On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:04:32 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

The stunt of being a very popular president in spite of his obvious
shortcomings. In fact, he is the most admired president since JFK. Of course,
he is also high on the "least admired" list, but that only contains recent
presidents. It wouldn't surprise me if Reagan was still high on the "admired"
list 50 years from now. Whether he deserves it or not is another question - it
still would be impressive.

Good points. I have always struggled a bit with the Reagan legacy. I
believe it was in one of Louis Ruykeyser's (sp?) books that summed up
my problem. It all depends on whether you judge him on what he said
or what he did. I agreed with almost everything he said, but not much
of what he said was actually what he did. Government never got
smaller, the deficits never went away, and on and on. He was amazing
as the teflon President, because he received all the credit and none
of the blame. He would take credit for the tax cuts, and the
democrats took the heat for the deficits. When all that "fly now, pay
later" school of government spending stimulated the economy, he was
quick to take the credit, but again, the democrats were responsible
for the deficits, not him, although he never submitted a balanced
budget and the Congress never spent more than he requested.

That seems to have become the pattern in Washington. Take the credit
and blame the democrats, even when they don't control the White House
or the Congress. Pretty neat trick. If all else fails, go back and
blame the last democrat or even Jimmy Carter. It keeps the masses
happy.

I was thinking today as the nonstop Ronald Reagan worship continues
24/7 in the media how strange it is that there is essentially a media
blackout of the funerals of those who are dying daily in Iraq. Reagan
was 93 and had lived a full life. Those guys are 19 and 20, about the
age of my son. Something wrong about that.

I have to say that I was an admirer of Reagan's charisma and message,
but I am not ready to deify the guy. He did make a huge mark on the
political landscape, though. That can't be said for most politicians.

Anyway, I hope the media-fest ends soon. This makes those royal
weddings seem like a walk in the park


"Bobsprit" wrote in message
...
Reagan pulled off the biggest
"stunt" in recent American history, I'm surprised he isn't your hero.

Which stunt?
Hidden arms deals?
Fashionable racism?
Cuts to environmental projects?
Suppresion of AIDS research and info?
Yeah. some hero.

RB