Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever? = Robert Parry

[L. Coyote]

Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever?

By Robert Parry
June 3, 2009 - http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/060309.html

There’s been talk that George W. Bush was so inept that he should trademark the phrase “Worst President Ever,” though some historians would bestow that title on pre-Civil War President James Buchanan. Still, a case could be made for putting Ronald Reagan in the competition.

Granted, the very idea of rating Reagan as one of the worst presidents ever will infuriate his many right-wing acolytes and offend Washington insiders who have made a cottage industry out of buying some protection from Republicans by lauding the 40th President.

But there’s a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan’s presidency. There’s also a grudging reassessment that the “failed” presidents of the 1970s – Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter – may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country.

Nixon, Ford and Carter won scant praise for addressing the systemic challenges of America’s oil dependence, environmental degradation, the arms race, and nuclear proliferation – all issues that Reagan essentially ignored and that now threaten the America’s future.

.............

[Rex]

1. Nixon, Reagan, Poppy and Junior all sucked.

Dubya is the WORST EVER. No contest.

[aquart]

2. But Ronnie's legacy is beggars and infomercials.

Surely he deserves some recognition for that.

[Rex]

7. Iran contra cancels out all fads imo.

Plus his convenient amnesia in front of Congress destroyed all legacy.

[EFerrari]

9. He also began the end of labor in this country. And he soaked Central America in blood.

They're still finding parts of people that Raygun got dead there and will for a long, long time.

[Rex]

12. Let us not forget his hatred of the Fairness Doctrine.

He gave us royal turds like Hannity and Rush.

[EFerrari]

13. That's right. And while Jimmy Carter opened the door for god talk

in public life, Raygun kicked it off its hinges altogether.

[Rex]

15. Yes Reagan loved Jim and Tammy Baker although I do have to say

one good thing about him - he hated the Bush family. Must be the 1% rule.

[mitchum]

49. Thank you; you are the only other person on this board who acknowledges that Carter...

did open the door for god talk.
While his doing so may have indeed been from the heart, it was a very serious tactical error. And we still pay the price for it.

[Historic NY]

3. ronnie was playing a role w/o an academy award.

[DURHAM D]

4. Quiet please - he is pretty popular around here with the younger set. n/t

[L. Coyote]

22. I doubt it! The "younger set" here is not moranic.

[leftofthedial]

5. Reagan was the scion of a triumvirate of epically failed repuke "presidents"

The worst 20 years in American history? Reagan 8, GHWbush 4 and l'il george 8.

That's basically a generation of disintegration and dismantling of America.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. That's a tough one ...........

They both sucked, big-time.

My first impulse is to count the dead bodies that Fuckface (W) left in his wake, but Raygun did so much to cause death spread out over the last almost-thirty years, so that's difficult to quantify.

They both fucked the hell out of our economy - another draw.

They both enriched the Pentagon and their defense contractor pals, so that's a wash.

At least Fuckface did some good regarding AIDS in Africa. Raygun never even mentioned AIDS, did he?

(This is why I shouldn't even read OPs like this - I start finding something GOOD to say about Fuckface. Then I get this rash all over my hands and feet.)

Fuckface wiped his ass with the Constitution, but Raygun got shot. That might be a draw.

Raygun stayed in office even as Alzheimer's was eating away at his brain. Fuckface was just, well, Fuckface. A draw.

Raygun had Poppy at his Veep. Fuckface had ............. this is a definite WIN for Raygun.

Goddamn it.

It's a goddamned tie.

I gotta go find some ointment...........................................

[L. Coyote]

23. Duzzy!

[indepat]

35. Can I break the tie with (1) junior, (2) Raygun, (3) Tricky Dick, and (4) GHWB for

perpetuating Raygun's voodoo economics and for suckering Saddam into thinking the US would not intercede if he invaded Kuwait, leading to the first Iraqi war and setting the table for the second Iraqi war? :P

[Stevenmarc]

45. The only reason

That Fuckface did some good regarding AIDS in Africa is because he was trying to get his Iraq bullshit through a UN Security Council vote and he was buying off the African members.

[Catherine Vincent]

47. LOL!

[EFerrari]

8. Bush would have been impossible without Raygun. n/t

[L. Coyote]

24. I was thinking the same thing. Reagan paved the yellow brick road.

I use the Wizard analogy because there isn't a yellow brick road down the rabbit hole.

Reagan/Bush perfected criminality in the Executive with Iran-Contra and stealing
the election from Carter with black ops and illegal millions from Marcos, et.al.
And they perfected getting away with it by circumventing Congress and oversight,
then using national security as a shield for cover-ups, and just plain lying under oath.

The Bush/Cheney Junta crew were all trained under Reagan/Bush, plain and simple enough.

[timtom]

39. And, from all accounts,

Reagan would have been impossible without Bush.

[madamesilverspurs]

10. Well, he gave us Iran-Contra,

the savings and loan scandal, the term 'welfare queen' (and the attitude to go with it), the depredations to education via the efforts of William Bennett; he opened the door for the first Bush presidency; he employed many of the people who worked in the administrations of both Bushes - if he doesn't qualify as worst, he sure as heck qualifies as the fertilizer that grew the worst.

And they want us to canonize him.

[Greyhound]

11. I think it depends on the definition.

As a spokesman, St. Ronnie was one of the best pitchmen in history and that is why he is so revered, but as with any pitchman, he was merely selling what he was hired to sell and that is all he did throughout his miserable life. He was the shill for the product of his owners, and what they were selling was the destruction of the American ideal.

So, if you think of the President as the spokesman for the parasites, the people that matter, those that decide, he was really one of the best, and Obama may well be another challenger for that title.

What he wrought is, of course, the destruction of our nation and in that respect he was, IMO, the worst President in American history.

[Captain Hilts]

32. People like a smooth-talking pitchman. That's why Reagan, Clinton and Obama got elected. nt

[Greyhound]

48. Indeed. We just can't get enough of them and we never learn our lesson. n/t

[raouldukelives]

14. Just as Rayguns policies affect us today

I think in the long run W's decisions will hurt us quite more.

[Initech]

16. Short answer: YES!!!!!

St. Ronnie fucked us all with his "Reagonomics" plan which means that the rich get richer, the schools get shit, and we get fucked.

[Joe the Liberal]

17. I hope more people wake up and realize what horrible president Reagan was......

Like it says in the article...

"Despite the grievous harm that Reagan’s presidency inflicted on the American Republic and the American people, it may take many more years before a historian has the guts to put this deformed era into a truthful perspective and rate Reagan where he belongs -- near the bottom of the presidential list."

[pansypoo53219]

18. i think it has to come down to

grenada/panama vs 9/11/iWaq. w wins the tie.

[EFerrari]

20. Grenada and Panama were horrible but nothing compared to

El Salvador and Nicaragua.

[L. Coyote]

25. Not to mention, every social activist in Latin America disappeared

and you could be shot as a suspected liberal at any road block.
That happened to one of the military leaders in El Salvador.
His son was executed at a road block, mistaken for a liberal.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

19. Get Parry's book

It's good stuff

[asteroid2003QQ47]

21. "...we are better off for the extraordinary leadership that he *"Worst President Ever"* showed," Oba

"...we are better off for the extraordinary leadership that he *"Worst President Ever"* showed," Obama said.

Tax health care and now THIS--

OBAMA SIGNS BILL TO CREATE REAGAN CENTENNIAL PANEL

By Darlene Superville

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed one for the Gipper.

With the stroke of a pen Tuesday, Obama created the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission, an 11-person panel that will plan and carry out activities to mark the 100th anniversary, in 2011, of the president's birth.
<>
Obama invoked the 40th president's trademark optimism, calling him a leader who understood that the bonds that unite Americans are stronger than the disagreements that divide them, the political parties included. He also said Reagan's sunny outlook was sorely needed during a difficult time of economic and global challenges.

That was powerful. That was important. And we are better off for the extraordinary leadership that he showed," Obama said.
< . . .

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hY6tfNX0v9S1kZmwf0M1_CR6O-OQD98IQ9G81

WTF!

[L. Coyote]

26. Another "What do you expect from a Sidley Austin intern?" moment!

[Festivito]

27. "that Reagan essentially ignored" HUH? He fostered bad things.

Ripped the solar heating off the White House roof so we'd go for more oil, exploited our lands (remember logging redwoods), sheesh.

He took credit for Russia dropping out after Carter brought the military up to par with brilliant weaponry.

All prune face could do was throw money at things and hope, and blame the other side for doing just that to throw people off his own scent. Then, he just learned to fall asleep early and look good at signing things that God only knows who wrote.

Ignored the environmental degradation, Hah! He gladly degraded the environment, and anything else that would make more money for cronies.

[Vickers]

28. Voting for him and getting a DUI are the two biggest mistakes of my life.

Coincidentally, they occurred within a couple of months of each other...I call that my "Goddam, You Were One Stupid Fuck" phase.

I honestly believe that he ushered in the era of executive lawlessness in this country, both in government and business.

Sure, there were other crooks before him, but he institutionalized it.

[saltpoint]

29. The lower Reagan is ranked as a public servant, the happier I am.

Agree that a low rank like this will ruffle the feathers of the Far Right but those are feathers that need ruffling.

He was a terrible president. And the people who served in his administration make a macabre list.

[nichomachus]

30. Which Republican was the "worst president?"

Talk about a race to the bottom. Each GOP president in the last 40+ years has something to recommend him for that title.

Nixon caused the deaths of tens of thousands of US troops with his treasonous sabotaging of the VN peace talks. Bush has an awful lot to recommend him, as does Reagan. I don't think we'll really be able to judge for 30 years or so until we see how the Bush disasters play out -- just as now the chickens from Ronnie's disastrous presidency are coming back to haunt us.

[wryter2000]

31. I'd still have to rate him second worst

No one beats out Bush*. As far as I know, Reagan didn't order anyone tortured. Assuming his Alzheimer's hadn't taken his mind by then, I think he would have done something when a major city was under water. He never gave a female foreign head of state an involuntary neck rub.

Reagan was horrendous, but Bush was Reagan to the power of 10.

[Matariki]

33. Finally. It needs to be said.

As someone who entered adulthood just as Reagan entered office, I was very aware of the immediate and terrible damage his policies were doing to the country. It seemed so obvious, and yet...

From closing down mental health facilities and throwing vulnerable people out on the streets - and creating an enormous homeless population almost over night, to cutting financial aid for college students, to raising taxes on low income workers - like taxing unemployment and hypothetical tips in food service jobs.

Not to mention all the deregulation he's responsible for - which is STILL having serious repercussions.

You could truly say that much of the problems we're facing today can be laid at Reagan's feet.

[Ishoutandscream2]

34. These past 30 years have been paved by Reaganomics

and the people who helped get him there, the religious right. So, yes, Reagan was the catalyst for all of this. Parry makes a good argument.

[SalviaBlue]

36. k and r

[graywarrior]

37. Hell, just list the few good republican presidents starting with Lincoln

I think there are only 3 or 4.

[Burma Jones]

38. Speaking as a Government Contractor, Reagan initiated a huge transfer of wealth, via the Government

from the People to the Investor class. That's what Defense (and Civil Sector) spending under contract does

When I get paid, Profit has to be accounted for. My Parents were both Gov't Employees, Dad as a Hospital Director for the USPHS and Mom as a NASA Administrative Assistant.


I know he did much worse than that, but Billions upon Billions of taxpayer dollars went to owners of Consulting Firms as profit as a direct result of shifting work to contractors, or as it can be described, welfare for the well dressed........



On Edit:

It seems to me that Reagan and his cronies decided that the USA wasn't worth growing anymore and that it was time to start looting the Empire before it runs out of gas......Happens with every "Great Power" as they settle into a more humble role in the world.

[RainDog]

40. give 'em hell, Parry!

I'm so glad that Robert Parry continues to tell the truth even tho, just as when he exposed Iran-Contra, the bought-and-sold media ignores him.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

41. He certainly qualifies in the top five worst.

Although the competition is stiff. Nixon, Dubya, Johnson, Buchanan, Poppy, all have strong credentials.

[Vidar]

42. Reagan is second worst after W.

[Ganja Ninja]

43. Not the worst but certainly the most overrated by a wide margin. n/t

[Stellabella]

44. That 'cruelty with a smile' thing was one of the things I hated most about him.

All the repukes do it now - smile and laugh in debates as if their viciousness is funny.

[barbtries]

46. i'll still give it to bush

the second, that is.

[mitchum]

50. Yes, he was even worse than bush jr