# Reagan good or bad POTUS? The Will-O'Reilly feud resurrects the question of his legacy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 13, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495 "2015-11-13T20:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/41 "2015-11-16T14:47:21Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > …so does 2004 prove that a President doesn’t have to be “good” or “popular” to get reelected? It proves he doesn’t have to be good; even you must admit W was the worst POTUS since Nixon at least. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/42 "2015-11-16T15:03:10Z")
Reagan was a shitty President. [ul] [li]He ran big deficits while giving tax breaks to the rich.[/li] [li]He sold weapons to our enemies in Iran to fund a secret war in Nicaragua.[/li] [li]He supported Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.[/li] [li]He treated the AIDs epidemic as the punch-line to a joke.[/li][/ul] The economy would have rebounded on its own. (It’s laughable to suggest that the business cycle depends on the President’s demeanor.) The Soviet Union was on its last legs and would have collapsed on its own without his posturing and strutting. His big “achievements” were merely lucky timing. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/43 "2015-11-16T15:16:04Z")
You can’t deny how Reagan redeemed US prestige by invading Grenada [del]two days after the Beirut barracks attack[/del] eight years after the fall of Saigon. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/44 "2015-11-16T16:38:57Z")
Right now one of the biggest problems facing the world is climate change. Jimmy Carter’s policy was a strong effort at energy conservation and developing alternative energy sources. Reagan reversed this policy. If Jimmy Carter’s policy had been continued the U.S. would be in much better shape in this regard (contrast energy usage in Europe with its strong conservation measures and half the energy usage per capita as the U.S.). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/45 "2015-11-16T16:42:10Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Reagan fixed what needed to be fixed in 1980, mainly our military and safety and security as civilians, and our economy. There are always limited resources, so you cannot fix everything all of the time. There will therefore be areas left unfixed, or fixed less, because of limited money, time and manpower. It’s the opportunity cost. So will you look at things from a balanced perspective or will you look only at either the bad, or only the good? One sees what one wants to see. Yes Reagan left us with a big deficit but in 1989 we were overall much better off than we were in 1980. Even with the large deficit and the voodoo economics, the United States was better off, and the entire world is feral was better off. Reagan was a criminal who should have been thrown in prison. A traitor, as has been pointed out in this thread. Wiped his ass with the Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/46 "2015-11-16T16:57:13Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Reagan fixed what needed to be fixed in 1980, mainly our military and safety and security as civilians, and our economy. Neat trick, since he didn’t get into office until 1981! And then endured a recession in 1982 that lasted into 1983 (when his approval rating was around 35%). And oversaw the S&L crisis. Or Black Monday in 1987. And I suppose he enhanced U.S. security and safety, if you ignore things like the 241 Americans killed in Beirut in 1983 or the kidnapping of Terry Anderson in 1985, or the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, or… As to the OP’s discussion of Reagan’s senility, apparently Leslie Stahl tells a [story](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/reagan-alzheimers-family-feud-lesley-stahl) that she once went to visit him in 1986 with her family and found him completely out of it; a “doddering space cadet.” But he was able to pull himself together, and she never reported the story. > [@](#): > > Stahl concluded in her book: “I now believe [Reagan aides and his wife Nancy] covered up his condition, and many continued to as they wrote their memoirs. But then, the public knew something wasn’t right. There were all sorts of signs. We all looked the other way.” Whether you believe her or not, it is another data point in support of the premise that Regan was not fully functional during his time in office. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/47 "2015-11-16T18:15:01Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Right now one of the biggest problems facing the world is climate change. Jimmy Carter’s policy was a strong effort at energy conservation and developing alternative energy sources. Reagan reversed this policy. If Jimmy Carter’s policy had been continued the U.S. would be in much better shape in this regard (contrast energy usage in Europe with its strong conservation measures and half the energy usage per capita as the U.S.). I think he cost us 20 years in alternative energy research and development by making it an idea popular to ridicule. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/48 "2015-11-16T18:52:11Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > [ul] > [li]He ran big deficits while giving tax breaks to the rich.[/li][/ul]. I’m interested in how he did that all by himself. For most of his 2 terms the Democrats controlled both sides of Congress, and when they didn’t they at least controlled the House. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/49 "2015-11-16T20:06:28Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I’m interested in how he did that all by himself. For most of his 2 terms the Democrats controlled both sides of Congress, and when they didn’t they at least controlled the House. I don’t think it would be fair to say that he did it all by himself. But, he did go along with it. He had the power to veto (which he used [78 times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_vetoes) during his 2 terms), and there were [calls](http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1986/05/with-the-veto-reagan-can-salvage-the-budget) for him to reign in government spending with vetoes during his administration. That he didn’t do so means he was complicit. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/50 "2015-11-16T20:55:51Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I’m interested in how he did that all by himself. For most of his 2 terms the Democrats controlled both sides of Congress, and when they didn’t they at least controlled the House. If by “most of his two terms” you mean 25%, then sure. Of the four sessions of Congress that took place during Reagan’s terms only one had a Democratic majority in both houses. That was the 100th Congress, the last session in his administration. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/51 "2015-11-16T21:09:18Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > If by “most of his two terms” you mean 25%, then sure. Of the four sessions of Congress that took place during Reagan’s terms only one had a Democratic majority in both houses. That was the 100th Congress, the last session in his administration. You haven’t answered my question. He still had a majority of Dems in the House of Representatives at all times. How can you blame him for all those things when they could have stopped it. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/52 "2015-11-16T22:08:20Z")
I wasn’t answering your question. I’m only pointing that you’re wrong in your statement regarding Congressional majorities. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/53 "2015-11-16T22:17:33Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I’m interested in how he did that all by himself. For most of his 2 terms the Democrats controlled both sides of Congress, and when they didn’t they at least controlled the House. Is the POTUS not responsible for his own policies and their effects? Even if he sometimes has to persuade Congress to go along with those policies? Just because he is no dictator does not mean the buck stops on any other desk. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/54 "2015-11-16T22:19:58Z")
The buck stops at the President’s desk for everything the executive controls. The buck stops with Congress for everything Congress controls. Now I realize that most Americans have a distorted view of the Presidency, such that they blame Presidents for the economy and Congress yet hold them blameless for failures in their own administration, but this is the Straight Dope. We needn’t perpetuate such nonsense here. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/55 "2015-11-16T23:02:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is the POTUS not responsible for his own policies and their effects? Even if he sometimes has to persuade Congress to go along with those policies? Just because he is no dictator does not mean the buck stops on any other desk. So what? How, exactly, did President Reagan run up huge deficits and give tax breaks to the rich all by himself? The Democrats in the House and the Senate had to have a hand in it. Correct? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/56 "2015-11-16T23:24:13Z")
Reagan does get a lot of the blame for deficits though. He set his priorities: 1) Defense, 2) Tax cuts, 3) domestic spending. In exchange for not pushing the Democrats too hard on domestic spending he got defense hikes and tax cuts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/57 "2015-11-16T23:29:50Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > So what? How, exactly, did President Reagan run up huge deficits and give tax breaks to the rich all by himself? The Democrats in the House and the Senate had to have a hand in it. Correct? Yup. So you agree that it was stupid and shitty for Reagan to support big tax cuts for the rich and large deficits. You just want everyone to know that he had allies in Congress who helped him accomplish those things. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/58 "2015-11-17T00:08:11Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > So you agree that it was stupid and shitty for Reagan to support big tax cuts for the rich and large deficits. When did I say that? My point is that some of you do feel that way and are placing 100% of the blame on him when he deserve no more than 50%. They do the same but the opposite when it comes to President Clinton. For the majority of his 2 terms Republicans controlled both sides of congress. Yet they give him 100% of the credit for the good things that happened under him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/59 "2015-11-17T00:22:55Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > My point is that some of you do feel that way and are placing 100% of the blame on him when he deserve no more than 50%. He supported stupid and shitty policies and worked to carry them out. The fact that he was not able to carry out his stupid, shitty policies single-handedly is not an excuse. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495/60 "2015-11-17T00:26:18Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > He supported stupid and shitty policies and worked to carry them out. The fact that he was not able to carry out his stupid, shitty policies single-handedly is not an excuse. And during that time I trust you worked to unseat the Democrats in congress that voted for those policies? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reagan-good-or-bad-potus-the-will-oreilly-feud-resurrects-the-question-of-his-legacy/737495.md?page=4)