Five myths about Reagan

[SpeedRacer 1]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403104.html

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[davjohns 1]

He once fought Chuck Norris to a draw.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[airdvr 210]

He really does alot of damage to the left. Even posthumously they are still battling his identity. Funny how difficult it is for the left to find the same type of role model.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[kallend 2,135]

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Funny how difficult it is for the left to find the same type of role model.

Some role model:

"Ultimately, Reagan signed measures that increased federal taxes every year of his two-term presidency except the first and the last. These included a higher gasoline levy, a 1986 tax reform deal that included the largest corporate tax increase in American history, and a substantial raise in payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal to keep Social Security solvent. While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan's tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in."

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[mnealtx 0]

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Even posthumously they are still battling his identity.

Just like the post directly below yours...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Amazon 7]

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Funny how difficult it is for the left to find the same type of role model.

Some role model:

"Ultimately, Reagan signed measures that increased federal taxes every year of his two-term presidency except the first and the last. These included a higher gasoline levy, a 1986 tax reform deal that included the largest corporate tax increase in American history, and a substantial raise in payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal to keep Social Security solvent. While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan's tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in."

Hey the masochistic kinkmeisters on the fringe right STILL dig those tasty little trickle down showers...

[airdvr 210]

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Funny how difficult it is for the left to find the same type of role model.

Some role model:

"Ultimately, Reagan signed measures that increased federal taxes every year of his two-term presidency except the first and the last. These included a higher gasoline levy, a 1986 tax reform deal that included the largest corporate tax increase in American history, and a substantial raise in payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal to keep Social Security solvent. While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan's tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in."

Hey the masochistic kinkmeisters on the fringe right STILL dig those tasty little trickle down showers...

I think it's hilarious that you will denegrate a man who basically did the things you are saying need to happen. He really does scare you.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[SpeedRacer 1]

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He once fought Chuck Norris to a draw.

And he single-handedly brought down the Soviet Union by beating Gorbachev in an arm-wrestling match.

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[kallend 2,135]

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He once fought Chuck Norris to a draw.

And he single-handedly brought down the Soviet Union by beating Gorbachev in an arm-wrestling match.

No, you're thinking of Medusa Margaret Thatcher. Gorby turned to stone when he looked at her.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,135]

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Funny how difficult it is for the left to find the same type of role model.

Some role model:

"Ultimately, Reagan signed measures that increased federal taxes every year of his two-term presidency except the first and the last. These included a higher gasoline levy, a 1986 tax reform deal that included the largest corporate tax increase in American history, and a substantial raise in payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal to keep Social Security solvent. While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan's tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in."

Hey the masochistic kinkmeisters on the fringe right STILL dig those tasty little trickle down showers...

I think it's hilarious that you will denegrate a man who basically did the things you are saying need to happen. He really does scare you.

When did Amazon say that wealthy Americans need to pay less tax?

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ryoder 1,590]

And he really kicked Chernenko's ass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOQUnvI3CA

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[popsjumper 2]

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He once fought Chuck Norris to a draw.

He had a fetish for big boobies.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[kelpdiver 2]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403104.html

couldn't understand why some wanted to remember Reagan's 100th birthday - if you're dead, you don't have birthdays.

And that seemed to spawn this spiteful opinion piece as well.

[davjohns 1]

Pipe down! I get Monday off because of Washington's Birthday.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[davjohns 1]

I question the one about his popularity. Quick research yielded this.

"That November, Reagan was re-elected, winning 49 of 50 states.[174] The president's landslide victory saw Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota (by 3800 votes) and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes, the most of any candidate in United States history,[175] and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.[174]"

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[SpeedRacer 1]

Reagan's shtick during his campaign speeches was how the Federal government is too big and spends too much.

Then he got into office and broke all previous records for big government spending.


I guess that Newsweek article comparing similarities between Reagan and Obama was right. Both made great speeches & promises to change things, and then got into office and didn't do it.


Isn't it great when the guy you voted for wins the election? You just can't wait for him to get into office so he can start fulfilling his campaign promises!!

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[kelpdiver 2]

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I question the one about his popularity. Quick research yielded this.

oh, it was accurate, if you accept the methodology. They averaged the results, so his average was dragged down by the bad economy in 81, 82. If you look at most indicators, the economy in 84 looked very much like when he took office.

Obama is hoping to follow the same pattern, but it won't be as easy.

[Andy9o8 2]

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I question the one about his popularity. Quick research yielded this.

"That November, Reagan was re-elected, winning 49 of 50 states.[174] The president's landslide victory saw Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota (by 3800 votes) and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes, the most of any candidate in United States history,[175] and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.[174]"

Let's lend that a bit of perspective:

In 1972, Nixon was re-elected by 61% of the popular vote to McGovern's 37%. Nixon also won 49 of 50 states; the only state McGovern won was Massachusetts, for a mere 2 electoral votes; he even lost his home state of South Dakota.

So how'd that work out for the country?

[davjohns 1]

Fair point. But I think Tricky Dicky was considered a great president until the tragic end. History has not been kind to him and maybe it shouldn't be. But he was still popular...like Reagan appears to have been.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Fair point. But I think Tricky Dicky was considered a great president until the tragic end. History has not been kind to him and maybe it shouldn't be. But he was still popular...like Reagan appears to have been.

I don't know your age, but I'm old enough to remember having Nixon as president. He was never "popular", not in the Reagan sense; he was just accepted by conservatives as one of them in '68 when everyone was exhausted with Johnson and Vietnam and civil rights and hippies and The Three Assassinations; and as a saner alternative to the (perceived) train wreck of McGovern in '72. Reagan was and still is widely loved by his staunch supporters; while I doubt anyone ever truly loved Richard Nixon who was not one of his next of kin.

Personally, as political history dweeb, I think Nixon was a very capable president. He had a very high intellect, was a good politician (usually), worked with the opposition-controlled Congress pretty well, and was a good administrative manager - an exceedingly rare combination among presidents through US history. But his personality could be a black hole of darkness. Friendless, odd to the point of weird, paranoid, insecure, vindictive... it would prove to be his undoing in the end.

[kelpdiver 2]

Nixon's statute seemed to shoot up in the 90s, for reasons that escape me.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Nixon's stature seemed to shoot up in the 90s, for reasons that escape me.

I remember why. It's because by then, enough time had passed since his resignation (about 20 years) that he managed (with great and largely successful effort) to rehabilitate and re-invent himself as a thoughtful and respected author, lecturer and senior statesman.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Nixon's stature seemed to shoot up in the 90s, for reasons that escape me.

I remember why. It's because by then, enough time had passed since his resignation (about 20 years) that he managed (with great and largely successful effort) to rehabilitate and re-invent himself as a thoughtful and respected author, lecturer and senior statesman.

that is the storyline, but for me, doesn't quite explain "why." Other than people are idiots.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Nixon's stature seemed to shoot up in the 90s, for reasons that escape me.

I remember why. It's because by then, enough time had passed since his resignation (about 20 years) that he managed (with great and largely successful effort) to rehabilitate and re-invent himself as a thoughtful and respected author, lecturer and senior statesman.

that is the storyline, but for me, doesn't quite explain "why." Other than people are idiots.

Well then I guess people are idiots. See, during his presidency, and then in the first several years following his resignation (and we were all exhausted by Watergate by then),
Nixon was so reviled by people who weren't very conservative Republicans that it was socially unacceptable for people to acknowledge the capable side of him, or his foreign policy accomplishments, like re-establishing relations with China and detente with the Soviet Union, etc. So after a cooling-off period of about 10 years, Nixon started writing several very good, scholarly books and many articles about government and foreign policy, giving lectures at colleges, etc. Eventually the old memories of the 60s and 70s faded, and were replaced with the new incarnation. People didn't forget; but after a while, they were more or less willing to forgive (sort of).

It's not a unique example. The historical memories of people are not very long, in the long run. Harry Truman was widely thought of as an incompetent buffoon ("To err is Truman") by 1952, when his popularity rating was in the sewer, which is largely why he chose not to run for re-election then. To the people who wildly embraced Eisenhower as president, Truman had been one of the worst presidents in history. And yet I remember that by the mid-70s, Truman's reputation had been rehabilitated by historians; there was even a one-man show about him which was famously attended by then-President Ford. Today, McCullough's biography "Truman" is a longtime best-seller, and some historians rank him as roughly our 5th-best president. I don't necessarily agree with that last assessment, but it illustrates the point.

[quade 4]

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Nixon's stature seemed to shoot up in the 90s, for reasons that escape me.

I remember why. It's because by then, enough time had passed since his resignation (about 20 years) that he managed (with great and largely successful effort) to rehabilitate and re-invent himself as a thoughtful and respected author, lecturer and senior statesman.

that is the storyline, but for me, doesn't quite explain "why." Other than people are idiots.

Because Nixon, like Carter, was a better ex-President than President.

Nixon was a statesman on the international stage. Even though he was disliked by Americans, he was respected by leaders of other countries. Nixon, went to China. That doesn't sound like much nowadays, but at the time it was monumental.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver