Proud to be from the only blue state on that map...

Eventually that 'crutch' is going to break and when it does the Repubs are going to be hurting bad (more so than now) until they re-align

States Rights are a big deal, especially here in the South. Reagan played on it just like most politicians running for office will plug anything else they can in order to get in office.

There was also that time that time when Reagan accidentally had Col Oliver North involved with smuggling cocaine into the U.S. which led to a crack epidemic at the very same time he had so erroneously declared a war on drugs, building prisons and increasing the sentences that has resulted in the disenfranchizement of generations of mostly black would-be voters to this very day.

CSPAN2 covered Krugman at the Book Fair in Miami this weekend. On sunday, he gave a speech about the "innocent mistakes" that Reagan kept making, and it was pretty enlightening. I'm sure CSPAN2 has the entire speech which includes a lot of good questions about the weak dollar and the impending possible recession. Interesting hour.

er won the seat

I thought the Southern Strategy was, "The South Shall Rise Again," now being used by the Viagra company.

Harry Dent developed Nixon's Southern Strategy for the '68 Presidential election by playing on the recently enforced, in South Carolina at least, desegration of public schools.

Having grown up and attended public schools in SC during the period, racial integration was a pervasive fear. Despite Brown v Board of Education having been decided in 1954, and various Civil Rights legislations having been passed in 64 or so, my school didn't get its first black students until 1966 or 67. I was in 6th grade at the time. And then, it was only a handful of blacks that chose to go to white schools.

Immediately after this integration, and after Nixon so pointedly going after the white vote by using the states' rights platform, private "Christian" academies began sprouting up all over the south. Of course, no blacks were admitted, unless they were star athletes, and then only one or two were brought in.

Remember who came from this era: Lee Atwater, Whit Ayres, and a slew of other GOP stars.

Reagan didn't make a "mistake" with his States' Rights statements, it was planned all the way, and already ingrained in southern GOP strategy.

xxx @ 9:

CSPAN2 covered Krugman at the Book Fair in Miami this weekend. On sunday, he gave a speech about the "innocent mistakes" that Reagan kept making, and it was pretty enlightening. I'm sure CSPAN2 has the entire speech which includes a lot of good questions about the weak dollar and the impending possible recession. Interesting hour.

I checked the archives. Couldn't find it. C-Span chose to archive Cal Thomas, though. Sometimes I wonder about their politics. They are very conservative IMHO.

It's always funny to me when repubs talk about Reagan, they seem to wish for days long since past. Just keep this in mind. RONALD REAGAN WOULD NOT MAKE THE TOP TEN LIST OF SECOND RATE PRESIDENTS, and don't you forget it!

Slate has a good article on the "feud".

Call a racist pig what they are, a racist pig. We use pretty language to cover repulsive racists because maybe they'll change.Not. Their buzz is locking up brown skin people, cheating brown skin people and bombing brown skin people without any apologies.

I don't know, but I think that Reagan's refusal to discuss AIDS caused suffering for so many people. Mistake? I don't think so.

Can y'all believe they were considering Ray Gun for the part of Rick in Casablanca?

Methinks he'd be better as the Nazi commander the uber-smooth Conrad Veidt played.

Historical coincidence, Casablanca translates as white house.

Originally, Reagan flirted with communism and tried to join the Communist Party USA but by many accounts was dissuaded to do so because many thought him "too stupid" and a "flake." Google it.

I know several people who think the sun shines out of Reagan's ass. Ronald Reggae is a fucking god as far as they are concerned. One dude I know went to see Reagan's coffin when it was in the Rotunda and you would have thought it was a religious pilgrimage from listening to him speak in awe. I expected this idiot to tell me his baldness had been cured or something.

It's fucking creepy the effect this jack-off has on repubs.

Who knows who's agenda Regan was even fulfilling. His short term memory was probably already impacted by his looming full blown alzheimer's. He would have been easily manipulated. An almost perfect Manchurian candidate, eh?

Sachem @ 10:

It's odd to look at that map and remember that I voted for Reagan, John Kerry and Tip O'Neill all of the same ballot. Mondale was not a reasonable alternative.

BTW, that was the day Kerry one the seat.

Why wasn't Mondale a reasonable alternative? That was my first election, and I had no problem voting for the former VP. I was also in one of four counties in California to vote against my state's former governor. Oh how things have changed!

Fanon @ 36:

Jo @ 34:

Fanon @ 28:

Is it just me, or is that picture some sort of creepy photo shop job?

Not a photshop job. Reagan was well known as a "hunk" in his Hollywood days. The devil is in the details.

Yes, but that photo still doesn't look right. It doesn't look like his head belongs there

The photo is real. It was a well publicized snap of him during his Hollywood days, but that is what I always thought of Ronny Raygun, that his head didn't belong there.

dennis @ 16:

One blue state that year? Yeah right.

All it means is that Reagan got at least "50% +1" in 49 out of 50 states. It doesn't mean EVERYONE in those states voted for him. (I sure as hell didn't!)

xxx @ 9:

CSPAN2 covered Krugman at the Book Fair in Miami this weekend. On sunday, he gave a speech about the "innocent mistakes" that Reagan kept making, and it was pretty enlightening. I'm sure CSPAN2 has the entire speech which includes a lot of good questions about the weak dollar and the impending possible recession. Interesting hour.

Thanks to the good folks who brought us warrantless wiretapping, Comcast hs moved C-SPAN2 to a digital network and we have to pay a premium fee to access. I am going to look for a repeat on the internets.

Krugman's blog is/was a great read. I look forward to the book-tv replay.

Oh my, this is dreadful, watching a couple of pekingese yapping at each other in public.

dennis @ 38:

History will judge Reagan the best president of the last century, and Lincoln the century before. Both Republicans.

Krugman has never been able to come to terms with this fact. Why is that?

I think FDR might have a thing or two to say about that.

dennis @ 38:

History will judge Reagan the best president of the last century, and Lincoln the century before. Both Republicans.

Reich-wing obsession with ronny raygun certainly is in line with their homosexual tendencies/base.

Reich-wingers also claim that history will judge herr dubyah as one of the best presidents ever.....enough said.

Lincoln saw there only being two real threats to our country, and both were internal not some foreign enemy. He saw them as being mob rule (lynchings etc) which was the threat of the many who would not honor the constitution and law that comes from it, and the fact that our political system could never satisfy the needs of "an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon" (ie: a Bush/Cheney) which was the threat of the individual who would not honor the constitution and law that comes from it.

Lincoln believed that people should start a secular civil religion in which people are taught through schools to worship the Constitution and the rule of law to combat those threats.

... Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.--Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

dennis @ 38:

History will judge Reagan the best president of the last century, and Lincoln the century before. Both Republicans.

Krugman has never been able to come to terms with this fact. Why is that?

Good one, dennis. Monday mornings, even holiday Mondays, really call for a good joke to get the day started. Ronnie as great as Lincoln? Still laughing as I type.

It sounds as though you might have special insight into the delusional behaviour of the True Believers, though.

Repeating the same debunked story over and over...

Hmm that rings a bell, doesn't it Rudy??

As for all the trolls here today- Reagan was a meat puppet, probably already addled by Alzheimers. The country was run by Meese/Baker cabal with Ronald the Elder as TV bobblehead.

I was in the Air Force the last two years of Carter, and the first two years of Ray Gun. Carter was a wet blanket, however under Ray Gun we had a problem with spare parts. For every ten jets approximately 7 were waiting for parts, and probably 4 never seemed to get them.

We had a flood of experienced NCO's with stripes down to their elbows, and officers with all kinds of jewelry on their epaulets resigining in droves. One, because they were humiliated that they now had to get food stamps to support their families, and two the longer you stayed the less benefits you had. Ray Gun was unilaterally breaking our "contracts" by extracting benefits we signed up under. Fortunately some of them like VA home loans came back under Clinton.

I'm sure the JCS and the Pentagon adored Ray Gun but the more boots on the ground military loathed him.

dennis are you pwi (posting while intoxicated) again?

reagan > FDR? Get serious.

ysbaddaden @ 55:

Carter was a wet blanket,

Was he? Or is this furthering a neocon narrative on him?

Similar to "Mondale not being a reasonable alternative." Really?

Now that i've actually searched for the Krugman speech, I'm not sure if it went up recently, but here is the linky.

One thing is obvious, reich-wingers hold their own at MUCH lower standards than the Democratic Party. Just imagine the [fake] outrage from the reich-wingers if that while on the watch of a Democratic President that the dollar hit an all-time low, oil prices hit an all-time high, a housing boom turned into a housing bust overnight, an endless war with no real objective that has cost >$500 billion, 30K wounded, and 4000 dead, threatening to start another war after 2 already failed, and single handily destroyed the upstanding reputation of the US.

Dr. Matt @ 63:

One thing is obvious, reich-wingers hold their own at MUCH lower standards than the Democratic Party. Just imagine the [fake] outrage from the reich-wingers if that while on the watch of a Democratic President that the dollar hit an all-time low, oil prices hit an all-time high, a housing boom turned into a housing bust overnight, an endless war with no real objective that has cost >$500 billion, 30K wounded, and 4000 dead, threatening to start another war after 2 already failed, and single handily destroyed the upstanding reputation of the US.

IOKIYAR

Palooka @ 64:

jwf @ 50:

Palooka @ 42:

ysbaddaden @ 13:

The Southern strategy is to gain independence from a national government that generally doesn't give two craps about Southern issues.

What are the "Southern issues" being ignored?

Education, mainly.

Plus, let's not forget the universal fuck up that was the Gulf Coast.

Being a classical conservative, and a southerner, if States had more control and more power we wouldn't have had to rely on Bush and FEMA for help.

You have control over your education, though. Granted, if you want Federal funds you have to comply with the NCLB standards which are a burden, not to mention an ineffective bunch of crap. Otherwise, education is a state issue with predominately state funding. Correct me if I am wrong.

Sally @ 8:

The republics are delighted to help Obama take out Clinton. If they succeed, they will immediately deploy such racism against him it will make Reagan look like a piker, and Obama will be left to wonder where all his good republic friends went.

Sadly, I think you are right. There is still a good deal of closet racism in this country. Most are Republicans but a good number of independents and even a few Dems are too. They will not admit to it openly but when they get in that ballot box they will not vote for a black man. Obama will be criticized by the right wingers for incredibly stupid reasons, like his lapel pin choice, and he will just look bewildered when it sticks and drags him down. It's because the closet racists just want an excuse to not vote for him and put him down to their friends. Any old excuse will do, even a really stupid one.

There are also a good number of closet misogynists in this country too who, deep down, don't like to see a woman in a position of power. A similar dynamic will play out for them if Hillary Clinton is the Dem nominee. The difference is, Clinton will not look bewildered when she is attacked, she will fight back. Hard.

My prediction:

Dem nominee Edwards = moderate Dem win
Dem nominee Clinton, Biden, or Dodd = close Dem win
Dem nominee Obama or Richardson = close Repub win
Dem nominee Kucinich = big Repub win

At least 20,000 Americans died of AIDS on Reagan's watch. All I'll remember of this despicable man is that he allowed dozens of my friends to die without blinking. There should be a line in the Republican party platform that states "complete disregard for human lives" especially gay ones.

Me too I am for state right as long as it is within the constitution.

Sometime a minority of people in some southern states have problems with the constitution. Fine with that. Leave the United State then for some less free (and as a result poorer) countries because the constitution is the foundation of the United State.

Don't forget how Reagan used racial tensions and the Fair Housing Act to garner support from whites in Orange County Calif in the 60's.

Fostering animosity towards the diverse Los Angeles, Reagan warned Orange County whites that "the jungle was waiting to take over" in the aftermath of the Watts Riots.

And in response to the Fair Housing Act, whose opponents referred to as the "Forced Housing Act" Reagan quipped, "if an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house he has a right to do so."

heh, watching the video of Krugman from CSpan's Book TV they mention that Paul Krugman actually served in Reagan's administration

Krugman, Paul R. (10/82-10/83)
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/ceastaff.html

The Reich Wing Myth Machine made Reagan out to be something he wasn't, a great president. He was a race baiter, gave us AIDSgate, Iran-Contra, trickledown voodoo economics, a near nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union and was the biggest tax cut for the rich and deficit spending president in US history before Chimp came along and broke Reagan's budget busting record. Reagan was a bastard, a talentless "B" actor and a "C" president at best.

dennis @ 38:

History will judge Reagan the best president of the last century, and Lincoln the century before. Both Republicans.

Krugman has never been able to come to terms with this fact. Why is that?

Because it's not true.

Both Roosevelts, Truman, Eisenhower, Clinton, Johnson(with his Vietnam baggage) and Wilson(another racist) will all fare better. And if not fer his hubris, ya could include Nixon on this list too.

Down the line, Reagan will be seen for what he was- capable of governance yet only electable because he knew how to play the fear card. Reagan 's "greatness" is based upon the fact that he was President when the economy began to turn around after a decade long downward spiral (it's the Federal Reserve that ya can thank fer that one) and the then imminent demise of the Soviet Union(which ya credit to every President from Truman through GHW Bush fer because over a 45 year span they never allowed the State Department to backtrack from Cold War doctrine). The others I listed built, Reagan destroyed. His legacy- 8 years of judiciary appointments- will be a bitter one.

Did anyone even mention Bitburg?

Although it must be obvious that "states rights" issues are invoked only when legislating discrimination, Reagan rolled over the rights of states during his administration. He demanded that all states raise the legal drinking age from 18 to to 21y.o. otherwise lose federal highway funding. All complied- including Mondale's state.

hey, the gipper looks a lot like my distant cousin, bob dobbs.....

Did everyone forget the right wing meme in '84 ?
"Fritz and tits" ?

I saw the NASCAR races on ABC a couple of weeks ago, and for once, I was there at the beginning: where the ceremonies basically started with a minister invoking God to intervene for the best driver, and that nobody be killed (well, I'm for that.) But it was such a totemistic, weird ritual, that it made me nuts.

fred c dobbs @ 87:

hey, the gipper looks a lot like my distant cousin, bob dobbs.....

This one grinds my gears. For the nth time, Ray-gun played the gipper, he was not the gipper. A George Gipp was THE Gipper.

Fucking Reagan to the day he died never corrected that fact, and I am sure that playing all those instruction films for the USO must have counted as hand to hand combat in WWII for his feeble rotten mind.

Taking credit for other people's achievements, ain't that the most republican on "virtues."

Jim H @ 91:

I saw the NASCAR races on ABC a couple of weeks ago, and for once, I was there at the beginning: where the ceremonies basically started with a minister invoking God to intervene for the best driver, and that nobody be killed (well, I'm for that.) But it was such a totemistic, weird ritual, that it made me nuts.

... and yet everyone watching the race is praying that there is a massive pile up so they get their ticket's worth of gory.

The cognitive dissonance of large parts of the public in this country --the so-called NASCAR crowd-- is only rivaled by their erectile dysfunction I guess.

ysbaddaden @ 94:

Dr. Who @ 92:

Paul K @ 83:

Did anyone even mention Bitburg?

Ironically, I was listening to the Ramones as I was reading your comment :-)

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

I was thinking more along these lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vAqlRpSIDE

I like that picture. Add me to the list of proud Minnesotans...dont'cha know.

Anyone else remember Minnesota's punishment for not giving ronnie his clean sweep in the form of proposed nuclear waste dump sites?

Dr. Who @ 97:

ysbaddaden @ 94:

Dr. Who @ 92:

Paul K @ 83:

Ironically, I was listening to the Ramones as I was reading your comment :-)

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

I was thinking more along these lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vAqlRpSIDE

All I wanna know is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmp2c4DDzLc

Why didn't they?

justabill @ 96:

Dr. Who @ 93:

fred c dobbs @ 87:

hey, the gipper looks a lot like my distant cousin, bob dobbs.....

This one grinds my gears. For the nth time, Ray-gun played the gipper, he was not the gipper. A George Gipp was THE Gipper.

Fucking Reagan to the day he died never corrected that fact, and I am sure that playing all those instruction films for the USO must have counted as hand to hand combat in WWII for his feeble rotten mind.

Taking credit for other people's achievements, ain't that the most republican on "virtues."

Ronnie Raygun was still known as and has been referred to as the Gipper a gazillion times over so many times now that although almost no one knows who George Gipp was anymore, almost everyone knows its a reference to Reagan when someone says "Gipper." That's just how it goes.

Just like if Freddie Thompson gets elected (shudder), we'll always think of him when someone says "air traffic controller."

Rusty Shackleford @ 103:

justabill @ 96:

Dr. Who @ 93:

fred c dobbs @ 87:

This one grinds my gears. For the nth time, Ray-gun played the gipper, he was not the gipper. A George Gipp was THE Gipper.

Fucking Reagan to the day he died never corrected that fact, and I am sure that playing all those instruction films for the USO must have counted as hand to hand combat in WWII for his feeble rotten mind.

Taking credit for other people's achievements, ain't that the most republican on "virtues."

Ronnie Raygun was still known as and has been referred to as the Gipper a gazillion times over so many times now that although almost no one knows who George Gipp was anymore, almost everyone knows its a reference to Reagan when someone says "Gipper." That's just how it goes.

Just like if Freddie Thompson gets elected (shudder), we'll always think of him when someone says "air traffic controller."

I wonder if he will use that Law & Order chime as the musical theme for his campaign.

Watch for that "I am Fred Thompson and I approve this message.... TWONNNN TWAUUUUNNNNN"

No wonder they prep him as the neo-Regan. Same shit, different smell...

Annoyed Canuck @ 106:

This debate is important, but Reagan is long dead.

What about Ron Paul? He's probably the biggest living proponent of states' rights, and has a long history of association with white racist groups. His rhetoric falls right in line with the Macaca/Clarence Thomas/Welfare Queen crowd. Same euphemisms, same racism.

He has managed to bite the hand that feeds him. He is a non-issue, because the GOP will dispose of him.

Hopefully, he believes that his libertarian insane base is large enough that he will make a run for it as an independent. That will fracture the wing nut vote.

However, if Hillary is the Dem front runner, then it doesn't really matter... as we will be in for another 4 years of the same shit. Maybe a bit more gentler and not as brain dead as the past 7 years, but equally stinking...

And make no “mistake” about it, no matter what Tony Snow says otherwise, racism is still alive and well and being used as an electoral crutch by the Republican Party to this very day. The only difference I can tell is today’s boogieman is starting to look less like the Civil Rights Act and more like a border fence, or rather the lack thereof.

Need more proof? Check out Tom Tancredos new open borders-daisycutter ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZBjXr5CWUI

And I have to hold my head together when they start to complain about what a failure Jimmy Carter was. He had the legacy of the Vietnam mess and financial ruin of our HUGE debt from that war to deal with.

This horse's ass gets praise for being ...what, the gipper? Give me a break. This "larger than life" president with Alzheimer's did more to start the ruin of this country than anyone before his time. Of course the current monkey in the White House makes him look like a hero, but a hero he is NOT.

Maybe this is why the chimp thinks history will be kind to him. After all, if history is naming airports and other places after this sack of shit, surely they can find something nice to say about the bush. I couldn't...but reality plays little part in history for these neocon fantasy land types.

does brooks still have a job? of all the de-bunked, phony pundits he is by far the worst!

tb....get it?
mst3k was better by far...trailer park boys is the funniest thing ever on tb...and raygun was, indeed, a piece of shit shill for the owners of this sinking turd of a country.
and fred c dobbs is a vietnam veteran.
praise bob and connie!

Amused @ 114:

Hmmm. Krugman. Here is a man who not only was a paid consultant to Enron, but a former President Reagan staffer.

As an acclaimed economist that's not surprising at all actually. I mentioned he served in Reagan's administration above on this thread. That just helps back up that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to Reagan's legacy.

1984 was my first election. Ray Gun was the first republican ass-wipe that I was proud to vote against.
Clinton and Gore are still the only guys I ever voted for that won the election!
Ray Gun went a long way toward ruining this country, and now Chimpy is finishing the job.

HulksHeroes @ 111:

And I have to hold my head together when they start to complain about what a failure Jimmy Carter was. He had the legacy of the Vietnam mess and financial ruin of our HUGE debt from that war to deal with.

This horse's ass gets praise for being ...what, the gipper? Give me a break. This "larger than life" president with Alzheimer's did more to start the ruin of this country than anyone before his time. Of course the current monkey in the White House makes him look like a hero, but a hero he is NOT.

My father was career AF before he left in disgust, he was part of the SAC program that re-evaluated the B1 program. He was instrumental in singing off some of the reports that ended up canning the B-1A in the mid 70s before my time. An expensive piece of shit, by his accounts. Rockwell basically went behind the Carter administration and used AF sympathetic personnel high up to siphon funds to continue B1 development. Carter had also put a lot of pressure on Rockwell, nee North American, for all the fuckups they and mismanagements of the Space shuttle, and the space programs during the early 70s... which were in the cutting table by the Carter admin, who was trying to figure what we could and couldn't pay now that the Vietnam and Oil crisis had left their mark.

This defense contractor then put enough pressure and financed a big chunk of the Reagan campaign. The pentagon literally purged most of the competent personnel who were not sympathetic to useless projects, and made sure Carter was left in a check mate position. Even the group that managed the distribution of funds from the B1 et al programs, into what later became research platforms for stealth technology were considered toxic at some point. Reagan won the election, then Rockwell got their revenge: a more expensive piece of shit shoveled down the tax payers throats. Only after basically 3+ decades of continuous development the B1 fleet achieved over 70% of availability, and over 1/4 of the fleet has already been retired. Meanwhile, a lot of the B52s refitted under Carter (at a fraction of the B1A program) are still flying, and were basically the only long range bomber in continuous alert (since the B1 was in partial alert, during most of its career, which basically means they could only be used if the heavy shit broke out and there was no other thing at hand). And most of the deep penetration roles are now handled by B2s developed initially under the Carter admin.

Meanwhile, the B1 project has been a continuous revenue stream for the contractors who are employed and paid for to fix their own fuck ups. To the point, that Boeing bought Rockwell not for the technology, but rather for the stream of revenue that their parasitic operations with the space program and the B1 programs were siphoning.

Reagan for all intents and purposes was a puppet. And he was one of the salvo shots of the defense industry, who made it clear that they were not to be fucked with... and that the situation is not that defense contractors are here to protect the country, but the other way around.

However, GOPers are masters at marketing. And a significant amount of dumb masses out there cheer for them as the party of national defense, as they are being pick pocketed clean by these "saviors." A dumb ass and their money are born every minute, I guess. Ironically Carter, who served in the silent service and who held several advanced degrees, was over ruled in defense matters by a jackass with little education and whose only military experience amounted at playing roles for army instructional films during WWII.

Carter, who served in the silent service and holds several degrees, has been characterized as a failure for not bringing the hostages back home on time, even though eventually they all returned in one piece and not a shingle shot was exchanged. While Reagan, whose only military experience is acting for Army instructional films during WWII and who barely managed to graduate from a 3rd tier university, is seen as the hero. Yet everyone forgets the hundreds of dead marines his dumb ass caused when he wanted to play war games in Lebanon.

6 Dr. Matt Says: John Wayne and Ronny Raygun were homosexual lovers.

They both had a wide stance didn't they?

Why am I not surprised? And yeah I guess people shouldn't have the right to vote because it's embarrassing (sarcasm). What a joke Reagan is. Why people think so highly of him I'll never know or understand. He's your typical republican politician.

I think that while it is easy for all you nay-sayers to sit there and point to all his mistakes and call Reagan a racist, I think we should all just take a step back and remember... that he also took the time to hate homosexuals. A man of many talents.

jwf @ 48:

dennis @ 38:

History will judge Reagan the best president of the last century, and Lincoln the century before. Both Republicans.

Krugman has never been able to come to terms with this fact. Why is that?

Bush 41 and his psychopathic son have run up 50% of this 230+ year old county's debt. Throw in Reagan, and that percentage increases to 70%. No doubt, you'll tell us how he single-handedly defeated communism, despite the fact The USSR was on the brink of collapse. He just accelerated their demise by a few years by forcing them to spend themselves into debt, kind of what were doing now.

I'm sure Osama will want to take all the credit for sending the US into bankruptcy -- but I think most of the credit should go to Bush.

In the USSR, it was the black market, and Lek Walenza with the Labor Unions -- oh, and the incredibly corrupt inefficiency of it all that brought them down. I think Reagan was trying to get a secret chunk of cash to try and prop up the USSR but it was too little too late. I'm sure that the old cold war folks were very worried when Clinton talked about the "peace dividend." I'm sure they had to scramble to come up with another scary enemy that would keep the big bucks flowing.

VitriolAndAngst @ 130:

swarmofkillermonkeys @ 128:

Emily @ 125:

Why am I not surprised? And yeah I guess people shouldn't have the right to vote because it's embarrassing (sarcasm). What a joke Reagan is. Why people think so highly of him I'll never know or understand. He's your typical republican politician.

He had a great speech writer, and good natural charisma. If the Dems had a brain, they'd stop nominating walking sleep remedies like Kerry and Gore (Version 1.0), or anti-charmisatics like Hillary or Dukakis.

There is a minimum bar of like-ability and interesting personality that really isn't that high. Meet that, and have a good brain for policy on top... you're all set. Of course, the Dems apparently hate Edwards, so... here we go again....

Hey, I like Edwards. On Air America, Edwards and Kucinich always seem to top the straw polls. I'm sure that Hillary gets a boost, because the media gives it to her.

Gore 2.0 is a great candidate.

The two that have the LEAST margin to beat Republicans are Hillary and Obama -- small wonder the Republicans keep pushing their media to promote them.

Preaching to the choir here.... but almost EVERYONE I meet says that. Even all the Kucinich die-hards peg (correctly) Edwards and their close #2 for a progressive.

Yet, the media obscures him, and supposedly the pollsters prefer Hillary. There really needs to be a change in the nomination process when this many people like a candidate, but it doesn't show up.

Forget Reagan, I think Edwards could paint that whole map BLUE in the general!

VitriolAndAngst @ 129:

I'm sure Osama will want to take all the credit for sending the US into bankruptcy -- but I think most of the credit should go to Bush.

In the USSR, it was the black market, and Lek Walenza with the Labor Unions -- oh, and the incredibly corrupt inefficiency of it all that brought them down. I think Reagan was trying to get a secret chunk of cash to try and prop up the USSR but it was too little too late. I'm sure that the old cold war folks were very worried when Clinton talked about the "peace dividend." I'm sure they had to scramble to come up with another scary enemy that would keep the big bucks flowing.

No kidding, I remember how we went from defeating the evil empire to get engaged in the "mother of all battles" in record time. I am sure Boosh the 1st was all "shit, shit, I need to get me one of them bad guys, now that this Reagan bastard is done sucking dry the Ruskie boogie well. I may be a lame duck president having to face and answer real issues now that them people are not going to be distracted by the possibility of a Red Dawn any day now..."

I am always amazed, and I guess the old adagio always holds true: No one ever went broke by underestimating the intellect of the average American.

Reagan's genius? Simply re-label "borrow and spend like you got it" for "its morning in America" And... voila, it is all good! Marketing is what this society made of two bit idiots seems to crave. He sure manage to fuck us royally, but he did it with such a grace and soft voice! Best president ever, for sure! In some senses Boosh the 2nd has outdone him: He managed with a straight face to have the middle class fight for the tax cuts that only benefited the rich. I mean how many people did ever benefit from the Estate Tax? But he sure made it seem that the world would come to an end as we know it if them rich folks had to pay taxes on money they didn't earn. And on, and on, and on...

I am surprised no one has brought up that old bag of bones Nancy using an astrologer to influence matters of national security! Now, that was totally awesome!

Reagan (and Bush 41) would have been carbon copies of Dumbya, had they had repuke congressional majorities.

You guys call this evidence of racism?

Very, very weak.

Tell you what, you show me Reagan doing something really racist and evil, then maybe I'll start believing you. Like, what if he laid a wreath at a graveyard for an organization dedicated to exterminating Jews from the earth? Give me something like that, don't give me coded language and symbolism and fables. Give me a wreath at the graves. Have him implement a policy of stripping all federal funding of combating a disease that seems to overwhelmingly affect gay men. They're different, and therefore probably deserve a plague, right?. Show me those kinds of actions, maybe then I'll come on board. Show me that, and I'll probably have to agree that his hilarious death in a goo-brained oblivion instantly improved the world.

But until then, you liberals are just bitter that our guy saved the world from all bad things and should be on the dime.

Funny how liberals believe every word the obsessed Krugman writes.

Former Reagan aide (and former Enron adviser) falsely accuses Reagan of racism.

Tom Wicker wrote that when the candidate "spoke early in his campaign at Philadelphia, Miss., without mentioning the names of three civil rights workers murdered there a quarter-century ago, it was clear that his campaign appeal would not be to blacks or liberals." But Wicker, whose column appeared Nov. 18, 1988, was referring not to Reagan but to Michael Dukakis. The Reagan speech seemed to have escaped Wicker's notice.

Why does Reagan's Philadelphia speech loom so much larger in today's liberal imagination than it did when Reagan was alive and active in politics? Because today's liberals yearn for their elders' moral authority. Tony Lewis and Tom Wicker were civil rights advocates when it mattered. Paul Krugman was 11 when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. For someone Krugman's age, it has never required any courage to be a man of the left, and there has never been a cause on which the liberal-left turned out to be clearly on the right side.

Krugman has no business browbeating anyone about civil rights, and his badmouthing of Reagan is especially rich. Reagan's putative racism was not offensive enough to deter Krugman from taking a job in 1982 as a staff economist for the president's Council of Economic Advisers. The former Enron adviser is a former Reagan aide too!

fred c dobbs @ 122:

widespread (120)
see comment 87

Ah, yes, thanks. I missed that.

Ray Gun also used to be the head of a union, the SAG, because he ratted out and destroyed the careers of contemporaries to McCarthy based only on innuendoes.

Joseph not Jenny.

SO THIS ALL PROVES

REAGAN WAS A BIGOT!

RACIST REAGAN

IN THE BIGOT G.O.P.ING PARTY!