It wasn't the Reagan Revolution. The William F.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

Buckley Revolution more like it. The Irving Kristol Revolution. Reagan was merely the vacuous sloganeer to front the revolution of others much like Shrub was the Yale Marlboro Man who could front neocon cowboy justice and foreign policy.

I never want to give gippy more than his due.

Republicans don't elect leaders--they elect figure heads.

[Skittles]

1. I could not believe how many people fell for Reagan's act

I was 22 years old and saw right through him from the start

[calimary]

4. I was older than that - but he didn't fool me either.

I think I realized the first time I heard one of his radio commentaries what a dangerous man he was. Dangerous in that he sugar-coated all kinds of horrible, stingey, cheapskate, selfish, un-Christian, myopic, shortsighted, penny-wise/pound-foolish ideas that NEVER should have seen the light of day, much less find any favor with anybody anywhere. HORRIBLE stuff. And the "kindly" affable old uncle shtick he presented, soooooooooooo slick and silky and folksy and aw-shucks.

I worked at the FM rock-format sister station of this AM talk station that ran reagan's commentary. It was a strategy he adopted after he lost the presidential nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976. He went back to California and a number of very wealthy republi-CON tycoons and industry chieftains gathered around him and funded him and helped him build an increasingly appealing and high-profile platform that would keep his name and voice and statements in the news and in the public eye and ear. Ensured that he didn't fade away and wasn't forgotten - so he could rise again to fight another day, and preferably win next time. They propped him up and gave him his cue cards and watched him sell the "gospel" of that freedomy-freedomy thing, of trickle-down and the bullshit about the free market being a magic cure-all for everything that ailed America. And as the actor he was, he did splendidly! He sold that shit just like he sold that GE all-electric home and anything else he pitched.

And I'd catch some of those commentaries, and I remember being very troubled. This guy was trouble. He was GONNA be trouble. We had to do something! And nobody did. Nobody cared. Everybody just really liked his pleasant old affable persona a lot. They'd listen to anything and forgive him anything. They felt he really understood, connected, and was somehow one of them, even though he was a Hollywood celebrity and governor of California and slicky-boy smooth-talking spokesman and aw-shucks harmless ol' fella.

Harmless MY ASS. I knew people were gonna bite. I knew people were gonna go for that shtick. I knew they were gonna fall all over themselves to see in him what they wanted to see. And they'd love it when he'd lull them back to sleep with his pleasant folksy talk and demeanor, that aw-shucks stuff that was worth more than the Crown Jewels. People loved that stuff and they ate it up. It sounded SOOOOOOO good and so comforting and so soothing and so harmless.

And look what he did. Look at the "reagan revolution" he started. The blight he caused to sicken our land. I blame him for just about everything that's gone wrong with our country. Whatever is happening now started with ronald reagan. He made it okay to be selfish. He made it okay to be a cheapskate. He made it okay to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. He made it okay to turn the poor and mentally ill out onto the street. He made it okay to balloon the war machine while too many people starved. He made it okay to put down the poor as moochers and welfare queens and all kinds of other lies and fabrications and fairy stories. As phony as any of the fiction he starred in.

I will go to my grave hating and despising ronald reagan more than any other individual in history. If I could, I would systematically go around the country removing his name from every award, every bridge, every ship, every school, every highway, every airport, every government building, every foundation, every scholarship, every monument, every ANYTHING. Starting with what should still be the Simi Valley Freeway and moving straight across the country all the way to what should still be known as the Washington National Airport. He was the most dangerous man in America, if not the world - because of the shit he sold and made to seem respectable and desirable. That bastard singlehandedly caused more hardship, did more damage, and wrought more wreckage, despair, and desolation than any other figure in history. And we are STILL paying for it, through the nose, today.

[madokie]

6. I wish I could recommend this

[Flashmann]

10. wish I could recommend this

Me too......Those are exactly my own sentiments......

[oldhippydude]

7. about the only Reagan legacy i look at is the old antichrist 666 stuff..

remind the right wingers their prophesies... all that stuff named after Reagan...

I remember the 80 election like it was yesterday...what bothered as much as the shtick was the presses complicity, and downright dishonest coverage of his time in office... had any of Reagan's defining events happened under Carter the press would have been all over it.. starting with the "miraculous" return of the hostages... all of a sudden up equaled down... the thing that struck me at the time was the shelving of the energy proposals developed under Carter, we could be 30 years into a green revolution, Germany was listening!!

when our Marines were killed in Lebanon, it was just dropped had that been under a Democratic administration we would still be hearing about it, Reagan got a free pass... Iran-Contra should have ended with impeachment, and Ollie North should have done prison time... instead Ollie ended up being a right wing hero...

starting with the destruction of PATCO along with non enforcement of Sherman anti-trust the die was cast for what's going on now.. well said!!

[Mnemosyne]

11. This needs to be an OP, calimary. Excellent assessment! Thanks!

I detest him too. Despicable creature that my family adored.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

12. Excellent post

[Pretzel_Warrior]

15. I agree Calimary. Make this an OP

In a new thread. Just too good not to highlight.

[calimary]

17. Done! Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022092397

Thanks, Pretzel_Warrior!

[Skittles]

16. worthy of its own thread

Reagan made me realize that many Americans are greedy and stupid; he made greed and stupidity fashionable

[Flashmann]

9. saw right through him from the start

Absolutely...I said then,and I still say,raygun was a military/corporate puppet...Just needed someone to orate "lines" scripted for him,by others...And who better,to act like a grade B President,than a grade B actor,who has already starred in the role of a grade B Governor??...

Today,a wrongwing President isn't even expected to act the part.....Merely be capable of "holding a pen"........

[maddiemom]

19. So right you are!

Norquist and company must be sadly aware that a Ronnie probably can't come around twice in their lifetimes.

[Demo_Chris]

2. I suspect Buckley would be horrified at what the GOP has become

I don't think it's possible to disagree with a guy more, but Buckley was never anti-intellectual.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. No disagreement there. But he helped set in motion the

Conservative coalition that swept Reagan to power. Just happened that the anti intellectual religious right became front and center and it was a powerful way to emotionally change the subject so poor working class bastards would vote against their own self interest.

[calimary]

5. Welcome to DU, Demo_Chris!

Good to have you with us! ANY American with a conscience and even half a brain would be horrified at what the GOP has become. Which explains the teabaggers. No consciences, substantially less than half a brain.

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. K&R The plans and decisions that reagan implemented were made in the 60s. n/t

[Pretzel_Warrior]

14. They can do it again. Jim DeMint

Is not only leaving for more money but to find more palatable lies to foist on an America whose Demographics are changing.

Look for more divide and conquer stuff. Getting Latinos worked up against blacks, Asians against other minorities-- all to distract from their true agendas.

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. There's not going to be any again. They wrote this nation off and have spent the last 30 years

looting everything they could on their way out the door. We the citizens, built up enormous wealth and equity after WWII because of the changes made after the Great Depression. The entitled class doesn't share and spreading the wealth around is unacceptable to them. So they set about finding a way to take it all back and to move someplace where the people don't believe they have a right to anything.

Everybody's heard the adage "Only Nixon could go to China", but very few have asked why he did.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

20. I kind of know what you mean

But I think the police state and surveillance are all about keeping this country on a glide path to 3rd world.

There will come a point that the 99% will all realize what is happening.

[Rex]

13. RWR was a B-class actor, with very little

difference between him and Ahrnold imo. They both let the lowest common denominator rule and had cruel intentions from the outset.

That is all he is, a footnote in history just like The Berminator. Well actually Arnold will be more famous then Reagan as time goes by.

Funny that in a way.