R.I.P. Ronald Reagan

[jyl]

Who passed away at age 93, about an hour ago.

I remember what a compelling, personable figure Reagan was - although a Democrat and opposed to many of his policies, I voted for Reagan in his second term simply because I liked him and considered Mondale incompetent.

To me, Reagan left an overall positive legacy.

On the positive side, he broke the Soviets' economic back and then reached out to Gorbachev, thereby ending the Cold War. His economic policies, along with the Federal Reserve, helped end stagflation. These are huge accomplishments, and are why I think his legacy is on the whole positive.

On the negative side, he was a deeply ideological man and a skilled actor, and thereby accelerated two trends I really dislike in US politics - social and religious polarization, and form-over-substance "sound bite" politics. I'm not sure this wouldn't have happened anyway, though.

It is interesting that one of his major political accomplishments - the creation of "Reagan Democrats" - is being unwound by his Republican successors. Recall that "Reagan Democrats" are socially liberal but economically conservative. I was one in the 1980s, and Reagan's appeal was broad enough that we voted for his economic policies even though we leaned Democrat on social issues (ecology, religion, abortion, etc). Today's Republican party is so dominated by extreme conservatives / fundamentalists that there is little room for an old-fashioned "Reagan Democrat" to vote Republican.

R.I.P., Ronald Reagan.

[rcecale]

One of the last great American heroes. He has been, and will continue to be, missed.

Semper Fi, Gipper!

Randy

[Dantilla]

There goes a man for which I have a great deal of respect.

[vash]

aww, that is too bad. very sad. RR was the first president that i paid attention to. i was too young or whatever to even pay attention to the world issues. i guess the hostage crisis opened my eyes and mind. i hope his family well.

[motion]

I remember when he was shot in 1981. I was about 4 months into my Air Force career. As a young, impressionable Republican, the attempt on the life of my Commander in Chief affected me deeply. He had a commanding presence and earned the respect of nearly everyone. His accomplishments truly changed the world.

[vash]

i totally forgot about the assasination attempt! that was the guy trying to impress jodie foster right? the man had an eventful presidency.

[dd74]

Ronald Reagan definitely was an icon; the last of a president who related to our parents generation and for those thirty and older. As with Nixon and Carter, and I'm certain Clinton and even Bush, we won't see their achievements until at least ten years after their presidency. It should be known that under Reagan, the Cold War ended. That will imortalize him just as the cessation of the Vietnam conflict has imortalized Nixon.

Today, we took my mother, as a belated Mother's Day gift, to high tea at the Bel Air hotel. The hotel is located several blocks away from Regan's home where he died. It was definitely hard to carry on a conversation inside the hotel because of the looming, hovering helicopters. Also, streets were closed by police and, it was assumed, Secret Service, and security was quite high in the hotel itself - Secret Service not withstanding. It was a very odd feeling, us seated in this hotel, drinking champagne, tea, eating fru-fru sandwiches and pastries, and all of that under watchful eyes, as less than a mile away, a very important leader in our history was placed in a flag-draped casket.

[singpilot]

Was airbourne from Los Angeles to NYC today when word came in.

I would have thought that the air traffic controllers would not have been very interested, given how he basically broke their union, but they were very sympathetic.

My uncle was his National Security Advisor , and was his Cabinet Secretary while Governor. My grandfather sold RR his ranch in Gaviota.

I actually dated his daughter while in Sacramento. It didn't last long, we were in 9th grade.

My father died from Alzheimers. Unless you have been involved with that sad disease, you cannot know how much burden is put on the family and survivors.

My hat and heart goes out to Nancy and the family. His illness actually reunited his family.

[speeder]

I wish his family well, and hope that he did not have an unpleasant time in his final years, hopefully he was comfortable. Alzheimers is sad to watch. It is a good thing that he passed away, he was very old and his good years were all behind him. RIP.

[island911]

Originally posted by speeder
I wish his family well, and hope that he did not have an unpleasant time in his final years, hopefully he was comfortable. Alzheimers is sad to watch. It is a good thing that he passed away, he was very old and his good years were all behind him. RIP.

My thoughts, exactly; Speeder.

[pwd72s]

Dittos. September 1980 found me in Heathrow airport.. A NYC leftie Jewish Princess, headed home, said to me: "You can't be serious! You're going to vote for that "cowboy actor"? My response? "Just watch me!" Reagan...possibly the last president I cast a vote FOR. Since Reagan? Voting was a choice between evils, hoping I voted for the lesser one.

[Drago]

I still remeber, and always will, the day he was shot. I was so upset...7th grade of all things...very upsetting.

A true American hero.

Paul, I'd like to be the first to second your thoughts...unfortunately.

[lendaddy]

A hero of mine, an amazing man. If my son were a girl we were going to name her Reagan after him. I hope he went peacefully. I really don't know what else to say about a man that so changed the world. The Gipper will never really die, happy trails.

[bigrubberjeep]

A hero to me and my family.

I will be proud to tell my son and daughter of his legacy when they are old enough to understand.

[widebody911]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/060704A.shtml

...
In this mourning space, however, there must be room made for the truth. Writer Edward Abbey once said, "The sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their heads."

The truth is straightforward: Virtually every significant problem facing the American people today can be traced back to the policies and people that came from the Reagan administration. It is a laundry list of ills, woes and disasters that has all of us, once again, staring apocalypse in the eye.

How can this be? The television says Ronald Reagan was one of the most beloved Presidents of the 20th century. He won two national elections, the second by a margin so overwhelming that all future landslides will be judged by the high-water mark he achieved against Walter Mondale. How can a man so universally respected have played a hand in the evils which corrupt our days?

The answer lies in the reality of the corrupt society Abbey spoke of. Our corruption is the absolute triumph of image over reality, of flash over substance, of the pervasive need within most Americans to believe in a happy-face version of the nation they call home, and to spurn the reality of our estate as unpatriotic. Ronald Reagan was, and will always be, the undisputed heavyweight champion of salesmen in this regard.

Reagan was able, by virtue of his towering talents in this arena, to sell to the American people a flood of poisonous policies. He made Americans feel good about acting against their own best interests. He sold the American people a lemon, and they drive it to this day as if it was a Cadillac. It isn't the lies that kill us, but the myths, and Ronald Reagan was the greatest myth-maker we are ever likely to see.

Mainstream media journalism today is a shameful joke because of Reagan's deregulation policies. Once upon a time, the Fairness Doctrine ensured that the information we receive - information vital to the ability of the people to govern in the manner intended - came from a wide variety of sources and perspectives. Reagan's policies annihilated the Fairness Doctrine, opening the door for a few mega-corporations to gather journalism unto themselves. Today, Reagan's old bosses at General Electric own three of the most-watched news channels. This company profits from every war we fight, but somehow is trusted to tell the truths of war. Thus, the myths are sold to us.

The deregulation policies of Ronald Reagan did not just deliver journalism to these massive corporations, but handed virtually every facet of our lives into the hands of this privileged few. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat are all tainted because Reagan battered down every environmental regulation he came across so corporations could improve their bottom line. Our leaders are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the corporations that were made all-powerful by Reagan's deregulation craze. The Savings and Loan scandal of Reagan's time, which cost the American people hundreds of billions of dollars, is but one example of Reagan's decision that the foxes would be fine guards in the henhouse.

Ronald Reagan believed in small government, despite the fact that he grew government massively during his time. Social programs which protected the weakest of our citizens were gutted by Reagan's policies, delivering millions into despair. Reagan was able to do this by caricaturing the "welfare queen," who punched out babies by the barnload, who drove the flashy car bought with your tax dollars, who refused to work because she didn't have to. This was a vicious, racist lie, one result of which was the decimation of a generation by crack cocaine. The urban poor were left to rot because Ronald Reagan believed in 'self-sufficiency.'

Because Ronald Reagan could not be bothered to fund research into 'gay cancer,' the AIDS virus was allowed to carve out a comfortable home in America. The aftershocks from this callous disregard for people whose homosexuality was deemed evil by religious conservatives cannot be overstated. Beyond the graves of those who died from a disease which was allowed to burn unchecked, there are generations of Americans today living with the subconscious idea that sex equals death.

The veneer of honor and respect painted across the legacy of Ronald Reagan is itself a myth of biblical proportions. The coverage proffered today of the Reagan legacy seldom mentions impropriety until the Iran/Contra scandal appears on the administration timeline. This sin of omission is vast. By the end of his term in office, some 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, indicted or investigated for misconduct and/or criminal activities.

Some of the names on this disgraceful roll-call: Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord, Casper Weinberger, Elliott Abrams, Robert C. McFarlane, Michael Deaver, E. Bob Wallach, James Watt, Alan D. Fiers, Clair George, Duane R. Clarridge, Anne Gorscuh Burford, Rita Lavelle, Richard Allen, Richard Beggs, Guy Flake, Louis Glutfrida, Edwin Gray, Max Hugel, Carlos Campbell, John Fedders, Arthur Hayes, J. Lynn Helms, Marjory Mecklenburg, Robert Nimmo, J. William Petro, Thomas C. Reed, Emanuel Savas, Charles Wick. Many of these names are lost to history, but more than a few of them are still with us today, 'rehabilitated' by the administration of George W. Bush.

Ronald Reagan actively supported the regimes of the worst people ever to walk the earth. Names like Marcos, Duarte, Rios Mont and Duvalier reek of blood and corruption, yet were embraced by the Reagan administration with passionate intensity. The ground of many nations is salted with the bones of those murdered by brutal rulers who called Reagan a friend. Who can forget his support of those in South Africa who believed apartheid was the proper way to run a civilized society?

One dictator in particular looms large across our landscape. Saddam Hussein was a creation of Ronald Reagan. The Reagan administration supported the Hussein regime despite his incredible record of atrocity. The Reagan administration gave Hussein intelligence information which helped the Iraqi military use their chemical weapons on the battlefield against Iran to great effect. The deadly bacterial agents sent to Iraq during the Reagan administration are a laundry list of horrors.

The Reagan administration sent an emissary named Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq to shake Saddam Hussein's hand and assure him that, despite public American condemnation of the use of those chemical weapons, the Reagan administration still considered him a welcome friend and ally. This happened while the Reagan administration was selling weapons to Iran, a nation notorious for its support of international terrorism, in secret and in violation of scores of laws.

Another name on Ronald Reagan's roll call is that of Osama bin Laden. The Reagan administration believed it a bully idea to organize an army of Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. bin Laden became the spiritual leader of this action. Throughout the entirety of Reagan's term, bin Laden and his people were armed, funded and trained by the United States. Reagan helped teach Osama bin Laden the lesson he lives by today, that it is possible to bring a superpower to its knees. bin Laden believes this because he has done it once before, thanks to the dedicated help of Ronald Reagan.

In 1998, two American embassies in Africa were blasted into rubble by Osama bin Laden, who used the Semtex sent to Afghanistan by the Reagan administration to do the job. In 2001, Osama bin Laden thrust a dagger into the heart of the United States, using men who became skilled at the art of terrorism with the help of Ronald Reagan. Today, there are 827 American soldiers and over 10,000 civilians who have died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a war that came to be because Reagan helped manufacture both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

How much of this can be truthfully laid at the feet of Ronald Reagan? It depends on who you ask. Those who worship Reagan see him as the man in charge, the man who defeated Soviet communism, the man whose vision and charisma made Americans feel good about themselves after Vietnam and the malaise of the 1970s. Those who despise Reagan see him as nothing more than a pitch-man for corporate raiders, the man who allowed greed to become a virtue, the man who smiled vapidly while allowing his officials to run the government for him.

In the final analysis, however, the legacy of Ronald Reagan - whether he had an active hand in its formulation, or was merely along for the ride - is beyond dispute. His famous question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" is easy to answer. We are not better off than we were four years ago, or eight years ago, or twelve, or twenty. We are a badly damaged state, ruled today by a man who subsists off Reagan's most corrosive final gift to us all: It is the image that matters, and be damned to the truth.

[singpilot]

Thom, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Take your diatribe elsewhere.

Even Kerry has pulled his diatribe from the airwaves out of respect.

[bigrubberjeep]

Thom - how dare you slander the name, spirit and resting soul of the president in the country you live in?


Only the biggest of cowards insults his foe after death.

[84porsche]

I do not remember the Reagan era except for what I learned in my history classes (age factor) but from what many of you wrote it seems as if he was a good president and a decent man and I will respect him for not only being president but especially for his work with ending the Cold War.
I must add as with any political issue and party, their are conflicting sides but how does one weigh the good vs the bad. It is not an easy thing to do but part of democracy is one of its citizen's challenging a law or an issue or even an action of a president.
That being said, I think Reagan, as with all our presidents, have done an amazing job and my hat is off to all of them for their hard work in keeping us free and helping to provide the various rights that we all have.

[nostatic]

My condolences to the family. I respect Reagan's talent and the strength of his convictions.

I can't say that I can wax fondly on his achievements either as governor of CA or as president. Like any leader, his legacy is mixed at best. While it is fine to eulogize with effusive tones, it is also important to keep things in perspective and also remember the failures, lest we be doomed to repeat them.

[turbocarrera]

Thom is no coward, he had the balls to post an alternate viewpoint. It's not like he sent a letter to Nancy, that would be sick. Several people on this board have "slandered" political figures who are no longer with us - but Thom is the bad guy? Don't single Thom out because he does not deserve it.