What is Digg?474 Comments
- HCviolence, on 10/29/2009, -25/+454REAGAN SMASH!!!!
- eugenetabisco, on 10/29/2009, -94/+355Many of the problems this country faces today are based on policies of the Reagan administration and ideology. That's not an automatic hate, it's just the truth. Trickle-down theory was a total failure that brought the country into a recession on the verge of a depression -- and thank you W for doing it again!
Iran-Contra, anyone?
Funding and arming Osama bin Laden which aided in giving rise to the Taliban and Al Queda? - MrJagil, on 10/29/2009, -6/+224He didn't forget Poland!
- gizram84, on 10/29/2009, -23/+210HEADSHOT!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege ... - kaelyiesta, on 10/29/2009, -28/+195As I recall, Reagan actually expanded government quite a bit. I think it would be more accurate to put the white house and big government on the same dot. Although I guess it is supposed to be the perception, rather than truth.
- AmyVernon, on 10/29/2009, -10/+155I actually remember this cartoon from when it was first published. Ah, memories...
- iamnotcreative, on 10/29/2009, -73/+199Delicious copypasta from somewhere:
Criminal:
Iran-Contra treason.
Lied about it.
Likely encouraged Iran to keep US Embassy hostages until he was into office.
Fiscal:
Supply-side economics.
National debt tripled.
$12 billion trade surplus --> $100+ billion trade deficit.
Deregulated savings and loans, precipitated huge economic crisis.
Tax raiser.
Taxed the poor, cut taxes for the rich.
SDI "Star Wars" boondoggle.
Military spending increased to match imaginary spending in USSR.
Deregulation caused oil bust.
Broke air traffic control union.
Social:
Gutted social welfare.
Release of mental patients without recourse, homeless population up.
Ignored AIDS crisis.
Abstinence-only sex education.
Strengthened ATF, banned automatic weapons, blamed Democrats for it.
Increased spending for War on Drugs.
National drinking age of 21.
Underfunded NEA.
EPA Superfund grants manipulated to help Republicans in local elections.
Deregulated kids' tv, initiated 22 minute toy ads.
Killed energy programs.
Foreign:
Wars all over Central America, incl Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras.
Promoted Iran-Iraq war.
Sent Marines into Beirut, abandoned mission after terrorist bombing.
Broke detente with USSR until Gorbachev personally made things better.
Backed Contras in drug running schemes.
Supported right-wing dictators and movements everywhere, including:
Apartheid regime in SA.
Marcos regime in Phillipines.
Saddam Hussein and Baathist regime in Iraq, even after Kurds gassed.
Taliban in Afghanistan.
Manuel Noriega in Panama.
Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Concepts:
Welfare queens.
Trees cause pollution.
Ketchup as a vegetable.
Appointments:
30+ convicted appointees.
Ed Meese at Justice, porn freak.
James Watt at Interior, idiot, corrupt.
William Casey at CIA, religious nut, strikes into Uzbekistan. (? Uzb part of USSR, maybe mean Afghanistan?)
HUD a corrupt mess in general.
Politicised CIA.
Robert Bork to SCOTUS (failed), segregationist and *****.
Antonin Scalia, same but he got in.
Personal:
Unfit to serve due to Alzheimer's disease by term's end.
Horrible excuse for a human being in general.
McCarthyite.
Neo-Conservative. (? Isn't neo-conservatism post-Cold War?)
Backed Moral Majority.
Pardoned Robert Walker, who went on to kill his wife.
Started presidential campaign at racist murder crime scene in Philadelphia, MS.
Laid wreath and made speech at SS cemetery in Germany.
Vietnam War a "noble cause."
Helped start right-wing noise machine. (? By promoting myth of liberal media?)
Hated sex, made Ron Jr. feel like a sissy and quit ballet.
Dumb as a stump.
Believed in astrology and used it to run government.
Innovated "talking points" cue cards.
"I don't recall" to weasel out of press questions.
Confused movies with reality.
Outlawed Russia forever, started bombing in five minutes. - eugenetabisco, on 10/29/2009, -23/+127Nice revisionist history... There was no recession during Carter's years. Inflation was high, there was an oil crisis, yes. No recession.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession (and you can click through all the citations before dismissing as "from wiki"):
"The recession was nearly a year old before President Ronald Reagan stated on October 18, 1981, that the economy was in a "slight recession" The "Reagan recession," coupled with budget cuts (which were enacted in 1981 but began to take effect in 1982), led many voters to believe that Reagan was insensitive to the needs of average citizens. In January 1983, Reagan's popularity rating fell to 35%—approaching levels experienced by Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter at their most unpopular. Although his approval rating did not fall as low as Nixon's during the Watergate scandal, Reagan's reelection seemed unlikely.
Pressured to counteract the increased deficit caused by the recession, Reagan agreed to a corporate tax increase in 1982. However, he refused to raise income taxes or cut defense spending. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 instituted a three-year, $100 billion tax hike—the largest tax increase since World War II. The 1982 mid-term Congressional elections were largely viewed as a referendum on Reagan and his economic policies. The election results proved to be a setback for Reagan and the Republicans."
To sum up, he cut the taxes of the wealthy, the country went into a recession, he initiated the largest tax hike, and began immense deficit spending mostly on the military. This lead to that black day in October on Bush 41's watch, who lost his re-election on the massive recession and failed economic policies of the right.
The money Reagan spent was the single biggest peacetime military spending in the history of the country. Did it bring an end to the Cold War? Yes, it was a definite contribution coupled with a failing Soviet economy and a deal with Saudi Arabia. But it was deficit-spending on his part -- so easy to blame the House and Senate which was Republican run after the country already entered the recession.
And how exactly did he not fund and arm bin Laden? How is that a lie? - thinkb4utype, on 10/29/2009, -9/+91That was 6 1/2 years after he left office. Clinton was President.
- shoesbuttback, on 10/29/2009, -225/+306Reagan was a class act and, though not perfect, one of the best presidents this country has ever seen. We're so busy automatically hating that we miss the good things. I wish we could regain respect for the office again.
BTW: before you thumbs down and spew your hate, I believe Obama deserves the same respect, though I disagree with his political ideology.
Okay, back to your regularly scheduled hatefest. - seltaeb4, on 10/29/2009, -4/+83Neither did Hitler.
- plainOldFool, on 10/29/2009, -0/+67I was a little young to remember those elections but DAYYMMN
- the8thbit, on 10/29/2009, -18/+82"an excellent point but who didn't take him out when we had the opportunity? Clinton."
Not killing people != selling them weapons
"He also managed to bring an end to the USSR."
The USSR fell apart on its own, partially as a result of new technologies which allowed ease of communication within an authoritarian state, partially because an authoritarian state is inherently unstable, and partially because the authoritarian policies which began after the death of Lenin and the exile of Trotsky created a new class decide between the workers and the bureaucrats. (In a similar fashion to the feudal bourgeois/aristocrat divide.)
What, exactly, did Reagan actually DO to convince you folks that he had a hand in the fall of the USSR? - longbow486, on 10/29/2009, -3/+65Reagan sleep....zzzzzzzz
- banderwocky, on 10/29/2009, -8/+70Funny thing about Reagan, he sure loved Czars.
- YuanHao, on 10/29/2009, -5/+64lolwatermelon: you said "diagnosed", not "the moment he thought he had Alzheimer"
you fail - homercles337, on 10/29/2009, -19/+74An oldie, but a goodie.
- Shawn4168, on 10/29/2009, -4/+52Anybody else find it ironic that the one state that didn't want to re-elect an actor as president, went on to elect a pro wrestler as governor?
- SirCharge, on 10/29/2009, -15/+61Reagan expanded the defense budget quite a bit but he attempted to reign in domestic spending repeatedly. Reagan vetoed or attempted to veto nearly every spending proposal the legislature penned. The very liberal legislature then either overruled the president's veto or created a barely slimmed down spending bill immediately prior to the government being shut down.
President Clinton, who often gets credited with being the most fiscally responsible president, had the opposite situation. The newly elected conservatives in his legislature were the ones who balanced the budget and (with the aid of the technology boom) brought the deficit under control. Unfortunately, within a few years these conservative senators became defenders of pork. - renesisx, on 10/29/2009, -0/+44Ah, I remember the days of Missile Gorbachev and Ronald Ray-gun.
- geoken, on 10/29/2009, -6/+47Wow, Reagan ended the cold war? I always thought it was Gorbachev's systematic dismantling of the Soviet Union based on his own personal desires to enact momentousness social change.
What exactly did Regan do? - iamnotcreative, on 10/29/2009, -15/+53And what, pray, are lies? Granted there are some personal attacks in there, but by and large it's all true
- dystra, on 10/29/2009, -17/+55anyone else read that in a GW Bush accent?
- rmxz, on 10/29/2009, -16/+51Reagan's biggest accomplishment (if you want to call it that) - for better or worse - was distancing the Republican party from Libertarians.
Fiscally: Reagan perfected "borrow and spend" - quadrupling the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion - so he could create an even bigger government than the Democrats who were constrained by how much they could raise taxes. Before that, special interests found it more profitable to kiss up to democrats. Reagan fixed that by proving that republicans can spend in even greater amounts without even figuring out how to pay for it.
Social Policy: Reagan greatly ramped up the War On Drugs with a nearly 2 billion new drug enforcement bill , with his wife Nancy making the War on Drugs her #1 priority.
Foreign policy: Reagan increased the US's role in world's policeman ranging from killing kids of foreign heads of state (like Hannah in Libya) and invading Grenada (the most major military operation by the US in a foreign country since Vietnam).
So after Reagan we were left with a Republican party that was further away from libertarian principals than Democrats.
* Democrats: aligned with libertarians on drugs, gay rights.
* Republicans: aligned with libertarians only abortion
(Libertarians and anti-abortion Republicans see it as a states rights issue)
And neither are aligned with libertarians on any fiscal or foreign policies. - RogerStrong, on 10/29/2009, -8/+43It would be unfair to judge him by what comedians said about him. Instead, let's quote people who were actually in the White House with him.....
"I'm glad he consults somebody."
- House Speaker Jim Wright on President Reagan's astrologer.
"Like reinventing the wheel."
- White House spokesman Larry Speakes on the process of preparing Reagan for a press conference.
"[Reagan] only works three to three and a half hour hours a day. He doesn't do his homework. He doesn't read his briefing papers. It's sinful that this man is president."
- Tip O'Neill
"You know, your nose looks just like Danny Thomas's!"
- Ronald Reagan to the Lebanese foreign minister, after listening to a half-hour lecture on the intricate realities of Lebanese political factions.
(Reagan's subsequent adventure in Lebanon makes Bush II look like a military genius)
"You ask yourself how did it ever occur to anybody that (Reagan) should be governor, much less president."
- Henry Kissinger.
"We could declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home for Christmas."
- Ronald Reagan, 1965
"You bet he didn't remember; in fact, I'm sure that he worked overtime to make sure he did not forget to forget."
- Neil Reagan on his brother and the Iran arms sales.
"We are not trying to do anything to try and overthrow the Nicaraguan government."
- Ronald Reagan, 1983 - Bulk70, on 10/29/2009, -2/+36Pft this is so 1985..
- rockon4life45, on 10/29/2009, -7/+41Best comment on digg since digg became a lopsided political social news site.
- cCPanda, on 10/29/2009, -5/+38 Eisenhower was the last great republican president IMO. He was the first to warn of the Military Industrial Complex and no other republican has heeded his words since.
- gankige, on 10/29/2009, -7/+39Dugg for Kangaroos. Great illustration.
- KokomoNYC, on 10/29/2009, -8/+39I don't buy that "he ended the Cold War" nonsense. Reagan was a rainmaker. Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the US at the time said "The impact of Reagan's hard-line policy . . . was exactly the opposite of the one intended by Washington . It strengthened those in the Politburo, the Central Committee, and the security apparatus who had been pressing for a mirror-image of Reagan's own policy." Over-the-top military spending actually stimulated the industrialized Soviet economy and the threat of nuclear abyss strengthened support for Soviet leaders. Declassified documents from the Soviet era and the statements of former Soviet leaders give no evidence that vast military spending in the US led to the decline of the USSR.
- pintomp3, on 10/29/2009, -25/+55"Reagan was a class act" Yeah, he supported segregation in the US, apartheid in South Africa, and blamed gays for AIDS. He was a racist bigot.
- seltaeb4, on 10/29/2009, -8/+37In every single fiscal year of his presidency, Reagan submitted larger budget requests to Congress than Congress approved. The national debt would be even higher if Reagan had gotten his way.
- thinkb4utype, on 10/29/2009, -7/+35It's obvious you haven't known anyone with the disease. It isn't like that. Reagan traveled, met with other leaders, wrote a book, and gave speeches until 1994.
I knew someone with Alzheimer's. They go downhill real fast. One year, they are functioning normally, the next year, their short-term memory is gone and need help. - giz0r, on 10/29/2009, -4/+32Dugg for Acidrania and Injuns
- dasbrewer, on 10/29/2009, -4/+30nice :)
- erhanaltay, on 10/29/2009, -2/+27I wish Democrats were aligned with us (Libertarians) on drug policy. They're in charge of the white house, house of reps, and senate yet something tells me we are no closer to lifting the unconstitutional prohibition on drugs.
- chthonical, on 10/29/2009, -12/+37Thanks Ronald Reagan for ending the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union really brought peace and happiness to the world. Remember how we shot all those millions and millions of tons of Cold War armaments into space on rockets aimed at the sun so they would never both us agai- oh wait they sold them all to terrorist groups and dictators that plague us to this day and who otherwise wouldn't have had a chance in ***** of militarizing.
- kasjogren, on 10/29/2009, -8/+32Mark Foley, Larry Craig, David Vitter, the southern poor. Stop me when you think I am wrong.
- Boooohjoke, on 10/29/2009, -1/+25I'm pretty sure we voted for Mondale because he was from Minnesota...
- iamnotcreative, on 10/29/2009, -13/+37@dse78759
That was a copy / paste but....
Backed Contras in drug running schemes.
Supported right-wing dictators and movements everywhere, including:
Apartheid regime in SA.
Marcos regime in Phillipines.
Saddam Hussein and Baathist regime in Iraq, even after Kurds gassed.
Taliban in Afghanistan.
Manuel Noriega in Panama.
Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Ignored the AIDS crisis
McCarthyite, he informed on "communists" in Hollywood
And really, oversaw the decade and helped shape the policies that I believe led to the demise of this once great country
The man was scum - gizram84, on 10/29/2009, -17/+41"at least there is no self loathing on the left."
wow, just wow.... - nori0300, on 10/29/2009, -3/+26I love Contra! Such an awesome game!
- rblancarte, on 10/29/2009, -4/+27If he were alive, Regan wouldn't.
- BobSagetFan, on 10/29/2009, -1/+22MR GORBACHEV, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!
- Mariokartfever, on 10/29/2009, -4/+25You hit their week spot
- RogerStrong, on 10/29/2009, -7/+28Don't kid yourself. Soviet incompetance in running an economy is the major reason the USSR isn't around today. Reagan's tough talk tough had little to do with it.
- gizram84, on 10/29/2009, -0/+20... and Mondale only won the popular vote in Minnesota by 3800 votes.. it was almost a flawless victory.
- LiquidIse, on 10/29/2009, -6/+26Oh, I see.
Whereas, by stark contrast, you are simply generalizing how you THINK leftists see things.
The irony of your comment is not lost on me, - joeleslie, on 10/29/2009, -0/+19http://zombiereagan2012.com/reagan_smash.gif
- gfrommer, on 10/29/2009, -3/+21So I didn't know who this Ed Meese character was until I wikipedia'd him. Ed Meese was President Reagan's attorney general. I had read a section in the wikipedia article that said:
U.S News & World Report: You criticize the Miranda ruling, which gives suspects the right to have a lawyer present before police questioning. Shouldn't people, who may be innocent, have such protection?
Meese: Suspects who are innocent of a crime should. But the thing is, you don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime. That's contradictory. If a person is innocent of a crime, then he is not a suspect.[14]
This guy is a HUGE douche. Yes, a HUGE douche. You can tell how much hate he has him his heart by the way he regards his fellow Americans. Why do people like Meese and Dick Cheney live on and on? Where is the grim reaper? ...... so ***** like Meese and Cheney get to live on but heros like Tim Russert and Pat Tillman kick out before their time.
All I'm saying is keep pushing the fatty foods Meese. -
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