Ronald Reagan cared more about UFOs than AIDS

[Joanne98]

He often dreamed of the world coming together to battle spacemen, but never gave much thought to an actual killer.

Ronald Reagan claimed to have seen UFOs on at least two occasions, according to reports from sources as disparate as the Wall Street Journal, Lucille Ball and the National Enquirer. He alerted the Navy to one of his sightings, and he and Nancy believed that Egyptian hieroglyphics referenced extraterrestrial flying crafts.

In 1985, at the first summit meeting between Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan surprised the Soviet premier with this odd line of questioning:


"From the fireside house, President Reagan suddenly said to me, 'What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?'

"I said, 'No doubt about it.'"

"He said, 'We too.'"

"So that's interesting," Gorbachev said to much laughter.


That hypothetical space invaders scenario -- a sort of "this island Earth" fantasy that sounds profound to either the screenwriter of a 1950s B picture or a very high college freshman -- was so compelling to Reagan that he repeated it in public speeches, on multiple occasions, while president.

Here he is, speaking to the U.N.:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/04/reagan_aides_ufos/index.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. K & R

and off to the Greatest Page with every thread that chronicles the pathology,madness and mean-spiritedness of St. Ronnie. Viddy well, my little conservatroid droogies...viddy well.

[NorthCarolina]

2. It's telling that his first inclination was to battle the spacemen. Kill first, ask questions later

Maybe Palin is more like Reagan than we thought, at least in the indiscriminate killing department.

[tinrobot]

3. It was in the context of arms control.

By creating an imaginary worst case scenario, he gets Gorbachev to admit he'd rise to our defense should something threaten all of us. Taking that one step further, if Gorbachev would rise to our defense for something external, then why is he pointing missiles at us in the first place?

Sadly, Reagan needed to turn that around as well. If you must protect the planet against nuclear missiles, you also must also protect it against epidemics such as AIDS.

[txlibdem]

4. Don't forget that Reagan employed a FULL TIME PSYCHIC

eom