Ronald Reagan legacy: He taught us how to hate with a scowl.

[keithyboy]

He taught us to hate our government, hate the poor, hate the mentally ill, hate AIDS victims, hate working women, hate those trying to serve society's underprivileged, hate unions, hate foreigners, in short, to hate anything that wasn't rich-healthy-over 50-white-male-protestant-and American. Thus we ended up largely hating ourselves. And although, Bill Clinton tried to get us to love ourselves and others around us, the Reagan legacy was to bring to the surface all those ugly-mean-spirited-racist-bigoted feelings smoldering below the surface since the Johonson "Great Society." Clinton was despised for his efforts and now they are trying to shut up their opposition by labeling them as "un-American" "un-Patriotic" "terrorist lovers" "anti-Semitic" "Communistic" "immoral". I just hope we don't run for cover as we have done the past three years.

[DenverDem]

1. It's called demagoguery

and raygun is it's patron saint.

He opened the door for the end of civility and the beginnings of the radical polarization of the country that is leading to civil war.

Thank's a lot, ronnie, you asshole.

[Snellius]

2. My favorite quotes from Mr. Warmth

As governor of California when confronted by a hippie, "He had hair
like Tarzan, acted like Jane and smelled like Cheetah."

His comment on the hackneyed slogan "make love not war" was "they don't look like they are capable of doing either." LOL!

Out of respect, we'll skip all the nasty comments about "welfare queens driving welfare Cadillacs" or all the other stereotypes that made the poor feel like shit because they couldn't feed their kids.

[oly]

3. Putting this idea is sharper focus...

"...the Reagan legacy was to bring to the surface all those ugly-mean-spirited-racist-bigoted feelings smoldering below the surface since the Johnson "Great Society."

Putting this idea is sharper focus, Johnson's Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, are the biggest factors in the rise of Reagan and the modern Repuke party. The anti-black folks throughput the country, but primarily in the South, spread through the use of the Repuke code words like States Rights (remember Philadelphia, MS), ghetto, welfare, crack down on crime, capital punishment (replace lynching), special rights, affirmative action, etc., brought the country this repugnant fellow -- Reagan. After that, hatred of feminists, unions, foreigners, Hispanics, Democrats, liberals, Communists, atheists, socialists, etc. was natural following -- fallout.

[keithyboy]

4. You got it!!!

Thanks for the focus.