Did you know, I ALMOST voted for Reagan?!

[AmyStrange]

-

Yeah, I know, but I was still a young pup, hanging around with the Moonies down in South Carolina, and I actually saw him speak live. I got really close, because the Moonies are big-time republican fans (I think they still own the Washington Times), and I thought what he said at the time made sense. He WAS charismatic.

That night I thought about it (critically analyzed everything) and realized that he was a lying sack of shit.

Trickle down economy my ass!!

Hell, trickle up is what it should be.

Needless to say, I haven't really cared much for repubs ever since, but I do still like watching Jackie Gleason on the old Honeymooners show.

I don't let politics decide who or what entertains me, unless it's an overtly political message of hate.

T***P was a political message of hate.
============

[Wounded Bear]

1. Was never tempted by Reagan, or any other repub since then...

I did vote for Nixon, though.

[AmyStrange]

3. Thank God, I never had that chance...

-

I wasn't 18 until Jimmy. Best vote I ever made (until this one), and the best President too, until now.

I wavered back and forth until Reagan, and that guy set me on the right course.
==========

[Wounded Bear]

6. I was in the Corps by then, and he just got us a big raise...

[AmyStrange]

14. He wasn't called Tricky Dicky for nothing...

-


===========

[Just_Vote_Dem]

2. Jackie was a Repub?

Oh man, he was my hero growing up AAAARGH...oh well, no one's perfect

[AmyStrange]

5. When my grandfather found out, he said he NOW hated him...

-

I never could understand THAT logic. The guy was still funny. What changed?
===========

[Just_Vote_Dem]

8. I hear you

I'll never stop believing he was one of the absolute greats

[AmyStrange]

16. He was...

-

even when he played the straight man...

========

[Just_Vote_Dem]

17. Thanks for the memory with that clip!

When I was a kid my mom took me to see Frank Fontaine at Lincoln Park in North Dartmouth, MA. He did Crazy Guggenheim and sang.

I do have one story about Jackie-
A relative of mine worked at the Fountainebleau hotel in Miami in the 60's and 70's, and was asked to go to a room to fix a light, I think. He gets to the room and starts working, and Jackie came out of another room and told him, "Hey pal-GET OUT!" My relative actually cracked up because it sounded just like he did on TV. Apparently some else must have called for service because Jackie had no idea why this guy was in his hotel room. My relative loved telling that story to everyone he knew.

[AmyStrange]

18. "Hey pal - GET OUT!"

-

Pure Jackie and thanks for sharing!
==========

[Midnight Writer]

19. A Republican in the Sixties was not the same as a Republican today. They had a liberal wing.

[electric_blue68]

20. I remember that here in NYC as a tween, then teen...

who was politically alert then active.

The only two Liberal Republicans I ever volunteered for
because the two Dems we're too socially conservative for me were -
Mayor John V Lindsey
Rep Candidate Charles Goodell (yeah, father of
that Goodell)

I was 16, and then 17.

I never voted for a Republican once I could vote a year later, then the year after for my first Presidential Election Nixon v McGovern.

[apcalc]

4. Years ago ( and I do mean YEARS ago)

We had a few really decent Republican leaders in Pa. I count among them Bill Scranton and Richard Thornberg.
I thought ( briefly!) about becoming a Republican.

Then Nixon came along.

Though I liked Gerald ( and Betty Ford) I never forgave him when he pardoned Nixon.

That ended that.

[AmyStrange]

7. Yeah, fuck Nixon...

-

I joined the Air Force when I was 17 to avoid the draft, and then he started pulling people out of Vietnam.

He's also the asshole who started scheduling drugs, and despite his own researchers telling him not to, he still put pot as a schedule 1 drug, including hemp!!
========

[Just_Vote_Dem]

11. Yep, in Massachusetts we had Ed Brooke

As I remember, he was not bad at all. But most Northeast Republicans were fairly reasonable in those days

[AmyStrange]

15. I'm from New England, and you're right...

-

repubs tend to be more democratic in their thinking there.

Rhode Island is crazy with them.
===========

[Montauk6]

9. Don't feel bad, I DID vote for him...

It was my first prez election, and I was well "radicalized" by the social media of the time: AM talk radio.

I've come a long way, baby, and I don't even smoke.

[AmyStrange]

12. It impresses me when anyone is able to change their minds...

-

To me, it's a sign of intelligence, and also one of the major reasons I cry at movies when someone realizes how wrong they were about something.

People don't do enough of that, myself included.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.
==========

[catbyte]

10. After watching "Bedtime for Bonzo," I knew Reagan would be a clusterfuck. I was right.

[AmyStrange]

13. Heh heh heh

Last edited Sat Feb 13, 2021, 12:22 PM - Edit history (1)

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Yes you were!



==========

[Mr.Bill]

21. After watching Reagan be Governor of my state, I knew he was a horror show.

My mom and dad were solid Democrats. They were not particularly well educated. Just solid blue collar folks. My dad was a mechanic at United Airlines. The union sent out a news letter every month, and at election time they would recommend how to vote. Usually a straight Democratic ticket. And that's how my parents voted.

Airline employees at that time got substantial discounts on flying. President Carter, according to the union, was for taxing those discounts as income. This, of course, would cost an airline employee who did much flying a lot of money. Whether this would ever happen was anybody's guess at the time, but the union thought it would. It never did.

The union recommended that the members vote for Reagan, and my dad did. He regretted it for the rest of his life. And that is one of the ways Reagan got elected.

[catbyte]

22. Yeah, he fooled a lot of people because he was "a union member." BFD. So what does he do?

Destroys PATCO and is now known as one of the biggest union-busters ever.

[LeftInTX]

24. I thought he quit the union in the late 40s?

[Mr.Bill]

25. Actually I think at one time

he was a union president.

[lunatica]

23. I sure didn't!

But then I was probably older than you and saw right through him wrapping himself in the flag and his jingoism.

If he were alive and running against Trump he would have gotten all The Trump humpers. He made a deal with the Iranians to release the hostages on his Inauguration Day, deliberately making Carter look weak. It still makes me sick thinking about it. This country had a chance to become a little better, a little humble and instead Reagan took us back into our infantile militaristic jingoism.

So we’re getting another chance now. May the Biden/Harris Administration move us into being a better country.