[techweenie]

lendaddy: sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but Limbaugh et. al. have been laboring hard for years to elevate Reagan's legacy. Sympathy over his health problems and a general tendency to 'just like the guy' certainly add up to an unusual alignment of circumstances:

1. People didn't 'speak ill' of the guy for about 10 years because of his tragic medical circumstances. Secondarily, there was Nancy, obviously suffering, but stoic. She didn't insert herself into the political world, and the political world gave the couple a pass.

2. Joe Sixpack doesn't really understand deficit spending.

3. Joe Sixpack doesn't understand Iran/Contra. (Nor, probably, remember it. As you may recall, the upward progress of the Iran/Contra hearings ground to a halt when RR could only testify "I do not recall" 134 times in a single session.)

4. Reagan gets the benefit of the positive things that happened on his watch, and none of the negatives -- thus the contemporaneous nickname "The Teflon President."