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Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Beware the Ghost of Reagan
Air America's Rachel Maddow takes on the Ghost of Deficits and Iran-Contra Crimes Past. Yes, Repubs are ever so nostalgic about Reagan and his major accomplishments: ignoring the AIDS crisis, arming Saddam and Bin-Laden, illegally selling arms to Iran to illegally fund the Contras -- a right-wing terrorist organization in Nicaragua that ran cocaine into the U.S., running up one of the largest deficits in American history, pursuing a strategy that resulted in the deaths of 241 American servicemen in Lebanon and invading Grenada. Oh, there were a few other scandals too. What's not to like? He was such a NICE man, a FUNNY man and the Great Communicator too. Repub candidates reportedly evoked Reagan's name more than 40 times during their recent debate at the Reagan Presidential Library.
White bread all in a row...
If your recent role model choices are Daddy Bush, Ronnie or Bush The Commander Guy, it's easy to see why you'd pick Ray-gun. He was the best actor of the bunch and could light up the room with a smile while in the process of telling heinous lies. I guess the Repubs are looking for another Morning in America candidate who can pretend all is well in Oz while the country reels from the after-effects of 8 years of Bush Mania. If that doesn't work, they can always try to keep the conversation on battling the evil forces of science, evolution, green energy and gay people. And offer more tax breaks to the rich.
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May 8, 2007 at 10:48 AM in 2008 Presidential Primary | Permalink
Comments
Plus Hunter has one blistering anti-Reagan rant up on DailyKos.
https://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/8/161654/4407
Which includes these gems:
Since hard-right conservatives are now petulantly holding Reagan up as some kind of anti-terrorism avatar too, on top of everything else -- a talisman against the obvious, which is the current abject failure of Bush and conservative policy in Iraq -- I think we should mention, here, very softly and gently, that when Reagan was faced with the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Lebanon, during the civil war there, in what was one of the most formative examples of Middle Eastern terrorism against Americans to that date, the much-vaunted Ronald Reagan ran away.
And I mean he ran like a schoolgirl. He ran like butter on hot pancakes. He ran like a six-month-old with stomach problems. He ran like a high school boy from a Republican congressman. He ran like raindrops off the wing of a 737 at full cruising altitude. He ran like my dog when I say the word "bathtime". He ran like a conservative blogger from a military recruiting booth. He ran like a man who suddenly remembered that liberating a bunch of confused medical students from a Caribbean island was a hell of a lot easier than maintaining a coherent Middle East policy. He gave it a few months of saving-face time, and then he ran.
Posted by: Tom Solomon | May 8, 2007 7:40:36 PM
I also fail to understand what was so great about the guy. Yet, just about every republican on u4prez.com cites him as their favorite.
Posted by: > | May 9, 2007 2:53:47 AM
Bu..Bu..But Reagan was so sunny and bright! He looked so good on a horse! He said government was the problem not the solution so people could feel righteous not paying their fair share of taxes!
Posted by: Red or Green | May 9, 2007 8:24:47 AM
Tom-Good one. Hunter can rant with the best of them. I guess Reagan fans like to live in fairy tale land, the same as Bush fans. Reality and facts? Who cares?
Posted by: < | May 9, 2007 11:20:25 AM
Here's another good post from Kos, on Reagan's dismal economic record:
Posted by: < | May 9, 2007 11:26:14 AM
*Sigh*
Oh yeah, Ronnie Reagan. I can't help but think of him whenever I see a homeless person in need of psychiatric help walking on the street.
Posted by: | May 10, 2007 8:53:53 PM
