# Pitting all you Reagan bashers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970 "2004-06-06T16:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/101 "2004-06-07T12:48:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Mmmm, tough one. Let’s see…Mengele, Lecter, Cthulu… C’mon, Cthulu is pro-choice. 😛 ---
**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 7, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/102 "2004-06-07T12:56:32Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > C’mon, Cthulu is pro-choice. 😛 Yes. You can be eaten now … or you can be eaten later. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/103 "2004-06-07T13:37:14Z")
Well, I can thank Ronny Ray-gun for dying because I get a paid day off Friday! Woo-hoo! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/104 "2004-06-07T13:42:47Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Well, I can thank Ronny Ray-gun for dying because I get a paid day off Friday! > > Woo-hoo! Bereavement leave? 🙂 I shudder to imagine what the (well-deserved) security is going to be like at the funeral. Anyone who reaches in their pocket for a cigarette or piece of gum is likely to wind up at the bottom of a pile of Secret Service and/or D.C. cops. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/105 "2004-06-07T13:44:47Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > If it was that fucking obvious, why would one man make the difference? Maybe those putting themselves at risk should take a little responsibility? I mean, it was so damn obvious, the high-risk groups should’ve been more careful. Right? It’s all well and good to know that all your friends are abruptly dying of cancer; with little in the way of public, widespread, intensive information campaigns about _transmission, prevention, and testing,_ it won’t do you a heap of a lot of good. The gay community had to kick and scream for _six years_ after the epidemic began for any government response to the disease that was killing us. Even then, when information began to be available, the gay community itself had to take charge of the balance of this education. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/106 "2004-06-07T13:56:36Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Bereavement leave? 🙂 Ha, as if! Dubya declared Friday a day of mourning and gave federal employees the day off. Because my company’s leave schedule is tied to the federal government, I get a paid day off as well. > [@](#): > > I shudder to imagine what the (well-deserved) security is going to be like at the funeral. Anyone who reaches in their pocket for a cigarette or piece of gum is likely to wind up at the bottom of a pile of Secret Service and/or D.C. cops. [/quote] Oy, tell me about it. People at my job are talking about going because want to be part of an historic event. I think they have to be high to even think about going to DC during the Reagan hysteria. I wonder if they’ll embalm Ronny and then put him in an enclosed glass case like the Chinese did Mao. Visiting Mao’s mausoleum was creepy because the guards took segments of the people waiting in line and rushed us through the room at a jog trot, and Mao’s face had the same color and texture as Double Bubble gum. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/107 "2004-06-07T14:02:39Z")
James Lileks wrote a moving [column](http://www.lileks.com/bleats/index.html) that definitely resonates with me. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/108 "2004-06-07T14:34:41Z")
Mmmm…Secret Service pile-on… Showtime pre-empted a showing of [The Day Reagan Was Shot](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271454/combined) that was scheduled for last night. Presumably the Reagan bio-pic is off the air forever. Turner Classic Movies has a showing of [Ada](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054601/combined) scheduled for later today. I’ll be interested to see if it gets pre-empted, since the main couple has been said by some to be a prescient anticipation of Ron and Nancy. Reagan appeared as a [character](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=ronald+reagan&Go.x=18&Go.y=12) in over a dozen movies and TV movies and the real guy outlived at least [two](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0064235/) of the [guys](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001077/) who played him. This all strikes me as sort of interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/109 "2004-06-07T15:44:56Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > James Lileks wrote a moving [column](http://www.lileks.com/bleats/index.html) that definitely resonates with me. [William Blum](http://www.counterpunch.org/blum06072004.html) and [Phil Gasper](http://www.counterpunch.org/gaspar06062004.html) wrote two that resonate with me. Hey, I’m all about the day off thang, though. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/110 "2004-06-07T15:48:12Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Or if you have a Republican Congress. Remember how Congress actually passes spending bills and budgets? Since you forgot that, I’ll remind you that Reagan had to deal with a Democrat Congress. :smack: :wally Yeah, but Clinton actually _proposed_ a seried of balanced budgets. When was the last time we saw that (hint - it was before 2001). ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/111 "2004-06-07T15:50:35Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > [William Blum](http://www.counterpunch.org/blum06072004.html) and [Phil Gasper](http://www.counterpunch.org/gaspar06062004.html) wrote two that resonate with me. > > Hey, I’m all about the day off thang, though. Hell, 20 years ago I could have written those articles, so you can tell I’m a tad conflicted. But I have a question nobody has answered yet–now that Reagan is definitely dead, is Al Haig finally in charge? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/112 "2004-06-07T16:31:56Z")
Nope. GHW Bush is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/113 "2004-06-07T17:26:36Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I wonder if they’ll embalm Ronny and then put him in an enclosed glass case like the Chinese did Mao. Or like the Soviets did to Lenin. Now wouldn’t _that_ be ironic? Seriously, the only former President who died while I was old enough to remember what was going on was Nixon. Has there ever been this degree of fanfare (closure of Federal government, etc.) for the death of any other former President? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/114 "2004-06-07T17:31:19Z")
In Nixon’s case it was comparatively brief, being confined to the “Pounding of the Stake” Ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/115 "2004-06-07T17:42:51Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > Has there ever been this degree of fanfare (closure of Federal government, etc.) for the death of any other former President? I don’t recall the government shutting down for the deaths of any other former Presidents (that’s not to say it didn’t happen - I just don’t remember it, and can’t find any references to it). However, most ex-Presidents’ funerals are fairly elaborate affairs, involving lying in state in the Capitol rotunda, state funerals attended by everyone who is anyone in Washington, and so on. That was certainly the case for the funerals of Hoover, Ike, and LBJ. The exception was Truman, whose family requested that the state funeral be very abbreviated - I believe he was buried the day after he died, in Missouri. No trip to DC, a minimum of pomp and circumstance (appropriate, given the kind of man he was). ( **eludicator** , you’re a very twisted man - I love it!) ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/116 "2004-06-07T17:44:31Z")
Somehow, I can see Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice brushing off and revising some old songs" > [@](#): > > - > > Oh what a circus, oh what a show > All of DC has gone to town > Over the death of an actor called Ronald Reagan > We’ve all gone crazy > Mourning all day and mourning all night > Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/117 "2004-06-07T18:04:52Z")
Yup. Still bitchin’ things up even now that he’s dead. First, they announce they’re shutting the government down for a day to mourn him, and now my wife’s soap has been preempted while newscasters solemnly watch a black van that apparently contains the presidential corpse cruise around Washington. Is there no END to the guy? Then again, the way things have been going lately, shutting down the government for a day simply means a day in which the government postpones screwing things up even worse. Perhaps this is our silver lining… ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/118 "2004-06-07T18:46:49Z")
> [@Master Wang-Ka](#): > > Is there no END to the guy? Of course there is; he met it on Saturday. The national rending of the lapel, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/119 "2004-06-07T19:15:26Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > \*\*Sam[/b He played nuclear poker with the world as stakes and the only reason we’re still around today is because the Russians didn’t call his bluff, of which there was no guarantee at the time. His whole attitude was “Fuck you if you don’t agree with me” and it showed in everything he did from PATCO to Latin America to the Middle East to Russia and Eastern Europe. The man was an arrogant bastard. No, he was a leader who stood up for what he thought was right. He didn`t bend under pressure and his being an 'arrogant bastard' was probably the best thing for the country at the time. Would you rather have a leader who`s a waivering, poll-watching coward or one that sticks to his guns (even if he turns out to be wrong). I’m not saying that everything he touched turned to gold, but the man was more of a leader than most of the presidents in the last 50 years. Most Americans thought they were better off after his first four years than they were before he was elected. ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970/120 "2004-06-07T19:21:00Z")
Just a momentary Rorschach, would anyone be surprised if Reagan’s passing was treated (in the main) with more respect and human compassion on the avowedly partisan Democratic Underground message board than for the most part it received here. I’ll grant that I haven’t slogged through each and every related thread on both boards but my impression is that it in fact did. Perhaps we should consider tradeing names. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-all-you-reagan-bashers/248970.md?page=7)