Good list, but Watt was Secretary of the Interior, not Energy. Actually, he would have been far less damaging and dangerous at DOE than he was at Interior.
(I think we’ve discovered our new moron-du-jour in this thread. Gee, I hope she sticks around.)
I don’t see any reason why Reagan’s failing health should be a cause to elevate the man to sainthood (in the eyes of his admirers) or to hold him in especial contempt (in the eyes of his detractors). Last week, Reagan was still an ex-President. Next week, when he may be dead, he will still be an ex-President. We will still have opinions on his efficacy or lack thereof as a world leader.
Maybe I just find it contemptible that the news media has nothing better to report than that an ill man has become slightly more ill and they are each waiting around for the other shoe to drop. Somehow the media feels that we need a play-by-play of the man’s decline. Dear CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX: tell me when he’s dead. (“We have updated Ronald Reagan’s status as ‘too close to call…’”)
By the same token, if I thought he was a judgemental, incompetent fool last week, then I will think him so today and next week. That he’s dying doesn’t score points: we all are. But last week, I didn’t say a word about the man or my opinion of his deeds, so next week, I won’t either. I see no particular reason that my opinion of him should be more newsworthy today.
Yeah, that’s going get tiresome very quickly.
In 1999 some politician proposed his face be put on Mt. Rushmore. No doubt we’ll hear this idea tossed around again.
I thought they were going to put Carter’s or Clinton’s face there when they die?
I voted against Reagan twice, but by comparison with the last 3.5 years, his administration doesn’t seem as bad as it did at the time. When Ed Meese was around, I remember thinking, “I guess this is the worst Attorney General I’ll ever see.” Ha!
Cite? I’ve never heard such a proposal from anyone. The “Reagan on Rushmore” notion, on the other hand, was seriously proposed by some of the folks connected to the “Legacy Project,” IIRC.
Here are the awful details.
I just heard on the radio that he died. Let the retrospectives commence.
I think something just dawned on me: it isn’t always necessary to take offense.
He did … this thread is a disgrace to this MB … :mad:
Following up on your reply to Reeder, if you’re suggesting that the fact that he “served” as President of the U.S. justifies treating someone as being above criticism, I have to say I disagree. The quality of the leadership is critical. If one judged based on the fact of service alone, one could similarly point out that Stalin “served” as leader of the U.S.S.R. or that Idi Amin led in Uganda. Note that I’m not attributing the traits of either Stalin or Amin to Reagan, but pointing out the flaw in considering the fact of national leadership alone.
I’m curious as to how he “prevented” Koop from “mentioning AIDS.” Was there some sort of executive order that said “Don’t mention AIDS”?
SallyStar, the freedom of speech is one of the most prized (and prised-at) establishments in the Bill of Rights. Reagan, as a former radio broadcaster, actor, and President, knew that better than anybody. We Americans would be remiss if we encouraged others to forfeit our rights to free speech simply because some Republicans don’t like to hear criticisms against Republican leaders.
You may consider anti-Republican or anti-Reagan sentiment to be a disgrace to this message board. I consider your anti-free-speech attitude a disgrace to this country.
He’s actually dead now. Isn’t there an old saying, “say nothing but good of the dead”?
I wonder… How many of you here who think Reagan ‘hurt America a lot’ were actually out working and participating in the economy when he was elected?
Reagan inherited a MESS. The U.S. was in far, far, worse shape than it is now. Let’s go down the list: Double-digit interest rates. Double-digit inflation. Unemployment near 10%. Big deficits already. No growth (“Stagflation”). “Malaise”. Hostages in Iran. The Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan. The cold war was icy cold. Unrest at home. 70% tax rates. An energy crisis. A military in decline and under-funded. America was in very bad shape, and getting worse.
After Reagan left office, the top tax rate was 31%. Inflation and interest rates were low. The economy was expanding at a rapid pace. Unemployment was low. The back of the Soviet Union had been broken. There was no more ‘Malaise’, and people actually felt good about the U.S. again. Yes, Reagan ran up some big deficits, but part of that was because the military needed a big injection of funds, and because he lost significant revenue from ‘Bracket creep’ when tax rates and inflation came down. But by the end of his second term, the deficit was falling rapidly as a percentage of GDP as the U.S. grew out of its debt problem.
This is why Reagan will be remembered as a great president. That’s also why he’s hated by so many. He was a transformational figure. Like Thatcher in England, he presided over sweeping changes in the country.
Now for the list…
No argument.
If there were ever an overblown issue, this is it. Bitburg was not an ‘SS Graveyard’. It was a graveyard containing 2,000 soldiers, of which 49 were members of the Waffen SS. His advance people didn’t notice that, because when they scouted the location the headstones were covered in snow (they might not have noticed anyway). Reagan was invited there as part of the ceremony surrounding the 40th anniversay of D-Day, and he did so as a personal favor to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had been a strong supporter. When the media picked up on the fact that some SS were in that cemetary, and demanded that Reagan not go there, the German people got very upset. 72% of them supported Reagan’s visit, and they rightly pointed out that pretty much every German cemetary was likely to contain some SS members.
From this cite:
In fact, the smearing of Reagan over this and the attempt to link him to the atrocities of the Nazi regime were despicable. Reagan was about as far from being a Nazi as you can get.
A bad choice, but is this really a good reason to hate someone? I don’t hate Clinton because he was dumb enough to choose Joycelyn Elders and Donna Shalala.
No argument.
Big disagreement. SDI was a big part of the reason Reagan got so many accomodations from the Soviets, including the removal of tactical nuclear missiles in Europe. SDI was also instrumental in convincing the Soviet Union that they could not defeat the U.S. militarily, which helped lead to the collapse of the most depotic regime the planet has ever seen.
Hard to tell what a Supreme Court justice is going to do once appointed. He also appointed Sandra Day O’Connor.
For which I am glad. There was a cold war going on, and the Sandinistas were not just evil bastards, but within the Soviet sphere of influence. Opposing them was the right thing to do. The contras weren’t so nice themselves, but this was realpolitik with very high stakes.
Which was the right thing to do. The strike was illegal, and Reagan upheld the law. I believe also that sending this signal early on was instrumental in avoiding the kind of over-the-top union control that caused Britain so much grief.
High military spending which helped win the cold war. His economic policy was not ‘failed’ - it was tremendous. The deficits were bad, but as I said, by the time he left they were already falling rapidly.
Perhaps. At the very least he should have been on top of the situation. Even he admitted that he failed on that score.
Just heard that he died. RIP, Mr. Reagan.
The legacy of Reagan will live on!..
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/011003/011003f.htm
Where’d I put my dancin’ shoes?
Are you on crack?
Reagan’s dead, and the only tragedy in it is that it happened twenty years too late.
I was glad to hear that his family has come together. CNN is reporting that all three children are now at the home.