviet term of the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. official complained. Ruling out resolution of problems "by military means" as proposed by Gorbachev might undercut U.S. military budgets, and accepting "noninterference in internal affairs" might undercut U.S. appeals for improvements in the Soviet human rights record, the official added.

A watered-down statement was composed by senior diplomats on both sides Monday night, saying that the expanding U.S.-Soviet dialogue is "an increasingly effective means" of resolving disputes. But an unhappy Gorbachev returned to the issue this morning in a final -- and futile -- personal plea to Reagan in their final working session.

Bellingham Bill says

The 20 years of Reagan/Bush/Bush destroyed this country as a going concern.

20-30 Million Americans went back to work under Reagan..
where was Carter ? Where would places like Silicon Valley be without
Reagan ? I doubt we go far and see all the benefits you see today.

So what was the great Carter/Mondale/Kennedy or any other Democratic plan
which was better... what was their economic plan some 30 years ago ? Tell us ?

Reagan isn't dead, he's just resting. BRB!