How Reagan Got Elected in the first place -- My little tribute

[Eloriel]

First, tho, if anyone has ANY information about how GHWBush got "selected" as his VP, please post it (or start another thread).

However, once he was selected, he certainly did his best to see that Reagan (and he himself) were elected:


Bush's Impending Watergate
By Harvey Wasserman
originally published on May 23, 1991
http://old.valleyadvocate.com/25th/archives/bushs_watergate.html

snip

But by October of 1980, one thing was clear: If the hostages were released prior to the election, Carter would be re-elected. If not, Ronald Reagan would win. All major polls -- including one by the primary Republican pollster, Richard Wirthlin -- showed a 10 percent swing on just that issue.

In early October, word spread through the world media that Carter had negotiated a deal for the hostages' release. It was widely believed that he had agreed to unfreeze some $4 billion in assets claimed by the deposed Shah, and to supply spare parts to the American-made arms inherited by the Ayatollah Khomeini's revolutionary regime. The hostages were due home by mid-October, in ample time to assure Carter's re-election.

Then, mysteriously, the deal was off. The hostages weren't coming home after all. What happened?

snip

"The deal was made to release the hostages exactly the moment Ronald Reagan was president," Rafizadeh told the Other America's Radio Network. "It was promised for the arms," said Rafizadeh. "The moment Ronald Reagan was president, they signaled the plane , they took off. After, the shipment of the arms started from Tel Aviv."

Despite repeated denials from the Reagan-Bush team, the story gained some media prominence during the 1988 election, including a story in the Advocate, a major feature co-authored by activist Abbie Hoffman (now dead by an alleged suicide) in Playboy, and an op-ed in the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.


-- much more --

Oh, and ya'll DID know that Ollie North was a key member of the failed "rescue" for the hostages, didn't you?

[burythehatchet]

1. HOLD THE F'ING PHONE!!

Ollie was part of it? What was his role? That's completely new to me.

[Eloriel]

6. Yeah, and Richard Secord too -

The very man GWBush has selected as his personal (private) counsel in the Plame affair. See the article I linked in my first post.

[burythehatchet]

8. OK - tell me if I'm reaching her

but would that not only mean one thing: That they tipped the Iranians off? Is that not the reason why Ollie North's caricature of a life is all about what a motherfucking patriot he is?

[punpirate]

11. Ummm... what I read is that...

... Bush's private attorney is Jim Sharp, not Richard Secord. Secord, at the time of Iran-Contra, was a retired Air Force general, and, as far as I know, his only familiarity with the law was breaking it....

[ozymandius]

16. That's right.

Jim Sharp was Richard Secord's lawyer.

[punpirate]

19. Ah, I didn't get the point of the earlier post...

... but, that's really interesting that Bush is using Secord's lawyer, but maybe not so unusual. I don't how many lawyers there are in DC specializing in trying to save the butts of high-profile government figures. :evilgrin:

[ozymandius]

28. There's more than close proximity to Bush that makes this interesting.

Sharp is independently wealthy so he can handle cases that may take a lot of time and resources. Suffice to say: his firm will not go out of business if he does not get paid for a long time.

How did he acquire so much wealth? The Sharps are a Texas family that made a killing in the oil business decades ago. They have quite a plump nest egg.

Anotther thing that makes Sharp a logical option for Bush's defense: Secord was instrumental in Iran/Contra. The Bush administration resurrected many of the Iran/Contra figures because they cut their teeth during the Reagan era. This makes them more effective the second time around as they resume their illegal activities. There's nothing like "been there, done that" for gaining a little perspective.

Jim Sharp will probably have an easier time navigating Bush's defense now that he has chartered waters behind him.

[punpirate]

34. Interesting take on Sharp...

... and thanks for that, Ozy.

But, Sharp got Secord off easy (plead guilty to one count out of twelve, two years' probation), but he didn't get him off completely.

Prosecutors may never be able to get Bush on a conspiracy to commit a felony charge, but the same charge that was contemplated for Nixon in Watergate--misprision of a felony--might apply in Bush's case.

Still, it's amazing how these bums run in the same circles, year after year, and the public never catches on to their game. *sigh*

[Eloriel]

20. Ah, thanks for the clarification

Too many names of too many criminals to keep straight for me.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. I believe it's Secord's lawyer.

[eleny]

2. Here is a website with many articles of interest

Scrolling down, there's two articles about the pilot who flew Poppy in and out of Paris where the deals were made.

http://www.american-buddha.com/napa.sentinel.htm#THE%20NAPA%20SENTINEL

And following the Table of Contents links at the bottom leads to more and more articles of interest. This site sort of swallowed me up last night. This seemed like a good thread to post the url.

[burythehatchet]

3. Another two pieces of the puzzle that obviously fit together

Bushco was dealing with the Iranians while the office down the hall was selling to Saddam. Oh what a small world it is.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vickers]

10. Yeah, that's why we're mooting it here

And welcome to DU!

:hi:

[gumby]

5. Bush's Impending Watergate?

Well, that didn't exactly work out, did it?

Always thought GHWB got the VP slot because of the spook community. Remember hearing stories of Reagan/Bush posters being posted in the CIA with the Ronnie half torn off.

GHWB was/is connected to the very top of whatever runs this world with a very evil hand.

[Eloriel]

7. Yeah, what I'm looking for is more indepth info on the subject

Or even more indepth "speculation" -- It's clear to me there was some strong-arm stuff going on with Reagan ('cause he did not want Bush at all), but I'd like to know more about it. There's got to be SOME details out there.

[punpirate]

13. Robert Parry has a pretty extensive number...

... of articles on this subject:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile.html

Something in one of these about why GHWB was picked, I believe.

Cheers.

[ozymandius]

17. Look for GHW Bush's trip to Paris for a "meeting".

I believe this occurred in the Summer of 1979.

[punpirate]

21. Paris was supposedly...

... the weekend of the 18th of October, 1980. Supposedly, there had been meetings earlier in that same year in Madrid and possibly another location, but Bush was apparently not an attendee of those.

The interesting thing that Parry notes in his articles is that the Secret Service turned over logs for GHWB's weekend which are quite in line with the official story, but Parry (and perhaps others) obtained the Secret Service logs for Barbara Bush, and they don't match the ones for GHWB, in a number of details, even though the GHWB logs show the two doing almost every activity together.

I haven't read all the Parry articles in a while, but they make fascinating reading.

Curious stuff.

[TO Kid]

9. Nelson Rockefeller did it

He helped get Reagan elected as revenge for Ford dropping him from the '76 ticket.

[lanparty]

14. Don't foget "Debate-Gate"

Little League All-Star George Will took advantage of spies in the White House that stole Carter's debate playbook!!!!!

Reagan was nothing but a congenial liar!!!!

[BeFree]

15. If any one knows

It would have to be President Carter? Why doesn't he spill the beans? Let 'er Rip, Jimmy.

Then of course there are the raygoon papers that * is working so hard to keep secret. Ya say "there oughtta be a law"? There is. A law was passed after nixon that said potus papers had to be released 12 years after a potus leaves office. The first thing * did in 2001 was spew an executive order keeping the papers secret.

There are some folks suing to get the papers released. It'd sure be nice to read what happened back then, eh? Afterall, those papers belong to the people.

Crooked Bastards.

[Stephanie]

18. So Reagan cut a deal with the Iranian Terrorists

And he is being anointed as a saint all week long.

I remember Reagan. I hated Reagan. And I will ALWAYS hate Reagan.

My friends died for REAGAN's homophobia.

Let him rot.

[Tellurian]

22. Keep this thread kicked....too tired tonight for more...

night, ALL!

[Eloriel]

23. A couple of DU links - always good source material

ex-President Carter's Operation Desert Claw sabotaged?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=629531#631588

"Only Christian soldier is a good soldier" by Lt. Gen (R) James Vaught
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=638484#638554

[lapfog_1]

24. I'm pretty sure that Reagan read books

and Machiavelli was somewhere at the top of the list.

"Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer still." would
seem to fit the situation.

Of course, 3 months later Bush's son was having dinner with Hinkley's
uncle. Coincidence I'm sure. Just before the assassination attempt.
Then there are the rumors of Bushco and the JFK assassination. CIA and
Castro and the Mafia. Of course, as we all know, it was a deranged
lone gunman.

[RedEagle]

25. Anomolies in the attempt on Reagan

One persons take on the attempted Reagan assasination.

Providing this as food for thought, don't know how credible the sight or John Judge is.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/112600.html

[Eloriel]

26. Fascinating

Just fascinating. Lots of new info in that for me, plus a reminder of many things I haven't remembered. I don't know who John Judge is either, and Part I doesn't say (that I can see - haven't read it yet), but there is this intro to Part I (and remember, this is an interview in Nov. 2000):

Ratcliffe:
Reading from your November 3, 2000 e-mail to me concerning the outcome of the Presidential election:

Bush will win the election -- it was pre-decided. It's simple logic to me. If they spend $10 million to rig elections in Chile, what will they spend here, where it counts. They can't leave it up to chance. How is it rigged?
Electoral college just in case, funds necessary to run eliminating all but the super rich and those they pick, framing of the race by "polls" who say in advance who "cannot win", betting both horses in the race, exit poll and other factors to influence votes, control of the "issues" and the nature and range of the debate, and rigging of the computerized tallying (Vote Scam) if needed, discouragement from voting so that a very few elect one of the pre-chosen evils. For the model, see Ed Herman's Demonstration Elections and realize that what we do abroad we have to do here even more urgently. And the last controls: bribe, bully, blackmail or bullet. Put Clinton over the Monica barrel and make him bomb Kosovo for instance.
Pre-decided because we had our breathing space but now they will take off the glove and bring down the iron fist. The wealth is so concentrated now that they cannot afford the illusions of either social supports or democratic options. Seattle, Philly and DC were early warning signs about the increased role of the military and brutal police response in popular control.

Here's the link for Part I: http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/111000.html

[nostamj]

29. "Bushco and the JFK assassination"

GHWBush is the ONLY sentient American who does "not remember" where he was when Kennedy was assassinated.

I was about 8 years old and I remember it clearly.

BTW, Poppy was in... Dallas.

on edit: GHW not GWH

[Eloriel]

36. A really great online book on the JFK Assassination

and I mean REALLY good, is Farewell America:

http://www.jfk-online.com/farewell00.html

I found the organization maddening at first, but by halfway thru the book or earlier, and certainly by the end, it seemed entirely appropriate.

[burythehatchet]

27. Nostalgia kick for Eloriel

[Nlighten1]

30. We all owe Barbara Honegger a debt of thanks...

for exposing this.

She sounds like a real DU'er too.

[Octafish]

33. BH and Gary Sick and Robert Parry and Abolhassan Bani Sadr...

The facts are there. Corporate McPravda is sildent.

For your reading pleasure:


Ex-Reagan-Bush White House staffer Barbara Honegger wrote the original eye-witness skinny, "October Surprise."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0944276466/ref=pd_sim_books_5/104-9929227-0153562?v=glance&s=books


Capt. Gary Sick, a member of the National Security Council staff for Carter, Reagan and Bush, wrote the insider's perspective in "October Surprise: America’s Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812919890/ref=pd_sim_books_3/104-9929227-0153562?v=glance&s=books


Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Speaker of Parliament? of Iran, wrote the Iranian perspective, "My Turn to Speak."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0080405630/qid%3D1043119215/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-9929227-0153562#product-details


SuperJournalist Robert Parry covered the subject in detail on his website ConsortiumNews.com and his book Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/187982308X/ref=pd_sbs_b_2/002-9702770-8849634?v=glance&s=books


Of course, if one wants to bring the lessons from 1980 forward to the mid-80s and the Iran-Contra Affair, go to the source Republican Judge and Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's work, "Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393318605/ref=pd_sim_books_3/002-9702770-8849634?v=glance&s=books

Down with the BFEE!

[RoyGBiv]

38. Her book changed my life in a way...

I read it in 1989, the year it was published, and to my horror it began confirming all of what I thought were paranoid suspicions.

I've seen her name randomnly associated with investigations into 9/11. From an article she wrote for an online publication that is no longer in operation:

"From the start, the Bush Administration has insisted that anything like the 'planes-as-weapons' scenario of 9-11 was 'unthinkable' before 9-11. That's a Huge Lie. On Sept. 11, 2001 they had a brand new counter-terror emergency response plan in place at the Pentagon for exactly that scenario, and had a counter-terror 'war-game' set to begin on exactly that scenario that very morning in the nation's capitol."

This was written in 2002.

The problem with her is that she seems to have been the target of a massive disinformation campaign to make her seems as though she's nothing but a disgruntled ex-employee of the government carrying a grudge. Also, some of her sources in the original book have been discredited, even by those who agree with her larger argument. Well, I guess that's not a problem with her specifically.

[Eloriel]

39. Well, you know, I think it's a logical fallacy

(or if it isn't it should be ;-) ) to automatically dismiss EVERYthing, someone's entire body of work, just because they get "discredited" somewhere, somehow. Discrediting the messenger is, of course, the first line of defense (in addition to non-denial denials) against the Truth getting revealed. And even some of the least credible people get it right sometimes. I think it takes discernment. Sometimes important things get printed in NewsMax, Fox News, Drudge, etc. (And sometimes not.) Lyndon LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review usually has, IMO, outstanding analysis and what seems like solid sources. Some people don't find Rense or Mike Rupper credible. :shrug: You just never know. Read everything; use your own judgment and instincts and knowledge. That's my approach.

[quaker bill]

31. Thanks Eloriel

Just another reminder that the Republican party is the largest organized criminal conspiracy in the US.

Have you ever read the one about how the money from all of this went to the contras who used it to buy weapons from Romania? Of course the company brokering the deal was run by Nixon and Mitchell.

Where did a lot of the (Neil Bush) Silverado S&L money go? Into very speculative real estate deals the profits of which were "donated" to the Contra cause. This cash then cycled back through Nixon and Mitchell to Romania.

There were a couple of "frontline" episodes on this crap years ago. I think they only aired once and I have never been able to locate a reprint.

I have also heard that the weapons were in poor condition and the uniforms were better suited to cold weather...

[quaker bill]

32. Thanks Eloriel

sorry dupe

[mitchum]

35. Kick...

and thanks, Eloriel
I have always been curious about the strange and curious rise of GHWB (particularly the role played by the CIA)

[Eloriel]

37. A final kick

just because if we have to have Reagan threads....

[Zomby Woof]

40. Bush as VP choice

I see it as a choice made on two levels, one was pragmatic and simple. Bush consistently placed second in the primaries, and was an early favorite before Reagan's surge. He established a reputation as being unafraid to campaign tough against Reagan ("voodoo economics" being the height of his campaign rhetoric, and actually accurate). Then there was his supposed appeal in Texas, which of course sports many electoral votes. Couple with Reagan and California, and it was a heady electoral recipe. Plus, his resumé as a GOP loyalist - head of the RNC in the Nixon years, ambassador to China - crucial in the post-Nixon context - and of course, being head of the CIA.

That last part is the crux of the second level. To what extent it proved invaluable in terms of deals with Iran, or other behind-the-scenes tricks, may never fully be known. But as nitwit pundit George Will once said, Bush was a perfect "lap dog". Bush was a logical choice on a pragmatic, purely political level, and on a deeper, more secretive level.