Hey Ron, thanks for all the memories

[zulchzulu]

Thanks Ron

for the War on Drugs

for the Iran-Contra scandal

for the BCCI scandal

for the Pentagon procurement scandal

for backing and arming Saddam Hussein

for funding and training Osama bin Laden

for that boondoggle "Star Wars"

for being pro-life and pro-death penalty

for getting the Religous Right to take over the Republican Party

for being responsible for "trickle-down" economics

for hiring Oliver North

for hiring James Watt

for hiring John Poindexter

for hiring Alexander Haig

for hiring George H. Bush

for firing 12,000 striking air traffic controllers and beginning the weakening of unions

for not giving a shit about your own family but for "family values"

for being a star in "Bedtime for Bonzo" and other crappy movies

for appointing William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia

for invading the evil island of Granada

for being first to cut taxes by 60% for the top 1% of the wealthy

for being the first to have over 100 members of his administration charged with felonies and other crimes

for uttering the phrase "evil empire"

for calling Berkeley anti-war protesters "campus malcontents and filthy speech advocates"

for being first to double the deficit

for being first to testify ”under oath” 130 times that ”I don’t remember”

for being number one for farm foreclosures, bank failures and Savings and Loan failures

for being the first president to have been divorced

for being first to nearly triple the national debt

for having 6 letters for his first name, 6 letters for his middle name and 6 letters for his last name

[madmax]

1. For the dead Marines in Lebanon

[RapidCreek]

2. For kicking those in fed funded mental health facilities into the street

rc

[RapidCreek]

3. For giving us an AIDS epidemic

[jpgray]

4. For the CIA/Contra-fueled crack epidemic... (nt)

[Lou_C]

5. Can I add one to your list?

Ketchup is a vegetable.

[Jim Warren]

6. For El Mozote

[Zhade]

7. Thank you for this list.

It may not be "classy" to, you know, recall the man's vast swath of death and destruction dealt to America, Latin America, the Middle East, and the world, but it sure as hell is appropriate.

[crossroads]

11. Here's another of his legacys...

http://liberalslikechrist.org/a-JesusNoRepublican/reagan.html
:eyes:

[slaveplanet]

36. (good site)these are too good

not to reproduce here

------------------- Ronald Reagan's Record "Firsts" --------------------

1. First to turn America into a debtor nation.
2. First to increase debt faster than growth of national income
3. First to increase debt faster than growth of gdp.
4. First to double the deficit
5. First to "almost": triple the national debt
6. First to increase spending by 80%--in only 8 years.
7. First to spend more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.
8. First to have "real" interest rates of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.
9. First to keep prime interest rates at 20%.
10.First to overvalue the dollar to the yen at rate of 262 yen to 1 dollar.
11.First to have served as Governor and increase state spending by 112%
12.First to have home loan interest rates as high as 16%
13. First to cut taxes by 60% for his rich pals
14. First to allow the savings and loan industry to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming "I think we have hit the jackpot". Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.
15. First to deal with terrorists
16. First to send an autographed Bible to a man he called "The Satan of Terrorists".
17. First to have an admiral plead the Fifth Amendment.
18. First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing MARINE LT. COLONEL plead the Fifth Amendment.
19. First to have a "sitting" cabinet member indicted
20. First to have an Assistant Secretary of State indicted.
21. First to have an Asistant Secretary of Defense sent to prison.
22. First to have over 100 members of an administration charged with crimes..
23. First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than cumulative total of all other presidents in the twentieth century
24. First to set a record for the largest one day percentage decline in the DOW in history. 10-19-87
25. First to have over $10,000,000 increase in wealth from serving for 8 years as president.
26. First to testify "under oath" 130 times that "I don't remember" .
27. First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times " I don't remember".
28. First to undergo brain surgery a few months after leaving office..
29. First to, repeatedly, falsify his wife's age. As tho anyone cared.
30. First to promote his religious faith and never have an active church membership.
31. First to never use the term Jesus Christ in speeches.
32. First to seek guidance from the stars not from God
33. First to have had a shotgun wedding.
34. First to have worked as a shill in Las Vegas.
35. First to call a Stealing, Lying, Psychotic, wife abusing Marine a "liar.
36. First to have been openly alienated from his children.
37. First To have served with Alzheimer's
38. First to have unemployment at 10.8% since great depression.
39. First to attack a small unprotected nation with 88,000 inhabitants and 10,000 bb guns then PROCLAIM -"America stands tall again". "we have whipped the Vietnam Syndrome"-"we have defeated communism". Gosh! What if we had whipped Cyprus?.
40. #1-in farm foreclosures
41. #1-In bank failures
42. #1-In Savings and Loan failures
43. #1-In Percent increase in personal bankruptcies
44. #1-In recorded misstatements
45. #1-In never having a single press conference in which he did not make at least one or more incorrect statements.
46. #1-In needing a staff person standby during press conferences to tell the press "what he really meant".
47. #1-In having servicemen killed during peacetime.
48. #1-In largest drop in popularity in one week.
49. #1-In being first to honor Nazi Storm Troopers by calling them" Innocent Victims"
50. #1-In being first to be labeled "brain dead affable dunce' by this writer.
51. First to lie - over and over- to reporters "I do not dye my hair; my barber uses a special shampoo."
52. First to have a wife who "forced" him to wear three suits in one day
53. First to boast "Not bad for a dumb guy who worked only 20 hours per week".
54. First to have his wife sit nearby and whisper answers to questions
55. First to fall asleep while the Pope spoke
56. First to invite the Pope to visit the White House and "bring the wife and kids"
57. First to have his press secretary remove him from the microphone because he could not answer questions. Then, as the reporter
yelled out "answer my question" he replied "my handlers won't let me speak". Quick get the white coat.
58. First 20th Century president to have historians rate him below every president of the 20th except for Richard Nixon. 1994 Poll.
59. First to give us a First Lady with a past reputation for giving the best BJ in Hollywood.
60. First to suggest his eldest son undergo psychiatric examination
61. First to have been voted in British polls (twice) as the "most feared leader in the world" sic em Rambo.
62. First to serve as Governor on a "conservative" platform and increase spending BY 112%.
63. First Governor to increase personal income taxes by 60%, tax increase on cigarettes by 200%, state tax collections by 152%.
64. First to have a Special Assistant say on national TV "sometimes you had to hit him on the head with a 2 x 4 to get his attention"
65. First to have his official biographer state on national TV 'After he was shot in 1981, he got slower and slower each year. His speech got slower. He deliberated more and he hesitated more when he spoke. He lost his physical quickness and would not make decisions on the spot. It was a very, very slow and steady mental and physical decline".
66. First to have a popularity rating of only 35% after his first two years in office.
67. First president to have been divorced.
68. First president to have the Geriatrics Department of a major
university study his behavior and conclude that after three years in office he had Alzheimer's.

[tomreedtoon]

13. Some won't like these memories.

In all honesty, it's usual to have at least some grudging respect for the guy in public, at least until he's in the ground. No matter that all the things listed above are true.

And it's important to remember this one nice thing about Ronald Wilson Reagan.

He managed to bamboozle the people of the United States pretty much by himself. He didn't have the media of this country strangled by five megacorporations that had an interest in supporting him. The right-wing talk show hosts of the time didn't have the dominance or the power to hype him and cover his failures.

In fact, if you remember, towards the end of his second term, his failures started breaking out of the control of the few people who were supporting him, Congress. His economics were truly crippling the nation. People were really looking for someone else to lead the nation. Anyone else. But despite this, you still have people who look back favorably on him, who will weep for him the next few days.

To say it briefly (too late!), he had indominable, bulletproof charisma. Few other politicians have had that. The current White House resident certainly doesn't; he will attempt to latch onto the good feelings about Reagan by saying he cleaned his bedpans or something, but it won't work.

[Oddman]

15. Mike Deaver would love you . . .

Nixon tried to become a statesman . . . it's easy to forget the pain of the past - and Reagan was a painful president . . .plain and simple . . .

[Zhade]

17. I very STRONGLY disagree.

Now is the time to be honest about the man's deeds while in power.

In case you haven't turned on a tv, the rightwing-owned press is working overtime to sanitize and whitewash this man. Hell, even some DEMS are doing it!

Well, I will NOT be silent on the man's crimes and just how much he worked to destroy what is good about this country. I am not dancing for joy that he's dead - good riddance to bad rubbish, I say, but I'm not going to sit around and crack jokes about his death.

This event is too important for me to act so childishly, even if it might seem warranted. What IS important is tackling the truth about the man while people have their attention fixed on the subject due to the overwhelming effort being made to canonize Reagan.

People's minds are being shaped by corporate and government propaganda about Reagan even as we speak, and it is our duty as Americans and people dedicated to justice to fight against these brainwashing attempts, not sit back for a few days so it can sink in and be harder to dislodge.

No, I think now is exactly the right time to speak the truth about Reagan's crimes.

And, just for the record, Hitler had charisma too. I wouldn't have considered that a positive thing in the hands of a man like him, either.

[sadiesworld]

38. Surely, you understand Reagan's role in the deregulation of the media...

right?

[mopaul]

30. if you hated reagan, you got no class...............n/t

[Zhade]

33. Really?

I'm sad to hear that's your opinion, since I usually value what you say.

I have absolutely zero problem hating a man whose policies resulted in the deaths of thousands, perhaps millions, of people and set up the conditions to allow the rightwing takeover of America.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. umm... you should check out this thread he started

it was sarcasm to be sure:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1726149

[Zhade]

37. Oops! My face is red.

My bad! I misinterpreted.

:silly:

[proud patriot]

8. For Releasing Mental Patients , that still wonder the streets to this day

[neuvocat]

9. For telling us that ketchup is a vegetable.

For commemorating dead nazis.

For giving us the biggest tax increase in history.

For making the GOP a stronghold of right-wing domestic terrorists.

[maggrwaggr]

10. for telling us that trees pollute

[Oddman]

12. Great list!

Revisionism is a dangerous thing!!!! Let us remember what Reagan did to our country.

[buycitgo]

14. and for kicking off his first presidential campaign in.........

Philadelphia, Mississippi!!!!!!!!!!!

that in itself is as nauseating a demonstration of the thugs' use of symbolic code as one could ask for

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. For showing the world that IQ is not a consideration for US presidents

Pre-Reagan, I thought one had to be qualified to be a president.

Click here for "FUCK BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[FredScuttle]

18. for falling asleep while visiting the Pope

actually, that's pretty hilarious...props to Ronnie for that

more:

for proudly eating grapes on TV during Cesar Chavez's grape boycott

for wishing, during the Hearst's family's free food distribution to the poor of Oakland to meet the demands of the SLA holding their daughter, for an outbreak of botulism

for gracing us with the enduring fallacy of the "welfare queen"

[JPJones]

19. You forgot South Africa

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9370/view/print

"As for South Africa, Reagan defended rather than challenged the racist, whites-only government of Pretoria. In 1985, the apartheid regime, reacting to political unrest, imposed tighter restrictions on the black population. In response, the U.S. Congress moved to whack South Africa with sanctions. Reagan responded by commenting that South Africa had "eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country, the type of thing where hotels and restaurants and places of entertainment and so forth were segregated�that has all been eliminated." Was he delusional? At that time, blacks in South Africa were not allowed to vote, and many public facilities remained segregated.

The following year, the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate by overwhelming bipartisan margins approved legislation imposing economic sanctions on the apartheid government. Reagan then vetoed the measure. (His White House announced the veto on a Friday evening after the national television news broadcasts had ended.) Reagan�s "continued resistance," a New York Times editorial observed, "makes him appear apartheid�s virtual defender." In a swipe at Reagan, his comrade Malcolm Fraser, the conservative former prime minister of Australia, noted, "What if 1,800 whites had been killed by some regime somewhere in the world? Have we got to such a stage that we accept as normal for racist security forces to kill blacks, and that�s part of the 20th century." In Cape Town, Archbishop Desmond Tutu railed against Reagan, "Apartheid will be dismantled, and its victims will remember those who helped to destroy this evil system. And President Reagan will be judged harshly by history."

The House and Senate voted to override Reagan�s veto. But if Bush�s recent speech is any indication, history has not judged Reagan harshly"

[psychopomp]

21. "Was he delusional?"

Clearly, the evidence indicates an affirmative.

[psychopomp]

20. For pushing for prayer in schools

"Voluntary," of course.

[JPJones]

23. You can't endorse me...

but I can endorse you.

Said to a group of Ministers in 1980. Thus began the pandering to the religious right. B* is the spawn of Reagan, not GHWB.

[NV1962]

22. For sending Paul Bremer to the Netherlands and ram nukes in there

Yup, that Paul Bremer III - he "earned" his diplomatic experience in the Netherlands, as US ambassador posted there to twist the Dutch government's arms into accepting Pershing II missiles with nuclear warheads on their territory. Eventually, the missiles were brought in - in spite of massive popular protests there. Since then, Paul Bremer did little else of note on the diplomatic field, prior to being sent on another "freedom defense" mission... in Iraq.

[BringEmOn]

24. for making it cool to be stupid

and it's been all downhill from there:
Bush I, Dan Quayle, Bush II

[dbt]

25. For pioneering the Figurehead Presidency

(Although Puppet Government might be a more apt term.)

It has proven to be popular GOP White House model. A President is put forth who has no agenda beyond what he reads off the teleprompter or a sheet of paper. It is those around him who set the policy and draft legislation. The President merely looks good and does a convincing job with the speeches and public appearances.

I got to give it up to Reagan. He was damn good at making people believe that somebody else's words were his own thoughts. And his press conferences actually started on time. That part would come from his Radio training, which, I am here to tell you, never leaves you. You will be on time for the rest of your life!

But even I could do the same job of making someone else's words sound like my own. Any radio or TV road-dog worth his/her microphone (preferably an RCA 77DX or a tube condenser) could do the same!

The Figurehead Presidency was exactly what Poppy had in mind when he stole the office for Junior. All the boy king had to do was make speeches and cut ribbons while Cheney, Rummy, Condo Lizard, et al, ran the Government. Unfortunately for old Dad, his Dim Son is a complete and total fuckup who cannot string five words together without three of them being "Um."

Reagan actually wanted the gig. bu$h would rather be anywhere else!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Cronus Protagonist]

26. Very good point.

:)

Click here for "FUCK BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[Michael Harrington]

27. For giving money

To the people who murdered Ben Linder and the four nuns in El Salvador and then letting that asshole Haig and that vile harpie Kirkpatrick trash them on TV.

For telling brave people who fought Fascism in Spain while he sat on his ass, safe at home, that they were on the wrong side.

For sullying the 40th anniversary of D-Day on the site by blathering cheap quotes from a long-forgotten Hollywood script.

For claiming that anti-Communists were the ones hurt by the blacklist.

For lying to the face of both Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal, on seperate occasions, and claiming to have helped liberate Auschwitz as part of the Signal Corps.


Here's to your worthless punk ass!

[Karenina]

28. No comment...

Just a :kick:

[mopaul]

29. for proving any jerkoff can be president, like jr. bush.....n/t

[zulchzulu]

31. Oh...a few more...

Thanks Ron

for uttering the words "welfare queens"

for releasing mental patients in 1984 and starting a huge homeless problem in the US

for making people believe that you were actually a good leader

- - - - -

Thanks for all your input too, DUers!

[zulchzulu]

32. Check out the Flash animation

http://www.awolcowboy.com/reagan/index.html

[mitchum]

35. kick for that stupid and destructive man's TRUE legacy

[daleo]

39. For invading Grenada

And establishing the precedent for phony wars and invasions meant to prop up poll numbers of presidents, which has now culminated in Bush's Iraq disaster.

[zulchzulu]

40. Real Media animation tribute to Ron and his "accomplishments"

http://www.awolcowboy.com/reagan/

Real Media is required.