Does anybody under 30 remember Raygun?

[pstokely]

If so, how much? Many first time voters don't even have good memories of the Clinton admin. I'm 23 and have only Vague memories Clinton's 1st term, the election 92 (Clinton winning the Nickelodeon election) and less of Poppa Bush.

[Joe the Revelator]

1. I'm 26 and I remember Reagun as a person

I have vague memories of him giving speeches. I was sad when he couldn't run in 88 because he was the only "President" I knew at 6.

Bush I is the first President I remember with any real policy clarity.

[tularetom]

2. I'm 67 and all I can remember is how bad he fucked everything up

A lot of it didn't become apparent until the boosh baby "took" office and made the fuckups clear.

[Wetzelbill]

5. So what was Grover Cleveland like?

Oh no, I kid I kid! :) You're the same age as my dad, he's in better shape than I am, lol. I don't even want to mess around with your generation, mine is totally soft. Can you remember Truman at all? I imagine radio and all that is different, the first president my dad really talks about is JFK. :)

[tularetom]

11. No but I can remember as a kid in Tennessee

my grandfather bitching about this congressman Albert Gore who was running for the Senate. I looked it up. It was 1952.

[Wetzelbill]

19. lol

That's great. I remember my grandfather was totally P.O.'d about Reagan winning in 1980. I also remember him always talking about Mike Mansfied and also JFK and RFK and seeing pics of him with them. I didn't realize until I was older that not everybody's grandfather worked in politics and knew people like that, lol.

[TankLV]

15. Aparently he was an old lech...

very interesting reading out there...

[Arkansas Granny]

50. I'm just a few years younger than you and I have the same memories.

One of my sons told me a few years ago that he thought Reagan had really been one of our best Presidents and he was leaning Republican. He was under 30 at the time and had undoubtedly been listening to his father. I told him my opinion of Reagan from the perspective of a single parent raising 4 children during Reagan's term in office. That son is now a firm Democrat and voted proudly for Obama.

[Wetzelbill]

3. damn, I forgot for a second I'm over 30

WTF? The years go by...

[tabbycat31]

4. I'm 28

and the extent I remember Reagan is that my parents were both outspoken critics of him. That and he was shot the day before my 1st birthday.

[ShenandoahAspen]

8. He was shot 12 days after I was born.

I don't remember much about him; maybe a little towards the very end. I remember, as a 7 year old, rooting for Dukakis in 1988 and being disappointed he lost. I remember a great bit about Bush 41's term.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. I turned 25 two weeks ago, and I don't remember Reagan at all. I remember hearing the name

"Dukakis" during the late '88 election.

[Wetzelbill]

9. You're a year older than my youngest brother

He says he remembers Reagan just a little. I'm 33, I baaaaarely remember Carter. I remember eating a plate of spaghetti and watching him talk on tv, I must have been 4 or 5.

[daninthemoon]

7. It seems they have been convinced that raygun was some kind of

saintly model of the perfect president. You and I can remember that he was a shill: hand him a script, and the actor takes over. I don't think kids today would believe half the crap raygun pulled: guns for hostages, iran contra, james watt, trickle down recession, record shattering defecit spending, revival of the nuclear arms race, star wars... that knowledge has been erased from the national consciousness. Yet Bill Clinton is vilified over a stupid blow job. the kids remember that.

[bunkerbuster1]

52. "Seems?" No, it's an article of faith. You MUST believe Reagan was a "great President."

To me, the key to finally bringing American conservatives to their knees and begging forgiveness for all they've fucked up, and making "conservative" a politically dirty word, will be to get some prominent right-wingers to admit that Reagan wasn't "great," that he was every bit as much a screwup as any President.

[Razoor]

10. Im 28 and I slightly remember him

The thing I remember most about Reagan is the speech about Challenger that night it happened and he was a fan of the space program. Although I dont really slightly remember next is his proposal of Space station Freedom which now is the International Space Station. I remember the pictures and animations of it at the time. oh and Star wars which I really didnt understand at a young age except it was the name of a popular movie.

I didnt learn of Iran-contra and other stuff untill later in age.

My first President I really remember is Bush 1. Clinton sparked my interest in politics.

[Jennicut]

12. I'm not under 30 but I am 32 and I remember Reagan but only vague interpretations as a child

I remember the challenger disaster, I remember the Iran Contra hearings as they interrupted my Mom's soap operas! I thought of him as a good guy for a long time but I was just a child. I knew better by the time Bush I came on the scene. I already did not like the Rethug party at 13! The 1992 Rethug convention did it for me after all the culture crap (remember Murphy Brown and her out of wedlock baby, is that even an issue any more?). Quayle was 1992's Sarah Palin. Ahhh, the memories. Good mems of Bill and Al and Hill and Tipper, the 90's....peace and stability.

[dascientist]

13. I'm over 30, sorry, I do however remember the "We Need The Ray Gun" skits

[AlCzervik]

my first political memory was seeing Nixon resign, gawd i'm old.

Uncle Walter still did the news back then. I also remember the original Mr. Hooper from Sesame street.

[Reverend_Smitty]

14. Nope...not really

I do remember Bush I's first term clearly but have no real memories pre-1988...I'm 24 btw

[Phoonzang]

16. I'm 28 and I don't really have any memories of Reagan

The first president I was consciously aware of was Bush I.

[AlCzervik]

17. that's okay because The Reagan the republicans talk about didn't really exist.

it's a whole lot of revision.

[Colobo]

18. I'm 25 and I remember very little of Reagan's presidency (Oliver North)

My dad was following that stuff like crazy.

[ccharles000]

20. I am 19 and I kinda remember Clinton but mostly Bush.

[Whoa20]

36. if you had remembered Reagan,

you'd appreciate Clinton a lot more for what he did electorally. here is a good Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/6/211747/062/707/656269| diary about it

[fizzgig]

21. i remember him in that i knew he was a person at the time

i'm 27 and have few memories of anything earlier than clinton's second term.

i do recall, however, voting for dukakis in '88 as part of the second grade poll.

[nebenaube]

22. I remember Raygun but I'm the same age as Barack

Raygun's first official act in office was to eliminate my first job at the post commissary.

[ebdarcy]

23. I'm 29, and I don't remember much about him.

I think I remember being at school and watching him leave on a helicopter after bush was inaugurated. But that memory may be faulty.

I remember other things from the 80's, like the Challenger explosion and Tom Brokaw at the Berlin Wall. I remember some of the stuff about the establishment of MLK Day, and I remember seeing the Oliver North hearings, but Reagan didn't make much of a dent in my mind. Hell, I knew more about the Kennedy clan than I did Reagan.

[illuminaughty]

24. After four years here...my 1000th post!

And, God I wish I couldn't remember. I'm a TWA brat and I was stuck at the Paris airport for three days during the air controller's strike. I remember when he forced them back to work. The beginning of the end of unions, of the airline industry and so forth and so on.

I'm having a little :party: for my 1000 post, hell it took long enough and :toast: to the good old days when I could get the HELL outta this country for NOTHING!

[Starry Messenger]

30. Congrats!!

:toast:

[illuminaughty]

41. Thanks most amusing buddy! n/t

[Lisa0825]

25. I just turned 40 and all I remember is Iran Contra...

I wasn't deep into politics at the time, but my mom hated him, so I did too. It was going down in my 1st year away in college.

[ShadowLiberal]

26. I'm 23 and only remember Reagan being that old guy who suffered from Alzheimer's

I can't remember a thing of the first Bush either.

It's funny that the GOP sort of doesn't make capturing the youngth vote any easier by constantly talking about a guy who no one under 30 will really remember. All the young people like me remember is that things were great under Clinton's rule, and everything got a lot worse under Bush's horrible rule.

[firedupdem]

27. I was a freshman in h.s. when reagan was elected and all I can

remember is my father was pissed and one of my friends called me and said we were going back to slavery!

:shrug: freeper shit, I know.

[Marsala]

28. I'm 27 and have no specific memories of Reagan

The only things I was aware of were the arms reduction talks with Gorbachev at the end of Reagan's term.

[nico818]

29. Nope...I'm 24 and don't remember jack shit. n/t

[Writer]

31. i'm 33 and remember reagan's reelection in 1984

[DU GrovelBot]

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[AllentownJake]

33. Challenger

We watched it live because a teacher was on it in the auditorium. I remember his address....other than that. Not much. The first election I was aware of was Bush I and that was in 4th grade.

[Starry Messenger]

34. I'm 38.

My teen years were dominated by Reagan. My tween years too, a word that didn't exist back then. I remember the feeling of extreme paranoia from the last shudders of the cold war. We were very concerned with the nuclear arsenal.

[AbbeyRoad]

35. I was 5 when Reagan was shot and I remember hearing the news

I was in the electronics section of the local Walmart with my mom when the news came over the television sets.

I have an uncle who happens to be named Ray so, upon hearing the news, I turned around and shouted several times to my mom farther down the aisle, "MOM, UNCLE REAGAN'S BEEN SHOT!". My exclamation drew the attention of more than just my mom, so other shoppers began drifting toward the TV section to hear what was going on.

I'm a bit over thirty, but my personal recollections of Reagan are few. I remember jelly beans, "Just Say No to Drugs", and the cheesy cowboy persona. I think the year 1989 was the year my worldview really started expanding with the the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square protests. My political awakening took full bloom under Bush the Elder.

[Historic NY]

37. I try to forget him...I did meet JFK when I was young.

[bluetrain]

38. I'm 27 and just remember my mother telling me he was an awful man. I trusted that

she was right, but had no understanding of why he was awful until I started getting into politics, myself, at about 17 or 18. My memories of Bush Sr. are, mostly, memories of Dana Carvey.

[Renegade08]

39. His reputation needs to be deflated. He is one of the worst presidents of all time.

The financial meltdown? All started with Reagan and his voodoo reaganomics. Race-baiting? Reagan started it all with his racist welfare queen slur. The obsession with deregulation? Started with Reagan. The dumbing down of the Presidency? Started with Reagan. Before there was Dubya, there was Reagan.

[chiefofclarinet]

40. I'm a bit younger than you

So, I remember Clinton's second term, but not really much the '96 election, much less anything prior.

My history knowledge is kinda weird. I know everything from 1996 on, because I remember it. I learned about everything until ~1970 in history class. The years between ~1972 and 1996 I learned from my parents, some outside reading (such as Biden's autobiography), and DU.

[TheKentuckian]

42. I'm kind of surprised

I'd think the people that couldn't be sold on Reagan would be those of us that remember him and younger people would buy the snow job but it strangely apparently works in reverse. Which is a blessing to my soul to know. One of my greatest fears for our culture and history is the reverence to the America destroying RayGun and it being passed on as an ideal.

Just remember that everything Bush did to destroy the country wouldn't be possible with Reagan and that Bush did little new but rather expanded on what Reagan, his father, and even Nixon had already established.

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. I'm almost 50 so I remember him as Pres. Don't remember him as Gov of California. can't imagine that

[nugzie]

44. I'm 26...

I remember seeing Reagan on tv when I was little, but that's it. Oh and I remember seeing Nancy Reagan on "Different Strokes." haha. when I was in 1st grade, I remember the teacher bringing a tv into class so we could watch Bush's Inauguration. I remember Clinton fairly well, but I was mostly a teen when he was president, and I grew up in church and Christian school, so I was always taught that Clinton was "bad" since he was Democrat. Since I went to Baptist school though, I remember all my teachers pulling for Dole in 96. I was 18 in 2000 but still not interested enough in politics to follow the race or care to vote. I was too busy worrying about my freshman year in school. it wasnt until a couple years after that that I started to become politically aware and follow things more closely. voted in 2004 (for Kerry), and of course last week. :)

oh yeah, one more thing! I DO have a very VAGUE recollection of seeing Perot on tv, with his charts.

[No Elephants]

45. And that's why God allowed people to invent history books, PBS, the History Channel and

microfiche and other things like that. Meanwhile, rent or borrow from the library a copy of the movie Wall Street, starring Michael Doublas, Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen.

Ronnie starting setting the table for the worldwide economic collapse in which you find yourself.

[W_HAMILTON]

46. I'm 28 and remember him.

Not very much though. I doubt many of the under-30 crowd remember much about him, since not many of us were politically-aware pre-teens :)

I mainly remember the "Just Say No" (to drugs) campaign.

I remember "something" happening with Russia / the Soviet Union, but was too young to really understand what was going on.

That's about it. Considering her work with youngsters, I think I remember more about Nancy Reagan than her husband.

[gingersnaps1]

47. I am 29 and I remember how poor neighborhoods in New York suffered under Reaganonimics. Whenever I

hear conservatives praise Reagan, all I remember is people strung out on drugs, high unemployment, robberies, murder, rape, violence and many people being despondent. And this was when I was a child. Jesus, what would have happened if I was 29 back then.

As for the Clintons, I was finishing up high school when they went into the White House. I was in college when they were on their way out and I remember protesting some of Clintons policies.

God, I hope Obama's administration is going to be different than the last three. I just hope...

[tekisui]

48. I'm 28, I remember he fell off a horse, got shot and lost his mind.

But, that's it.

Everything else I learned about him later.

[eshfemme]

49. No. The first time I ever heard of him was through this photo that the high school Republicans club

had. It was a small club of less than 5 guys and they were all huddled around the picture of Reagan like he was Jesus Christ. I was a little weirded out and I gave them a weird look and went oh...kay... and I think they were suitably chastised for their weird as fuck fixation. This was of course during the Clinton years, before we ever got the Bush catastrophe. But yeah, other than the hardcore Republicans, I don't think most people my age remember Reagan. I know OF him but only vaguely-- I know that his Reaganomics kinda screwed us over and the only ones who won't admit that are the Republicans.

[Honeycombe8]

51. I'm well over 30, and I have no idea what you're talking about. nt