# Democrats, lefties and liberals, This one's for you **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930 "2004-06-06T07:05:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/21 "2004-06-06T13:05:06Z")
> [@Desmostylus](#): > > Thanks for that, **Liberaltarian**. I guess you must have missed this post above, which detailed the Gipper’s military service: – I did miss it, sorry. Thanks for letting me know. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/22 "2004-06-06T13:14:40Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > I don’t hold it against Reagan that he worked in USO tours instead of active service. Yeah, much though I’m no fan of Reagan (though it’s more neutrality and deficit-hating) I gotta agree with this. Using an actor to be a PR man for the military strikes me more as playing to a soldiers strengths rather than anything more sinister. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/23 "2004-06-06T13:49:50Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > The guy then talked for several more minutes before he mentioned that Regan served in the military and was a hero… #1 is to point out that this is the guy you’re going to have to win over for Kerry to carry the election in November. No sweat. This guy probably confuses Reagan and Bush for being war heroes, but when it comes to a person who is a real war hero, we just need to get the idea in his head that Kerry conquered the moon for the United Fucking States of America! Then the first warrior-astronaut in our history will cruise to victory in November. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/24 "2004-06-06T14:26:11Z")
Just curious, as I read this thread I’m also watching CBS Sunday Morning’s Reagan lovefest. Reagan was, I’m sure, as vain as most any other actor. But I don’t ever recall seeing him in eyeglasses save perhaps reading glasses that any elderly person might wear. Was he in fact nearsighted, and if so did he wear contact lenses well into his eighties? That is impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/25 "2004-06-06T14:57:53Z")
:smack: :smack: :smack: Reagan. I knew that. In fact, I had it like that originally but I changed it when I though, “wait a minute, Reagan or Regan?” and pulled up a newspage which was spelling it wrong, so I changed it. As for WWII, I stand corrected. I obviously confused “didn’t see combat” with “didn’t serve” in my mind. Damn 3AM OPs. :smack: Still, this guy was going on like Reagan stromed ashore at Normandy to singlehandedly plant a flag on Mt. Suribachi. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/26 "2004-06-06T15:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Still, this guy was going on like Reagan stromed ashore at Normandy to singlehandedly plant a flag on Mt. Suribachi. Has anyone checked the [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001654/) to be sure he didn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/27 "2004-06-06T16:29:26Z")
[quote=BrickerAdmittedly, he never saw combat. Eyesight problems caused him to fail a physical that would have permitted him to serve overseas, and he ended up attached to the Army AIr Force Public Relations unit as P.R. Officer in Burbank, California, and then to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California, from which he assisted in the 4th War Loan Drive effort as well as producing AAF training and recruitment films.[/QUOTE] None of which stopped him, while president, from claiming to have filmed personally the liberation of various concentration camps. > [@Baldwin](#): > > But do you remember the speech he gave where he recounted what was supposedly a true WWII story, and it turned out to be from a movie? Ah yes, the infamous “we’ll ride this one down together” story, which may have been from a movie or may also have been from RR’s favorite magazine, _Reader’s Digest_. Then there’s the time he pulled his favorite idea for defending the nation from one of his [movies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032820/combined). Oh, and speaking of his movie days, he was an FBI snitch too! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/28 "2004-06-06T16:43:45Z")
**Starving Artist** , you’re not seriously going to deny that Bush is a recovering alcoholic, are you? Even _he_ admits that he had a drinking problem which was having an adverse effect on his life. He has at least one DUI on his record and there are many anecdotal accounts of his being a heavy drinker for much of his adult life. The fact that he drinks at all is an indication of alcoholism, not just some kind of moderation or maturity. He also exhibits every clinical sign of [dry drunk behavior](http://www.counterpunch.org/wormer1011.html). There is nothing wrong with being a recovering alcoholic, he deserves credit for staying sober as long as he has, even though his dry drunk psychosis has made him completely irrational and unfit to hold public office. He’s never denied that he used to be a cokehead, either, choosing instead to rely on weaselly qualifications about passing a White House security check. His cocaine use is a bigger issue than his alcoholism not only because it was a felony but because he has hypocritically advocated and enforced draconian prison sentences for cocaine related offenses which he himself committed. He claims that he was “young and irresponible” which is undoubtedly true (even though his “youth” lasted well into his 30’s) but he is not willing to afford any sympathy to others who are young and irresponsible and who don’t happen to be rich, connected white kids. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/29 "2004-06-06T16:45:18Z")
> [@](#): > > The fact that he drinks at all That should have said, “the fact that he _never_ drinks at all…” ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/30 "2004-06-06T16:47:02Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > “Oh. Well, he was still a great President, much better than the guy who didn’t inhale”. Well, at least he got that right. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/31 "2004-06-06T16:58:12Z")
Yeah, because the one who didn’t inhale didn’t erase years of deficits run up under Republican presidents and run a budget surplus…oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/32 "2004-06-06T17:22:58Z")
On the other side of the fence… When I was in high school, I had a fairly radical social studies teacher who constantly fed us crap designed to smear conservatives, the U.S., and the PC party in Canada. One day we had this fun exchange: Her (to the class): “The United States dropped an atomic on an innocent country.” Me: “Well, there was a war going on…” Her: “NO THERE WASN’T!” Me (picking my jaw up off the floor): “What? It was World War II!” Her: “That was between the U.S. and Germany. I’m talking about Japan!” (bear in mind that she was a social studies teacher in our high school) Me: “They were at war with Japan as well. Remember Pearl Harbor? Japan declared war on the United States.” Her: “Well, I suppose you could call it a ‘war’ then, but it wasn’t anything at all like the war against the Germans. It was a very small conflict! Certainly nothing that justified atomic weapons. Now let’s move on.” Me: “Wait a minute. You can’t say it was a ‘small conflict.’ The U.S. lost thousands of men taking Okinawa and Iwo Jima. They lost aircraft carriers to the Japanese. They lost the Philippines. If they had had to invade Japan, they predicted losing four times as many men than were killed in the entire war in both Europe and against Japan. They…” Her: “GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/33 "2004-06-06T17:28:32Z")
Your teacher was right that we dropped two atomic bombs on innocent people and that nothing can possibly justify it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/34 "2004-06-06T17:29:39Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Your teacher was right that we dropped two atomic bombs on innocent people and that nothing can possibly justify it. For a social studies in particular, she was still wrong about some pretty basic facts. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/35 "2004-06-06T17:30:05Z")
BTW. you do know the president who did that was a _Democrat_, don’t you? So how was the teacher bashing conservatives? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/36 "2004-06-06T17:43:20Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Your teacher was right that we dropped two atomic bombs on innocent people and that nothing can possibly justify it. Yea, that’s it exactly. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/37 "2004-06-06T17:53:57Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Just curious, as I read this thread I’m also watching CBS Sunday Morning’s Reagan lovefest. Reagan was, I’m sure, as vain as most any other actor. But I don’t ever recall seeing him in eyeglasses save perhaps reading glasses that any elderly person might wear. Was he in fact nearsighted, and if so did he wear contact lenses well into his eighties? That is impressive. Yes, modern contact lenses were introduced in 1947, and Reagan was among the first to wear them. He can be seen wearing glasses, though, in older photographs. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/38 "2004-06-06T17:57:13Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW. you do know the president who did that was a Democrat, don’t you? So how was the teacher bashing conservatives? She was bashing the United States. This was in Canada. At that time Canadian leftists saw the United States as the source of all evil in the world. Bashing the U.S. was great sport for them, and they engaged in it any chance they could. You wouldn’t believe the insane things the U.S. would get accused of, aside from the legitimate grievances. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/39 "2004-06-06T18:01:48Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Yea, that’s it exactly. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: She was wrong in her details and was obviously seriously lacking as an educator but **Sam** used the Nagasaki/Hiroshima exchange as an example of her bashing of conservatives. I’m curious how criticism of a Democrat administration amounts to bashing of conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930/40 "2004-06-06T18:11:12Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Your teacher was right that we dropped two atomic bombs on innocent people and that nothing can possibly justify it. I’m a liberal but I gotta disagree. The Japanese army did EVERYTHING THEY COULD DO to justify it. And we almost certainly WOULD have lost thousands of soldiers taking Japan the hard way. It was a hard decision, I find it hard to feel morally superior to those who had to make it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-lefties-and-liberals-this-ones-for-you/248930.md?page=3)