The Ronald Reagan is may be dying thread.

[Moderator]

In order to free up the first page for
other stories, please post your thoughts
about this story in this thread.


Thank you for understanding.


DU Moderator

[lastknowngood]

1. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

n/t

[wndycty]

2. Lets revisit this: Lott, Reagan and Republican Racism (TIME Mag)

Lott, Reagan and Republican Racism

If the GOP wants to attract black voters, argues TIME's Jack White, it must confront the legacy not only of Trent Lott, but also of former President Reagan

By JACK WHITE

Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002

Here's some advice for Republicans eager to attract more African-American supporters: don't stop with Trent Lott. Blacks won't take their commitment to expanding the party seriously until they admit that the GOP's wrongheadedness about race goes way beyond Lott and infects their entire party. The sad truth is that many Republican leaders remain in a massive state of denial about the party's four-decade-long addiction to race-baiting. They won't make any headway with blacks by bashing Lott if they persist in giving Ronald Reagan a pass for his racial policies.

The same could be said, of course, about such Republican heroes as, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon or George Bush the elder, all of whom used coded racial messages to lure disaffected blue collar and Southern white voters away from the Democrats. Yet it's with Reagan, who set a standard for exploiting white anger and resentment rarely seen since George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, that the Republican's selective memory about its race-baiting habit really stands out.

Space doesn't permit a complete list of the Gipper's signals to angry white folks that Republicans prefer to ignore . . .
-snip-

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,399921,00.html?cnn=yes

[lebkuchen]

3. More quotes:

RR in '83

There is today in the United States as much forest as...when Washington was at Valley Forge.

RR in '87, responding to the Tower report:

A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions tell me that is true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.

RR in '83, to the National Association of Evangelicals, Orlando, on the USSR:

They are the focus of evil in the modern world.

RR on unemployment, 9/24/82:

Is it news that some fellow out in South Succotash someplace has just been laid off, that he should be interviewed nationwide?


RR on "very strong" evidence that the US is secretly supporting Nicaraguan contras, 12/9/83:

That would be violating the law.

RR on 4/25/85, defending his plan to visit Bitburg military cemetery in West Germany, says German soldiers were "victims" of the Nazis "just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." (Nearly 50 SS troops are among the 2000 dead buried there.)


RR in '82, on his '81 budget cuts:

Look, my program hasn't resulted in anyone getting thrown out in the snow or dying.

RR in '87 on his knowledge of private fundraising efforts for contras:

Here, there's no question about my being informed. I've known what's going on there...for...a matter of years...It was my idea to begin with.

RR in '81 on an installation of anti-aircraft rockets at a Syrian position in Lebaonon:

They're offensive weapons. There's no quetsion about the direction in which they're aimed. I am speaking now of the Syrian weapons. A note in the official record states: "The White Hosue later announced that the President had meant to say defensive."

RR is asked at Reagan ranch in '84 what the US is doing to get the USSR to negotiate. Mrs. R whispers, "Doing everything we can." RR grins: Doing everything we can.

RR in '80 on the Vietnam War:

It is time we recognized that ours, in truth, was a noble cause.

RR in '80 tells evangelicals in Dallas that there are "great flaws" in the theory of evolution and schools should also teach Biblical creation.

RR on South Africa 9/6/85:

They have 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.

RR on Jimmy Carter, 9/2/80:

He's opening his campaign down in the city (Tuscumbia, AL) that gave birth to and is the parent body of the Ku Klux Klan. The next day, the Knights of the KKK Grand Wizard Don Black says that RR, despite his criticism of the KKK, is still "the best of the three" major candidates. On 7/30/80 Bill Wilkinson, leader of The Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, wrote an endorsement for the group's newspaper which said that the GOP platform sounded "as if it were written by a Klansman."

In '82 the Washington Post reported on RR's court appointments during his first 19 months: of 72 nominees, 3 are women and 1 is black. By the end of 1986 RR had named 290 of 741 federal judges. (8/23/87)

RR in '85, asked if he believs that South African segregation has been eliminated: No, and I didn't intend to say that...There are areas where it hasn't.

RR on the US Marine force in Lebanon 10/19/83:

From the very first, I said we will never send our men any place where they will not be allowed to defend themselves if they come under attack.

On 10/20/83 three different reporters ask about the safety of US Marines in Beirut. RR: We're not sitting idly by. We're looking at every option...to carry out the mission for which they were sent and...make their lives safer.

On 10/27/83, 241 Marines die in Beirut when their barracks are bombed by a terrorist.

RR on 3/26/88 says former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane was guilty only of "not telling Congress everything it wanted to know. I've done that myself."

3/22/88 RR vetoes the Civil Rights bill, the first time in 120 years a civil rights bill had been vetoed. Congress overrode the veto.

[lebkuchen]

38. another quote(s):

RR on Latin America, '82:

You'd be surprised, ...they're all individual countries.

RR on 11/18/86:

We did not--repeat--did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages. Nor will we.


RR on the Iran crisis, 11/25/86:

I'm not firing anybody.
and...I did not make a mistake by sending arms to Iran.

[Don_G]

4. It Can't Happen Soon Enough

The further away it is from the election, the better the chances are for Kerry. I don't want to see Dimbo get the "sympathy" votes.

[UrbScotty]

17. If he doesn't die before July 4

I would hope he would wait until November 3, at the earliest.

[Moderator]

5. kick

[LittleApple81]

6. Thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks!!!! I got tired of hiding threads.n/t

[Moderator]

7. kick

:kick:

[Peachhead22]

20. another quote

"Facts are stupid things." - Ronald Reagan, Republican National Convention (1988)

[UrbScotty]

8. Ronald Wilson Reagan: A Saint

...compared to George Walker Bush.

[ronnykmarshall]

44. You got that right.

[Moderator]

9. kick

:kick:

[UrbScotty]

10. Instead of kicking this thread so often

...why not make it a sticky at the top of GD?

[LittleApple81]

12. good idea. That way people cannot MISS it before posting again.n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

11. In response to JanMichael's locked poll thread...

"Will Bush II attend Reagans funeral?"

Yes, all the X-Presidents will be there...

[UrbScotty]

15. I think Reagan was the only ex-president not at Maureen's funeral in 2001

Ford, Carter, Bush Sr., and Clinton were all there, were they not?

[Cooley Hurd]

21. In all fairness...

Reagan's mental condition was pretty bad by that time that one would assume that his presence would've been distracting and embarassing...

[cosmicdot]

37. I haven't been near the man ... I have no idea of his health ... then ...

... in '88 ... or now ... just what they tell us ...

I just know his issues began the moment the questioning began ... probably existed before ... but, things seem to become expedited as Iran-Contra heated up ...

... "I don't remember"; "I don't recall" ...

of course, his hearing went first ...
((can't hear ya ... too much noise from Marine One's blades))


I doubt if he could have been at her funeral ... I doubt if should have been ... but, in a way, it was how the dysfunctional 'family value' family existed ... in absentia

I doubt if I could stand an evening with Nancy either. I've a in-law similar to Nancy ... enter at your own risk ...

"The bombing begins in five minutes." -Ronald Reagan

[ronnykmarshall]

45. An amazing picture I recall when Maureen died

Nancy and Jane walking hand in hand from the church. I wish that my mother could have been at my dad's funeral with my step mom.

[DBoon]

13. What's wrong with politicizing a politician's death

That's what they devoted their lives to, right?

We can assume the press will be full of eulogies about the "wonderful" things Reagan did and of his "great" legacy.

We would be seriously negligent in not pointing out the vast controversy (and crimes) associated with his administration.

[troublemaker]

14. A fitting expression

I don't applaud riotous glee over Ronald Reagan's impending demise--life and death deserve dignity and Alzheimer's is a particularly cruel disease--but the man was one of the key architects of an American political landscape so diseased that we today reasonably fear the rise of a genuine American fascism.

That is why I've decided, as my own Reagan memorial, to offer these lyrics that Elvis Costello (the greatest artist of the last thirty years) wrote in anticipation of the eventual death of Reagan's chief international partner in crime; Margret Thatcher.

I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child's
face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
coming down on that child's lips

Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the Lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live
long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down

When England was the whore of the world
Margaret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
the black tarmacadam
Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't
haunted by every tiny detail
'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands
all she thought of was betrayal

And now the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the life from his only son
And how it's only voices in your head and dreams you never dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between justice and contempt
Try telling me she isn't angry with this pitiful discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up for punishment
And then expect you to say "Thank you" straighten up, look proud and pleased
Because you've only got the symptoms, you haven't got the whole disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head's like a tin-can
filled up with dreams then poured down the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being blown to bits or beaten and maimed
Who takes all the glory and none of the shame

Well I hope you live long now, I pray the Lord your soul to keep
I think I'll be going before we fold our arms and start to weep
I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap
'Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down


The lyric is the property of its author and label. Commercial use prohibited.

[seabeyond]

16. thanks for getting rid of all the reagan threads

woke up this morning to, geez and he isnt even gone yet. the man is old, and diseased, it is time for him to go. he is merely man not a saint. and empathy to the family but in truth it will be a blessing for them, for ronald to die. to have a death like this is hard on all. i dont need to hear a single nother thing about reagan,.......

and so it goes

[never_get_over_it]

18. In a post about the

Wellstone memorial - Mrs Monica said even Wellstone's son was ashamed - please provide proof of this - I do not believe it. I know Senator Wellstone's best friend who made the most fiery speech said he regreted it because of the reaction. He should not have regreted what he said - Wellstone's memorial was as his FAMILY wanted it - and I believe how Paul Wellstone would have wanted it a celebration of what it means to be a democrat - political rally or not - Paul Wellstone was a political man - in a campaign for Senate at the time of his death - and I for one thought the memorial was one of the most moving events I have ever witnessed.....and no we should not criticize Regan's family for however they choose to memorialize him.

[BeFree]

19. Early Reagan quote to congress

REAGAN: Sir, I detest, I abhor their philosophy, but I detest more than that their tactics, which are those of the fifth column, and are dishonest, but at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment. I still think that democracy can do it.

Here we have a direct contradiction of the course the current pResident is on. Fear of a certain group (Muslims) is the being used to urge Americans to compromise our democratic principles. I too, Mr. Raygun, never as a citizen want to see our country become urged to compromise our democratic principles. But it is happening today, by your followers using your name. No wonder you're ill, what you saw happening made you sick.

I still think democracy can do it. But first we must be rid of the reaganites.

[Moderator]

22. kick

:kick:

[UTUSN]

23. Shrub Has Enjoyed Revenge on All of Poppy's Enemies

Ann RICHARDS, Saddam, and in the future RAYGUN.

[TN al]

24. Correct me if I am wrong but...

... hasn't the Reagen is near death story come out before. I am thinking just before he turned 90.

[Wapsie B]

25. I bear no ill will against Ronnie.

He was an actor playing out the greatest role in his life. It was his henchmen actually running the show. It's been shown by at least one author that his mind was going well before he left the WH. That IMHO, is his one saving grace; that he was a mere cardboard cutout reading speeches for the neocons behind the scenes.

The one thing that bothers me with his passing is the smokescreen that it will put up for the BFEE. There will be a nonstop Reagan lovefest in the media. This will put all of chimpy's problems on the back burner and out of the public eye. This will be worth a thousand kidnapping and shark stories, hell ten thousand.

[struggle4progress]

29. Another empty suit. Like *.

[onehandle]

26. I have feared that possibility since 2000, however.....

The deification of smirk has failed. If Reagan's Presidency is suddenly thrust into the news, I believe that it will make smirk look all the worse.

Also, Nancy is pro stem cell research. Bush is against it. In other words, Bush was no help to the "gipper".

[UrbScotty]

30. "If Reagan's presidency is suddenly thrust into the news...

...I believe that it will make smirk look all the worse."

Interesting thought.

But I still don't want him to die.

[onehandle]

33. Ditto. nt

[TN al]

27. A second thought on this...

...Do you think there are some conservatives who will be paying close attention about three days after the fact just to make sure he doesn't get back up again? Maybe in anticipation thereof?

[cosmicdot]

28. Living with the Legacy

Massive but Under-Reported Corruption of
the Reagan Administration

http://liberalslikechrist.org/about/reagan.html

~sniplets~

The contenders for the title of "the most corrupt administration in American history" are all Republican administrations. It may be hard to order them exactly, but the contenders for the first, second, third & fourth "most corrupt administrations in American history" are the Republican administrations of Grant, Harding, Nixon and Reagan.

"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."

[newyawker99]

31. kick

:kick:

[Zomby Woof]

32. disease doesn't redeem someone's life

The worst fallacy I see from the we're-superior-humans-and-will-remind-you-every-chance-we-get crowd is that Alzheimer's is so terrible, and because of that, please be nice to Uncle Ronnie, or you're just a freeper! :eyes:

Alzheimer's IS horrible. So is cancer, heart disease, and hundreds of other diseases. Disease and death are the truest equal opportunity employers. They respect no one's life or accomplishments, for better or worse. Reagan represented much of what was horrible about humanity. There is no basis in the assertion that because he suffers so much, he should get a pass and be redeemed. I save my compassion and sorrow for the good people who suffer from Alzheimer's, or any disease. How do I define "good"? That's subjective, but I am pretty sure if your grandmother never aided the killers of innocent people in Nicaragua or El Salvador, threw thousands of union workers out on the street, spent our tax money with reckless disregard on a phony space shield, consigned mental patients to homelessness, ignored the death and suffering of AIDS patients, or countless other crimes, then she is good enough!

Besides, I don't revel in his disease anyway, I just want his death to get over with soon so I can avoid the television and newspapers for about a month.

Folks, if you want inhumane, try observing the orgy of lionization we're going to be deluged with after he shits his diapers one last time. You're masochistic if you endure that. Especially the really sick fucks among you who watch Fox News because "you like to know what the enemy is thinking". I just know some of you will watch their coverage of his death and report to us with breathless abandon what they are saying. I say YOU are the really disgusting ones.

Five to one, and one to five... no one here gets out alive.

[UrbScotty]

34. Presidents who've died in election years, and how their party fared

James Madison (1751-1836): Democratic-Republican Party didn't really exist anymore

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848): Same as Madison

James Buchanan (1791-1868): Democrats lost big-time to Grant

Grovewr Cleveland (1837-1908): Bryan lost handily to Taft

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924): Dems lost to Coolidge

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964): Goldwater crushed by Johnson

Harry Truman (1884-1972): McGovern lost big-time to Nixon (Truman actually died after the election)

I do not want this to indicate that I want Reagan to die this year. I don't.

[mot78]

36. What about Nixon in '94

Even though it wasn't a POTUS Election year.

[UrbScotty]

47. Yeah, I was just talking about Presiodential years. (nt)

[FarLeftRage]

35. A thought

On ray-gun dying, it will be very interesting to see the interaction between "mommy" and all those sick little repuKKKes that want to name everything after this trite f***ing a**h***....

[Moderator]

39. kick

[Karenina]

41. Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhh!

:eyes:

[Moderator]

40. kick

[Moderator]

42. kick

[mandyky]

43. Thank you Moderator!!

I think Reagan should only have 1 thread on a DEM forum.

[UrbScotty]

51. Yeah, I second that (nt)

[ramblin_dave]

46. Oh well, you tried

[robbedvoter]

48. We've been Drudged - again!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x604694

[Padraig18]

49. Breaking from ABC Radio News: Nancy says it could be this weekend...

Just came across the radio...

http://www.wlsam.com

[Moderator]

50. kick

[Cooley Hurd]

52. CBSNews.com link & text...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/05/national/main621238.shtml

<snip>
CBS News Correspondent Mike Walace says former first lady Nancy Reagan told him two of Mr. Reagan's children are at the Reagan home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles: Patty Davis and Ron Reagan Junior are on hand.

Wallace says Nancy Reagan told him Mr. Reagan's death could be imminent - perhaps his weekend.
</snip>

Nancy & Wallace are old friends - I guess this really is it...

[UrbScotty]

53. I will pray for Nancy

:-(

[Cooley Hurd]

54. I imagine that when the end comes, she'll feel relief...

...after watching her husband suffer for so long with a horribly cruel disease like Alzheimers.

[UrbScotty]

55. That's true (nt)

[Bluebear]

56. May people show him more compassion than he did for HIV/AIDS victims

About the best I can come up with.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[salin]

60. ya - nothing like selling arms to Khomeni

while also selling arms (including WMD capability) to Iraq back in the mid-80s.

[Blah_8987]

62. Really??

I thought the left say's,Saddam never did have WMD's? If he sold them to Saddam,than were in the hell are they at??

selling arms(which I never saw anything to back it up) to Iran,was to return Americans back to the USA,because Jimmy couldn't do shit when he was in office.

[salin]

64. actually - both are correct

sold materials in the mideighties...

and the weapons inspectors dismantled/destroyed the wmds in the 1990s.

That was the point of the weapons inspections - not just to find them, but to disarm them. Even the loyal gop weapons folks involved with the weapons inspectors in the 1990s attest to this point (including bushjr appointed David Kay.... who used to think that the weapons had been reconstituted - but today - in the BBC says that not only is their no evidence that they had been reconstituted (he has said this since January) - but that folks who have the information (eg at the top of the US and British adminsitration) who are still claiming such weapons exist - are delusional.

Actually the arms were sold LONG after the hostages held during Carter's administration were released. So what hostages were traded for in the mid eighties? Were there hostages taken under Reagan? *gasp*

[Blah_8987]

67. Um no not really..

The arms were only sold for months before the hostages. I know the lefts like's to think it was Carter who had the hostages released. If you want to talk about David Kay,maybe you should read the hole report. Because he said the war with Saddam was the right thing to do.Because SADDAM was a thread. Kinda funny,Y'all like to over look that too. He also said Saddam had money going to WMD's programs. OH,wait Saddam didn't want WMD's programs right? Also,mean your party was also wrong about WMD's in Iraq too,right?? Also means the whole world was wrong back Iraq WMD's.Another thing about Kay. Y'all leftist try to get him to say Bush lied.Which Kay has said that he belive Bush didn't not lied. If fact Bush told Kay to find the truth on Iraq WMD's.

weapons inspections job was not to find WMD's. Their job was to
over look the IRAQIS disarming. It was Saddam job to do it. NOT the UN. BTW I wouldn't be using BBC,when they have made up storys on Iraq. And when their own reporting has gottan into troble.

[Bluebear]

63. "Get the hell over it", yup, compassionate conservatives

[Blah_8987]

65. Yep you got it right!

100% compassionate conservative,you got it right!! At least im not dacning in the street's over someone else death. At least Im not blaming someone else sickless. Why didn't Jimmy do more when he was in Office about aids,huh? Maybe because it was a unknown in that time.

[salin]

66. I am not celebrating

anyone's death. As I said elsewhere, condolences both to his family and to those who respected him.

I was just responding to your barbs - since you moved it to hitting at Carter - wondering how you will respond upon Carter's final breaths.

[Blah_8987]

68. I would

I would do anything. I would let his family have their time. Yes,I do not like Carten. But,I wouldn't do what y'all are doing on this site. Truly sick.

[UrbScotty]

57. How big of a story was Nixon's stroke

Was it top news on CNN, the nightly news, etc?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

59. While I can't rejoice in anyone's death, I certainly won't

go into mourning.

Ever since Reagan came into office, the prevailing mood in the U.S. has become meaner, stupider, and more selfish, leading us to our present sorry state.

[Don_G]

61. Have You Seen This?

#5 on the Death List-2004 is Ronald Reagan---Occupation: Idiot.