Reagan was a sh*tty president

[Presidentcokedupfratboy]

I'm sick of all the worshiping of this grade-B movie actor.

Hey Right wingers:

Reagan thought ketchup should be a veggie in school lunches;

a former union head himself, he was as anti-labor as any GOPologist;

He traded arms for hostages and got away with it. Clinton was impeached for lying about a BJ.

Reagan was an enemy of the environment;

He barely did his job; half of the time he was horseback riding.

Reagan also "cut and ran" from Beirut. Think the GOP of today mentions that?

He also presided over a tremendous tax increase after his policies blew a hole in the deficit.

Feel free to add to the list.

[ClassWarrior]

1. Here's some things I remember...

NGU.

[txlibdem]

9. +1

[Presidentcokedupfratboy]

10. Ah, the memories....

Thanks for that. Damned funny stuff, all the more sadder because it was all true.

[Diamonique]

30. Thanks for the toon. That's awesome!

[lunatica]

34. Every word in that cartoon is the truth.

[RandomThoughts]

2. He probably never got past the alien delusion.

Most people that try to make things better get hit by delusions.

Once you get side tracked by a delusion, it can make it tougher.

So you have to stay in focus, by finding the correct path by thinking and feeling, and by intent not effect, and also by doing based on what you can know. Then just tell stories to do something while things get corrected.

Since I am due beer and travel money, that will be corrected.

[Dark]

3. IDK. Bush II REALLY redefined shitty president.

(plus I wasn't around then. But it seems like the last good GOP president was Ike)

[rasputin1952]

17. Oddly, Nixon in retrospect was no where nearly as off the wall

as Reagan. Nixon actually did a few passable things, even though his paranoia got the best of him.

Eisenhower is an interesting study on how presidents really work...behind the scenes. Ike was a delegator, he knew whom he could trust and who could get things done without all of the trappings involved. He was far more complex than people give him credit for. Both Marshall and FDR were spot on when they made him Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe, a job that had enormous responsibility, by far, getting all of those personalities to toe the line was top of the list. But he did so much through staff work, as opposed to direct action because he was smart enough to realize that delegation was the only way to get things done...he did the same thing as president. He had no passion either way as far as blacks were concerned, however, once Truman ordered the services to integrate, (a brilliant decision btw that had long term benefits), Ike found himself morally obligated to ensure that civilian integration was undertaken as well. He forced the hand of the segregationists when he had Federal Marshalls escort young black children into school integration. But he didn't make a big deal out of it, he just did a behind the scenes decision, and it worked. He did the same thing, overtly, when he forced the hand of Orval Faubus in AR after the governor called out the NG to keep blacks from educational facilities...Ike called in the 101st Airborne, whose Commander literally relived the NG Commander on the spot after Ike Federalized the NG, ordering them back to their barracks. This was from a man who thought little of plight of AA's during those years, but was morally obligated under the law to follow the directives of that law. (Caveat: Faubus was an odd character himself, he worked for desegregation in AR, but when that was no longer politically feasible, he did a 180. Very interesting character that is misunderstood because of the climate of the time; he actually pushed hard for desegregation of schools in AR, had desegregated state bus lines and had some other interesting progressive qualities as well).

Reagan on the other hand was a complete flop with only one single thing that passed while he was president that benefited the nation...the Earned Income Credit. Virtually everything else was all smoke and mirror Hollywood crap. Reagan lived in world of fantasy, both literally and figuratively. Unlike his predecessors, Truman (WWI combat), Eisenhower (WW's I & II non-combat), Kennedy (WWII combat), Johnson (WWII combat), Nixon (WWII combat), Ford (WWII combat, Carter (non-combat), Reagan was posted, (Captain in the Army Signal Corps and never left Hollywood), where he actually thought war was all about John Wayne style "heroics". He took this view with him when he became president and intertwined his "memories" w/reality. He was the an actor, and he played the part. He was part and parcel of everything the Republicans stated vehemently that they despised. He was one of the "Hollywood Elite", he divorced his first wife for Nancy, was a negligent parent, was about as far away from "family values" as a person could get...and somehow, came of as affable and occasionally "brilliant". History shows him as a self centered egotist that bankrupted CA, destroying a dan good educational system along the way; then moving on to nearly bankrupt the entire nation, (he left that gem for bush II).

In a nutshell, he was a poor actor, a poor governor, a very poor president, a poor human being...not even "average", he took everything and made an illusion out of it. The trappings of the presidency brought him to near royalty, (a lot of that came from Nancy though). He was an oaf of person that was lazy, ignorant, bigoted, slug that took America on a ride we are all still paying for, and will pay for, for generations to come.

[Tikki]

4. He was a sh**ty person even before he...

was president...carried right through...


Tikki

[Hissyspit]

5. Yes, he was. No matter what President Obama says.

[LAGC]

6. He was a shitty governor too.

Half of California's problems originated with his stewardship.

[Brother Buzz]

8. One could argue he was a worse governor than president.

This Californian is still weighing judgment, it's that close.

[denbot]

7. Ray-gun told a shocked Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir

He personally help liberate Deathcamps in WWII. Typical shitstain freeper type. Never served but claims heroics.

[Brother Buzz]

14. To his credit, he enlisted in Army reserves in '37 and commissioned in '38

Ordered to active duty in 1942. He did his bit and really did have bum eyes that kept him stateside, it's well documented.

I believe his faulty memory of photographing Nazi death camps is an indication that early symptoms of Alzheimer's had kicked in, just as Ron Reagan Jr claimed.

[rasputin1952]

25. His eye must really have been bad...

he never left the Signal Corps, but made plenty of "training" films for them. I once found an archived 20 minute film of him telling new recruits that if they got laid, their penises would rot off, (this didn't apply to officers though).

His eye wasn't too bad to read the teleprompters he had...but his brain was bad long before Alzheimer's set in, the man was as stupid as a brick, and had about as much initiative as said piece of masonry.

[txlibdem]

11. Energy policy

He removed the solar panels off the white house, worked tirelessly to destroy every Carter energy independence policy, went under the desk for big oil and came up wiping his mouth on 1000 dollar bills. He was a despicable human being.

a yearlong investigation by some of the nation's leading scientists, provided a convincing blueprint for a solar future. It showed that alternative energy could easily meet 28 percent of the nation's power needs by 2000. The only thing that solar and wind and other nonpolluting energy sources needed was a push, the study concluded -- the same research funding and tax credits provided to other energy industries, and a government committed to lead the way to reduced reliance on fossil fuels. But the messenger in the corridor signaled that the solar future would only be won with a little guerrilla warfare. Hayes phoned a colleague at his office in Golden, Colorado, and told him to make 100 copies of the study and circulate them around the country. Energy Secretary Jim Edwards killed the study, all right, but not before it had been published in the Congressional Record.

It was a bold gesture, but not enough to alter the outcome. The quashed study proved to be the beginning of the end. The budget for the solar institute -- which President Jimmy Carter had created to spearhead solar innovation -- was slashed from $124 million in 1980 to $59 million in 1982. Scientists who had left tenured university jobs to work under Hayes were given two weeks notice and no severance pay. The squelching of the institute -- later partly re-funded and renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory -- marked the start of Reagan's campaign against solar power. By the end of 1985, when Congress and the administration allowed tax credits for solar homes to lapse, the dream of a solar era had faded. The solar water heater President Carter had installed on the White House roof in 1979 was dismantled and junked. Solar water heating went from a billion-dollar industry to peanuts overnight; thousands of sun-minded businesses went bankrupt. "It died. It's dead," says Peter Barnes, whose San Francisco solar- installation business had 35 employees at its peak. "First the money dried up, then the spirit dried up," says Jim Benson, another solar activist of the day.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2000/03/prodigal-sun

"Decontrolled oil prices, but didn't fill oil reserves
Reagan removed controls on oil prices. The result was lower prices and a glut. Had Reagan taken advantage of this to fill the nation's strategic reserves with cheap oil or to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil by imposing an oil import fee, or to encourage conservation through a tax, he would have left his successor less a prisoner of events in the Middle East. But Reagan abhorred taxes, and he did not accept the necessity of conservation. His trust was in the marketplace.
Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 823 Jul 2, 1991"

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Energy_+_Oil.htm

"Dismissed acid rain proposals as burdensome to industry
was dismayed by Reagan's cavalier dismissal of the importance of acid rain, which had destroyed fish and plant life in thousands of American and Canadian lakes and streams. During the 1970s it had become an issue in Canada, which objected to the pollution originating in US smokestacks in the Midwest and deposited in Canadian forests and lakes. Reagan had promised Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau during a 1981 visit that he would honor the vigorous enforcement of anti-pollution standards.

After three years of much talk and little action, the EPA wanted Reagan to make a major budget commitment to reducing the causes of acid rain. The EPA's proposal was assailed as wasteful government spending by Reagan's OMB and was rejected by Reagan, who questioned the scientific evidence on the causes of acid rain and was reluctant to impose additional restrictions on industry.
Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 533-34 Jul 2, 1991"

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Environment.htm

But here's the quote that tells me exactly what a psychopath Reagan was:

"Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders." --California Governor Ronald Reagan, in the Sacramento Bee, April 28, 1966

http://prorev.com/reagan.htm

[Presidentcokedupfratboy]

12. I forgot about Bitburg

I'm Jewish but not religious; when Reagan went to Bitburg, I felt as if he was saying to me "F$ck You and everyone who was killed by these poor victims of the Reich."

[Politicalboi]

13. Here's one

The Child sex ring that reached Bush/Reagan White House

http://www.voxfux.com/features/bush_child_sex_coverup/franklin.htm

[tavalon]

15. I think this should be in the Duh forum

Wait, do we have a Duh forum?

[Uben]

16. I've known shitty presidents, and Mr. Reagan, you are no.....

...shitty president. You'd have to improve to be shitty! Arms for hostages, dumping our mentally ill into the streets, coddling to the military industrial complex, and cutting taxes for the rich make him the second (next to GWB) worst president, evah!

[Kucinich Feingold]

19. And next to Andrew Johnson, Warren G Harding, and James Buchanan

The hall of SHIT presidents. That goes to Dubya as well.

[rasputin1952]

26. Buchanan consistentlyis in one of the two bottom slots...

damn fool set us up for the Civil War. Harding, and the jerk that followed him, Coolidge set the stage for the Great Depression...Hoover was overwhelmed, but he did try a few things before he realized the magnitude of the situation; he sure took the blame for Harding and Coolidge.

Andrew Johnson was doomed from the time he heard that Lincoln had been shot. Upon hearing the news, he went back to bed. He could not fend off the Radical Republicans of the time and with the assassination of Lincoln, virtually all hope of reconciliation with the South died with him, Reconstruction became a nightmare for the South, Booth really screwed the South and Southerners knew it. Johnson was weak and never had a chance to implement anything that Lincoln had planned.

[Onlooker]

18. He launched his presidential campaign ...

... in Philadephia, Mississippi, known only as the place where the bodies of three murdered civil rights workers were found, and he spoke there in favor of "states rights," which at the time was code in the South for segregation.

[JoePhilly]

20. Actual Amnesty for illegal immigrants

The real Reagan was nothing like the Mythical Reagan they've created.

[Fire1]

21. K&R......and let us not forget.....

Edit to add: Ronnie and Ollie sold left over military weaponry to the Shah of Saudi Arabia that yielded profits used by the CIA to fund the left wing movement known as the Sandinistas. Noriega allowed the Sandinistas to funnel drugs through Central America to the United States. It was the Democratic Congresswoman from California, Maxine Waters, who blew the whistle on the CIA with the help of a former agent. At the time, the CIA was working in conjunction with Ollie and Ronnie, which led to the investigation conducted by the Arms Senate Subcommittee regarding the sale, manufacturing and distribution of cocaine. Ollie resigned from the administration but was never convicted. A potential witness who was going to testify before the subcommittee that he was tapped by the CIA to recruit urban youth (in California and urban areas across the country) to set up distribution rackets was coincidentally deported three days prior to giving his testimony. Ronnie's administration ushered in the deadliest form of addiction as a result of the languishing profits of cocaine. The product known as, "crack."

[Hillprop]

22. AIDS, farm crisis, solar panels, crack

Reagan ignored the AIDS epidemic, staying silent on the issue pretty much his whole 8 years and did not bother to stop all the ignorance about the disease.

There was a nasty farm crisis under Reagan. And yes, I know it started under Carter when the commodities bubble popped, but still. It was not until 1985 that the moratorium on farm foreclosures was enacted, plus Reagan let rural congresspeople write two huge pork laden farm "rescue" bills that benefited the top 10% and did very little for family farmers.

He torn down the solar panels on the White House in 1986.

Also the crack epidemic. Once again did nothing to stop ignorance about the drug and signed the 1986 bill that created racist sentencing for possession of crack vs. powdered cocaine.

Forgot one more, the S&L crisis. Once again, I know Reagan had very little to do with the high mortgage and interest rates that starved S&Ls at the start of the decade, but his "solution" made the problem last for the entire decade.

[craigmatic]

23. Let's tell the truth about it. Reagan was too incompetent to be president after '84.

He set us up on this paper economy and sped up the exporting of our economic base. He declared war on the inner cities with the government importing drugs and increasing prison sentences while decreasing funding for education and we wonder why there are so many people locked up now. Under Reagan prison became an industry and a racket.

[rasputin1952]

24. Reagan was too incompetent to be president in 1980...

he had already proven his incompetency as governor of CA. He was a nightmare for the state and brought it to near bankruptcy, he then turned around and did the same thing to the nation.

Reagan was one of the worst presidents this nation ever had, the only thing that came from his presidency that had a positive impact on the citizens was the Earned Income Credit; every other economic policy gushed cash to the upper 2% and nothing ever "trickled down"...except the tears of those unfortunate enough to be on the lower end of the economic ladder as they fell even further.

He was lazy, stupid, but could read a script. He lived in fantasy world his entire life, and passed that fantasy on to the citizens. He laid down the road that bush II would pave...we're lucky to have to have survived.

[craigmatic]

27. Nice post. Are you a mod?

[rasputin1952]

29. Thanks...

and yes, I am a Mod.

[craigmatic]

31. can I show you something to see if it'd be ok to post in political video section?

[rasputin1952]

33. Yes...

but it should have something political about it. We also warn people about graphic content.

Send me a PM if you so desire, w/a link.

[TheKentuckian]

28. Shitty would be an upgrade.

My biggest problem is he has been President for 30 years regardless of who gets elected.

[ladym55]

32. And as gawd-awful as Ronnie was ....

He would be considered WAY too liberal by today's Rethuglicans. :scared:

He actually supported nuclear disarmament, something current Rethugs don't want.

One of the many Ronnie disasters is lesser known: In maybe his first year in office, he eliminated ALL funding to support public health initiatives. The result where I live has been 30 years of hospitals duplicating effort while competing with each other for scarcer and scarcer resources.

[lunatica]

35. As Governor of California he shut down the mental institutions and

let the mentally ill become homeless. Many of them are still alive and homeless and still mentally disturbed.

[alsame]

36. "Trees cause pollution". nt