Is this "great outpouring" really about Reagan or. . .

[wndycty]

. . .or is it because he is the first President (besides Nixon) to die in 30 years and there is a whole fascination with the process.

[DivinBreuvage]

1. It's because he's the darling and the Messiah of American Conservatism

They are going to indulge in sentimental masturbation for a long time to come.

[Name removed]

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[DivinBreuvage]

10. Are you glad of it now? n/t

[azmesa207]

12. We Supported him to

No we didn't a good democrat wouldn't support him and his lies

[BeFree]

16. That's so sad.

Welcome to DU, gvi. You are the kind of person we need reading DU.
You see, we realize folks need an education about things.

Not that you are in fact, a member of the Sheeple, but since you voted for the most corrupt and criminal POTUS in our lifetime, and you are proud of it!

We need to reach people like you. The mass media has so led you astray, that we progressives face the most gawd-awful uphill battle against the money and corporate influence that they spew.

This's what's so cool about DU: It's just people. No corporations. We're not here to make ya buy something. We are here to spread what is good about humanity and help each other too learn so that together, we can defeat the anti-human, pro-war death and destruction, bigotted bunch of knuckleheads who would make slaves of us all if they ever get their way.

Welcome!

[Name removed]

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[BeFree]

37. Raygoon is why you made money?

What business were you in? Banking?

That's the problem with folks. They vote for their wallet. Not for the good of the country. Look at the deficits. Look at the trading with terrorists. Look at what the poor suffered through: No lunches for the kids, mental patients thrown on to the streets. Banking bailouts. ETC, ETC.

I remember the 80's. That's when the country took a bad, bad turn.

I never voted for the damn fool and I'm damn proud of that. I saw what the asshole wanted to do to my people, and by evil, he did it.

Them's the facts.

[LittleApple81]

17. I could not vote at that time. But I would never have voted for him. n/t

[Name removed]

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[CharlesGroce]

5. nice Jefferson quote...

check out mine. That guy was a fucking genius, and reading his writings honestly makes me proud to be an American.

You know Jefferson once proposed to President Madison after his retirement from public life that the homeless should have the right to claim federal land and till it in order to 'live', for a very reasonable tax. Sounds like an early form of socialism to me.

[DivinBreuvage]

11. Thanks... it's hard to pick just one for a sig line, isn't it!

I have the same problem with Thomas Paine.

BTW, I didn't know that about Jefferson's proposal re: the homeless. Very interesting indeed.

[Name removed]

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[bloom]

2. I think it's about getting lots of pro-Republican

rah-rah stuff on the air.


I really can't imagine this much coverage if Carter or Clinton were to unfortunately pass away.

[boxster]

4. No, unfortunately, it's really all about Reagan.

The public has shown a bizarre fascination with him for 50 years.

And, regardless of how lousy a president he was, people still "loved" him.

I'll never understand it, though I suspect that some of the same idiots who idolized him are the 35% of so who don't see that Bush is evil, either.

[Suspicious]

19. He wasn't as loved as they might have you believe.

From Chomsky's blog, Turning the Tide:

During his years in office, Reagan was not particularly popular. Gallup just published poll figures comparing him during office with other presidents. His average ratings during his years in office were below Kennedy, Johnson, Bush I, and Clinton; above Nixon, Ford, Carter. This is averages during their terms in office. By 1992 he was ranked just next to Nixon as the most unpopular living ex-president. Since then there has been an immense PR campaign to convert him into a revered and historic figure, if not semi-divine, and it's doubtless had an effect.

http://blog.zmag.org/ttt/archives/000572.html#more

I grew up with Republican parents during the "Reagan Years"...even they had nothing nice to say about him by the time it was over.

[boxster]

25. I'm guessing that you don't live in the large mass of "red" states

in the middle of the U.S. because the "tide" never turned out here - NE, SD, ND, MT, WY, UT, etc.

Out here, there was no need for a PR campaign. Reagan is, and has always been, revered by these people.

Keep in mind - these are the same people that voted overwhelmingly for Bush, then Dole, then Bush II. Reagan is literally like a God out here, much to my neverending dismay.

[Suspicious]

28. No, I live in a swing (Dem) state...

I feel for you, though! :)

Obviously, Reagan would be a popular figure in certain areas of the country, but these people would like us to believe that he was far more popular throughout the entire nation than he ever was.

[boxster]

42. Agreed.

The overabundance of RonLove has reached ludicrous levels. It's almost beginning to look like an overblown Saturday Night Live sketch where all of the players are trying to outdo each other.

Or a sibling rivalry involving dear old Dad.

"I love him more"

"No, I love him more"

"No, I love him more because of blah, blah"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I love him more because of blah, blah"

Though, for that comparison to fit, the siblings would have to bicker back and forth for about 10 days straight. Without sleep.

[Name removed]

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[Suspicious]

36. Sure, they did - you said you voted for him, right?

What was it about him that you liked so much? His commitment to the dismantlement of social programs? His concern for the American worker? His compassion for people dying of AIDS? His involvement in illegal arms deals and support of the bloodthirsty, murderous Contras?

After it was all said and done, were you happy with your choice?

[bushwakker]

6. It's about propping up the shithead currently in the White House*

[otohara]

7. Bingo

[Name removed]

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[gumby]

8. This a coronation

Making this the United States of Reagan where Bush is King.

Pomp, terra, pomp, terra, pomp, terra.

[stellanoir]

9. I've wondered several times over the last week whether the country

wasn't mourning what America used to represent. . .hope, optimism, honor, dignity, integrity. . .(etc) all the things that Reagan was so good at giving lip service to, though his policies often belied.

After over three and a half years of *'s "governance of fear" and deceit, and the most recent horrific torture scandal, the people and the media craved all that we seemed to have lost . . .so immersed themselves in a week's worth of nostalgia for all that we used to pretend to be. Reagan's legacy could be spun as such. . . so it was.

You couldn't sell it to the Central Americans who sufferred so during his Presidency though.

[donhakman]

14. For the average person in attendance

they are merely celebrating a memory of their youth.

[TexasMexican]

38. Excellent Point

[AlCzervik]

13. i watched the LBJ funeral on cspan

they have run it a couple of times over the past 2 days. Not nearly as grand.

[maggrwaggr]

15. It's simply about corporate media promoting "Reaganomics"

which is very pro-corporate.

That is all.

Hey, they embalmed the old fuck three blocks from my house. I was there to see the great "outpouring". There was very little. At any given time there were 20-30 people standing around, most of them looked like they were just lookie-loos. Hell, I was one of them, and I was just some schmuck from the neighborhood wondering why the goddamn streets were closed.

This entire "outpouring" is a media creation.

$20 million bucks for a funeral buys a LOT of production value that LOOKS pretty impressive.

You could make a pretty good movie for twenty million bucks. Think about it.

[spanone]

18. It's like he was King of America.

CNN has had thirteen hours of continous coverage. C'mon now. This is the monied folks biding farewell to one of their own. There are very few people of color involved in this production.

[gulliver]

20. They need someone with virtue to point to.

Reagan came from a bygone era of authentic people. He was too egocentric, mediocre-minded, sexed, and financially well off for the smallness of his crowd to rub off on him. He really was a kind of Chauncey Gardener, IMO, but with a certain core of genuine goodness rather than Gardener's blankness.

The GOP is full of fools, failures, Mr. Potters, and other small, envious, chinless folk. They point to Reagan as one of them, but he wasn't. They need him to be one of them, but he wasn't. None of his parasites were half the man he was, although most were smarter in a paranoid, petty, inferiority-complexed, ungenerous way.

Reagan, they think, is their better self. But they need to look in the mirror to see themselves. Reagan was just a pretty image for conservatism's otherwise ugly-growing face. I don't know when the good and decent conservatives gave way to the hyenas, but I think it was about the time Reagan showed up. He was so good looking and such a great image maker that they could afford to be base.

Now look at what they have become, worshipping and fawning at the feet of the microscopic Mr. Bush.

My opinion? They need a little breather and a little reflection.

[jsaro]

22. Beautifully written

The microscopic Mr. Bush. :-)

[Tellurian]

26. It all started when Reagan made Bush his running mate...

This is the period of time that began the evolution of the secret government's lying in wait, waiting for the right figurehead to emerge, to put forth it's NWO and specter of global dominance.

[happynewyear]

27. I haven't dared to look at any of it

Sorry but I just cannot. Eight years as governator in California :puke: then 8 more years of presidenternator in Amurica. :puke:

What did he do right? He stole the Federal employee's pension fund so they cannot get it. He ignored AIDS and millions have now died. Seen one tree - seen them all ... what a mentality. Gave Saddam weapons and we 'capture' him 20 years later. This long sickening list cannot be ignored for it is his legacy. Be proud, yeah right .... :puke:

I've witnessed the deaths of several other presidents in my lifetime and NONE of them except for Kennedy warranted such an outpouring of grief and for good reason (he was loved and assassinated; or was he really?).

Reagan is a wet dream that will eventually die.

:dem:

[UNIXcock]

29. In the office today ...

... almost everyone was wearing red white and blue, praising Reagan and eating Jelly Beans; almost everyone.

[happynewyear]

31. wasn't that sweet

My dog was playing with his red, white and blue bone that squeeks when he tweaks it. Ah, what a joy!

[OKNancy]

33. We are a maudlin society

This country loves maudlin displays of emotion. Whether it be puffed up patriotic displays, cornball music or grand displays of grief. Oh, and the romantic love story between Ronnie and Nancy.
Top it off with news media more interested in the entertainment value of a story....and what do you have? You have the past week of death as entertainment.

[happynewyear]

35. romance story?

The reality of it is this: Ronnie was married to Jane Wyman and he got Nancy knocked up. So then, Ronnie divorced Jane Wyman and married Nancy and she had two kids by him. The other kids (well one) is via Jane Wyman, the other adopted.

How is that for family values and being a moral person. RR was an adulterer and it was and hopefully still is common knowledge.

[OKNancy]

39. It's common knowledge

and I doubt any long-term DUer doesn't know that, but we also know that the Reagans were married a long time and she cared for him a long time. We know this becuase the media has portrayed them as such. That's the storyline.

[happynewyear]

40. well the "greatest geneation" cares

and don't forget it - they remember the whole sordid story being they lived through it. It did not go over so hot, that is all I will say.

[Skittles]

34. Reagan was a big status symbol for all the media whores

nt

[Gregorian]

41. When JFK died, it was palpable. The whole world felt it.

This is made of tin. Noone really cares. Except the insiders, and some cameras.