Sorry Baker but Reagan is a moral disgrace as President.

[kpete]

Last edited Sun Dec 8, 2013, 09:52 PM - Edit history (2)

Howard Baker says that St. Ronald Reagan regretted his veto of the apartheid sanctions when he was President and Mandela was still in jail.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2013/12/baker-reagan-regret-over-south-africa-veto-179107.html?hp=r7

Sorry James (Baker), St. Reagan's Halo Was NEVER Deserved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Why stop there? Baker should also say that St. Ronnie regretted starting his campaign for the presidency in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where 3 civil rights workers were brutally murdered in the 1960s. Or how about St. Ronnie regretted his failure to act on the AIDs crisis when he was President, dooming thousands to a painful early death?
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2013/12/funemployment.html#comment-1155232413


I could go on and on and on and on:

"Ronald Reagan must be the nicest president who ever destroyed a union, tried to cut school lunch milk rations from six to four ounces, and compelled families in need of public help to first dispose of household goods in excess of $1,000...1f there is an authoritarian regime in the American future, Ronald Reagan is tailored to the image of a friendly fascist."

- Robert Lekachman


Cruelty with a Smile

With his superficially sunny disposition - and a ruthless political strategy of exploiting white-male resentments - Reagan convinced millions of Americans that the threats they faced were: African-American welfare queens, Central American leftists, a rapidly expanding Evil Empire based in Moscow, and the do-good federal government.
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/03-8

Nelson Mandela’s Name Doesn’t Appear Once in Ronald Reagan Official 784 Page Diaries
It’s sort of amazing that Reagan, the president of the 1980s, had no thoughts or conversations about Nelson Mandela languishing in an island prison for what became 27 years.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/12/08/nelson-mandelas-name-doesnt-appear-once-in-ronald-reagan-official-784-page-diaries



*************

UPDATE TO ADD:
a handy timeline showing how conservatives consistently tried to thwart Mandela.
http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/06/3029871/w...

Examples:

1960s:
National Review predicts end of white rule would result in “the collapse of civilization.”

1980s:
Reagan described apartheid South Africa as a “good country.”
Jerry Falwell urges supporters to oppose sanctions.
180 House members opposed free Mandela resolution.
Jack Abramoff leads think tank dedicated to tearing down Mandela.
U.S. Senator testified in support of the apartheid government.

1990s:
Heritage Foundation says Mandela is no “freedom fighter.”
Conservative think tank links Mandela to communists.

2000s:
National Review labels Mandela a “communist” for opposing the Iraq war.
(I got a good chuckle over this one)

http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/06/3029871/wing-timeline-mandela/

[indepat]

1. Yet the rush for the finalization of Saint Ronnie's deification is at a fever pitch

[MisterP]

4. the funny thing is, the GOP was running away from him as hard as possible 1987-93

the sanctification came with the rightwards purge

[indepat]

28. And now the Gipper is maybe the only human, dead or alive, to be considered a deity, but only by

tens of millions of true-believers living in America.

[Lasher]

31. Saint Ronnie was retroactively canonized due to relentless fiction by Grover Norquist and others.

This notably includes the Reagan Legacy Project. The very best reputation that money could buy. Rich folks needed to convince half the voting population that Raygun was not as fucked up as he really was, because they wanted us to buy more of his snake oil. It worked.

[indepat]

2. Yet the rush for the finalization of Saint Ronnie's deification is at a fever pitch

[leftwingbuffalowing]

3. Reagan Truth

Conservatives who use Reagan as a symbol of their ideas need to check their facts.

[YOHABLO]

7. Didn't you know they make up their own "facts"?

[99Forever]

5. St Ronnie Rayguns makes me wish there actually was a Hell for him to be roasting in. n/t

[karynnj]

6. Not to mention, how much inner city pain was caused by cocaine brought in to

get money for arms for the Contras -- to use in Central America massacres

I think there has always been a tendency to white wash American leaders when they die. I would not be expected if it happens with GWB or (hopefully far in the future) Bill Clinton. Maybe it is needed to keep the unrealistic image of the US as exceptional. (In fairness, few countries - not defeated - ever admit wrongdoing.)

[heaven05]

10. that was one thing never mentioned when people

address the 'good saint ronnie' and his deeds. Yeah, that contra thing was amazing. How it was just swept under the rug, with a few underlings thrown under the bus. GWB I and II will be heroes in another generation. Especially the shrub referencing 9/11 and 'evil Saddam'.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

8. The Homily today was about the liberation of the oppressed, AND of the oppressors.

These were the words and actions of Nelson Mandela. Maybe we should concentrate on those oppressing others today. I think the Koch Brothers are the oppressors of democracy. They get a Supreme Court to give them cover to do what they want with their "voice/power/money", while the elected president must adhere to the laws in the Constitution which constrict him against the great oppressor - greed. It also puts an undue burden on we the people who have to fight their $ with what change we can muster.

[heaven05]

9. no saint here.

never was and never will be. A snake in the grass, maybe. That might be too nice a description. Saint ronnie? NEVER!!!!

[RoccoR5955]

11. I find you calling Reagan a "saint"

More than repulsive!
Yes, the Rapeublicons may call him a saint, but you don't have to.
Call him a bastard shithead schmuck, because that's what he was.
We only got Reagan, because John Wayne was dead.
A 'B' actor playing the role of president.... poorly.

Of course he vetoed the apartheid sanctions, and now that the Rapeublicons have, once again, been proven to be on the wrong side of history, they will "regret" it. Yeah, right! They are saying that publicly, but privately, they are quite proud of everything that they commanded Bonzo the Chimp's handler to do.

I don't give a rat's testicle what Reagan had in his freakin' diaries, they were not written by him, because he was a puppet, and these diaries were more than likely written by his puppet masters.

It's quite disgusting that someone HERE at DU is raising this freaktard to sainthood.

Mandala should be the one who we call "Saint," Not the Alzheimer's President.

Oh, and Jim Baker is full of feces in all that he says!

[jmowreader]

18. "St. Ronnie" is a term of derision here

Ronald Reagan routinely tops DU "worst president" polls, his evil exceeding that of Bush (either one), Hoover, Harding or even Nixon.

[radiclib]

21. What on earth are you responding to?

Nobody here is calling Reagan a saint. Try to comprehend what you're reading. Please!

[Marr]

12. Baker said Reagan regretted it because it was the only time his veto was overturned.

That doesn't sound like a man motivated by any morality at all-- quite the opposite, in fact. That's the position of a man who is motivated solely by self-interest and amoral devotion to power.

[malaise]

24. As someone I know says

Correct is right

[Cha]

13. Ronnie the Tool. Who ruled Ronnie?

The "Welfare Queen," The "Homeless By Choice": Reagan's Toxic Legacy

"During Ronald Reagan’s two terms in the White House, the minimum wage was frozen at $3.35 an hour, while prices rose, thus eroding the standard of living of millions of low-wage workers. The number of people living beneath the federal poverty line rose from 26.1 million in 1979 to 32.7 million in 1988. Meanwhile, the rich got much richer. By the end of the decade, the richest 1 percent of Americans had 39 percent of the nation’s wealth.

In the 1980s, the proportion of the eligible poor who received federal housing subsidies declined. In 1970 there were 300,000 more low-cost rental units (6.5 million) than low-income renter households (6.2 million). By 1985 the number of low-cost units had fallen to 5.6 million, and the number of low-income renter households had grown to 8.9 million, a disparity of 3.3 million units.

Another of Reagan’s enduring legacies is the steep increase in the number of homeless people, which by the late 1980s had swollen to 600,000 on any given night – and 1.2 million over the course of a year. Many were Vietnam veterans, children and laid-off workers."

More..
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/06/1243243/-The-Welfare-Queen-The-Homeless-By-Choice-Reagan-s-Toxic-Legacy

[NaturalHigh]

14. Who is "Howard"?

I think you mean former Secretary of State James Baker.

[kpete]

16. Thankyou

NaturalHigh

much appreciated
and updated

peace, kp

[NaturalHigh]

17. You're quite welcome.

[rickyhall]

19. FYI

Howard Baker is a former US Senator who lost to Raygun in the 1980 Presidential primary among other things

[NaturalHigh]

34. I didn't know that.

I was nine during the 1980 primaries, so I don't remember a lot about them. I do remember my dad being really pissed when Reagan won the general election.

[uponit7771]

15. amen

[Botany]

20. Reagan started his Presidential campaign in Neshoba County, Mississippi and talked ....

.... about "state's rights." He and his campaign knew exactly what they were doing.

"Why stop there? Baker should also say that St. Ronnie regretted starting his
campaign for the presidency in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where 3 civil rights
workers were brutally murdered in the 1960s."

[tabasco]

22. Reagan was a total piece of shit

all the way around. That's why imbeciles adore him.

[gulliver]

23. Only about half a moral disgrace for him.

He was half-actor, half-man in his role as president. I think he is almost unworthy of being thought of as a moral agent. He was the addlepated front man for a bunch of scumbags. The scumbags were the grownups, not Ronnie.

He called his wife Mommie for a good reason: He was a child. The fuller moral disgrace belongs to the ugly little men behind him.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

25. Saint Ronnie of Raygun is probably the culmination of American avarice and self-interest

in history.

Worse than Nixon and Watergate
Worse than Pierce/Buchanan and their do nothing-ness leading to the Civil War
Worse than Wilson and his sexist, racist arrogance
Worse than Bush and his wars of lies
Worse than Jackson and his slaughter of native Americans.

Fuck Ronnie Raygun and everyone who likes him.

[calimary]

26. SO glad to see more of this! AMAZING quote here, kpete:

"Ronald Reagan must be the nicest president who ever destroyed a union, tried to cut school lunch milk rations from six to four ounces, and compelled families in need of public help to first dispose of household goods in excess of $1,000...1f there is an authoritarian regime in the American future, Ronald Reagan is tailored to the image of a friendly fascist."

- Robert Lekachman

And that's just it. He put a human face on greed and selfishness and "screw you," and IGMFU. He was Mr. IGMFU (which stands for "I Got Mine, F-U&quot but when he laid on the aw-shucks schtick with that cutesy amiable kindly-old-uncle crap and the ever-so-slight shaking of the head and those eyebrows that went up in the inner corners like ted cruz's do now, and that "hey, I'm HARMLESS! I'm just nice ol' Uncle Dutch! You can trust ME! Shining City on a Hill! Red, white, and blue! Morning in America! C'mon kids, let's go have some ice cream!" He made it okay to be greedy, selfish, and thoughtless. He gave cover to assholes like newt gingrich and the rest of the wrong-wing vermin he brought in with him - like fleas that get into your house by hitchhiking on your dog. All those anti-social, racist, hateful, myopic, money-grubbing trends we're choking on now were unleashed then under the cover of that nice ol' amiable ol' aw-shucks ol' Gipper who wouldn't hurt a fly (HAH!) and was our very own latter-day Captain America, soothing you with nice-sounding promises and pie-in-the-sky fairy tales about the wonderful magical free market and the trickle-down theory and supply-side economics and all these WUNNNNNNderful shiny red-white-&-blue things that were dawning with this wonderful Morning in America once again. He was The Salesman of the Century. A regular P.T. Barnun of the '80s. And he found loads of suckers ready to swallow it all, whole. And it all sounded soooooooo good. And soooooooo hopeful. And sooooooooo wonderful... and he sold that shit like powdered gold instead of the dried manure it really was. And people fell for it like the proverbial tons of bricks. He made it sound so nice, and he made it sound okay, and even godly, and certainly all-American and non-Commie. When he finally kicked the bucket I felt it was like a New-Age twisted bizarro "Death of a Salesman" playing out.

It always gave me a little comfort knowing that in his waning days, that genuinely unique and amazing career he had - all the memories of it, the travels, the showbiz, the movies, the babes, the world leaders, the great events, the State dinners, the speeches, the campaigns, the VIPS, the Sinatra sightings, the "Millionaires on Parade," the "Kitchen Cabinet" full of big-ass industrialists and corporate titans operating in the shadows like puppeteers, the celebrities and Old Hollywood, the pizazz and clever staging and timing and choreography of his oh-so-shrewd media handlers and packagers who'd get out the Busby Berkeley razz-a-ma-tazz and marching bands and cowboy hats at the ranch and American flags 100 feet long - he was robbed of ALL of it because of his Alzheimers. He was robbed of ALL of it. He faded away like a piece of colored tissue paper in the hot sun, literally the walking dead. Somehow just seemed kinda fitting, karma-wise.

[Dawson Leery]

27. The 40th President of the US was the only one to have their foreign policy

overturned by the congress.

The GOP moderates and some conservatives such as Newt Gingrich voted to override Reagan's veto of the sanctions against the
dictatorial Apartheid regime.

79% of each house voted to override the veto.


Ronald Wilson Reagan:
-OPPOSED the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
-OPPOSED the voting rights act of 1965.
-OPPOSED fair housing laws to end discrimination against minority renters/owners.
-OPPOSED revoking the tax exempt status of racist 'educational' organizations such as Bob Jones University.
-OPPOSED meaningful sanctions against the Apartheid Government of South Africa

These acts made Ronald Reagan the most respected icon of the political right!

Ronald Wilson Reagan will always be a piece of racist rat s**t.

[Mojorabbit]

29. + a gazillion. nt

[truebluegreen]

30. Since Reagan developed Alzheimer's in his second term (at the latest),

how much credence should anyone give his alleged "regrets?"

Besides, regrets would be totally inconsistent with everything else he said and did. If he did have them, they are just another indication that he wasn't in his right mind. Pun intended.

[Coyotl]

32. Didn't Reagan support Middle East terrorists with US missles?

Let's remember that the only thing between Reagan and impeachment for Iran-Contra was a few good liars.

Let's remember how Reagan got hundreds of marines killed and then cut and ran.

The list is toooo long.

[Enthusiast]

33. Reagan ruined the nation.

We are living the results right now.

[dionysus]

35. he was an FDR liberal in the 30s, then went insane. sad.