Ronald Reagan was an honest to god piece of shit.

[Itchinjim]

Just a friendly reminder. 🙂

[Joinfortmill]

1. Yeah not the best for the middle class

[Newest Reality]

2. Certainly...

But, he was only a few, corn-laced logs in the foundation for the incredible, steaming mountain of bullshit now in office.

Reagan couldn't hold a toilet paper roll to that.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Nixon was bad enough but I swear, Reagan began all this bullshit we have to endure now.

Goddamn him to hell.

[NewJeffCT]

12. Yep

I've read a lot of alternative history books over the past 10 years or so (what if the Germans won WW2, what if Truman had nuked North Korea, etc) and it makes me think back and wonder if the Iran hostage rescue mission had been a success instead of a spectacular failure and the Carter campaign knew about the stolen debate material, would he have been able to beat Reagan and how would things have changed?

Carter appoints a Democratic woman to SCOTUS instead of Sandra Day O'Connor? Fairness Doctrine stays in place? No PATCO firings? No budget busting tax cuts for the rich that turn America from a net creditor to a net debtor? Likely have Mondale vs George HW Bush in 1984? Or maybe Kennedy would have made another run?

(Carter wasn't perfect - he was challenged from the left by Teddy Kennedy in 1980 after all - but he was a great person and a helluva lot better than Reagan)

[Caliman73]

25. Alternative history is interesting.

I saw a video about "The most consequential election in American history - The election of 1912" where the authors argue that Wilsonian democracy was the progenitor of a lot of the problems facing the United States.

I don't know if I buy it, but it was interesting.

[PatrickforO]

54. I didn't think Carter was a great president, but I do think he is a great man. n/t

[DENVERPOPS]

101. A few years back

I had the honor and privilege of sitting one on one with President Carter for a half hour in an open ended discussion on a lot of things.....I was just an average middle class person. I respected him before that, but came away thinking he was one of the finest men I had ever had the chance to meet. He has done more for the U.S. than all the other modern day presidents combined with the exception of JFK as a close second.

The reason he wasn't a great president, was that even back then the Repubs were doing a torpedo job on him including Reagan's secret meeting with Iran and arms sales to screw up the election. (Sound familiar?)

One of the most interesting things Carter never bragged about was his Military Career/Military Experience. Most people don't know he was a qualified Sub Commander..............they think he was a mere peanut farmer.........

He and his wife are both wonderful people............

[bobbieinok]

62. IIRC George Will coached Reagan for debates, kept it secret,, wrote columns praising performance

[NewJeffCT]

84. Wasn't there also a stolen debate playbook

from Carter that Will had gotten ahold of?

[appalachiablue]

90. I've heard that, from TH years ago most likely

[Caliman73]

14. No, it was definitely Nixon who started it.

Don't get me wrong, Reagan was particularly adept at acting the part of the "folksy God fearing Amurcan" to all those silent majority idiots who thought he was "St. Ronnie".

The thing is that A hell of a lot of the people from the Nixon administration went to work with Reagan. Nixon was smarter than Reagan and more sinister, but Reagan was made for TV politics in a way that Nixon was NEVER going to be. Nixon was always constrained by the times and by the technology of the day. Imagine Nixon with Fox TV, the right wing internet and Twitter. He'd be super dangerous.

Reagan was no slouch and he with his fake charm and B actor talent, did a lot of long term damage to the US. He didn't start the bullshit but he did accelerate it and normalized it.

What do Nixon and Reagan have in common with Trump? Survey says...

All 3 are traitors who engaged with foreign powers to undermine the national elections to become president. Nixon did it with Vietnam, Reagan did it with Iran, and Trump with Russia and attempted it again with Ukraine. Republicans say they love America, but they sure do like to cheat on America with foreign countries.

[geardaddy]

32. You hit the nail on the head.

Nixon sent Kissinger to deal directly with the North Vietnamese before Nixon was even elected to hamper peace talks between North Vietnam and the Johnson Administration.

[Caliman73]

37. He also had Anna Chenault talking to the South.

He told them to pull out of the talks in 68 and wait for a better deal from a Nixon Administration.

What they got was 5 more years of war, and a total defeat with tens of thousand more dead.

[geardaddy]

40. Yep, Anna Chenault. Thanks for reminding me about her

She and Madame Chiang Kai-shek (Soong Mei-Ling) walked hand in hand with the John Birch-types and Douglas MacArthur.

[RVN VET71]

67. And none of these "super patriots" cared a rats ass about American soldiers

They deliberately sabotaged peace efforts and caused the deaths of 10s of thousands of Americans, 100s of 1000s of Vietnamese.

May their roasting spits turn slowly for eternity in the hottest pit of hell.

[geardaddy]

91. Exactly.

Thank you.

[The Wizard]

102. If I'm not mistaken

Nixon was communicating with the government of South Vietnam telling them not to sign a treaty with LBJ as he would get them a better deal. Ironically, they eventually signed a treaty LBJ refused as it would lead to the North invading and taking over the South which is what happened.

[geardaddy]

113. Thanks for the correction.

I thought I had read that Nixon has sent Kissinger to N. Vietnam.

[dchill]

64. Yep. GOP are serial adulterers!

[ChazInAz]

107. Reagans a Rat Fink

I'm an actor, and I know my field's history in the labor movement.
As an officer of the Screen Actors Guild, during McCarthy's reign of terror and afterwards, he ratted out fellow members to J.Edgar and Tailgunner Joe. Anyone in the
Guild with a liberal philosophy or even vaguely left of center was a target.
Extremely liberal, humanitarian and noncitizen Boris Karloff packed up and went home to England.
Poor Bela Lugosi had supported a leftist group opposing fascism in Hungary, and had been a labor organizer there. He was raked over the coals for that, and it scared the hell out of him.
We could talk about Dalton Trumbow or Chaplin,as well.
Reagan was scum.

[DENVERPOPS]

100. I could not agree more CEP

I was screaming my head off after the first month Reagan was in office. About things he was doing that were screwing the middle class at the time, and many many things that would destroy the middle class in future decades. Everyone told me to get off my soap box, especially the so called REAGAN DEMOCRATS. (one of them told me last week: We should have listened to you....sorry)

I use the word Reagan carefully, because in all reality he was a puppet for the Republican Party, already showing signs of mental degradation early on in his first term. I usually use the REAGAN ADMINISTRATION because they were the ones orchestrating and directing everything that they were doing.

THE COMMON ELEMENT was HWBush and his bestest buddy minions. We're talking Cheney/Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld/Pearle and so on. They were there for 8 years of Reagan, 4 years of HW, 8 years of W Bush. THEY were the REAL powerhouse behind this entire mess for over 40 years...............

[misanthrope]

106. Reagan's mental state

was a feature, not a bug in his handlers' eyes. So of course it was there early in his first term.

[DENVERPOPS]

114. Misant

The repubs new that. He was a perfect puppet, just like W........Every Con needs a good "front" man.........

[misanthrope]

115. Bingo

Mega useful idiot.

[The Wizard]

118. He was the front man

for the Bush cartel.

[Blue_playwright]

117. If there's a hell, he's there...

If nothing else than to pay for the good union folks who lost jobs and committed suicide because of his bullshit.

[handmade34]

4. ...

I need no reminders... but some here might

[edhopper]

5. Lied as much as Trump

[walkingman]

6. Reagan is without doubt a piece of garbage!!

I still blame Reagan for the almost complete destruction of unions in America and along with the demise of pensions. his "Southern Strategy" (unadulterated racism) which basically changed the entire South to Republican. His trickle-down economics because the backbone of GOP economics and still is alive and well today (never worked) and the hypocrisy of his "War on Drugs", all the while subverting Congress with the Iran/Contra plan that gave a green light to the drug cartels.

[dflprincess]

53. The "southern strategy" started with Nixon

Birds of a feather.

[walkingman]

66. Sorry, I just remember Reagan being a racist and his fanning the

flames of "States Rights" as a overt racism. I really do believe that Reagan is responsible for much of our problems today and George "W" Bush should be executed for his actions in Iraq which destabilized the Middle East. Trump is a piece of garbage but like the above his legacy is yet to be fully realized.

[dflprincess]

69. You ate correct that Reagan was more open about it

Nixon stuck to slightly less obvious dog whistles.

[Raine]

7. I despise Raygun

above all others!

[Beringia]

8. Patricia Neal thought he was the cat's meow

Reading her autobiography. She also was in love with Gary Cooper her whole life, even though he never committed to her.

So many people without any social conscience then and now.

[3catwoman3]

9. More like the deposits in the...

...cat box.

[Beringia]

17. That's funny

[Patterson]

35. Wow! That ties in with two movies:

A Face In the Crowd and Atlas Shrugged.

[dchill]

61. Don't forget "Bright Leaf!"

[Patterson]

121. I don't know that one.

[geardaddy]

38. Yeah, but she was a Democrat who supported Adlai Stevenson.

Also, Reagan was a Democrat before he met Nancy. She convinced him to move to the Republicans. Either way, he was still a stinking pile of shit.

[Demovictory9]

10. thread header made me laugh

[Demovictory9]

11. but compared to Trump he was a saint!

[Caliman73]

22. Not really. I can understand why people would think that but I have to disagree.

Without Reagan there would have been no Trump. Reagan did things to this country that facilitated the path for Trump to become president. For one, Reagan was not very smart. He relied on his communication skills and staff of neo-cons to get his agenda through. He was a master of the media of the time and had a charisma that Trump could never have.

Reagan utterly gutted the Union movement. He was responsible for the basic collapse of the private Unions' strength across the nation. He oversaw the escalating crisis in the middle east between Iran and Iraq that killed a million people and gave us Gulf War I and II. He oversaw a slew of bloody civil wars in Central America which he had the US participating in illegally. He paid lip service to the "War on Drugs" while allowing drugs to flood the inner cities of America to fund his operations in Central and South Americans killing thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Latin Americans.

Trump is an abomination. His greatest evil is undermining people's trust in government and social institutions. Trump's legacy will be that he weakened American institutions and used then abandoned Americans for his own personal gain.

Reagan, however hollowed America out, financially and politically. Reagan used racial animosity and sexism to advance the economic goals of the rich. He was the one who started the idea that "government is the problem". Remember that Trump even took Reagan's campaign slogan and copied it. If Trump tried to do what he did in 2016 during Reagan's time, he would have been laughed at and run out of town on a rail.

[jimfields33]

26. I don't understand how he got anything done

The house was democratic the whole time. I guess we needed a speaker pelosi. I don’t know who the speaker was but Reagan needed the person to get the agenda through.

[Caliman73]

34. Tip O'Neill.

He was actually a good Speaker and opposed a lot of Reagan's agenda. It was a different time without as much of the partisanship.

The thing on the Unions was done with executive orders. PATCO, which were the air traffic controllers, were fired directly by Reagan and that began the assault on Unions. Even other Unions fell in line with Reagan because they were scared.


Reagan was the first president, at least in the modern era, that put people into cabinet positions, that wanted to dismantle the federal office that they were assigned to. Think William Bennett as Secretary of Education. He didn't even think the Federal office of Education should exist.

[mgardener]

57. Remember the Welfare Queens?

He was terrible.
Republicans also his beginnings of alzheimer's too!

[geardaddy]

39. Nope

[essme]

74. Different time where a sweater & drawl could do real damage.

Like the HIV AIDS crisis that he totally ignored ON PURPOSE to kill gay people. He sucks as bad if not worse than Trump.

Trump is more of an in your face annoyance with 50% of Reagan's true evil caricature of a leader.

Trump is pond scum, a puddle of mud, while Ronnie was corona-virus or ebola.

[Skittles]

76. no, he WASN'T

and NEITHER WAS DUBYA

[Raine]

81. No he wasn't

Raygun was worse, masking his ugliness behind a handsome face, nice smile and well practiced speech, if not for Raygun there would be no Trump!

[Demovictory9]

82. ...and good hair

[OnDoutside]

13. His son Ronnie jnr is great though.

[sandensea]

47. +1

Here's hoping MSNBC fires Two-faced Tweety, and puts Ron Reagan in that time slot.

It's time for another Reagan on prime time.

[OnDoutside]

58. That's a great suggestion

[sandensea]

72. Thanks!

Not for me to decide, of course. But you never know.

[Vogon_Glory]

15. Reagan was a Republican and no friend to the Democratic Party

However, he’s conveniently dead and unable to object and I have no scruples about using Reaganism and re-tooled and redirected Reagan memes to bash Trump and the present and future Republican leadership.

[maxsolomon]

16. He was good on camera.

The GOP understands that, basically, that's all it takes.

Would that the Dems understood that as well. You'd think Obama would have clarified that.

[budkin]

18. Just the fact that he launched his campaign...

With a “states rights” speech at the Neshoba County Fair tells you all you need to know. Racist piece of shit.

[Shermann]

19. His wisecracks were pretty good

At least he put some effort into them, and they had an effect for better or worse.

Trump just makes me groan.

[lunatica]

21. He was in a state of Dementia.

[Nature Man]

30. He was a fucking asshole

[lunatica]

20. Yes, and I knew it at the time

The way his campaign was over the top in blind patriotic fervor and flag waving propaganda was sickening to me. The images of him superimposed and interlocked over a slowly waving American flag with military inspired music was even more overdone than Trump’s images with rows of the flag or his jet with his name logo behind him in every picture of him during the campaign. It was so obviously an appeal to militaristic patriotism in the face of the Iran hostage situation.

And then later we found out that at the very same time he was conspiring with Iran to not release the hostages until he took office. So he took credit for their release although Jimmy Carter did all the work to broker it.

Yes. Reagan was a piece of shit.

[Caliman73]

23. I was a kid at the time, but I had a sick feeling about that too.

All the chants of, USA! USA! were jarring. I mean I understand people's desire to belong to something greater than themselves, but there was an anger in the chanting that was really off putting. The Reagan followers who would chant that, never seemed to be happy about their country or supporting it. They were communicating something else with those chants and I felt it even as a school aged child.

[lunatica]

41. You were a very perceptive kid

It was nothing more than a more sophisticated way of the same thing Trump has done of whipping up Jingoism, racism and White Supremacist beliefs in his MAGATs. It’s foundation is hatred of the other, especially of other countries and cultures. It’s an angry adolescence which seems to have gotten our country stuck in an angry emotional turmoil instead of an adult leadership in the world. It’s a military mindset of aggression rather than a diplomatic example of brotherhood.

It is plain to see now but it wasn’t so obvious then.

[Caliman73]

50. Very true.

I remember anxiety throughout the Reagan years. I remember the "bomb drills" at school and the rhetoric between Reagan and the "Evil Empire". I also remember how the media swooned over how Reagan got the USSR to capitulate when it was actually mostly the economic pressures and the work of Mikhail Gorbachev that folded up the Soviet Union.

You are absolutely correct. It was more sophisticated and somewhat tempered. If the Reagan years presented an adolescent mindset, the Trump years have been a full on rolling on the floor, 3 year old tantrum.

Trump has taken the mask of the GOP off and has exposed the rot at the core of their ideology.

[mgardener]

60. Isn't it interesting too

That his message was about Germany
"Mr Gorbechov tear down this wall?"

Same Republicans now think a wall is a good thing.

[The Wizard]

65. When you hear USA USA USA chanted

the rest of the world hears sieg heil.

[lunatica]

70. The only time you hear other people chanting their country's names

is during the international soccer games or the Olympics. Never to cheer their military might.

[The Wizard]

94. As a disabled combat vet

all I can say is the USA chant is creepy.

[lunatica]

97. I agree. It's sounds like a mindless threat

It’s underlying message is we will kill you because we can.

In the Olympics it’s we will beat you in a game. No one bleeds or gets hurt.

[jimfields33]

27. Why wasn't he impeached?????

We had the house!!!!!! That’s all it takes!!!!!!

[geardaddy]

45. I was a freshman in high school when he was first elected

I knew at that time he was a POS. My parents were lifelong Republicans and refused to vote for him. Unfortunately, they voted for John Anderson.

Carter won our state though (MN, because of Mondale). And we've had the longest term of voting for Democrats in presidential elections in the country.

[lunatica]

98. I was an adult in my early 30s and that election was a

shock and a bitter disappointment to me. It was the first time I had the face the fact that so many Americans were stupid enough to be easily manipulated and that it meant this country was determined to stay in it’s adolescent mindset.

It’s obviously the same now, though our next election might prove we’re ready to admit we have made a colossal mistake and are willing to do the grownup work of fixing our self inflicted mess.

You were a smart kid!

[geardaddy]

110. Thanks!

I hope people will wake up to the corruption that is the GOP before November.

[Aristus]

24. His cavalier views on homelessness alone would get him, in a just universe, an eternity in Hell.

I could never forgive him for that...

[DFW]

28. Trump is a dishonest to god piece of shit

When he gets to the gates of Hades, he will push Reagan aside and tell him, OK, now let a real expert show ya how it's done!

[geardaddy]

29. Thank you.

I fully agree.

[kairos12]

31. Hated him forever. Lying POS.

[wryter2000]

33. I haven't forgotten

The biggest drop into the abyss where we now find ourselves. Making all the crap that came after him possible.

[Farmer-Rick]

36. Yes, he was

Do you know any Reagan Democrats? I heard a lot about them back then from the media. But I never met one. I did meet some people who changed party after Reagan because he was just so awful but never a supposed Reagan Democrat.

[Midnight Writer]

105. I know a lot of Democrats who voted for Reagan, then stayed with the Republicans.

[jalan48]

42. Hell ya.

[Hulk]

43. You're damn right he was.

Everytime I hear the reich wing spew what a "saint" he was, I have to fight back a gag of vomit.

He was the beginning of the "bull shit propaganda machine" in my eyes. Worthless 3rd rate actor. The corporate world had their hand so far up his ass, he was nothing more than a ventriloquist act with a macho image.

[Sherman A1]

44. Yes, indeed he was

and still ranks as the absolute worst President in our history in my opinion.

[Baked Potato]

46. He was a crook.

[Greybnk48]

48. This cannot be said often enough

to dispel the myth of St. Ronnie. Thank you for your service!

[Tikki]

49. Yes and may I add "A King Size Asshole"

As I always define him.

Tikki

[guillaumeb]

51. And George H. W. Bush was a racist clown who committed crimes for Regan.

No reminder needed in this house.

[dajoki]

52. You got that right...

he was despicable. It started before him but with him the shit hit the fan.

[TEB]

55. Fuck regan

[dchill]

56. A friendly and timely reminder!

[Cicada]

59. He had Alzheimer's pretty early

I lived with a movie exec and was in bed with her when she got a call from a friend who had just had dinner with President Reagan. Her friend said it was the scariest thing in his life. Ronnie told a long story, several minutes long, then a couple minutes later repeated the same long story. The guy at dinner knew that the President had dementia and it scared him to death. It’s odd that the news about his dementia didn’t come out earlier.

[pansypoo53219]

63. hell yeah.

[MuseRider]

68. I was so angry all the damn time about him

and embarrassed as we were young and traveled a lot before the kids came. I am so thankful I got my kids raised before all of the Internet was up with all the information. Can you imagine how upset we would have been with the big media we have now putting that nodding fool up every time you looked at anything? Add that to the fact that Limbaugh came to be during that time and at least you had to search around if you wanted to hear him, he was not on everything like he was for awhile later on.

I get mad every time I think of that doddering old fool. Where's my blood pressure med. Damn.

[Doc_Technical]

71. Reagan had a great sense of humor

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
This was said during a sound check before a radio broadcast.

I guess there is nothing funnier than nuclear war.

[a kennedy]

73. But, but, but, America loved him......

[Skittles]

75. I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE

yes indeed

[Azathoth]

77. He had Alzheimer's before Trump made it cool nt

[dhol82]

78. You just found out?

[gopiscrap]

79. I have been saying that for years

[MotorCityBeard]

80. Why, yes... yes he was. He chose to do NOTHING about AIDS in the beginning.

He tops my list for worst president ever because he refused to do anything about AIDS in the early eighties because it was killing the "right" sort of people (that is, foreigners and gay men). His fucking people even joked about it in a few press conferences

Being a gay men who came out and lived through the eighties, having seen so many friends die before their time. I will NEVER forgive him for that.

[DENVERPOPS]

103. You need to rent the movie

"AND THE BAND PLAYED ON" it is a semi documentary about Reagan's Legacy on AID's........

It is great, with great cast including Alan alda?

[MotorCityBeard]

120. Oh, I've seen the movie, and read the book.

A lot of different groups did not come out well in that, including the gay community (the argument about closing the bathhouses).

But it was the government that could have done the most good at that time to stop the spread of that, and they refused to do it. At least until Rock Hudson died of it and they couldn't ignore it anymore.

[The Genealogist]

83. He looked and acted for the camera like your dear, sweet grandpapa

Here! Have another jelly bean.

He was every bit the misanthrope that Donald Trump is.

[colsohlibgal]

85. The Damage He Caused Is Tragic

Again on top of the rest of it, like cutting the top marginal tax rate by half, he went along with jettisoning the long standing Fairness Doctrine. Had that not happened no Fox News No Limbaugh, and you can imagine how differently things would have played out since then.

[mvd]

86. Yes indeed

He enabled the insane right wing to take over the party, and if anything, the Repuke party has gotten even worse since Reagan. I despise Trump even more because he has absolutely demeaned the entire office and has an authoritarianism and stupidity that knows no equal. And while Reagan was racist in his own ways, nobody has divided us like Trump has.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

87. On the other hand, Rotten Ronnie can rot our world no more.

[Jimbo S]

109. Yes, true

My understanding is it's no longer taught in schools.

[pecosbob]

89. I think his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee pretty much says it all

Fuck dat guy and the horse he rode in on (the GOP).

https://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/108/110880/ch26_a5_d1.pdf

[Bengus81]

92. Just about lost a new home after he'd been in office for nearly 2 years..........

When the economy came crashing down. Then later under the first trickle down my taxes went UP as he eliminated several tax brackets to make things more "simple".

Look back too...that's when downsizing really began. FIRE all your long time employees and let others do 2-3 times the work or hire new ones at a fraction of what those fired were making.

The DESTRUCTION of the middle class started in Jan 1981.

[Windy City Charlie]

93. I blame Reagan

I blame Reagan for the divide between the rich and poor that we have today. His "trickle-down" economics did the exact opposite as he said they'd do (and he knew that). Prior to him becoming president, it seemed like companies had a great deal of respect for their employees and the head-honchos of those companies cared just as much for their employees' well-being as they had for their own.

In the 8 years of Reagan's presidency that all changed and greed and selfishness took over. That's why today you see too many of the big wigs getting their tax cuts sitting there saying "I've got mine who cares if anyone else gets anything."

[Scalded Nun]

95. an oily, slimy POS

that leaves a residue on everything it touches and we still have not been able to flush it down the toilet.

[Brother Buzz]

96. A shitload of us Californians we hip to Ronnie Boys' hokum....

from the get-go. He was an honest to God piece of shit Governor.

[leftyladyfrommo]

99. I never could get past his hair. It stuck up funny.

I notice hair and someone with weird hair makes me nervous.

So many of those awful TV swindlers have weird hair. They looked dipped in starch. And always pinky skinned and shiny.

Abd then there is Trump who took weird hair to a whole new level.

Never trust a man with weird hair.

[BigDemVoter]

104. Has somebody forgotten that?

He was horrid.

[katmondoo]

108. Totally agree.

[Crowman2009]

111. Ignoring AIDS, war crimes in central America, bringing drugs into the streets from rw-armies

from Central America, increasing the debt exponentially. What's not to love?

[wendyb-NC]

112. Yes, he was. Thank you, for saying it.

[Hekate]

116. We're in the midst of a lot of stuff right now. So this is apropos of what?

[csziggy]

119. There was nothing "honest" about Reagan's time in office

I think that every time I see this thread title. Reagan may not have known everything that was going on, with his advancing dementia, but he enabled and supported those who circumvented Congress and who lied every time they opened their mouths.

As usual, Reagan was a mouthpiece and spouted the lines he was given. As President he did it without caring about the effects on the country and its people.