Ronald Reagan was no Ronald Reagan
Here’s how I would respond to the epidemic of the Reagan worship rampant among GOP presidential contenders if I were invited to participate in one of the Republican presidential debates (admittedly, not a very likely eventuality):
“Senator, I knew Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a friend of mine. Senator, Ronald Reagan was no Ronald Reagan.” (Historical context)
The point I’m trying to make, of course, is that the Ronald Reagan who is constantly being deified by the GOP isn’t the real Ronald Reagan. The real one had a much darker side.
He was serial liar.
He deliberately preyed on racial divisions.
He propped up murderous regimes in third world countries.
He committed serious crimes in the Iran-Contra scandal.
He ignored AIDS at a time when it might have been more effectively contained, because, after all, it was a homosexual thing.
He started the disastrous war on drugs.
He set in motion the destruction of the great American middle class through growing economic inequality.
Actually, come to think of it, he probably is the perfect hero for the right wing. Just please stop asking the rest of us to buy into the story.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Dang! You were probably writing this while I was writing my own nasty note about the bastard.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Well, Ronnie was the spokesman/douchbag of the New Republican party, Bush I, Bush II et al, are mearly the douchenozzles spewing the greed and avarice of the party.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Yes, Ronald Reagan was a chronic liar all his life. In the 1930’s he was a baseball sports announcer for the radio station, WHO,
in Des Moines, Iowa.
It is on the record that he deliberately elaborated the plays as they came through the wire with lies about the true actions to make them more entetaining he thought. but they were outright lies of what really occurred on the field.
A check of the stations history will bear this out.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Don’t forget that little gem- the “October Surprise” where he sent Bush over to Paris to delay the return of the Iranian hostages to procure him winning the election against Carter.