President Reagan 1911-2004

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 73
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,561member
    I never understood this business about RR making America feel proud again. I lived through that time and voted against Reagan both times. That sentiment of making America proud characterizes his presidency, more style than substance. On the plus side he seemed to have a knack for rousing the crowds and saber rattling and making powerful speeches (written by others) that captured peoples imagination. In reality his administration was bad for the US.



    In spite of all his talk about taxation I think that while he cut taxes early he later raised taxes every year after to try to counter the giant debt he saddled the country with. This was mentioned recently by one of the Republicans in congress.



    In spite of all his talk about how he loved America he sharply cut investment in America. Reagan's regime was the noted for trying to count ketchup as a vegetable in school lunches. James Watt, his secretary of the Interior, was known for saying that it was not important to care for the environment as the second coming would occur soon (I'm paraphrasing).



    I'm not sure it was a record but I recall that a large fraction of his administration were convicted of felonies. Some convictions were overturned later. Reagan also worked to overthrow the elected government in Nicaragua. Ollie North (on RR's staff) with others worked up plans to suspend the constitution in case of "emergencies". If congress at the time had had more backbone RR would have been impeached.



    I don't think he was personally involved but he let a lot of bad things happen on his watch. His management style was to be very disengaged. His own staff used to comment on how he would fall asleep during meetings. During a televised meeting with the pope they saw him getting drowsy. They were rooting for him to "win one for the napper". I'm not sure it is his doing but RR's administration was the start of the very divisive polarization of the right and left in American politics.
  • Reply 22 of 73
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Existence

    It's too bad he didnt suffer with Alzheimer's (you don't realize you're suffering) like the thousands he murdered and the millions he caused suffering. It would have been certainly more ironic if he had died of AIDS instead of Alzheimer's because of how long he blew off the AIDS research funding. Or better yet, lung cancer, considering his worthless environmental policies thinking trees were a major contributor to pollution.



    You are a hateful person for posting this. Unfortunately, no one can stop you from thinking such idiocy.
  • Reply 23 of 73
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by neutrino23

    I never understood this business about RR making America feel proud again. I lived through that time and voted against Reagan both times. That sentiment of making America proud characterizes his presidency, more style than substance. On the plus side he seemed to have a knack for rousing the crowds and saber rattling and making powerful speeches (written by others) that captured peoples imagination. In reality his administration was bad for the US.



    In spite of all his talk about taxation I think that while he cut taxes early he later raised taxes every year after to try to counter the giant debt he saddled the country with. This was mentioned recently by one of the Republicans in congress.



    In spite of all his talk about how he loved America he sharply cut investment in America. Reagan's regime was the noted for trying to count ketchup as a vegetable in school lunches. James Watt, his secretary of the Interior, was known for saying that it was not important to care for the environment as the second coming would occur soon (I'm paraphrasing).



    I'm not sure it was a record but I recall that a large fraction of his administration were convicted of felonies. Some convictions were overturned later. Reagan also worked to overthrow the elected government in Nicaragua. Ollie North (on RR's staff) with others worked up plans to suspend the constitution in case of "emergencies". If congress at the time had had more backbone RR would have been impeached.



    I don't think he was personally involved but he let a lot of bad things happen on his watch. His management style was to be very disengaged. His own staff used to comment on how he would fall asleep during meetings. During a televised meeting with the pope they saw him getting drowsy. They were rooting for him to "win one for the napper". I'm not sure it is his doing but RR's administration was the start of the very divisive polarization of the right and left in American politics.




  • Reply 24 of 73
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    Originally posted by SDW2001:











  • Reply 25 of 73
    danmacmandanmacman Posts: 773member




    Lets get this face on Mt. Rushmore.





    ====

    Dan
  • Reply 26 of 73
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member




    New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued a statement which read: "President Reagan brought back grace, strength and class to the American presidency. He restored the nation's pride at a time when our collective spirits were low. He was especially popular in New Mexico, where his cowboy grace and strength played very well. I want to personally join with all New Mexicans, and the entire nation in offering our sincere condolences and prayers to Nancy and his family."







    /madefunandbashedhimallthetimeinthe80s
  • Reply 27 of 73
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin"



    -Ronald Reagan



    Good one Gipper...he had them sometimes...RIP



    /coolquotehonestly



  • Reply 28 of 73
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,561member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DanMacMan



    Lets get this face on Mt. Rushmore.



    ====

    Dan






    ummm... no, let's not. I understand that some part of the population really likes Reagan and perhaps that is really his greatest legacy. Lot's of people liked him. It was a lot of "hurray for our side". But he just didn't accomplish enough and he had a lot of strong negatives (environment, economy, near impeachment on Iran-Contra, and more). He didn't earn a national monument. He certainly deserves a partisan, private monument of some sort.
  • Reply 29 of 73
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fahlman

    No matter you which party you side with you can not deny that President Regan played a vital roll in the world's history. During his presidency the Berlin wall fell as did the USSR.



    President Reagan played a role in world history, but it's entirely debatable whether that role was vital. I'm not sure I would go that far when most describe him as an affable dumbass. Still, it's sad when anyone dies. He lived a long and prosperous life my most standards. I just wish he would have acknowledged the AIDS pandemic sooner and not stifled AIDS research funding-- which ended up indirectly killing tens of thousands of early victims.
  • Reply 30 of 73
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    What an angry bunch of people in here.
  • Reply 31 of 73
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Artman @_@

    "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin"



    -Ronald Reagan



    Good one Gipper...he had them sometimes...RIP



    /coolquotehonestly







    That is a good one.



    It pains me to see people wish pain on anyone . . . even if they feel that that person was responsible for much pain . . . and even if they are right in feeling that . . . . I still think it is innapropriate.



    This will make my dad feel sad, and for that I feel sad . . . they are the same generation, and my dad idolized the man, they corresponded and my dad has hand written letters from him . . . it probably makes my dad feel much older . . .well, he is OLD anyway . . .
  • Reply 32 of 73
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Ronald Reagan died yesterday at the age of 93. He was suffering of an Alzeihemer disease.



    He was an important figure of post WW2. He had a great impact on USA (diversely appreciated) and the world, and contribute to the end of the cold war. He was very confident in himself, and put him above the parties, even rallying some democrats.



    RIP.
  • Reply 33 of 73
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    What an angry bunch of people in here.



    People are justified to feel angry over his policies (especially the friends and families of early victims of the AIDS pandemic.) But I don't support Existence's wish for Reagan to have suffered in death. That seems callous and hypocritical to me.
  • Reply 34 of 73
    /mandolux//mandolux/ Posts: 648member
    For those of you with 'good thoughts' about Mr. Reagan, you don't care about Iran/Contra, Death Squads, Deinstitutionalization, Echelon, AIDS, Nancy's Control?
  • Reply 35 of 73
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by /mandolux/

    For those of you with 'good thoughts' about Mr. Reagan, you don't care about Iran/Contra, Death Squads, Deinstitutionalization, Echelon, AIDS, Nancy's Control?



    Nope.
  • Reply 36 of 73
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Hi
  • Reply 37 of 73
    maxparrishmaxparrish Posts: 840member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eugene

    Nope.



    I did not expect the death of Reagan to leave me with such a feeling of loss. The deaths of Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon (a fellow I 'worked' for) were sad, but they were not events that elicited personal grief or excessive reflection. Ronald Reagan's passing has been different.



    For those of us who experienced the spiritual (and economic) dark ages the 1970's he reignited a national confidence and provided inspired vision of national purpose. Like Franklin Roosevelt, he found his own politics rooted in his "Americanism" - a seamless and positive vision of the seeing American common man, individualism, freedom, and national destiny as indistinguishable from (in Reagan's case) conservative ideology.



    His critics then (and now) found his broad appeal mystifying. Before Reagan, conservatives were thought of as upper class "puritans", big businessmen, and the established rich, the old classes of social and/or economic betters. Reagan changed that, due in no small part to his own history as a new deal democrat from a small town in Illinois.



    Of course, Reagan was helped by a crisis in liberalism. During the previous two decades, violent crime relentlessly increased, the cities were afflicted with intractable blight, numerous Great Society government programs were viewed as scams or hopeless (e.g. model cities, urban renewal), secondary education was failing, taxs increasing, and government handouts were viewed as prolific. Vietnam, the oil crisis, the counter-culture, 20% interest rates, and 7% unemployment - a decade of stagflation, and a growing Soviet power - all laid fertile ground for Reagan's new politics.



    None the less, it was Reagan that helped usher in a transformation in American political identity: a view that conservatism was visionary while liberalism was exhausted, elitist, and reactionary. Under Reagan "the common man" of FDR's old political alliances began to think he had a lot more 'in common' with the growing middle and upper classes of Republicans, than with the gaggle of special interests in unions, government employees, academics, welfare recipients, and African-American minorities. The traditionally democratic Baptist social conservative of the South now saw new commonality with democratic family conservatives of the north (e.g. Catholic working classes) as well as the western individualist Republican conservatives California.



    Most importantly, Reagan recast ideology from defense of anti-liberal interests to one of almost messianic American exceptionalism: the concept of America's spiritual purpose as providential - "a new world for new men" whose reason for being was "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". America to Reagan was freedom...freedom from government, from high taxes, from a redistribution of wealth from it?s the majority ? it was a promise to fulfill the old dreams of unhindered economic growth from a free market and a resolute defense of American national interests abroad.



    He believed it, and he helped us to believe it.
  • Reply 38 of 73
    sammi josammi jo Posts: 4,634member
    Sympathies to Nancy. Alzheimers is a vicious, cruel disease.



    The endless eulogies are cloying, one-sided and inaccurate.

    During his tenure there were times he was not popular: In January 1983 his approval rate was under 35%.



    What won't be mentioned during the commentary, amongst many ignominious "achievements":



    He landed the country in a $3 trillion debt, supported the insane and scientifically unworkable "Strategic Defense Initiative",



    He fired the air traffic controllers and then had a major national airport named after him.



    He had an obsession against renewable (or non-fossil fuel) energy sources. One of the first things he did on entering the White House was to rip out the solar heating panels that president Carter had installed on the White House roof, on national television.



    He just happened to be fortunate enough to be the president when the inevitable implosion of the eastern bloc started....and of course got the credit for it.....one of the grossest historical oversimplifications ever.



    The biggest financial crime (the S&L scandal) in US history happened during his presidency. When those few S&L officials who took the rap went to jail, their sentences were typically one-fifth that of the average bank robber.



    Ronald Reagan presided for eight years of death, destruction, torture and the crushing of hope inflicted upon the people of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Grenada by his policies, and the Iran Contra crimes, for which nobody was prosecuted. Surprise, surprise; and for his bombings of Lebanon, Libya and Iran.

    Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State under Reagan, for rewriting history, even as it was happening, by instituting Iying as public policy. He was indispensable to putting the best possible face on the atrocities being committed daily by the Contras in Nicaragua and other Washington allies in Central America, thus promoting continued support for them; a spinmeister for the ages, who wrestled facts into ideological submission. "When history is written," he declared "the Contras will be folk heroes." Ollie North, one of the war criminals in this debacle is now on the lecture circuit drawing $10,000 a pop when he should be in jail for mass murder.



    He was president during the biggest stockmarket crash (October 1987), when billions were wiped off peoples' net worth, the middle class naturally taking the hit.



    He was president during the time the US supported the brutal regime of Iraq's SADDAM HUSSEIN . His policies included wholesale arms and $$ support the fundamentalist mujahdeen regime in Afghanistan that ultimately gave rise to the Taliban and Osama bin Ladens' Al Qaeda. He called them "magnificent freedom fighters" (!)



    Reagan was a fine president for the ultra wealthy of the world, but for regular US people, forget it.



    The most fitting eulogy of all: A vinyl record was released during his presidency called :"The wit and wisdom of Ronald Reagan". It was silent.

    http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/pages/carboot2a.htm



    On a positive note: I guess that the practise of dissing Hollywood personalites that get political will cease for awhile.



    I have nothing against Reagan the person. But his policies were destructive, divisive, elitist, anti-people, and ultimately anti-American. Just like Bush junior.
  • Reply 39 of 73
    7e77e7 Posts: 146member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Existence

    It's too bad he didnt suffer with Alzheimer's (you don't realize you're suffering) like the thousands he murdered and the millions he caused suffering. It would have been certainly more ironic if he had died of AIDS instead of Alzheimer's because of how long he blew off the AIDS research funding. Or better yet, lung cancer, considering his worthless environmental policies thinking trees were a major contributor to pollution.



    Don't put all the blame on him. It is not solely up to the U.S. Government to fund cures for diseases. The private sector can just as easily step up to the plate and pay for the research effort to find a cure for AIDS. There are a lot of other diseases out there that kill people - cancer being one of the more notable ones. Who should we blame for that?



    I find it inappropriate for people like you to be that insensitive towards somebody who loved this country very much and served it with dignity. He was popular for so many reasons and he will be missed.
  • Reply 40 of 73
    7e77e7 Posts: 146member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Artman @_@

    Yes, it's a terrible disease. My father had Parkinson's and though the symptoms are different...it can be a long and drawn out ordeal. Rest easy cowboy. In many ways he was a genuine American. But he fostered the people and ideology we have today (and their offspring) in office..and that really sucks.



    With that over with...







    /fuckhim







    Just knowing that he pissed people like you off so much makes him that much of a greater hero in my eyes...



    He was truly a great American and he will be missed.
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