Not to be too big a jerk, but, which Reagan are you thinking of? The Dems were calling *Ronald *Reagan ‘worse than Hitler’ as dems do about every republican, and as the republicans do about dems. Only then, they were screeching it out, like stuck pigs, not just saying it.
Again, it goes both ways in both parties with every election. Except, with Reagan, the Pubs were giddy, as if a new epoch had begun, and the Dems were enraged, as if hell had opened it’s gates.
I can agree that some Democrats were like this, but it is true that a large portion were NOT enraged, nor were a large portion making a Hitler comparison.
There were a great deal of “Reagan Democrats”, and while history may now paint Reagan in a less attractive light, at the time he was running for and being president he garnered more than average Democratic support.
He was feared and derided going into office, as a shallow Cold Warrior in the service of Big Business, and in Western Europe there was a lot of dread for like the first 6 years (which the Euroleft did not mind amplifying) that he would lead to WW3 being fought on top of them. The economic numbers were terrible in '82 and as mentioned, if the reelection had been in '82 or up to mid-83 he would have been in trouble. But one must acknowledge that once the recovery finally started, in an* emotional *sense in 1984 it seemed like it was “morning again”.
While continuing a prolonged proxy war in Central America (in which BTW in 1980 the libs felt that he would end up making us intervene directly) and Afghanistan and buggering out of Lebanon when the Marines got carbombed. He did however start the pattern of preferring to launch over-the-horizon strikes (Libya) over putting boots on the ground. In *that *sense he confounded those who dreaded him.
Just in terms of (American) public acceptance, the gipper looked and acted very well at his age. He was one of the oldest men to serve in the Oval Office. So he was of an age wherein he can play father figure to most Americans. Honoring an unknown American who died 20 years previously in Vietnam, he addressed him, “…sleep well son.”
As Time Mag put it, “invading Grenada and mining the harbors off Honduras, that’s just something daddy does while he’s in the office. Never you mind.”
My grandmother was a suffragette. My grandfather said “If you let women vote they’re gonna elect a movie star for President.” He said it took longer than he expected.
Reagan was, by far, the most right-wing of any 20th-century President and obviously so. The implication that liberals did not detest his Presidency is quite wrong. The Iran–Contra affair, to give just one example, was infinitely more serious than Monicagate, infuriated liberals, yet received less attention overall.
Surprise! Many Democrats are/were right-wing and were happy to support a right-wing President. In other news, Dog bites Man.
Is it true that history’s regard for Reagan is declining? I don’t know this. Reagan’s Administration was regarded as quite successful at the time and I think this is still true. One can argue that Reagan’s deficit led the way toward the caricature of Reaganist fiscal policies that present Republicans embrace, but I think even the mental light-weight Reagan would oppose the present-day GOP idiocies.
Yes, I agree. Note my wording. I agree that liberals detested his presidency, but I was responding to and refering to* Democrats *at the time of his presidency not liberals.
You’ll note that handsome harry described Democrats as the group being enraged and making the comparison to Hitler. I wanted to clarify that some Democrats were, but obviously a lot of them were not and in fact supported Reagan.