Ronald Reagan
1. Overrated president who had alzheimer's while he was president. Before being president, he was an actor, and once acted with a monkey. Like Jackson, he was a leading cause for an economic downturn which caused his VP to get only one term as president.
2. One of the many warnings from history not to let Arnold Schwarzeneger be president.
2. One of the many warnings from history not to let Arnold Schwarzeneger be president.
Ronald Reagan
A misogynistic president known for having history rewritten about him more times than George W. Bush (his protege) told a lie.
1. He cut middle class taxes (Truth: he raised taxes 11 times)
2. He defeated the Soviets as victor of the Cold War (Truth: The Soviet Union's deterioration began well before his inauguration in Jan/1981)
3. His policy geared peaceful outcomes (Truth: spent money on useless missile programs, Iran-Contra, Latin America guerrilla war financing, provided weapons to Hussein in Iraq vs. Iran, built up Taliban like Armies in Afghanistan's battle against the Soviets)
4. He was a fiscal conservative who presided over a strong economy (Truth: Unemployment hit its highest point since the Depression in 1982, the national debt tripled under his watch, commensurate to GDP the debt increased, Black Monday in 1987, Savings and Loan Scandal, propelled America into a corporate welfare loving state)
In these rewrites came a myth perpetuated over time, primarily at outlets like Fox "News", that his Presidency matched that of true successful GOP Commanders in Chief, like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. Nothing could be more further from the truth.
1. He cut middle class taxes (Truth: he raised taxes 11 times)
2. He defeated the Soviets as victor of the Cold War (Truth: The Soviet Union's deterioration began well before his inauguration in Jan/1981)
3. His policy geared peaceful outcomes (Truth: spent money on useless missile programs, Iran-Contra, Latin America guerrilla war financing, provided weapons to Hussein in Iraq vs. Iran, built up Taliban like Armies in Afghanistan's battle against the Soviets)
4. He was a fiscal conservative who presided over a strong economy (Truth: Unemployment hit its highest point since the Depression in 1982, the national debt tripled under his watch, commensurate to GDP the debt increased, Black Monday in 1987, Savings and Loan Scandal, propelled America into a corporate welfare loving state)
In these rewrites came a myth perpetuated over time, primarily at outlets like Fox "News", that his Presidency matched that of true successful GOP Commanders in Chief, like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. Nothing could be more further from the truth.
Example:
Scott: "Ronald Reagan was the greatest President who gave us so many jobs."
Jason: "Why then were so many out of work in the initial years he was in office?"
Scott: "That was the evil Jimmy Carter's doing!"
Jason: "But unemployment rose from 1981 to 1982 when Carter no longer sat in the oval office. If tax cuts create jobs, like Reagan did in 1981 when furnishing breaks to millionaires, why did the jobless numbers escalate?"
Scott: "I guess it's Obama's fault then."
Jason: "Figures. And how do you defend his unconstitutional act of funding a violent group in South America known as the Contras? The Congress voted to forbid any financial aid be shoveled into their coffers."
Scott: "Whatever. Reagan still gave us hope."
Jason: "Yea, hope for a better President. We did get that in the form of someone from Hope, Arkansas, albeit four years after Reagan's stench departed The White House."
Scott: "He was impeached, though, over a blow job."
Jason: "Not nearly as bad as financing deadly groups in South America, defying a congressional order. Right?"
Scott: "Ronald Reagan was the greatest President who gave us so many jobs."
Jason: "Why then were so many out of work in the initial years he was in office?"
Scott: "That was the evil Jimmy Carter's doing!"
Jason: "But unemployment rose from 1981 to 1982 when Carter no longer sat in the oval office. If tax cuts create jobs, like Reagan did in 1981 when furnishing breaks to millionaires, why did the jobless numbers escalate?"
Scott: "I guess it's Obama's fault then."
Jason: "Figures. And how do you defend his unconstitutional act of funding a violent group in South America known as the Contras? The Congress voted to forbid any financial aid be shoveled into their coffers."
Scott: "Whatever. Reagan still gave us hope."
Jason: "Yea, hope for a better President. We did get that in the form of someone from Hope, Arkansas, albeit four years after Reagan's stench departed The White House."
Scott: "He was impeached, though, over a blow job."
Jason: "Not nearly as bad as financing deadly groups in South America, defying a congressional order. Right?"
Ronald Reagan
Example:
Wait, isn't that why we invaded Iraq?
Ronald Reagan is the perfect example of how corrupt our government has become.
Wait, isn't that why we invaded Iraq?
Ronald Reagan is the perfect example of how corrupt our government has become.
Ronald Reagan
Republican President (1980's) that ignored the AIDS epidemic because he hoped it would kill off all the people he didn't like. Reagan was anti-union, sexist, homophobic, incompetent, deceitful, and a corporate tool (even before being elected). Despite his popularity in the 1980's, most Americans have realized the damage he and his administration did to the country (including a deliberate attempt to destroy the middle class). Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's during his reign of terror. He is survived by his arrogant greedy wife Nancy (who abused the children she did not have with Ronald-from his previous marriage).
Ronald Reagan
Reagan is largely a PR creation in the first instance, and massively so in recent years.
During his years in office, Reagan was not particularly popular. Gallup polls published recently compare him during office with other presidents. His average ratings during his years in office were below Kennedy, Johnson, Bush I, and Clinton; above Nixon, Ford, Carter. Those are averages during their terms in office.
By 1992 he was ranked just next to Nixon as the most unpopular living ex-president.
Since then there has been an immense PR campaign to convert him into a revered and historic figure, if not semi-divine, and it's doubtless had an effect, radically shifting the rankings. Not on the basis of facts: rather, extremely effective marketing. The current performance is reminiscent of the death of Hirohito and Soviet leaders. One of the more depraved moments of US media. The lying is quite impressive, even by people who surely know better.
During his years in office, Reagan was not particularly popular. Gallup polls published recently compare him during office with other presidents. His average ratings during his years in office were below Kennedy, Johnson, Bush I, and Clinton; above Nixon, Ford, Carter. Those are averages during their terms in office.
By 1992 he was ranked just next to Nixon as the most unpopular living ex-president.
Since then there has been an immense PR campaign to convert him into a revered and historic figure, if not semi-divine, and it's doubtless had an effect, radically shifting the rankings. Not on the basis of facts: rather, extremely effective marketing. The current performance is reminiscent of the death of Hirohito and Soviet leaders. One of the more depraved moments of US media. The lying is quite impressive, even by people who surely know better.
Example:
Ronald Reagan, the public face of the extremist, arrogant and violent neo-conservative administration of the 1980's
Ronald Reagan, the public face of the extremist, arrogant and violent neo-conservative administration of the 1980's
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was one of the worst Presidents this country has seen. He was a total phony who would read from a script to hide his worsening dementia. He cared not an iota for the common man, but was a typical republican, only interested in enriching his big business buddies, and laying waste to the third world.
Least we forget, it was Reagan's policies that brought
1) Change to the federal tax system, giving massive tax breaks to the wealthy and big business, and shifting a horrendous tax burden to the middle class;
2) Change to environmental laws, wrecking havoc on natural resources, endangered species, and the health and welfare of all Americans;
3) Change to labor laws, wrestling hard-earned workers' rights from unions, and causing at least one industry, air traffic control, into paralysis, affecting the safety of air traffic for more than a year;
4) Change to American foreign policy, by selling arms to Iran, and forwarding the profits to right-wing Central American dictators to help fund their death squads;
5) Change to monetary policies resulting in his leaving office with the largest federal deficit yet seen in US history;
6) Change to education - when he could not disband the US Department of Education, as he campaigned to do - he succeeded in reducing Federal education spending by 50%, and ravaged local education control by diverting funding to the state leve.
In addition, there are millions of Californians whose minds and memories are not so feeble as to fail to remember not only the miserable years of the Reagan presidency, but the painful, bitter years of the Reagan governorship.
I for one, being a student at the University of California during Reagan's governorship, saw firsthand his efforts, and "success" in dramatically raising tuition costs while slashing budgets, terminating construction projects, firing Clark Kerr, the popular President of the University, and enraging faculty with his declarations that the state "should not subsidize intellectual curiosity".
His massive cuts to health and welfare benefits in California, and in particular, mental health care, is the single biggest cause of the massive increase in homelessness in California over the past three decades - the tossing out into the streets of thousands of sick people who could not function in society.
Least we forget, it was Reagan's policies that brought
1) Change to the federal tax system, giving massive tax breaks to the wealthy and big business, and shifting a horrendous tax burden to the middle class;
2) Change to environmental laws, wrecking havoc on natural resources, endangered species, and the health and welfare of all Americans;
3) Change to labor laws, wrestling hard-earned workers' rights from unions, and causing at least one industry, air traffic control, into paralysis, affecting the safety of air traffic for more than a year;
4) Change to American foreign policy, by selling arms to Iran, and forwarding the profits to right-wing Central American dictators to help fund their death squads;
5) Change to monetary policies resulting in his leaving office with the largest federal deficit yet seen in US history;
6) Change to education - when he could not disband the US Department of Education, as he campaigned to do - he succeeded in reducing Federal education spending by 50%, and ravaged local education control by diverting funding to the state leve.
In addition, there are millions of Californians whose minds and memories are not so feeble as to fail to remember not only the miserable years of the Reagan presidency, but the painful, bitter years of the Reagan governorship.
I for one, being a student at the University of California during Reagan's governorship, saw firsthand his efforts, and "success" in dramatically raising tuition costs while slashing budgets, terminating construction projects, firing Clark Kerr, the popular President of the University, and enraging faculty with his declarations that the state "should not subsidize intellectual curiosity".
His massive cuts to health and welfare benefits in California, and in particular, mental health care, is the single biggest cause of the massive increase in homelessness in California over the past three decades - the tossing out into the streets of thousands of sick people who could not function in society.
Example:
Ronald Reagan was a miserable President, a miserable governor, and a miserable person, whose show-biz persona produced a false image that unfortunately continues to endure.
Ronald Reagan was a miserable President, a miserable governor, and a miserable person, whose show-biz persona produced a false image that unfortunately continues to endure.
Ronald Reagan
Probably the most overrated president in the history of America. His "trickle down" policies basically let the poor go to hell, while the privileged were allowed more privileges. Meanwhile, Reaganomics had a great success in raising national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion.
He is given credit for ending the Cold War instead of the true heros like Gorbachev and to a lesser extent, Walesa. Communism was on its last legs anyway and the system was failing from within. Reagan didn't do much more than make a few nice, happy speeches.
The idea he supported freedom is a myth, shown by his support for brutal South American dictators which was/is glossed over. Reagan installed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and propped up Saddam Hussein in Iraq despite the known atrocities. Later, the Republicans would do a HUGE U-turn on this, in their quest for oil.
And anyone who chooses shit like Donald Rumsfeld to work for them, can't be all that great.
He is given credit for ending the Cold War instead of the true heros like Gorbachev and to a lesser extent, Walesa. Communism was on its last legs anyway and the system was failing from within. Reagan didn't do much more than make a few nice, happy speeches.
The idea he supported freedom is a myth, shown by his support for brutal South American dictators which was/is glossed over. Reagan installed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and propped up Saddam Hussein in Iraq despite the known atrocities. Later, the Republicans would do a HUGE U-turn on this, in their quest for oil.
And anyone who chooses shit like Donald Rumsfeld to work for them, can't be all that great.