Clint Eastwood: Reagan wasn't a 'great president'

The Headline was just a fabricated lie

And yet contained a lot of truth.

I have to agree, it's a little weird for that to be the headline. A bit dirty.

The point of the article was that they were asking him as a republican, which is why Obama's name wouldn't really matter.

>>>>>> The Headline was just a fabricated lie

And yet contained a lot of truth.

If you like your truth warped by the media and your into slurping their Kool-aid. :-)

Yeah, the headline may have been misleading, but so what. Isn't it strange that when you utilize the methods of deception that the Republicans display on a regular basis and apply it to our side, then the conservatives are able to "see-through" the misrepresentation quite clearly. But, if you point out the myriad of examples of their side employing these methods.....stone cold silence followed by charges that you're anti-American.

Clint Eastwood: Reagan wasn't a 'great president'.....

.....He was among THE greatest!

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

Awesome!

I'm not saying when anyone does it it's okay or isn't okay. But I'm not 11 years old and I'm not playing "But they did it too"!

If it's wrong for them, it's wrong for us. The end.

The Reagan Myth. He was not really a President. He was a suit. He was given his lines and he delivered them. When he was first elected he was in early dementia. Reagan had to be briefed by spoon feeding him movies depicting reality.

He slept through national security meetings. When the meetings were over he was told what to sign off on. The "...tear down this wall" myth is the one that NO European believes. Especially, since it was said two years before it was torn down. Also, every president before him wanted the wall to be removed. Pope John Paul, Polish labor movement, and West Germany bailing out the bankrupt East Germans brought down the wall.

Iran-Contra, the S&L scandalous collapse, de-funding mental health, refusing to address the AIDS epidemic, a ridiculous arms race(President Ray-Gun) on and on. That is the Reagan Reality and we suffer from it daily.

Even today American Right Wing lives in phony Hollywood cowboy persona of Reagan. He was never a cowboy. He was never a tough guy. He was an actor. He just read the lines and played the part. When he held the office of President again he just read his lines and played. the part.

Now everywhere I look I am reminded of this Right Wing phony myth: Airports, High Schools, Highways, Aircraft Carriers, and nauseatingly I have to hear some idiot claiming to be a "Reagan Republican".

Greenwood10

Clint Eastwood: Reagan wasn't a 'great president'.....

.....He was among THE greatest!

reagan was a piece of fascist crap as governor of california

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

Ronald Reagan Calls In National Guard-UC-Berkley-1969

http://www.blackcommentator.com/94/94_wise_reagan.html

Or that as Governor of California, Reagan dismissed the struggle for fair and open housing, by saying that blacks were just “making trouble” and had no intention of moving into mostly white neighborhoods

and as president.

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/01/ronald-reagan-was-no-friend-to-blacks.php

During their eight years in the White House, Reagan and his appointees waged a well-documented, highly public war against civil rights leaders and did everything in their political power to roll back civil rights gains. That war began months before Reagan entered the White House. At his infamous presidential kick-off campaign rally at Neshoba, Miss., in 1980, held virtually a stone’s throw from where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964, Reagan shouted to an all-white crowd: “I believe in states’ rights.” He laced that speech—and many others during his campaign—with racial code words and phrases, blasting welfare, big government, and rampant federal spending. The message was that if elected, he would not only say and do as little as possible to offend the white South, he would work to actively undermine civil rights.

Another campaign target was the Voting Rights Act of 1964, which he branded as "humiliating to the South." The implication was that he would not support an extension of the Act when it came up for renewal in 1982—a position he backed away from only in the face of strong opposition from congressional Democrats (and many Republicans).

At his first White House press conference, the week after his inauguration, Reagan lashed out at affirmative action programs, telling reporters, "I'm old enough to remember when quotas existed in the United States for purposes of discrimination, and I don't want to see that again." The checklist of Reagan anti–civil rights and anti-black initiatives soon grew as thick as a telephone book. The president gutted the Civil Rights Commission, slashed and burned an array of federally funded job and training programs, and trashed welfare recipients as “queens.” He stacked the federal judiciary with strict-constructionist, states’- rights judges; approved a wave of Justice Department indictments and prosecutions of black elected officials; and dragged his feet on imposing Congressionally mandated sanctions on apartheid South Africa. That he repeatedly mocked civil rights leaders almost goes without saying.

The Reagan attacks were so intense that the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights was moved to issue a lengthy 1982 report that meticulously documented the measures taken by his Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to stymie and obstruct enforcement of civil rights laws. Then there was Reagan’s dogged prodding of the IRS to reverse course and grant a tax exemption to all-white Bob Jones University in South Carolina in 1982. Only after a firestorm of congressional and public outrage at his naked attempt to prop up a blatantly segregated institution did Reagan back down

he was a hateful bigot who left america in a deficit when his administration ended. he gutted social programs

http://www.blackcommentator.com/94/94_wise_reagan.html

Maybe they have burned in their memories the way Reagan attacked welfare programs with stories of “strapping young bucks” buying T-Bone steaks, while hardworking taxpayers could only afford hamburger, or how Reagan fabricated a story about a “welfare queen” from Chicago with 80 names, 30 addresses, and 12 Social Security cards, receiving over $150,000 in tax-free income. That Reagan picked Chicago as the site of this entirely fictional woman, and not some mostly white rural area where there were plenty of welfare recipients too, was hardly lost on African Americans

Perhaps black folks and other people of color remember the words of former Reagan Education Secretary Terrell Bell, who noted in his memoir how racial slurs were common among the “Great Communicator’s” White House staffers, including common references to Martin Lucifer Coon, and “sand @!$%#s.”

Perhaps they recall that Reagan supported tax exemptions for schools that discriminated openly against blacks.

Perhaps they recall how his Administration cut funds for community health centers by 18 percent, denying three-quarters-of-a-million people access to services; how they cut federal housing assistance by two-thirds, resulting in the loss of about 200,000 affordable units for renters in urban areas.

Or how Reagan opposed sanctions against the racist South African regime, and even denied that apartheid, under which system blacks could not vote, was racist, noting that its policies were “more tribal than racial.”

there is so much to write about the great tax raising fraud. the unsaintly saint ronald wilson reagan. the criminal (iran-contra) the right wants to deify.

#2.5

Sorry, but a youtube clip of Reagan joking about being a democrat (in the past) is hardly a basis for the statement ".....He was among THE greatest!".

Lee B

My sentiments exactly.

I rate Reagan as in the Top 40 of all US presidents.....he made this week's countdown, now keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!

there is so much to write about the great tax raising fraud. the unsaintly saint ronald wilson reagan. the criminal (iran-contra) the right wants to deify.

When you take into account all of the other things that you listed KMS, that is exactly the scenario that the r/tp/cons want to take the country back to. No thanks. I lived through it once and in no way shape or form does it deserve an encore performance.

We are supposed to be trying to advance the country, not go back to a more evil and misguided time that constituted the reagan mania era. Clint should have said that not only was he NOT good, but that he was one of the more ignorant and racist presidents since before the time of Lincoln. Anyone who believes that reagans lies and damage to a large percentage of the population of this country was a good thing, sure don't appear to having many redeeming qualities to base that belief on.

when interviewed and asked about which influences made the most impact on avg russians, opening up a generation who would tear the wall down, gorbechov, putin and medewhosit all said, the beatles. on film, directly quoted. wanna link? find it yourself if you dare. not gonna go thru the trouble for peeps who live in altered states(red) of reality. at least when i drink the koolaid, i know its only a trip that will end with me coming down.

.....He was among THE greatest!

Reagan sucked ass as President. Growing up under his regime, I thought he was a fumbling, doofus clown.

His list of accomplishments is pretty short. He did manage to propagate the HIV virus quite widely during his term in office, by ignoring a looming health crisis out of bigotry, and he also happened to be in office before the Berlin Wall fell but he had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Oh, and he was President for the initial phases of the not-very-impressive Space Shuttle program, including the horrific Challenger disaster that pretty much ensured it would be a short-lived and expensive boondoggle.

Also, Reagan oversaw the largest expansion of the federal deficit since World War II, with no active war in progress, the most absurd expansion of defense spending. He oversaw the ignition of the "Greed is Good" era of our economic policy, which has directly resulted in the massive OWS backlash that is taking place today.

He believed in a completely discredited economic theory, supply-side, which has accomplished nothing but the hollowing-out of the once robust American middle class, the near-death of our manufacturing industries, the massive upwards transfer of wealth to the feckless, useless 1%.

Under Reagan, American progress came to a complete halt. I could tell this from my early teenage years that the momentum and growth of our nation was being rapidly diverted to the superficial needs of the superificial class, and it accelerated through the Bush I administrations, was briefly held in check by Clinton (though Clinton's third-way-isms often didn't help at all) and roared out of control under Bush the Lesser.

Reagan was also the template for the GOP's @!$%#-HEAD-STUPID Presidential candidates, leading directly from himself to Bush the Lesser to Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum. Empty-suit morons without any real knowledge or experience, cult-of-personality leaders who have to be endlessly and breathlessly fluffed in the media in order to appear credible at all to the public. Reagan also ended the Fairness Doctrine in media, resulting in the creation of whole networks such as Fox News devoted to pumping out nothing but fairy tales and propaganda.

Reagan sucked ass as President. He was a failure as a human being, as a man, as a President, as an actor . . . he failed at everything he ever did. He was a mediocre, talentless hack who was willing to do anything, and the 1% needed a tool, so they chose him. Anyone could have done it with a modest ability to memorize lines and catchphrases.

I also forgot that Reagan was very responsible for the creation of Al-Queda and Osama bin Laden, who in the 1980's was our tool against the Soviets in Afghanistan. So, the path to the horrific 9-11 attacks starts at Reagan's clown-shoed feet. Thanks, @!$%#. Nice job!

One more thing: Reagan's administration, under his direction (and either with his criminal knowledge or with his incompetent ignorance) sold weapons to the Iranian government. Reagan effectively fluffed up the Iranian extremists to make a buck. Nice job again, @!$%#!

KMS, you have to remember that they rewrite our history books, just like everyone else does. Reagan was an *(@#!! and caused a lot of problems for the general blue collar workers. Teachers are given books that tout to the US students who the government wants them to believe in and what they are supposed to believe about the presidents. There is so much wrong with what is being taught because they want them to think that Republicans are better than Democrats. The fact is neither is great. Reagan also helped to break up unions. I think the students of today should be required to interview people in different socioeconomic levels that actually lived through that presidency. They will find the rich thought he was great and many of the rest did not.

Reagan was terrible. His alzheimers was kicking in way before anyone knew. And his sheep followed him blindly. Trickle down sucked and the GOP still think it works. The Middle class suffered and the poor were forgotten altogether under Reaganomics.

i read and agree with all of you. the "reagan was the greatest or amoung the greatest presidents" also refuse to remember that the reagan administration was a revolving door from the white house to the jail house for a large number of people in his administration.

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

Ronald Reagan's Criminal Administration

"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."
from p. 184,Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years, by Haynes Johnson, (1991, Doubleday), as are the examples below:

the list of 138 members of reagan's administration who were prosecuted is in this link

then there was the iran-contra affair

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0825447.html

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html

and the associated reagan inspired, cia carried out flooding of crack cocaine in the inner cities to fund the contras. read this from california state university northridge

http://www.csun.edu/~hfspc002/news/cia.drug.html

read gary webb's book, "dark alliance". here he is on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6dHqP9wc3k

and here are excerpts from the book

http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance/drugs/start.htm

Backers of CIA-led Nicaraguan rebels brought cocaine to poor L.A. neighborhoods in early '80s to help finance war -- and a plague was born.
Published: Aug. 18, 1996

there was the savings and loan fiasco

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6233

February 7, 2011

Reagan Made S&L Crisis Vastly Worse

William K. Black: Reagan obstructed prosecutions against a wave of fraud

reagan was simply awful as president.

his out-of-the-gate economic policies weren't terrible, but beyond the first couple years he was pretty sloppy at best, degrading to criminal...

A typical republican would have followed that up with:

I was misquoted or

That was a gotcha question or

That was taken out of context or

I said actor not president or

That was not meant to be a factual statement.

But I'm thinking Clint would say "the buck stops here"!

Or he would say

"Make my day"

HA HA

Couldn't resist

Please see post #8.

I love Clint Eastwood,

I just thought I would share that :)

THINKING something doesn't make it so......everyone has an opinion, most of the time, and for most people they are not based in reality.

The last good Republican President was Eisenhower he had brains and Republican at that time care for middle class and now they care only for the rich.

It Aint So Ignoring author

This from Gallup:

"PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans believe history will judge Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as the best among recent U.S. presidents, with at least 6 in 10 saying each will go down in history as an above-average or outstanding president. Only about 1 in 10 say each will be remembered as below average or poor. Three years into Barack Obama's presidency, Americans are divided in their views of how he will be regarded, with 38% guessing he will be remembered as above average or outstanding and 35% as below average or poor."

And for the record, Reagan was first with 69% saying he will judged the best, followed by Clinton with 60%.

The next sound you hear will be Liberals collectively running their heads through a wall...

the gullap poll was unscinetific. there is no data showing where or how the poll was taken, the demographic the poll was taken from, and what the formula for the poll was.

the los angeles times (a very conservative newpaper) looked at the gallup poll and had this to say about it

historians do not give ronald reagan good marks though

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/02/04/reagan-fails-to-make-historians-list-of-top-ten-presidents/

Paul Bedard
Reagan fails to make historians’ list of top ten presidents

According to a new poll taken on the eve of the Gipper’s 101st birthday February 6, 60 percent of the nation’s elite educators didn’t even put Reagan on their top 10 list.

In the poll done for Young America’s Foundation, which owns the Reagan Ranch in California, 284 professors from a mix of schools including Johns Hopkins University, Duke, Harvard and Texas A & M, gave Reagan a middling grade of C. Obama received a C+, Clinton a B, Jimmy Carter C-, George H.W. Bush C, and his son George W. Bush D.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/reagan-fails-make-professors-top-10-list/357646

In the poll done for Young America’s Foundation, which owns the Reagan Ranch in California, 284 professors from a mix of schools including Johns Hopkins University, Duke, Harvard and Texas A & M, gave Reagan a middling grade of C. Obama received a C+, Clinton a B, Jimmy Carter C-, George H.W. Bush C, and his son George W. Bush D.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19931210&id=ZIVSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VgMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6667,3159442

Reagan rates near the middle in historians poll.

you use a gallup poll to rate persidents? many people don't have any historical knowledge of presidents and most people can't even name but a few.

lol

I liked him in the movies, but not as president

I liked him in the movies, but not as president

There's a difference?

Shelbycourtland

True, so true.

10 things republicans dont want you to know about, ...Ronald Reagan:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/?mobile=nc

Clint Eastwood: Reagan wasn't a 'great president'

Why I've been saying that for sooo many years now. He was also one in a long line of "False Prophets"

they ran against a tiny car full of giant clowns.

LMAO, but warn me next time so my monitor doesn't get a coffee bath :)

I think that Nixon and Carter are underrated.

Carter is a fool. He should never have been President. Nixon could have been better.

Wrong. Nixon should never had been president. Carter will be known at least as the best 1 term president. Pick up a history book and read his accomplishments and you will agree.

Carter did a lot of the dirty work that Reagan carried into his presidency. If it wasn't for what Carter did, Reagan wouldn't have had an economic wave to ride on. Carters problem was that he was on the outside a dour president. That didn't make him a bad one, just not one that the public could latch onto.

Nixon, a Quaker, brought peace to Viet Nam. Of course he did it by first widening the war into Pakistan -- I mean Cambodia -- but nobody's perfect.

Carter the "best 1-term president"? hahahahahahahahahaha

You should take that show on the road. Might be some money in it.

Carter was a trained nuclear engineer. (Maybe engineer is the wrong word, but he did post graduate training in nuclear energy for the Navy.)

He told us things that we didn't want to hear, but would have been wise to listen to. One stellar example was his analysis that the best thing we could do to reduce illegal immigration from Mexico would be to invest in raising Mexico's standard of living.

The phrase "pearls before swine" comes to mind.

Carter isn't an engineer, and it doesn't appear that he ever worked on a nuclear powered vessel, though it looked as though he was trying to move in that direction, as part of an overall career path. His degree is 'bachelor of science' with no specialization. He did work on training materials for a nuclear powered submarine that was a prototype at the time, though I never saw a mention of whether that sub actually made it to production.

As someone familiar with nuclear reactors however, he did get assigned to the Chalk River facility when an NRX reactor accident caused a spill of thousands of litres of contaminated water (this was in Canada). I couldn't see a reference as to what his specific role was during this incident.

He referred to it in an interview as "post graduate" training. I would have to look up why he discontinued pursuing the nuclear training. I seem to remember that it was because something else came up. Something tells me that people who wind up president, have things come up a lot directing their career paths upward.

I couldn't see a reference as to what his specific role was during this incident.

Maybe we should be glad that he didn't put a nuclear reactor in the White House (instead of those solar panels on the roof).

As you can see he served in many responsible positions and was obviously very technically competent.

Thank you.

Gulliver,

What I believe came up was Chalk River, which he has said a few times that the incident changed his views on nuclear issues.

Lucky,

Well my description was largely about his nuclear qualifications and neither the Pomfret nor the Barracuda K1 were nuclear submarines. I was not trying to omit his experience in the submarine fleet to disparage him, but more to say, these aren't nuclear and therefore didn't apply to the exact subject.

I don't believe he actually served aboard a nuclear powered submarine, however he obviously had the qualifications because he was sent to what was, at that time, one of the biggest nuclear related incidents that had ever occurred.

HA! Reagan missed the Reagan years. He was asleep.

He already had the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. With what we know now, I'd think that any old person who wants to lead our country needs to be tested.

With what we know now, I'd think that any old person who wants to lead our country needs to be tested.

The American public has a right to know about the health issues of any one running for president. Age really isn't the only reason we should want to be concerned about a candidate's health. If someone has mental instability issues or is likely to die or become incapacitated while in office, this could be quite disruptive and even throw the country into crisis.

Americans got what they deserved when they voted for Reagan. They voted for a a mercenary con man who had no problem with the New Deal when it was to his advantage, but then once it had gotten him and his family back on their feet felt it was a luxury the nation could not afford for others. He was the first Reagan Democrat, that regard -- and every last one of them was a selfish hypocrite.

How can a person with Alzheimer win debates and a presidential election?

Alex,

it depends on what stage the person is in. Early alzheimer's sufferers aren't that much different than most others most of the time, and really the only trick is to make sure that the symptoms don't show up during the debate. That can often be handled though it is tricky. Personally I don't think the symptoms for Reagan really showed up until into his second term, so the debates wouldn't have mattered

It can be years before really debilitating symptoms present in Alzheimer's. At the beginning, they are comical or attributed to old age. Forgetting names, forgetting the year, those sorts of things happen; aphasic speech happens. And for Reagan, there were all the "old stories" that he told. Well, that's because the old stories are the ones that remain. I've also wondered about Reagan's personality type: he was easily directed when he was an actor, and he could have fallen into the role of President and just remained there with others directing.

I would say it was more his entire second term where the symptoms of Alzheimer's started to set in. You could tell because his public appearances were much more controlled and appeared to be staged. Much more so than in his first term.

He was in early dementia in his first term. Anytime you can visibly see the dementia, it has been there a while. In his first term he had quit reading and had to be painstakingly spoon fed his briefings.

Yeah I remember he couldn't remember some of the names of his own Cabinet secretaries toward the end. But I believe he knew what his thinking was when he met with Gorbachev in Iceland that was 1986 not 1988.

But he wasn't really bad I think until maybe a year or two after he was out of office. He spent the first year out of office collecting speaking and engagement fees all over the world - he was getting some bad press for being overly exploitative on that.

And he did make an appearance at the 1992 GOP convention - that was the last time to me he looked still a little together and I'd say that was probably extremely heavily coached because of the Alzheimer's.

spankola - I don't think it was as bad as that. I remember his debates with Mondale and he wasn't as sharp as Mondale but did credibly well. No one with dementia could have done that.

6/12/81 President Reagan fails to recognize his only black Cabinet member, Housing Secretary Samuel Pierce, at a White House reception for big‑city mayors. “How are you, Mr. Mayor?” he greets Pierce. “I’m glad to meet you. How are things in your city?”

LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AFTER HIS 1ST INAUGURATION.

8/19/81 White House counselor Ed Meese sees no need to wake President Reagan just to tell him the Navy has shot down two Libyan jets. Defending Meese’s decision, Reagan explains, “If our planes are shot down, yes, they’d wake me up right away. If the other fellows were shot down, why wake me up?”

REAGAN WAS THE OLDEST PERSON SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT. RECOGNIZE!

First, the bold caps don't give you credibility. Ask anyone who's been on this newsgroup for a while. I'm trying to be helpful for you here.

Second, how did Reagan get re-elected 3 years later? There's no amount of coaching that would have saved Reagan if his forgetfulness was that bad.

The idea he was the oldest doesn't matter. I see 90+ year old people all the time sharper than either of us. McCain would have been older than Reagan going in if he got elected but even now there's no obvious Alzheimer's there.

If what you are saying was true about raygun, I would have to conclude that the democrats at the time were too incompetent.

I guess by definition, any time Republicans win, Democrats weren't competent enough.

I wouldn't mind applying that to the 2010 "shellacking" but I get a lot of heat when I say that.

Reagan was immensely popular the whole time he was President and would have easily nailed a 3rd term if that was possible. I guess at the time Democrats were really really incompetent.

Nah, they weren't incompetent, markpup- they were too busy setting up the downfall of the American economy so that they could implement their Socialist agenda.

The 80's weren't good times for the "Socialist Agenda".

So besides being really really really incompetent not defeating Reagan, the Democrats didn't even get anything they wanted.

how did Reagan get re-elected 3 years later?

Because after roughly 4 years of struggling...the economy was clearly improving and because the Democrats nominated Walter Freakin Mondale!

Had the election been held six or eight months earlier, or had the Dems nominated someone w/ even a tiny bit of charisma...who knows? But we don't hold Presidential elections in March or April...we hold them in November...and the Dems didn't nominate a candidate w/ even a tiny bit of charisma...so!

Reagan was immensely popular the whole time he was President

Flat out wrong. While he had periods of great popularity...nearly half of his Presidency was spent w/ approval ratings at or below 50%.

And, his average approval rating (for his entire administration) is middle of the road. His average approval rating falls below not only Bill Clinton, but his successor, GHW Bush.

The 80's weren't good times for the "Socialist Agenda".

Do you mean "Socialist agenda" in the same errant way the term is applied to the Obama administration...or in a more traditional (AKA accurate) sense?

Reagan's Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 was one of the largest tax increases in U.S. history.

He expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit handing out more money than ever to lower income households....many of whom paid NO income taxes.

There were multiple situations where Pres. Reagan supported protectionist trade restrictions and anti-free market tariffs.

After promising to privatize Social Security...he authorized the government to refunded it ...and then redistributed the surplus created to pay for other programs.

He promised to eliminate the Dept. of Education...yet during his administration, their budget doubled.

In addition, he grew the overall size of the federal government and used a greater percentage of the Federal Budget to pay for it than almost any President in history.

He was pro-union. He didn't break up the PATCO strike (a group which endorsed his candidacy just 1 year earlier) because he was anti-union...he acted in response to their breaking the law.

Collective bargaining in the years since has played a major role in America's economic miracle. Unions represent some of the freest institutions in this land. There are few finer examples of participatory democracy to be found anywhere. ~R.W. Reagan

Not to mention Reagan pandered to the Proletariat class by giving amnesty to illegal aliens.

By comparison to Pres. Obama...Pres. Reagan's "Socialist Agenda" positively flourished in the 1980's!

You apparently missed the sarcasm on the Socialist Agenda part - that's OK you made great points!!

I don't think there was any chance any Democrat could have won against Reagan in 1984. I thought Mondale was a great candidate! Who might you suggest that could have been better?

TEFRA was 1986 - ERTA was 1981. TEFRA was a huge tax increase especially on the well to do middle class and small business and it was somehow miraculously sold as a tax cut. The Reagan followers turned around and said tax cuts really do raise revenue after that. I did taxes during this part of the 80s and most of our clients were businesses and professionals - it was a bloodbath. What makes it worse to me was taxes on the very rich were cut further - but the upper middle vastly more than made up the difference.

To me the first year he was in was formative. Congress was ready to make very deep spending cuts and there was support for it, but at the last moment it was Reagan himself who backed off of all that. I've always felt at heart, Reagan hated libertarian ideology but was a solid conservative - a world of difference.

I also remember going up to the 1980 election, Reagan promised the world and of course we all greeted that with appropriate skepticism. He didn't deliver the world of course, but Carter just wasn't doing it for us.

In a way, Obama's the flip side of what you're describing about Reagan's more liberal actions. How much of Bush's agenda's still in place? Most of it. Obama's not being a good liberal any more than Reagan was a good conservative/libertarian. It also kind of supports the point Nader amongst others make that there isn't all that much substantive difference between the establishment Democrats and Republicans.

You apparently missed the sarcasm on the Socialist Agenda part - that's OK you made great points!!

DAMN YOU hard to identify written word sarcasm!! **shakes fist**

That's twice in two days I failed to see the sarcasm of someones post. Either I'm getting to damn old for this...or the comments of the partisan extremists have gotten so bad it's blurred the line of sarcasm.

My guess is it's me!

I thought Mondale was a great candidate!

Really? I was just a bit too young to vote, but I followed the election closely. IMO, Mondale was Gore...w/o the charisma & high energy! /s

As for other options...Ted Kennedy maybe? A lot of downside...but as a Kennedy...you can't count him out.

TEFRA was 1986 - ERTA was 1981

Actually, I believe TEFRA was in 1982 and ERTA was 1981. Tax Reform Act was '86.

miraculously sold as a tax cut.

LOL...Reagan basically Jedi-Mind Tricked the whole darn country! Just call a tax increase a tax cut....BLAMM...it's a tax cut!

What makes it worse to me was taxes on the very rich were cut further - but the upper middle vastly more than made up the difference.

Ahh yes the redistribution of wealth! You're spot on. This fact is what drew me into making my verbose Obama-Reagan comparison.

I've always felt at heart, Reagan hated libertarian ideology but was a solid conservative - a world of difference.

From my view...Reagan's strength was his ability to talk like a tough conservative but often act like a liberal. I'd compare that to Bill Clinton...who talked like a liberal...but often acted like a conservative. There's that Jedi Mind Trick again.

Carter just wasn't doing it for us.

IMO, that was the perception...but I would dispute that as reality.

It was Carter who selected Paul Volcker for Fed Chairmen. In turn it was Volcker who reduced the money supply in an effort counteract the massive double-digit inflation that had killed our economy...largely borne out of stagflation created by years of mismanaged money supply and the oil/gas crisis spurred by the Vietnam War.

The recession Mr. Volcker created by tightening the flow of money into the economy eventually produced the intended result... and inflation started falling dramatically by 1982.

With inflation down, Mr. Volcker was able to increase the money supply...at historically low rates...and that helped stabilize (then reduce) unemployment and help return the economy to normalcy.

That process was started under Carter...Reagan gets credit because that's when the results were realized, IMO.

How much of Bush's agenda's still in place? Most of it.

You said a mouthful there!! Since I don't see any GOP candidate able to beat Pres. Obama in Nov...I guess we'll see if Pres. Obama's much ballyhooed socialist...Marxist...ultra-liberal side takes over?

I think the partisanship blurring the sarcasm theory is well substantiated. I miss the sarcasm all the time too.

I don't find much of your post to argue against certainly - and I like for a change to be in discussion mode. It doesn't happen often enough on the group here.

As for Carter - I think the most important attribute a President can have is leadership ability. I haven't really seen that materialized in any substantive way since Johnson and anyone younger today has no idea what that really looks like. I thought Reagan was going to be a leader and he had the potential, but once in office he became just another President who thinks whatever the polls tell him to today.

Reagan then as now got the economy going by initiating unprecedented deficit spending - and then as now there will be a serious price to be paid for that.

and I like for a change to be in discussion mode.

Agreed!

the most important attribute a President can have is leadership ability

While nailing down the specifics of exactly what it means to be a leader is tricky...people know it when they see it...and clearly Carter was deficient in that area.

I thought Reagan was going to be a leader and he had the potential,

In spades....but as you (I think it was you?) pointed out...his desire to be liked/admired often trumped his leadership potential.

Clinton showed signs as well, IMO...but hubris was undoubtedly his nemesis. Well, that and Linda Tripp! :)

Well - BJ or not we would have elected Clinton to a third term. And had much better results than we got.

Even after 30 years, the GOP wants to make Reagan one of the Great presidents and the Democrats want him to be head Satan leader of the Orcs. The truth as usual is somewhere in between. My most amazed moment with Reagan was when he met with Gorbachev and suggested getting rid of all the nuclear weapons - that from the "conservative" President?? And I was all there for it.

Today, Ron Paul the theoretically wacko Republican/Libertarian is the only one suggesting bringing all our troops home now from Afghanistan. Even the Left isn't doing that and Obama the liberal isn't even remotely close to that. What's up with that? I'm all there for that too.

BJ or not we would have elected Clinton to a third term. And had much better results than we got.

Some people living in California...confident that the state and it's electoral votes would go to Gore...may have even written BC in on their ballots in 2000!

Democrats want him to be head Satan leader of the Orcs.

Sure...until they met the Spawn of Satan...GWB!

My most amazed moment with Reagan was when he...

Came to my hometown to campaign in 1980. He looked a group of unemployed auto workers in the eye and admitted he had no quick fix for the economy...and suggested they move to the south or out west..."where the jobs were".

Can you imagine the hue and cry if Pres. Obama suggested something so...what's the word...practical?

I'm one of the ones that moved out to California in the 80's and I was far from the only one - good advice. In the late 80s there was a mass migration from the deep South out here. You have to give Reagan points for honesty even though like you said, I can't even remotely imagine the outcry if Obama did that.

GWB was easily the worst President of my lifetime and I go back to JFK.

raygun sponsored al qaeda and bin laden

Andrew Jackson??? Oh yes, the man who gave us Indian Reservations. What a legacy.

Nobody is perfect .

Double speak !

Really? Decent? Was Reagan a decent man when he used crop dusters to spray student protesters, considered a war crime.