Is there anything Reagan did right in your view?

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

I'm doing this poll in response to the sentiment I'm seeing on this board. I anticipated some of this, but I must say I'm troubled by the level of celebration by some on this board, of the death of a man, who suffered for ten years under Alzheimer's. Look, politics aside, my heart goes out to his family. We as sensible liberals ought not to rejoice over Reagan's death. That's the kind of thing Freepers do.

Anyway, here's the question. Is there anything positive we can say about Reagan? Juat curious.

[Walt Starr]

1. As far as I'm concerned, he did one thing right

and that one thing happened today.

[Spinzonner]

2. As shall we all

[buycitgo]

3. damn you! beat me

and said it better than I was going to, as well

a big, 'posthumorous' kudos to you, sir!

[amlouden]

7. nice

i liked that one

[ibegurpard]

41. He died during the weekend news cycle.

And far enough before the election that all the disgusting worship will hopefully be over by then. Those are two good things.

[BiggJawn]

4. "Suffered for 10 years"?

What about the last 4 years of his reign? He was coming off his spool before he left office.

And he did the right thing today.

I HATED him! NO apologies!

[amlouden]

5. he stopped the

air traffic controllers' strike, and that's it, can't think of anything else

[BringEmOn]

8. Union busting is the right thing to do?

[amlouden]

13. well

it is when you have other people's lives in your hands

[Union Thug]

15. Then don't order the flights in the f*ing air...

Geezus... Having grown up in a working class family I know the struggle my father, grandfather and great grandfather went through to win BASIC rights and benefits.

Reagan screwed my family and millions of others. He is in death what he was in life, an evil, corporate sucking bastard. Again, I'm glad he's gone. One less waste of human flesh...

[Jim Warren]

9. Whoa

Just saw this after I posted. Whoa again, I'll probably have to wait in line to get in on this one.
He also busted the air traffic controllers union which IN MY OPINION, started the decline in our country.
He created more jobs than any other administration, at half the wage. IMO the gipper administration started the put your wife to work program in order to make a standard of living for the middle class to survive. Started deregulation which we all know has not benefited the working class which pays the bulk of the taxes. We pay more now for services, that by deregulation was supposed to create a free market and competition that would lower prices for services. Didn't happen. PAC and lobbyist thrived starting with this administration. The rich get richer and the middle class is shrinking.

[wuushew]

14. Yes and add to that the rich irony of Reagan National Airport

I mean you can't write (sick)comedy that good.

[Jim Warren]

22. Ah yes

A certain pithy inverse logic involved there, hey?

[Union Thug]

10. and by so doing...

...brought about the reversal of gains hard won by our working class forbears.

FUCK REAGAN... I'm glad he's dead.

[playahata1]

25. The breakup of PATCO was the beginning of Labor's

decline in influence. My grandfather lost his job in 1986 because his union had been weakened; the grocery chain that had bought out the one for which he'd worked for 32 years was NON-UNION. My grandfather has struggled financially ever since; he and the other unionized workers had to GO TO COURT in order to get that little pittance of a pension he is receiving now.

I can up close and personally bear witness that Reagan had done nothing to benefit workers in this country. Spare me and millions of other working-class Americans the crocodile tears.

[crossroads]

32. My dad was union and the 80's were hard, he took a $2.80 hr cut in wages

when Reagan took over the country! He was BAD for union and familys...
I saw this link on another thread, it will show what he did to the US...
http://liberalslikechrist.org/a-JesusNoRepublican/reagan.html
:eyes:

[aquart]

43. They were striking for safety.

They were worried about the dangers of the stress burnout. You know, on account of holding our lives in their hands?

They were well paid, but the issue was stress.

Me, I don't like air controllers to be too stressed. Reagan didn't mind a bit.

The ex-union president busted the union. He ruined lives, and put everyone in danger.

Yeah, that was a real plus.

[Jim Warren]

6. One thing he got right

Bush IS a wimp

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Maybe I'm getting annoying for saying this,

but the one thing he did right - and as far as I know, it's the only thing he did right - was yelling, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

I'm sure his motives were evil - nothing actually about freedom, except freedom for US companies to enter into Russia - but dammit, that was totally cool when he did that.

[Ohio Dem]

21. And the cheese was really good.

Damn, that was some damn fine cheese.

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. Yes, I ate some of that cheese in college!

Had a frat brother with whom I shared an aprtment, and his father was a doctor, and some of patients, who had no money, paid him with Reagan Cheese. We got a few loafs of it.

[Ohio Dem]

27. You could make a killer grilled cheese sammy out of that stuff.

Best thing Reagan did, IMO. Give the poor cheese. And they could dip said sammy into ketchup, making it a three-course meal.

But really and truly, that WAS some good cheese.

[RapidCreek]

30. Yea that's sort of like standing on the Beach

and yelling "Moon, take that tide out!" and congradulating yourself when it goes out.

RC

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. Oh, maybe, in a lot of ways,

But that doesn't discount that it was the right sentiment.

[crossroads]

33. 10 minutes of good out of 8 years, I see your point...

http://liberalslikechrist.org/a-JesusNoRepublican/reagan.html
:eyes:

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. I'm sorry, did I say something that should make you think I liked the man,

or his policies?

No, I didn't.

So why post such an obnoxious "refutation" to a point I didn't make?

he was an evil fuck - I've never said less than that.

I don't see your point, and I find it insanely insulting. OBVIOUSLY I agree he was an evil fuck, and a corrupt administration. You don't need to remind me of stuff I already know.

If you can't handle the fact that there is ONE (1) thing I appreciate about Reagan, even though I'm sure (as I said in my post, which you would know if you bothered fucking to read it) he did it for the wrong reasons, then off with you.

Don't fucking patronize me; I don't need it, and it's really goddamned insulting.

[crossroads]

38. I was agreeing with you..

I said, "10 minutes out of 8 years, I see your point."

I honestly felt like you felt -- that was the *only* cool thing the man ever did! I punched up your point, or at least I thought I did...

No offense meant. That was a good place to put my link to the legacy he made too...

Man I'm sorry you took my post wrong, but you needn't be so defensive, I WAS agreeing and understood perfectly what you meant...
:shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. I'm sorry

it was just that with the 'I see your point' and then the eyes rolling smilie, I just assumed you were totally dissing me.

I'm glad you weren't! And sorry for the explosive verbage against you.

[Mattforclark]

12. He strengthened the military

Army, Navy, Air Force. That much is undeniable. --- SDI nonsense aside. Though I would be quite inclined to criticize some of the ways he used that military.

But it's hard to think of much other than that.

[JohnLocke]

16. 1 & 2 (nt).

[Arwennick]

17. Yes ,Reagan is as sucessful in death as he was in life in that....

He co-opted the Democratic party by swaying the moderates to leave the party.Remember the Reagan Democrats?How else could he take 49 states in 1984.Today it seems he still has a way of dividing the Moderates from the Progressives.JMHO but I could be wrong.
weird isn't it?

[capriccio]

18. Here's one thing, seriously...

I may be wrong on this, but I thougt the question was about one thing he did right. If we're talking about what he did wrong, seems like another thread...and one that could go on for days.

As to the actual question on the table: He understood the delicate position Gorbachev was in and the great opportunity he was offering him, and he took maximum advantage of it rather than acting like a bully or a cowboy. That's not to say he won the Cold War as his fans like to claim, but he surely made it easier for both sides to end it. I'm not sure what any president could have handled it better. But it's pretty easy to see how it could've been handled terribly just by imagining the current one in charge at the time.

[Ohio Dem]

19. Well, he didn't invade Iraq.

But he DID invade Grenada.

I'm not going to miss the man, personally. Nor will I bash him today. Tomorrow's another story.

[libhill]

20. One thing I remember -

is something on the order of 200 Marines getting blown to hell in a barracks in Beirut-a truck loaded with bombs came right through the gate, and the sentries could do nothing, because their weapons were unloaded. When Raygun tried to scapegoat the Commandant of the Marine Corps and a controversy ensued, next thing ya know- we`re invading Grenada. The repukes always were good at starting bullshit wars to distract public attention from their fuck ups. Raygun done learned `em good.

[Skittles]

23. NO

he was a f***ing DISGRACE

[Rex]

26. Yes....he ____!

Dam PC filter.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. Yes, I do think that he did one thing right

but it isn't listed on this poll.

I think that he helped end the Cold War, but not the way that RW mythology paints it. He regognized that Gorbechev was for real, and he forged a real, constructive, working relationship with him. They were able to work together to ratchet down the arms race, and the nuclear war hairtrigger, and this gave Gorbechev the leeway to carry out the serious reforms that eventually led to the peaceful end of the Soviet Empire.

Gorbechev is one of my heroes, and he apparently still regards Reagan as a great statesman. I don't agree with that assessment, but I can see why he feels that way.

Reagan, at the time, got a tremendous amount of flack from the right wingers in his own party for being "decieved" by Gorbechev, or giving in to appeasement.

It was only later, when the RW re-wrote history that they assigned Reagan credit for the defeat of the Soviet Union, and they wrongly attributed it to his bellicose and militaristic attitude.

George I of course, reversed those policies when he became President, probably contributing to the chaos that accompanied the final collapse, and helping to set back the establishment of real democracy in Russia by decades.

[Beware the Beast Man]

29. Reagan had a charisma unmatched by most heads of state-

but other than that, his policies sucked. He pumped folks up with that good ol' partiotic feeling, especially the working class, lubing them up just enough until he screwed them over.

[mitchum]

31. He didn't bump into the furniture in his movies...

that's about it

[Forkboy]

39. Reagans death will bring us closer mitchum

because that was a fucking funny post :)

[mitchum]

42. I don't know how to post the handshake smilie...

but if I did...:)

[Forkboy]

44. that's ok

this one works for me :toast:

[flaminbats]

35. This is the difference between Reagan and Bush...

Reagan was a good man despite his policies as President. Bush has no goodness within him. Reagan honestly thought that cutting taxes would lead to a balanced budget and better economy. Bush knew it wouldn't after Reagan, but was willing to say anything necessary to get more votes and campaign contributions. Reagan honestly thought an arms race would result in victory of the Cold War, not a cancerous national debt for future generations. Bush couldn't care what happens to America ten years from now, as long as he is safe. Reagan truly felt that Americans would always do the right thing without the government, and therefore welfare spending isn't really necessary. Bush never cared what happens to the poor or disabled. Neither really had a brain, but at least Reagan had a heart!

[jsw_81]

37. He voted for FDR and Truman