posted on June 5, 2004 02:14:32 PM new
Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93
Jun 5, 4:55 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ronald Reagan, the cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was "morning again in America," died Saturday after a long twilight struggle with Alzheimer's disease, a family friend said. He was 93.
He died at his home in California, according to the friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House was told his health had taken a turn for the worse in the last several days.
Five years after leaving office, the nation's 40th president told the world in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's, an incurable illness that destroys brain cells. He said he had begun "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."
Reagan body was expected to be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, Calif., and then flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. His funeral was expected to be at the National Cathedral, an event likely to draw world leaders. The body was to be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library.
Reagan lived longer than any U.S. president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the select few closest to him. Now, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton are the surviving ex-presidents.
Although fiercely protective of Reagan's privacy, the former first lady let people know his mental condition had deteriorated terribly. Last month, she said: "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."
Reagan's oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at age 60 from cancer. Three other children survive: Michael, from his first marriage, and Patti Davis and Ron from his second.
Over two terms, from 1981 to 1989, Reagan reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image, fixed his eye on the demise of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism and tripled the national debt to $3 trillion in his singleminded competition with the other superpower.
Taking office at age 69, Reagan had already lived a career outside Washington, one that spanned work as a radio sports announcer, an actor, a television performer, a spokesman for the General Electric Co., and a two-term governor of California.
At the time of his retirement, his very name suggested a populist brand of conservative politics that still inspires the Republican Party.
He declared at the outset, "Government is not the solution, it's the problem," although reducing that government proved harder to do in reality than in his rhetoric.
Even so, he challenged the status quo on welfare and other programs that had put government on a growth spurt ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal strengthened the federal presence in the lives of average Americans.
In foreign affairs, he built the arsenals of war while seeking and achieving arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.
In his second term, Reagan was dogged by revelations that he authorized secret arms sales to Iran while seeking Iranian aid to gain release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Some of the money was used to aid rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.
Despite the ensuing investigations, he left office in 1989 with the highest popularity rating of any retiring president in the history of modern-day public opinion polls.
That reflected, in part, his uncommon ability as a communicator and his way of connecting with ordinary Americans, even as his policies infuriated the left and as his simple verities made him the butt of jokes. "Morning again in America" became his re-election campaign mantra in 1984, but typified his appeal to patriotrism through both terms.
At 69, Reagan was the oldest man ever elected president when he was chosen on Nov. 4, 1980, by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Near-tragedy struck on his 70th day as president. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after addressing labor leaders when a young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him. A bullet lodged an inch from Reagan's heart, but he recovered.
Four years later he was re-elected by an even greater margin, carrying 49 of the 50 states in defeating Democrat Walter F. Mondale, Carter's vice president.
"The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why — with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him." —Jay Leno
posted on June 5, 2004 02:51:33 PM new
I didn't always agree with his politics, but I liked the "man". It's so hard to believe that he was already 93. It shows how fast time goes. He will me missed by many and what a wonderful wife he had to tend to him during his years with Alzheimer's.
posted on June 5, 2004 03:50:11 PM new
once they interviewed mrs. reagon and asked what xmas is like with her husband ?and she sadly said it is just another day.
now she is alone.
i always feel the one who past away first is the lucky one!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on June 5, 2004 04:33:35 PM new
I had just listed a campaign poster when I heard!
I voted for him, both times! I really liked him! (I didn't care much for the Mrs., but you have to admire a woman who would be willing to stand by a man that no longer knew who she was!)
Rest in Peace, Mr. President, and God Bless!
posted on June 6, 2004 05:12:22 AM new
Rest in peace President Reagan. He deserves it after the long hard battle he's fought with Alzheimers.
I would also like to add:
Everyone at the Vendio Round Table should be applauded for the respect they are showing President Reagan, whether they agreed with him politically or not.
posted on June 6, 2004 07:30:42 AM new
I think that the "class" that you mention should not be interpreted as everyone's respect for Ronald Reagan. Six people have voiced their respect or admiration for Reagan while many others are maintaining a respectful silence.
I am sorry for anyone who had to live through years of Alzheimer's disease and especially their families. Fortunately, Reagan's family could afford the care that is overwhelming for most Americans who cannot pay the exorbitant expense for long term care.
posted on June 6, 2004 07:52:23 AM new
Gorbachev Calls Reagan 'great President'
By Jim Heintz Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 6, 2004
MOSCOW (AP) - Former
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Sunday he was distressed by the death of former President Ronald Reagan, with whom he held complicated and tense talks in the fading years of the Cold War.
"I take very hard the death of Ronald Reagan, a man whom by fate sat with me in perhaps the most difficult years at the end of the 20th century," Gorbachev told reporters at the Gorbachev Foundation, a non-governmental analytical institute that he has run since 1992.
Those were years, Gorbachev said, "when everyone felt that we lived under the threat of nuclear conflict."
Despite Reagan's often-forceful statements against the Soviet Union, Gorbachev said he also had a personal warmth that bolstered their relations.
"In terms of human qualities, he and I had, you would say, communicativeness and this helped us carry on normally," Gorbachev said.
"But when you talk about friendly relations in politics, it's not the friendship of schoolmates, of the Arbat," he said referring to Moscow's main street for promenades and relaxation.
"I deem Ronald Reagan a great president, with whom the Soviet leadership was able to launch a very difficult but important dialogue," the Interfax news agency quoted Gorbachev as saying on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Earlier Sunday, Gorbachev was quoted by Interfax as calling Reagan "a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better."
Gorbachev listed Reagan's accomplishments as helping to "stop the nuclear race, start scrapping nuclear weapons, and arrange normal relations between our countries," he was quoted as saying.
"I do not know how other statesmen would have acted at that moment, because the situation was too difficult.
Reagan, whom many considered extremely rightist, dared to make these steps, and this is his most important deed," he was quoted as saying.
AP-ES-06-06-04 0829EDT
posted on June 6, 2004 11:54:32 AM new
Helen, give it a rest for a once. This was meant to be a tribute of one of the finest Americam Presidents. Everyone knows your left wing stance on health care and no body wants to listen to your digs of the wealth of his family.
"The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why — with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him." —Jay Leno
posted on June 6, 2004 12:07:59 PM new
When did these new rules about only posting certain things in certain threads take effect?
I'm sorry too about his passing and agree that it must've been awful, especially for Nancy, to see him slip away from her mentally. Having said that, I think he was a terrible President. His "let them eat cake" policies slumped the U.S. into a near depression when he left. His "tear down that wall" statement came 2 weeks AFTER Gorbachev had already told Reagan he was going to tear it down. I could go on, but won't. Nice guy - bad President.
posted on June 6, 2004 07:21:54 PM new
Now Bear, I know I'm going to hate myself in the morning, but I have to agree with Helen on this one.
I'm sure it was hard on Nancy Reagan to lose the man she loved for 52 years. But you have to admit she had it a whole lot easier than most of us would. She didn't have to worry about him running down the street naked, cursing at people, or accidently overdosing on his own medications.
Alzheimers is NASTY. Ronnie had the best care money could buy, which was great for him, he certainly deserved it. I wasn't old enough to vote for him, but certainly would have. I personally think he was the greatest president of my lifetime.
But giving Nancy Reagan the same credit as "one of us" in dealing with Alzheimers is NOT justified. She had it easy.
--------------------------------------
We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
posted on June 7, 2004 09:35:00 AM new
Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004
Goodbye and Good Riddance
By PHIL GASPER
Ronald Reagan has finally died at age 93. Predictably, politicians from both major parties have issued gushing tributes to this venal and vicious man, who was happy to slash workers' wages, see families thrown onto the street, support sadistic death squads and bomb other countries, if this was in the interests of the American ruling class.
Meanwhile, if recent history is any guide, the mainstream media will steer well clear of providing an accurate portrayal of Reagan, the man and the president. Last year, in a stunning act of cowardice, CBS canceled its much-publicized "docudrama" about Ron and Nancy, The Reagans, caving in to a campaign by the Republican National Committee, right-wing radio hosts, Fox News and conservative Internet sites. The movie was instead shown later to a much smaller audience on the Showtime cable network.
Conservatives attacked the film for portraying Reagan as homophobic, and Nancy as a domineering wife and mother who pulled the strings behind the scenes while abusing her children. They were apparently even more incensed that James Brolin, husband of liberal icon Barbra Streisand, played the part of Reagan.
While The Reagans was undoubtedly a monumental example of third-rate TV schlock, examples cited by conservatives of substantial inaccuracies didn't hold up. One complaint was that the movie showed Reagan ignoring the AIDS crisis because of its association with gay sex, and telling his wife, "They that live in sin shall die in sin."
But in real life, Reagan refused to mention AIDS publicly for six years, under-funded federal programs dealing with the disease and, according to his authorized biography, said, "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague," because "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments."
C. Everett Koop, Reagan's surgeon general, later revealed, "because transmission of AIDS was understood primarily in the homosexual population and in those who abused intravenous drugs, the advisors to the president took the stand, they are only getting what they justly deserve."
In the movie, Nancy slaps her 5-year-old daughter, Patti. In real life, Patti wrote, "I first remember my mother hitting me when I was eight. It escalated as I got older and became a weekly, sometimes daily, event."
In the movie, Nancy insists, "Ketchup is a vegetable! It is not a meat, right? So it is a vegetable." In real life, Reagan directed the Department of Agriculture to classify ketchup as a vegetable in September 1981 in an attempt to slash $1.5 billion from the federal school lunch program.
Conservatives also criticized the movie for what it did not include. "Does it show he had the longest and strongest recovery in postwar history?" asked Reagan's White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater.
But Reagan's economic policies were a disaster for working-class Americans. Reagan presided over the worst recession since the 1930s, and economic growth in the 1980s was lower than in the 1970s, despite the stimulus of military Keynesian policies, which created massive federal budget deficits and tripled the federal debt. By the end of the decade, real wages were down and the poverty rate had increased by 20 percent.
The real problem with The Reagans was not that it was too critical of the Reagan presidency, but that it was largely uncritical. According to The New York Times, the movie "paints [Reagan] as an exceptionally gifted politician and a moral man who stuck to his beliefs, often against his advisers' urgings."
Reagan was many things, but "gifted" was not one of them. "Poor dear," remarked British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, his closest international ally, "there's nothing between his ears." As for a "moral man," Reagan's morality included union busting--beginning with his dismissal of striking air traffic controllers in 1981--an unprecedented war on the poor, opposition to civil rights and support for apartheid South Africa. The "moral" Reagan trained and supported terrorists, including the Nicaraguan contras ("the moral equal of our Founding Fathers" who killed over 30,000 people, and Islamic radicals in Afghanistan who later formed the al-Qaeda network.
Reagan was also a liar. In November 1986, he publicly denied that his administration had been illegally selling arms to Iran and using the proceeds to fund the contras. One week later he was forced to retract this statement, but denied that the sale was part of a deal to free U.S. hostages. The following year, Reagan admitted that there had been an arms-for-hostages deal, but denied he knew anything about it.
In 1992, that too proved to be a lie when former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was compelled to release notes from a January 1986 meeting revealing, "President decided to go with Israeli-Iranian offer to release our 5 hostages in return for sale of 4,000 TOWs [U.S. missiles] to Iran by Israel."
The man whose administration spearheaded class warfare on behalf of the rich, dragged American politics to the right, and rebuilt US imperialism after the Vietnam debacle, is dead. Good riddance.
Phil Gasper is professor of philosophy at Notre Dame de Namur University in California. He is a member of the National Writers Union and a frequent contributor to Socialist Worker and the International Socialist Review . He can be contacted at [email protected]
posted on June 7, 2004 09:45:09 AM new
Reagan's physical death, coming years after his mental death, is not something I would ever rejoice in.
That said, he was not the greatest president we've ever had, and many of his policies were bad ones.
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on June 7, 2004 10:00:28 AM new
Reagan's Alzheimer's disease was a gift to Nancy. She was considered a witch until his disease allowed her to appear to be an angel of mercy.
I am always amazed at how the religious right embraced the Reagan's even after it was disclosed that he and Nancy were using astrologers to run our country.
It's now funny to watch video of Reagan giving speeches to the Moral Majority or Robertson's religious group, or the Full Gospel Businessmen's Club talking about his "born again" experience and belief in god and being a christian, all the while his schedule and meetings were being scruntinized by astologers. LMAO !!!
posted on June 7, 2004 11:08:43 AM new
Replay, why do you say Reamond is hateful? I don't understand why bringing up some of the no-no things Reagan did during his Presidency is hateful. Reagan did these things, not Reamond. Do you think Reagan was wise to trade arms, money, drugs, and hostages between Iran and the Nicaraguan rebels? Do you think he was wise to give chemical weapons to Saddam to fight Iran? Do you think he was wise to spend billions on (SDI) an "anti-missile shield" which violated the ABM treaty, in addition to wasting a lot of money? Do you think he was wise to ignore AIDS, thinking it was a homosexual disease? Do you think he was wise when he asked Surgeon General Koop to produce a document saying how bad abortions were for women, even though Koop said he could find no long-term physical or emotional trauma to women, and his report was supressed? Do you think he was wise when he more than tripled the nations debt from $20 billion in the late 70's to $150 billion in the 80's? Do you think he was wise when he asked Gorbachev to tear down the wall even though it had been decided weeks before making Reagan look like a hero instead of Gorbachev?
posted on June 7, 2004 11:53:59 AM new
So much for the left wing presenting themselves as compassionate and caring. The truth shows through again. No one dealing with a family member dying like this has it EASY.
"He was dying for years and the day came and somehow it came as a blow. Not a loss but a blow. How could this be? Maybe we were all of us more loyal to him, and to the meaning of his life, than we quite meant to be. And maybe it's more. ... Ronald Reagan told the truth to a world made weary by lies. He believed truth was the only platform on which a better future could be built. He shocked the world when he called the Soviet Union 'evil,' because it was, and an 'empire,' because it was that, too. He never stopped bringing his message to the people of the world, to Europe and China and in the end the Soviet Union. And when it was over, the Berlin Wall had been turned into a million concrete souvenirs, and Soviet communism had fallen. But of course it didn't fall. It was pushed. By Mr. Know Nothing Cowboy Gunslinger Dimwit. All presidents should be so stupid. ... What an era his was. What a life he lived. He changed history for the better and was modest about it. He didn't bray about his accomplishments but saw them as the work of the American people. He did not see himself as entitled, never demanded respect, preferred talking to hotel doormen rather than State Department functionaries because he thought the doormen brighter and more interesting. When I pressed him once, a few years out of the presidency, to say what he thought the meaning of his presidency was, he answered, reluctantly, that it might be fairly said that he 'advanced the boundaries of freedom in a world more at peace with itself.' And so he did. And what could be bigger than that?" --Peggy Noonan
"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind swept, God blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. ... And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after two hundred years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home. We've done our part. And as I walk into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time, we made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad. Not bad at all. And so, good-bye. God bless you, and God bless the United State of America." --Farewell Speech from the Oval Office, 1989
More quotes from Ron Reagan...
"We were poor when I was young, but the difference then was that the government didn't come around telling you you were poor." ++ "To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions every day, I say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny."
"I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course... This is the issue of this election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or a right. There is only an up or down: up to man's age-old dream -- the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."
"[I]n all that time I won a nickname, the 'Great Communicator.' But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan Revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed like the Great Rediscovery -- a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."
"The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why — with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him." —Jay Leno
[ edited by Bear1949 on Jun 7, 2004 12:04 PM ]
posted on June 7, 2004 12:07:39 PM new
Bear, what should the "left" be saying about Reagan? Should the things he did unwisely not be mentioned because he died?
posted on June 7, 2004 12:21:40 PM new
Kraft - that was a good post, and I'm goign to answer every one of your questions:
"Do you think Reagan was wise to trade arms, money, drugs, and hostages between Iran and the Nicaraguan rebels? "
I "don't recollect" all the details about this, so I'm not going to comment on this. But I do feel it was overblown.
"Do you think he was wise to give chemical weapons to Saddam to fight Iran?"
Yes I do. Saddam was an ally at the time, and we all know wat a mess the Iranians caused in the 70's. Look at what they did to Carter.
"Do you think he was wise to spend billions on (SDI) an "anti-missile shield" which violated the ABM treaty, in addition to wasting a lot of money?"
Yep. I thought it was a good idea then and I still do. The idea of the USSR wasting all that money on nukes is part of why they went bust.
"Do you think he was wise to ignore AIDS, thinking it was a homosexual disease?"
It pretty much WAS a homosexual disease in the beginning. What specifically do you mean by he ignored it?
"Do you think he was wise when he asked Surgeon General Koop to produce a document saying how bad abortions were for women, even though Koop said he could find no long-term physical or emotional trauma to women, and his report was supressed?"
He was a conservative president elected on the grounds of family values. We voted for him BECAUSE of these values. It was his job to be anti-abortion. Fighting for his beliefs is EXACTLY what made him great.
"Do you think he was wise when he more than tripled the nations debt from $20 billion in the late 70's to $150 billion in the 80's?"
I used to go to bed at night worrying about nuclear war. I haven't really been worried about since Reagan. Was it worth it? How can anyone say otherwise?
"Do you think he was wise when he asked Gorbachev to tear down the wall even though it had been decided weeks before making Reagan look like a hero instead of Gorbachev?"
It must not have been widely publicised, because I never heard of this at the time. Whether it's true or not, what's the harm? I *DO* give him credit for the more or less peaceful fall of the USSR and the relaxation of the fear of nuclear annihilation.
Again, the best President of my lifetime.
--------------------------------------
We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
posted on June 7, 2004 12:26:26 PM new
Add Reagans visit to the gravesite of the Waffen SS at Bittburg to the list of things he should not have done. An insult to all who fought and died for the freedom of Europe.
posted on June 7, 2004 01:08:36 PM new
Replay, the Iran/Contra issue was pretty unreal. Instead of explaining it to you, I found a site that explains things pretty well.
So he gives money, weapons and DRUGS to Iran, then gives chemical weapons to Iraq to fight Iran. How does this fit in the long run or didn't he think that far?
Also, nations have and always will do a lot of posturing about their ability of nuking another country - that's all they've got. Every leader knows the second a nuclear weapon is fired, including Russia, one will come right back at them so an actual nuclear war is a long shot, even in this day & age where "terrorists" are everywhere. SDI was an unrealistic goal that only furthered nuclear fear, which is a great way to control people.
Replay, are you saying that because he suspected AIDS was a homosexual disease he was right to stall for 6 years letting thousands suffer? To me it seemed like a culling, similar to the culling of the Jews.
SG Koop could not find anything scientific to back up Reagan's claim about the negative effects abortions had on women. Instead of telling women the results of the $$ study, he lied and stuck to his original claim to further his own agenda.
I'm not sure what you mean about comparing nuclear war with a $150 billion dollar deficit?
I watched many hours of the Gorbachev talks and was really ticked when Reagan took all the credit for the wall coming down when it was Gorbachev who brought it to the table in the first place. Many Americans think it was Reagan's idea and that he personally tore down the walls between the U.S. and Russia while it's the other way around. How vain!
posted on June 7, 2004 01:20:09 PM new
::It pretty much WAS a homosexual disease in the beginning. What specifically do you mean by he ignored it? ::
He ignored it's existance. He ignored that it had was a blood transmitred disease thus enabling the infection of thousands via common blood transfusions. His distaste for the initial spread of the disease led to a lack of proper funding of organizations which could have educated and informed far earlier and saved tens of thousands of lives. Additionally, because he would not aknowledge the disease for years, many people saw it as being not as serious as it truly was... if the president has never even uttered the name of the disease, how serious can it really be.
::He was a conservative president elected on the grounds of family values. We voted for him BECAUSE of these values. It was his job to be anti-abortion. Fighting for his beliefs is EXACTLY what made him great.::
It's one thing to attempt to advance a moral belief. It is ENITRELY a different thing when you do that by hiding and falsifing medical facts.
There is absolutely nothing moral in hiding medical truths from the public in both examples above, Reagan did exactly that in the name of furthering his own beliefs.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on June 7, 2004 01:22:42 PM new
"Do you think Reagan was wise to trade arms, money, drugs, and hostages between Iran and the Nicaraguan rebels?"
Absolutely, It's about time everybody acknowledges that communist oligarchies are the absolute enemies of our being. By THEIR definition we cannot co-exist.
"Do you think he was wise to give chemical weapons to Saddam to fight Iran?"
Absolutely, the idea of an Iran running rampant in the Middle East at that time would have destroyed economies on a huge scale.
"Do you think he was wise to spend billions on (SDI) an "anti-missile shield" which violated the ABM treaty, in addition to wasting a lot of money?"
ABSOLUTELY. Besides crushing the Russian economy and destroying communism for all practical purposes, the true value may well be tested in the decades to come, wherein the SDI "usefulness" may make Reagan nominated for 1st national saint.
"Do you think he was wise to ignore AIDS, thinking it was a homosexual disease?"
With no treatment and easy methods of prevention within a small group, money is better spent elsewhere. When the scope widened due to contaminanted blood, etc., the need increased.
"Do you think he was wise when he asked Surgeon General Koop to produce a document saying how bad abortions were for women"
Kept me up nights worrying about all the hurt feelings.
"Do you think he was wise when he more than tripled the nations debt from $20 billion in the late 70's to $150 billion in the 80's?"
Just fine if you can buy at fire-sale prices.
"Do you think he was wise when he asked Gorbachev to tear down the wall even though it had been decided weeks before making Reagan look like a hero instead of Gorbachev?"
In the transcripts of their meetings, Reagan led all major discussions and Gorby looked like (and is regarded by the Russians) as a dope.
Reagan as head "war monger" is also the one President to achieve massive cuts in nuclear arms and even proposed their elimination completely
posted on June 7, 2004 01:30:08 PM new
Those 8 years were real ugly. I can still remember the long lines to the unemployment offices, and people waiting for the free cheese and butter. Sadly back then there was no internet to access information, and many people were fooled into thinking everything was fine and dandy. Old people were eating dog food, and farmers were killing themselves over the massive farm foreclosures. I bet there is a website out there with all this archived.
posted on June 7, 2004 03:31:39 PM new
Like I said, Reagan was a fraud. His terms in office were close to the worst 8 years this country ever suffered through.
posted on June 7, 2004 03:36:11 PM new
Add Cuba to the list of Reagan-haters...
Cuba lambasts says former President Ronald Reagan should ``never have been born''
HAVANA - Cuba harshly criticized former President Ronald Reagan and his policies on Monday, saying he should ``never have been born.''
In the first reaction to Reagan's death from the communist government, Radio Reloj said:
``As forgetful and irresponsible as he was, he forgot to take his worst works to the grave,'' the government radio station said.
``He, who never should have been born, has died,'' the radio said.
The statement did not mention Cuba's relationship with the United States under Reagan, a staunch foe of communism.
It also did not mention Reagan's decision to order U.S. forces to invade the tiny Caribbean country of Grenada on Oct. 25, 1983, because Washington feared the island had grown too close to Cuba.
Since the early 1960s, Cuba and the United States have been without diplomatic relations, and Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo. But relations between the two countries were especially tense when Reagan was in office from 1981-1989.
Radio Reloj lambasted Reagan's military policies, especially the ``Star Wars'' anti-missile program. The initiative, launched when the Soviet Union still existed, rejected a long-standing doctrine built on the idea that neither superpower would start a nuclear war out of fear of annihilation by the other.
The radio also criticized Reagan's policies in Central America, where Washington backed a counterrevolutionary rebel army that fought against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The United States also supported a conservative government that battled Marxist guerrillas during El Salvador's civil war.
``His apologists characterize him as the victor of the Cold War,'' the radio said. ``Those in the know knew that the reality was not so, but rather (he was) the destroyer of policies of detente in the overall quest for peace.''
posted on June 7, 2004 03:48:43 PM new
Kraft ever heard of the expression "Don't speak ill of the dead".
But just wait till Clinton dies....There will be a line a mile or two long of people waiting to piz on his grave. With Hillary first in line....
"The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why — with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him." —Jay Leno
who killed over 30,000 people, and Islamic radicals in Afghanistan who later formed the al-Qaeda network.
