Sudden (unsourced) supposed Reagan quote now on every Wingnut blog

[K8-EEE]

WTF, do they all have some central brain? A wingnut fb friend put if this quote, I asked, what was the context of course she has no clue but is using it to justify the lack of gun regulations that allowed that flaming lunatic to by an assault weapon in AZ without any difficulty.

I tried to find the source of the quote but instead find it platered all over umpteen wingnut blogs and posted by nuts on all these forums.

“We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

Anyway I noted that Reagan was not too into accountability during Iran/Contra or he would have demanded to have himself impeached and/or jailed!!

If anybody knows the source of this quote, give a holler, I'm curious. Hell they just pull this stuff out of their ass, he probably didn't even say it.

[Xithras]

1. This is the same man who said...

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." :eyes:

Your quote is probably real, and I've seen it floating around for years, but I have no idea what the source is.

[beac]

4. And the same man who told stories of his war exploits...

that happened on a movie set. :eyes:

[justiceischeap]

2. After some research I think it came from his 1967 crime legislation (full quote)

Here's the full quote:

Our nation is agitated by suspicion, hesitant out of fear and aimless from lack of leadership.

We have seen the license allowed to the wicked and abuse heaped upon the decent and the innocent.

Order has broken down on the streets.

Organized rebellion has broken out on our campuses.

The courts approve and often underwrite the very things our individual integrity rejects.

The immorality of it all confounds the mind and exhausts the spirit and worst of all, it disenchants our young...

Eight years ago terror did not stalk our streets and parks and schoolyards. Today it does...

We must reject the permissive attitude which pervades too many homes, too many schools, too many courts.

We must reject the idea that every {time} a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

The answer to poverty is jobs--not welfare, not handouts, but jobs. The walls of the ghetto is economic.

http://books.google.com/books?id=PMxSBl1pV6UC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=We+must+reject+the+idea+that+every+time+a+law's+broken,+society+is+guilty+rather+than+the+lawbreaker.+It+is+time+to+restore+the+American+precept+that+each+individual+is+accountable+for+his+actions.&source=bl&ots=0McMfI7qc-&sig=Mqz7BV4_EFpCdg8WjqRkvhaotu4&hl=en&ei=HJYsTY3vH4SdlgeI1tmBCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwADha#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Lasher]

8. Good find.

Thank you for that contribution.

Lasher

[66 dmhlt]

10. Sad how Teapublicans always want to have it both ways:

For as long as I can remember, I have heard conservatives blaming everything that is wrong in the universe, from violent crime to declining test scores to teen pregnancy to rude children to declining patriotism to probably athlete's foot . . . upon Dr. Spock, Hollywood liberals, the abolition of prayer in school, Bill Clinton, the "liberal 1960s," the teaching of evolution — in other words, upon symbols, rhetoric, cultural norms, and the values expressed by political and media leaders. Yet from the moment when someone gets a gun in their hands, apparently, society ceases to have any influence whatsoever on the outcome and individual responsibility takes hold 100%. Something is driving the tripling of death threats against congressmen (and the concomitant rise in threats against Federal judges and other villains of the right, from Forest Service rangers to climate scientists) and it isn't the sunspot cycle.
(Emphasis added)

Source:
http://budiansky.blogspot.com/2011/01/not-us-cont.html

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[hootinholler]

3. Wasn't that in the language he used to pardon Weinberger?

No, not really, but it would have been poetic.

-Hoot

[RainDog]

5. I'm glad they agree. Let's let Rumsfeld face charges for a war of agression

along with Bush, Cheney, etc.

They were responsible for a war of aggression - a violation of the Nuremberg Treaty. They lied to send American soldiers into harm's way.

They are responsible for this action and I would like them to be held accountable for it.

[klook]

6. I like this one better:

"Facts are stupid things."
* 1988, a misquote of John Adams' "Facts are stubborn things."
- see dkospedia for more...

The "reject the idea that...society is guilty" quote does not appear on wikiquote (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan), and I can't find any other citation or reference to it with a source. So my guess is that it's a fabrication.

[Desertrose]

7. That'll be so easy to turn around on them, won't it?

I mean really.

[Rex]

9. I cannot believe how far the RWing hate machine is going to hide

like a bunch of cowards, over their vitriol. Pathetic.

[Zoeisright]

11. First of all, that's a lie. Nothing happens in a vacuum.

Secondly, anything Reagan said is stupid, since his brain was already mush when he was elected in 1980.

Finally, I don't see the right wing whackos saying anything like this when they talk about Islam and Islamic terrorists. I suppose Atta et al were just acting on their own, and the Taliban and bin Laden weren't responsible for anything, huh?

[malaise]

12. I hope they know that Reagan's small government

has kicked government out of mental health issues.

[NoGOPZone]

14. Every individual is accountable except Tom Delay

who's a victim of being tried in Texas' most liberal county. :sarcasm:

[Ikonoklast]

15. Ok, we'll go for it.

“We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

Tell that little tidbit to Tom DeLay (Convicted Felon).

[lpbk2713]

16. So does this mean Bush & Cheney are finally going to trial?

Rhetorical. No need to answer.

Not if they live to be 1,000.