Simple poll: who was worse, Ronald Reagan or George W Bush?

[davleuv]

20. Hmm... That's a tough one.

On the one hand you've got Bush with Iraq, GITMO, the Patriot Act, NSA, ignoring warnings about Al Qaeda, which resulted in 9/11, and dropping the ball in Afghanistan. Plus you had a lack of response after Katrina, and leaking the identity of a CIA agent, I could go on, but won't. Aids relief to Africa was the only good thing he did.

On the other had you've got Saint Reagan who made deficit spending reckless deregulation, and greed fashionable, cut and ran after 240 Marines were killed in Lebanon and invaded Grenada to boost his poll numbers, then you had Iran Contra, supporting Apartheid, arming Saddam, ignoring AIDS, etc... The bright spot on his record was the summit meetings with Gorbachev.


Reagan's bright spot kind of outweighs Bush's because Reagan's good deed did CONTRIBUTE (not single handily end) to the end of a forty year Cold War. Reagan did however make Bush and the mess we know as the Modern GOP possible, and one can't really blame Bush entirely for all the bad things that went wrong on his watch. Clinton deserves some blame for 9/11 for not doing much after all the attacks abroad, and Reagan deserves some blame for 9/11 as well for funding and training Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and the economic mess was entirely bi partisan and again Reagan and Clinton deserve some blame for '08 as well.

I guess I'll give Dubya the honor of worst because I actually lived it (I was born in '93), but Rancid Ronnie is at a very close second. At least Reagan could speak well.