# What did Reagan do that wouldn't please Republicans today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 18, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695 "2015-09-18T19:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/21 "2015-09-18T21:06:53Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > Works both ways… Many of the things John F Kennedy did would be anathema to the current dems. > > Not a fair comparison to compare politicians of one era to politicians of another. Throw in Hubert Humphrey, who was a strong supporter of gun rights. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/22 "2015-09-18T21:09:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Romney was pro-abortion There is no such thing. > [@](#): > > and established socialized medicine Except that it isn’t. > [@](#): > > What would YOU call that? Nothing you’d like to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/23 "2015-09-18T21:10:07Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Throw in Hubert Humphrey, who was a strong supporter of gun rights. Brian Schweitzer is a strong supporter of gun rights yet also a progressive Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/24 "2015-09-18T21:11:09Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > Works both ways… Many of the things John F Kennedy did would be anathema to the current dems. Such as…? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/25 "2015-09-18T21:43:04Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Such as…? Vietnam? Cuban Missile Crisis? His non-action on civil rights? There is zero chance Kennedy would be a viable candidate for left wing Democrats today…he was way too much of a war hawk for them. Both parties have shifted. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/26 "2015-09-18T21:44:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > EVERY Democrat now supports gay marriage, a position even George McGovern in his prime would never have supported. Please do not try to pretend it’s the Republicans who have shifted. Later on, Barry Goldwater was a supporter of abortion rights and gay rights. (This was his libertarian side showing, not necessarily so much any _liberal_ side. Where is Rand Paul these days?) From his [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater): > [@](#): > > By the 1980s, the increasing influence of the Christian right on the Republican Party so conflicted with Goldwater’s views that he became a vocal opponent of the religious right on issues such as abortion, gay rights, and the role of religion in public life. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/27 "2015-09-18T22:15:48Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Vietnam? Cuban Missile Crisis? His non-action on civil rights? There is zero chance Kennedy would be a viable candidate for left wing Democrats today…he was way too much of a war hawk for them. > > Both parties have shifted. Huh? JFK was relatively low key on Vietnam. And could you find me some mainstream liberals who oppose his actions in the Missile Crisis? The main objection was that he gave away missiles in Turkey (hardly an objection on the left.) I’m not sure I’d call him more hawkish than Hillary. BTW he did plenty of action on civil rights. Wallace, James Meredith, sending in the National Guard. He didn’t get civil rights passed, it took LBJ’s legislative genius to do that. I don’t think too many Democrats even objected to his tax cuts. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/28 "2015-09-18T22:16:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Later on, Barry Goldwater was a supporter of abortion rights and gay rights. (This was his libertarian side showing, not necessarily so much any _liberal_ side. Where is Rand Paul these days?) > > From his [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater): Paul is a good example. In a less rigid Republican party, he’d be allowed to be more of a libertarian. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/29 "2015-09-18T22:24:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Romney was pro-abortion and established socialized medicine as governor of Massachusetts. > > What would YOU call that? The question is, is Romney a more or less liberal Republican who lied about his position when running for president, or a conservative Republican who lied about his position when running for governor? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/30 "2015-09-18T22:58:13Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > When Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were alive, liberals called them trigger happy maniacs, racists, bigots and fascists. Now that the’re safely dead, liberals pretend they always admired Goldwater and Reagan, who were such rational, reasonable guys- not like the right wing maniacs the GOP always nominates these days(Mitt Romney, John McCain, Bob Dole…). Dude, Bob Dole’s run for the presidency was twenty years ago. He’s not exactly a “these days” Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/31 "2015-09-18T23:11:22Z")
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 "required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status; made it illegal to hire or recruit undocumented immigrants knowingly; legalized certain seasonal agricultural undocumented immigrants, and; legalized undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt; candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in the country before January 1, 1982, and that they possessed minimal knowledge about U.S. history, government, and the English language. At the time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that about four million undocumented immigrants would apply for legal status through the act and that roughly half of them would be eligible.[2]" ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/32 "2015-09-18T23:39:11Z")
Reagan was the most protectionist president since Hoover. I’d think this would be awkward for the free trade rhetoric. Then again, it didn’t seem to cause much of a problem at the time, so maybe not. Pulled out after the Beirut barracks bombing. Or, to put it in modern chest beating rhetoric, he cut and run, emboldened our enemies, and dishonored the memory of hundreds of dead service members. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/33 "2015-09-19T00:44:44Z")
He didn’t always wear a flag pin. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/34 "2015-09-19T01:16:08Z")
> **[Op-ed: The Gay Truth About Ronald Reagan](https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/06/05/op-ed-gay-truth-about-ronald-reagan)** > > Ronald Reagan failed to successfully combat the AIDS crisis, but does that make him antigay? > [@](#): > > Believe it or not, Reagan was one of the first major politicians in history to come out for gay rights. Just a year before he announced his candidacy for president, he came out forcefully against Proposition 6 in California, which would’ve barred gay people from teaching in public schools. Not only did he have no political incentive to do it, but it could’ve been a huge catastrophe. Assuming that Reagan’s views moved roughly in tandem with the rest of the country, a lot of today’s Republicans would be quite disappointed with where he wound up on gay rights. ---
**Author:** ![Grsz11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grsz11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grsz11)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/35 "2015-09-19T02:51:32Z")
Reagan would be primar-ied by a Sarah Palin endorsed Teanut ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/36 "2015-09-19T04:16:08Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 > "required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status; > made it illegal to hire or recruit undocumented immigrants knowingly; > legalized certain seasonal agricultural undocumented immigrants, and; > legalized undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt; candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in the country before January 1, 1982, and that they possessed minimal knowledge about U.S. history, government, and the English language. > > At the time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that about four million undocumented immigrants would apply for legal status through the act and that roughly half of them would be eligible.[2]" Yes, this is one that immediately springs to mind. It sure worked out great, and kept us from having our illegal immigrant problem getting worse. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/37 "2015-09-19T04:49:11Z")
He is the only president in history to have ever been a union boss. Fought the Second Amendment for Black Panthers with the Mulford Act. Hollywood Elite…whatever the fuck that was ever supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/38 "2015-09-19T04:58:08Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Boy, liberals sure do loooooove dead conservatives, don’t they? > [@running\_coach](#): > > You said it. 😃 :eek: Oh, no, you did NOT… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/39 "2015-09-19T05:02:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Dude, Bob Dole’s run for the presidency was twenty years ago. He’s not exactly a “these days” Republican. As Dole himself found out recently. I still remember that many republicans had told him that they were going to support legislation that he and many did support, but the politics of the extreme right got in the way. > **[Bob Dole Can't Sway Republicans to Back UN Disabilities Treaty](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/12/bob-dole-cant-sway-republicans-to-back-un-disabilities-treaty/)** > > Get breaking national and world news, broadcast video coverage, and exclusive interviews. Find the top news online at ABC news. As he said in a recent celebration of legislation that passed when a more reasonable congress was active then: [http://thehill.com/regulation/249272-lawmakers-mark-25th-anniversary-of-americans-with-disabilities-act](http://thehill.com/regulation/249272-lawmakers-mark-25th-anniversary-of-americans-with-disabilities-act) > [@](#): > > Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) called on Congress to ratify the international disability treaty, during a Capitol Hill event celebrating 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). > > “It’s a shame the only countries who haven’t ratified that treaty are the Congo, Guyana and the United States of America and we are the leader in disability issues and dealing with the problem,” he said of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695/40 "2015-09-19T15:31:01Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The question is, is Romney a more or less liberal Republican who lied about his position when running for president, or a conservative Republican who lied about his position when running for governor? Or a crass opportunist willing to try to “brand his image” to fit whatever goal he wanted, in contempt of the intelligence of the people. I don’t think anyone knows what Romney’s principles are, other than his massive sense of privilege. Or if he even comprehends the concept of standing for something bigger than oneself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-reagan-do-that-wouldnt-please-republicans-today/731695.md?page=3)