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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Maher on Ronald Reagan last night - must see TV
Damn that was brilliant. Reagan was the original tea party member and sorry Bob Dole he would have fit right in with the party today.
YeahSureRight
(205 posts)his stench is destroying this county.
The most fucked up part is the number od Dems who liked that POS and his policies, even today.
Righteous rant by Bill too!
calimary
(80,522 posts)Glad you're here. I've carried that in my heart ever since that bastard won in 1980. Hell, even before that, since we were blighted by him in California when he was governor. I thought he was the most dangerous man in America, if not the world, because of the oh-so-smooth and slick way he sold toxic and inhumane and downright un-Christian ideas and concepts to voters that they embraced with open arms as though it were free money - when it was always the worst thing possible that could be done to them, and against every last one of their best interests. Wrapped it all up like shiny objects in red-white-and-blue fairy tales, and people ate it up from coast-to-coast. Lulled them into brainless acceptance with his aw-shucks shtick and his amiable, harmless, kindly old uncle routine. And most of America fell for it, head first. Worst thing EVER to happen to our country. And we did it to ourselves.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)He committed the first blatant theft of the presidency with Iran/Contra. All of these sob's came out of Nixon's day.
People looking for a daddy figure bought his acting that was presented by a fawning media following Segretti's ratfucking rules to demonize Carter. He was the end of Fairness Doctrine and it's gone downhill since.
My life was the best it'd ever been in the Carter years with the movement for worker rights, less discrimination and a nation working to save its environment. This monster showed ups. Many Democrats bought his song and dance and voted for him.
They voted GOP after that, with the Atwater's strategy in place. I can't stand the sight of him. When I heard they might put him on a stamp or a coin, after seeing all the temples of Ronnie worship across the country, from airports and such, followed by the Bush temples of worship, I was beyond stunned.
It used to be things were not named after someone until they died, it was not seemly, but the GOP could not wait to enshrine their gods. Whenever I see either of their names, it's like living it all over again.
An entire generation think what he did, and what the Tea Party does, is perfectly okay. But then, they never knew anything better.
Boomerproud
(7,875 posts)No excuses-and that goes for the current President.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)I guess they figure being a voting for a Conservative Republican is like vampirism,...there is no going back into the daylight.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)graham4anything
(11,464 posts)Could Bill have been another misguided person who voted for Ronald Reagan, then Bush41 in 1988?
Being that Reagan squeaked by and won a narrow victory that until a few weeks before was a dead even race.
We all know as he himself has said, Bill Maher is a LIBERTARIAN (THOSE ARE THE PAULITES/3rd partyites if I am not mistaken)
YeahSureRight
(205 posts)Your posts vehemently support many of the same polices as RR.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)malaise
(267,461 posts)iamthebandfanman
(8,127 posts)that people hold the pauls as the standard for what libertarianism is...
expecially rand.. cause hes not...
lol
I think itd be interesting to hear what folks who thought of themselves as that label during the 60s think of these guys now..
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)I like.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)In the furor over his firing by ABC, he pretty much spelled out a litany of his own right-of-center , pro-military positions that... he argued... should have mitigated his factual and accurate ( but politically unspeakable) comments about the WTC attack.
TheBadWolf
(31 posts)Oh right, it doesn't. Carry on.
Shade7M
(30 posts)...doesn't try to dispute what Reagan did to this country, but instead makes a half-assed attempt to muddy the waters by speculating who Maher voted for 30 years ago.. But then again, that's all trolls are good for; to try to distract a legitimate discussion with inane distractions...
Confession here: I supported that piece of shit Reagan during his first campaign, when I was 13 and didn't know any better. I got over any sympathy I might've had for the right-wingers when I was old enough to understand the nature of actually working for a living, so I can honestly say the repugs never got a single vote out of me, and never will.
Pitch a red herring and shoot the messenger. Two fallacies in the same argument is either the result of poor reasoning or low cunning.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Forget the fact that even if your claim were remotely accurate, which it isn't, it is a complete non sequitur.
Got a link for your claim that millions of people died from HIV/AIDS between 1980 and 1988?
Here's a clue:
1988
U.S. YEAR-END STATISTICS
82,362 cases of AIDS reported to date
61,816 deaths
http://www.amfar.org/thirty-years-of-hiv/aids-snapshots-of-an-epidemic/
I'll be generous in helping your search: http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/wp/pgy/016.pdf
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)which is keeping the democratic party out of office
actions beget consequences.
and maybe I made a typo, but in a million years, I would never make a protest vote for anyone
being that 100 out of 100 times, the protest votes help the opposition, as the war protesters did when they
sold LBJ down the river to vote Nixon in and their protest led to the war going on another six years.
Which I myself don't find funny
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)You got caught in yet another lie, and you do not have the integrity to admit it. You are not persuading anyone here of anything because your bullshit foo is weak.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)and I don't need to listen to 3rd party ites, Naderites, Paulites, or Jill Stine ites.
don't care 1% about their agendas, as it is against every single thing I believe in.
which is keeping Barack Obama's agenda going forward forever.
Inconvieneint truths the 3rd party people/altmedia want people to forget.
Look how Glenn G. manipulated old numbers so he could sell his libertarian wares.
how transparent. Bill Maher speaks out of both sides too every single day.
And gets paid MILLIONS for his big mouth.
Me, I never watch him, because consistently, I didn't like him in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, or today.
His biggest claim to fame was in that movie D.C. Cab. with Whitman Mayo the reason I went to see it.
(the director later made Batman).
dflprincess
(28,042 posts)It was the "love it or leave it", prowar anti-"hippie" type of Democrat who voted for Nixon.
Response to Shade7M (Reply #20)
devilgrrl This message was self-deleted by its author.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Obama wishes he'd "squeaked by" with such numbers. That's called a landslide, I think, when you win all but maybe 5 of the states in the country.
NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)Carter only got 41%, though, so it was still a huge margin. Moderate Republican turned Independent John Anderson got 6.6% of the vote, including my father, who had always voted Democrat until then. He didn't like Carter, but didn't trust Reagan, either.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)from the Repubican perspective. It was Carter's fault, of course.
http://www.270towin.com/1980_Election/
NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)who received 5.7 million votes, or 6.6% of the popular vote, as a 3rd party candidate.
Ronald Wilson Reagan Republican California 43,903,230 50.75% 489
James Earl Carter, Jr. Democratic Georgia 35,480,115 41.01% 49
John Bayard Anderson Independent Illinois 5,719,850 6.61% 0
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1980&f=0&off=0&elect=0
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)or something around 48.
Anderson's effect is in the missing percentages, of course.
RR won in a HUGE LANDSLIDE. 91% of the electoral votes. And you would say that's a landslide, if it were someone YOU had voted for. Oh, and he also won the popular vote. Not that that matters that much, since we have an electoral college system. But it helps a candidate to have also won the popular vote, like Reagan did.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)and the ACLU dreaded freeing of Oliver North (insuring ALL the Reagan/Bush team would never be prosecuted or looked into)
and Jimmy Carter would have won in a landslide
(plus if only Teddy ran any other race but that one).
JHB
(37,122 posts)If every Anderson vote had gone to Carter, Reagan still would have won.
"Minus the sabotage of the Hostage" negotiations: That would have required exposure while it was happening, which wasn't particularly likely what with Bush being a former CIA director, and a lot of intelligence people ticked off at Carter and Ramsey Clarke.
And for lack of investigation you're blaming the ACLU? What about all the mainstream party Democrats, the forerunners of the current "centrists", who made sure investigations never dug too deep, and never went to the jugular. It wasn't the ACLU who said the following in 1986:
Portraying the crisis over secret arms deals with Iran and clandestine payments to Nicaraguan rebels as transcending partisan politics, Moynihan told Reagan that "your presidency, sir, is tottering." And he added, "We want you to save your presidency, our presidency."
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-11-30/news/mn-483_1_white-house
I recall that John Kerry's investigations of Reagan were continually marginalized by the Democratic leadership.
I recall that once Bill Clinton came into office -- meaning that the targets of the investigations were no longer in a position to obstruct those investigations -- his people were specifically asked about getting to the bottom of a multitude of Reagan/Bush scandals, and the word was that "that's just not on their radar screen". "Look forward, not back" Version 1.0. You remember how the appreciative Republicans thanked him, right?
But hey, rather than hold the party leadership to account for their lack of action and even cooperation, why not grind some axes, eh?
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)is that the target has his fingers in his ears and is singing "la la la la la".
JHB
(37,122 posts)There's a lot of convenient misremembering about the 1980 election, by both Republicans and Democrats. Which is a damn shame, because what happened then -- not just in the election, but in the internal dynamics of both parties -- are what set us on our current trajectory.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)the childish antics on both democratic sides helped lose
and anyone silly enough to vote for Reagan got exactly what they got (same as in 2009 and not voting for Corzine, bad as he might have been to some, anyone voting for Chris Christie
would be getting what they got)
NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)if the hostage rescue hadn't been a disaster (which many took as a symbol of the inept Carter administration), it would have been close.
However, while Carter had a lot of good ideas, he wasn't an inspiring leader and Teddy Kennedy running to his left hurt Carter with the Democratic base. As I said above, my father always voted Democratic prior to 1980, but voted Anderson in 1980 because he didn't trust Reagan and didn't like Carter and his religiousness. If Anderson wasn't there, he probably would not have voted out of frustration. Kennedy running in 1980 would have been the equivalent of Bernie Sanders or Sheldon Whitehouse (northeastern liberal) mounting a serious primary challenge to Obama in 2012. It would have highlighted the differences between Obama and a "true" liberal and possibly turned off the base that turned out so well in 2008 and 2012.
JHB
(37,122 posts)...which I view as the effect of the often-talked-about "October Surprise" (Carter securing a peaceful, negotiated release of the Iran embassy hostages before the election) wasn't going to happen, which simply reinforced the image of Carter as weak and ineffectual. That, in turned, tipped a lot fence-sitters over to tough-talking Reagan.
LeftInTX
(24,417 posts)I voted for Ford in 1976.
Reagan visited our college campus in 1976 too.
I knew he was bad news.
In 1980, I had a few friends who supported Kennedy. When he didn't pan out the group supported Anderson. Then at the last minute they were calling everyone: Get to the polls and vote for Carter!!!!
(Most of us didn't have TV or anything at the time, so we weren't very electoral vote savvy)
I stood in a very long line and voted for Carter.
Unfortunately it didn't do any good.
7962
(11,841 posts)With screams of RINO! RINO! RINO! echoing in his ears.
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,474 posts)though it's a waste of bandwidth. Pick up a fucking book every once in a while. Or do you say these ridiculously ignorant things when you get into character?
malaise
(267,461 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)to vote back then, he has evaded the question many times, and he has praised Ronnie repeatedly. Bill votes Democratic, you are making up baseless libels. The man discusses his positions in clear language on national TV. You on the other hand say you support both Hillary and the woman who says Hilliary is a monster, you are for anything. Where do you stand? Is Power correct and Clinton is a monster, or is HIllary 80/2 Super Good? Can't have anything in reality Graham, which of the two do you stand with?
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)When you didn't like the message you go ad hominem.
quaint.
BTW, I like Hillary/Booker two major liberals to keep the agenda of Barack Obama going forever.
Then Michelle.
People called Golda Meir ( ) names too.
But then John Edwards fans called Bob Graham ugly.
(of course Bob Graham didn't bother getting $400 haircuts).
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)is it performance art? Garden-variety trolling? It's hard to figure out.
Doc_Technical
(3,500 posts)n/t
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)this should make him a hero in your book. Forever.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)I think he is just a denial Libertarian, one who either reliably votes Democrat or Republican but wants to appear edgy and opinionated.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)But of course, one fifth of him wanted John Anderson...
zeemike
(18,998 posts)And don't let them get away with the bullshit that Reagan was a moderate.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)kentuck
(110,916 posts)You could tell Reagan was their idol.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)The Republicans have made Reagan a God. To speak ill of him is blasphemy and all devotees are expected to kill a heretic.
NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)if a Republican dared to criticize St. Ronnie that said Republican received death threats from Freepers. Heck, Maher may have gotten a few last night, which I'm sure he ignored.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)...it's nice now and then to remember that whole "dottering old man" crap was a defense to keep his fake cowboy ass out of jail.
The Reagan years was the dawn of a whole new era in Republican politics. You could show someone a film of them accepting money in the form of used greenbacks in a brown grocery bag to bite the heads off of kittens and then show the actual act in all it's bloody chinned glory and all the Republican had to say was, "I don't recall" and they got off with an apology for having been bothered.
sentiments, EXACTLY, about that rethuglican POS! He was one evil mofo. I hated him then, I curse his corpse now. Obama, listen to this.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)k & r
mwb970
(11,290 posts)Reagan encapsulates everything I can't stand about republicans.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)"I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
--Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1966
"If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with."
--Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), cited in the San Francisco Chronicle, early morning edition, May 15, 1969. (Reagan reveals how he intends to quell student protests in the city of Berkeley, California. Protesters were teargassed and fired upon with buckshot, killing one, blinding another, and wounding 128. Reagan would later declare a state of emergency in the city and send in 2,700 National Guard troops.)
"It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas."
--Ronald Reagan (candidate for Governor of California), interviewed in the Fresno Bee, October 10, 1965
http://thereaganyears.tripod.com/reaganquotes.htm
The first outside the home political action I ever took part in was in elementary school, letters to Gov Reagan when he cut some subsidy for low income kids to get milk at lunch.
Rozlee
(2,529 posts)Under him and Bush I, they empowered death squads to slaughter whole villages including American activists and church missionaries and priests who stood in their way, including Archbishop Romero. In Guatemala alone, 200,000 perished from his policies. That monster could swim for days in the blood he was responsible for shedding.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)something that tea partiers absolutely will....not....do.
LeftInTX
(24,417 posts)Cruz, Bachmann, Rand Paul, they're all totally nuts.
Reagan was more like Paul Ryan or a middle class version of Romney.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)a word that isn't even in the vocabulary of tea partiers. I also do think he thought his way was best for the country (what was best for the rich was, by definition, best for the country) & that he thought he was a patriot. He was very wrong and didn't see or care about the harm he was doing, but he WOULD compromise to get something done, since govt had to function, in his opinion.
Even Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor and their ilk won't compromise.
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)Less than two decades later, he was President of the United States.
That tells me that right-wing nutjoberry became part of the norm in U.S. politics.
Response to LeftInTX (Reply #94)
devilgrrl This message was self-deleted by its author.
roamer65
(36,738 posts)Raygun with his destructive "divide and conquer" theo-fascist policies.
Volcker with his destructive interest rate policies. The jobs started leaving the US with the "superdollar" created by 21 pct interest rates.
Nominating Volcker for Fed chair was probably the worst move made by Carter. It cost him re-election in 1980.
Roy Rolling
(6,831 posts)Reagan was a moron controlled by corporations and power-hungry Republicans who got their asses handed to them in the '60s and '70s and never got over it. 30-year bonds peaked at 14% and Volker did his job of killing inflation. Carter broke th backs of OPEC with energy-saving policies that also killed oil prices a d inflation. Carter was a moral and intelligent president--- I voted for him twice and knew Reagan was just an actor playing president, not a true leader.
It is about time someone with a name says what so many of us have been saying, reagan was a piece of shit. He did more to destroy the working man in this country than anyone could, and yet convince the same working people it was best for them to lose what they had, there is a special place in hell for reagan.
smokey nj
(43,853 posts)malaise
(267,461 posts)Loved it
jimlup
(7,968 posts)The man wasn't what the man is purported to be by any stretch. He was an actor in a roll for others. Nothing more... I think Maher over rates him here actually.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)Once he got started, I didn't think he would stop! His rants have not been very good of late, but last night's made up for it and then some. Also, made up for the lousy panel he had on last night (besides Tom Shadyac, of course.) "Real time" sometimes reminds me of the Sunday morning TV line-up.
Graybeard
(6,996 posts)...I would have been on my feet chanting--
Yes!...Yes!...YES!!!!
It is way past time for Saint Ronnie to be pulled down
from that pedestal.
.
.
MillennialDem
(2,367 posts)Teabags try desperately to make Ronald into a Saint to everyone.
malaise
(267,461 posts)cordelia
(2,174 posts)I don't expend much energy for hate, but for rat bastard ronald reagan I make an exception.
The harm done to this country is incalculable, and I'm glad someone pointed it out. Finally.
Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)Maher needed to include a few zingers in there to help make his point.
Stainless
(717 posts)I absolutely cannot find anything positive to say about that POS Reagan. He is the main reason I'm estranged from my family. Reagan Democrats are indeed the epitome of the Tea Party. Best line - "They even tried to elect Reagan's haircut".
malaise
(267,461 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)and, it is ridiculous how Republicans all have to worship at the altar of Reagan.
spooky3
(34,231 posts)That is a very positive thing I can say about him. His son is terrific.
mountain grammy
(26,553 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,753 posts)Paladin
(28,173 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)A week or so another DUer posted something on the great Gil-Scott Heron (best known for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" . Heron did a bit on Reagan called "B Movie" that really compliments this story.
malaise
(267,461 posts)We loved him
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Reagan was a "divide-and-conquer" master, playing on working/middle class white's hatred and distrust of anyone he deemed "lesser" and "lazy".
His PR team successfully painted the modern Republicans as take-charge he-men cowboys and Democrats as everything from effete pantywaist elitists to communist subversives, a myth that still holds true today with many Americans.
He governed using ramped-up 50's fear and the threat of nuclear holocaust, something our society and children stressed out over all through the 80s.
He made racism acceptable, the wealthy as benevolent overlords (who he ushered in the White House to permanently camp and "advise" and Horatio Alger as a tongue-in-cheek blueprint for all American workers . . . the idea that with just the right amount of pluck and extremely hard work, anyone can make it big.
Long after he was out of office and well on the journey into cerebral oblivion, Reagan's long stenchy shadow unfortunately looms over American life. Even though political parties have changed, Reaganomics never LEFT. We STILL practice this incredibly destructive pure Freidmanite capitalism despite all evidence that it's killing economic progress for everyone except a select few, whose incomes and wealth are inflating daily.
We still constantly have to be at WAR with someone, support dictatorships and exploit cheap resources and labor.
This backwards wooden fundamentalist puppet ruined and continues to ruin America. Reagan was a lousy president, a twisted human being and a laughingstock. While still following and lauding his supposed "legacy", America will remain a laughingstock also.
malaise
(267,461 posts)LittleGirl
(8,247 posts)brilliant and so true. thanks.
Overseas
(12,121 posts)Lies and platitudes about Morning in America, while he pushed the country backward.
He was indeed the original tea bagger, talking about values and patriotism while trading arms with our enemies and trying to crush the New Deal.
malaise
(267,461 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,303 posts)Thanks for posting.
malaise
(267,461 posts)Whisp
(24,096 posts)Auggie
(31,025 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)malaise
(267,461 posts)Great post from down memory lane
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Our reward will come when things are set so peace, justice, democracy and prosperity are what we value, rather than lording it over one another and looting the wealth of the planet we share.
Auggie
(31,025 posts)Many people who know him well say he never had an original idea.
He was a fraud. An empty suit. And that made him even more dangerous.
roamer65
(36,738 posts)Vehement little right winger who absolutely adored that pile of human waste Thatcher.
RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)Every single one; Ronald Reagan.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)I am not sure Bill Maher has said anything more accurate. I had been thinking what Maher said since people started saying that Ronald Reagan would not fit into Today's Republican Party. Everything Maher said was right. Although some past Republicans would not be able to be a part of today's Republican Party Ronald Reagan would fit into today's Republican Party.
roamer65
(36,738 posts)But Raygun definitely still would fit. As Maher said, he is "patient zero". His ideology was and still is a disease.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Yep, and the lies he pushed are still being pushed as if they were true.
K&R
immoderate
(20,885 posts)liberal from boston
(856 posts)Bill Maher did a brilliant smack down of Saint Ronnie!!! So true how Bill demonstrated w/facts that Reagan was the original Tea Bagger!!!
immoderate
(20,885 posts)He is STILL too liberal for today's Republicans.
--imm
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I don't get HBO
Skittles
(152,918 posts)it was disgusting beyond belief
Initech
(99,881 posts)malaise
(267,461 posts)Dawgs
(14,755 posts)and he still says stuff like this.
Saw the whole show this morning and loved every minute of it.
Angelonthesidelines
(70 posts)[link:http://consortiumnews.com/the-new-october-surprise-series/|]
Ronnie the Raygun never would have sniffed the air inside the Whitehouse if Carter had negotiated the hostages return but NOBODY wants to talk about it.
This interference is endemic to the GOP. What infuriates me further at Bill and every other lame-O liberal pundit is complete ignorance and avoidance of the Nixon Treason setting the template with his '68 election.
[link:This interference is endemic to the GOP. What infuriates me further at Bill and every other lame-O liberal pundit is complete ignorance and avoidance of the Nixon Treason setting the template with his '68 election.|]
The only "history" anybody remembers is that Ronnie killed the Soviet Union.
LeftInTX
(24,417 posts)Finally, someone is speaking up!!!
Response to malaise (Original post)
devilgrrl This message was self-deleted by its author.
Leontius
(2,270 posts)still is until we can elect a Democratic president.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)He would have read a Meow Mix jingle at the State of the Union if that was what he was given. I interviewed a number of Reagan staffers while writing about the original Free Trade agreements and most gave me the sense he had to be beaten over the head to express an opinion on anything.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Bill Maher rocks!
Initech
(99,881 posts)May he rot in hell.
athenasatanjesus
(859 posts)Jokerman
(3,517 posts)Testify brother, testify!
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)Of course he would have fit in with today's GOP. He race-baited against Black folks in an attempt to stir up resentment among White conservatives, he was the architect of trickle-down (as he drastically lowered top taxes from how they were under his predecessor Carter), and he was a war hawk. To say that he wouldn't fit in the GOP is totally misguided. He was just as much of a crook as most of today's elected Republicans.
Reagan is to the GOP what JFK and FDR are to most Democrats.
lastlib
(22,895 posts)"He's the head of the Ku Klx Klan....
He's got him a medal that he won in the war,
Weighs 500 pounds, and it sleeps by the door."
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)roamer65
(36,738 posts)I voted for that scum bucket in 1984 and I got Iran-Contra for my vote. I have voted anti-Rethuglican ever since.
Sometimes I don't agree with Maher, but this one he damn well hits the nail right on the head.
malaise
(267,461 posts)YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)Personality and charisma over principle and integrity.
Shallowness over depth.
Propaganda over honesty.
Emotional manipulation over frankness and logic.
Bullshit over the truth.
The man was a fucking ACTOR and CORPORATE PROPAGANDIST, for crying out loud (General Electric TV, anyone?!) He was no statesman. He was a moral vacuum and a political huckster.
I am convinced that a lot of the love for Reagan has nothing to do with his policies, and everything to do with his "sunny" personality (which itself was a manufactured character role).
Beware the smooth-talking con artists; they have nothing to offer but lies that make some people feel good in the short term, but end up harming most people in the long run.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)"Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously awarded," Reagan would say dramatically.
Except that Lars could not find any account matching that after checking the 434 citations for Congressional Medals of Honor issued up to that time. A reader wrote to Lars, saying that the story resembled a scene in the 1944 movie "A Wing and a Prayer," starring Dana Andrews, in which the pilot of a Navy torpedo bomber rode the stricken plane down with his wounded radioman and said, "We'll take this ride together." Lars also followed a lead that the story came from a Reader's Digest article that recounted another, similar incident, but which the author was not able to verify. (Reagan was an avid reader of The Digest, but Lou Cannon noted that the disclaimer about the story's accuracy had been omitted in the magazine's abridged version).
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/04/covering-ronald-reagan-up-close-but-not-personal/print/
colorado_ufo
(5,711 posts)And on so many levels.
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)pam4water
(2,916 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)NoMoreWarNow
(1,259 posts)Despite his occasional obnoxiousness, he still puts out a lot of serious truth.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)This should go viral!
deutsey
(20,166 posts)Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I've waited over 30 frickin' years to hear someone say this so eloquently.
Godot51
(239 posts)The Legend of Reagan
Already a dying mind
he blew the cold war hot
and dreamed of nuclear conflict,
as if on the movie screen:
The sad list of casualties rolled in,
some millions in New York City
some millions in L.A.
a single pilot dive bombing Moscow.
He presented the posthumous
Medal of Honor
to the weeping widow with stoic sons
as a grateful nation looked on.
He dreamed of pitting aging battleships
against silent submarines
the massive guns searched for targets,
the submarines glided ever nearer.
He honored the brave sailors
who fought against the odds
drowning men and sinking ships,
the words he spoke so firmly.
Planes flew in and never returned
ships disappeared in balls of fire
soldiers sickened and fought on;
the president raised his hands.
He pointed to the wall
he pointed to the the monitor
the green screen enveloped him
and still he dreamed.
The barbarians were at the gates
the capitol in ruins
a ragged few patriots
against the Mongol hoard.
The president dreamed he stood firm
as the republic crumbled
his powers unchecked saved the day
he retired to his farm.
To await the day when once again
his nation would call
and he'd sow the salt at Carthage
as Scipio had done.
Matariki
(18,775 posts)Nailed it.
Been saying this since the 80's and waiting for it to become the common wisdom.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)"Todays so-called conservatives dont even know what the word means. They think Ive turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. Thats a decision thats up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. Its not a conservative issue at all. ~Barry Goldwater
Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future. ~Jimmy Carter
Democrats legislate; Republicans investigate.
~Lyndon Johnson
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits. ~Woodrow Wilson
I like that about the Republicans; the evidence does not faze them, they are not bothered at all by the facts. ~Bill Clinton
. A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.
~Woodrow Wilson
Even as someone whos labeled a conservative Im a Republican, Im black, Im heading up this organization in the Reagan administration I can say that conservatives dont exactly break their necks to tell blacks that theyre welcome. ~Clarence Thomas
The modern conservative is engaged in one of mans oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out whos hitting you? Its about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them.~Harry Truman
A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after theyre dead. ~Leo Rosten
Conservatives define themselves in terms of what they oppose. ~George Will
Republicans dont like people who talk about depressions. You can hardly blame them for that. You remember the old saying: Dont talk about rope in the house where somebody has been hanged. ~Harry Truman
You have to have been a Republican to know how good it is to be a Democrat.~JacquelineKennedy Onassis
Herbert Hoover once ran on the slogan, Two cars in every garage. Apparently, the Republican candidate this year is running on the slogan, Two families in every garage.~Harry Truman.Democrats legislate; Republicans investigate.~Lyndon Johnson
Hulk
(6,699 posts)I've gotten booted three time from their site for simply stating an opposing view. You get attacked like jumping into a den of rabid wolves. Oh well.
Occasionally I jump over to see just what is given them their daily dose of "OUTRAGE", and Maher managed to do it with his opinion of st. ronnie. Holy cripes, you would think we defamed Jesus and his whole family. Such dim witted loons.
mountain grammy
(26,553 posts)SunSeeker
(51,302 posts)When Governor Reagan emptied the mental institutions in CA, instantly creating an underclass of mentally ill homeless, then proceeded to dismantle what were once the best public schools in the country, it was the beginning of the end for the once truly Golden State. We are still trying to claw back out of the ditch he and his worshipers (particularly those who gave us Prop. 13) drove my state into.
cordelia
(2,174 posts)Deuce
(959 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)xchromHouse of RobertstrumadFumesuckerOKNancyShankapotomuszeemikeWarren Stupiditytrusty elfGoCubsGoPDittieFlashmannkentuckSkidmoreChef EricSmarmie Doofustecelotedaleanimemntleo2Harrietysunwynteach1stcynatniteReReBerlum90-percentMarianJacksmokey njjimlupSedonamnhtnbblame54venesscordeliaGraybeardperdita9barbtriesStuart GMissDeedstnlurkermegsewsBootinUpgreiner3tridimjeapsWCGreenHughBeaumontNewJeffCTLunacee_2013BeyondGeographySnarkolepticbaldguyLe Taz HotLarry OggMsLeopardGranny MraouldukelivesSJohnsonmuciferJaneyVeeCarethaOverseasanandaebbie15644GoneOffShoreStopTheNeoConsbeemer27NOIBNMira1monsterCooley HurdLittleGirlArger68JoeyTAuggiethink4yourselfspockeyeRiffRandellrawtribeTransitJohnclassof56JHBwoolldogsuffragettelibodemfromVThotrod0808LWolfsummerschildimmoderateyoung_at_heartshantidbondsJust SayingAlbertCatFlyByNightViva_DaddyUseless in FLCAGdickthegrouchBlanksmother earthCanuckistanianjamesatempleDoctor_JemmadoggyDuppersSkittlesrbilickoctoberlibMavenROFFDawgscanoeist52LordquintonBuns_of_FireShampoobrashenmuesagatOldtimeralsoUTUSNMosbyLeftInTXfreshwestdevilgrrlZorradsharp88love_katzEnthusiastphantom powerFaygo KidBuelahWitchprole_for_peaceJokermanruffburrlordsummerisleTinkerTot55BozitaSmiloroodyJamaal510EyerishsecondvarietyChaKyleMcShadeslastlibSherman A1LasherMelissa Gdougolatrobertsoraycolorado_ufoB StiegPCInterntruebluegreenAquavitdrmeowpam4watertclambertZombieHordeHeddilins the liberalNikolaCBeartracksArctic Dave20scorekrawhithamVa LeftyYogiDouglas CarpenterTrianajtuck004byroniustrixicopperhwmnbnBobcatdeutseysheshe2dflprincessuponit7771wysimdnwygDeSwissHCE SuiGenerisLobo27femmocratDem_in_Nebr.UrbScottychocolate inkantigoponestepforwardcloseupreadyMatarikiErikJbluetexasmac56blkbeargreenman3610rhett o rickGnashvilleCatmusette_sfmountain grammyJDPriestlydonheldHeathen57SunSeekerXemaSabLarryNMKurovskiAverageMeprogressoidKansDemmrsadmDeucemary3000
valerief
(53,235 posts)Joey Liberal
(5,526 posts)Nuff said.
moxie.lu
(22 posts)so true.
malaise
(267,461 posts)Welcome to DU