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erpowers

(9,446 posts)

54. Amazing How Uninformed Politicans Can Be About Political Issues

Mon Dec 28, 2015, 03:50 PM

Dec 2015

I am reading American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and A Nation's Drive to End Welfare, which is obviously about welfare reform. The book claims Newt Gingrich, who became Speaker of the House and lead the Republican charge to end welfare, knew very little about AFDC and had never been on the Ways and Means Committee. Ron Haskins, a Republican aide working to end AFDC was quoted as saying, "We had a million Freshman who could not spell AFDC." On the Democratic side, there were a number of welfare supporters who had never been to a welfare office. Some of the people who joined the Bill Clinton White House, to help reshape welfare visited a welfare office for the first time after they joined the Clinton Administration.

It seem you do not have to know very much in order to be a elected politician. You just have to figure out how to get elected.

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Behind the Ronald Reagan myth: �No one had ever entered the White House so grossly ill informed� [View all] applegrove Dec 2015 OP

I'm willing to believe the claim. saltpoint Dec 2015 #1

He left the Marines in Lebanon totally unprotected. Kingofalldems Dec 2015 #2

He was an idiot for the idiots CanonRay Dec 2015 #3

"idiot for the idiots" seems like an eternal winning strategy for republican candidates. pampango Dec 2015 #36

Then he got shot and what brains he had were fried. Octafish Dec 2015 #4

I noticed a big change in him after he was shot. LuvNewcastle Dec 2015 #16

Poppy Rode to the Rescue Octafish Dec 2015 #46

And therein lays our real problem. The bush criminal family. jwirr Dec 2015 #48

Like the coverup after Woodrow Wilson's debilitating stroke, when his wife and an aide tblue37 Dec 2015 #26

Funny how that works. Octafish Dec 2015 #45

You've got that right. LuvNewcastle Dec 2015 #57

H. Clinton admired Reagan and she liked many of his policies. rhett o rick Dec 2015 #5

Barack Obama too. Nye Bevan Dec 2015 #29

Is that not a valid statement? rufus dog Dec 2015 #34

That's all he ever was: a B-grade actor playing a role. Lizzie Poppet Dec 2015 #6

He was an actor. That was it. TwilightGardener Dec 2015 #7

Reagan was a mean venal meat-puppet even before his mind failed. hunter Dec 2015 #8

It cracks me up when comments are made regarding Reagan not being conservative enough rufus dog Dec 2015 #35

I think Republicans prefer puppets in charge. Kalidurga Dec 2015 #9

Of course they prefer puppets. The billionaires each took his jwirr Dec 2015 #51

And Republicans might be more expensive... Kalidurga Dec 2015 #56

I was fearful of his presidency long before he won Jarqui Dec 2015 #10

Great summation. Basic LA Dec 2015 #32

Everything the WH did for Reagan, it did for GW bush. dixiegrrrrl Dec 2015 #33

A lot of people have said Vice President George HW Bush was running things.... Spitfire of ATJ Dec 2015 #11

Ronald Reagan was known long before he became President as a man "of limited ability" BlueJazz Dec 2015 #12

I interviewed a couple of people who worked in the Reagan white house Sen. Walter Sobchak Dec 2015 #13

Some very close friends always post St. Ronnie memes on Facebook I should share this! rustydog Dec 2015 #14

The fact that so many voters... 3catwoman3 Dec 2015 #15

^ ^ ^ THIS! ^ ^ ^ lastlib Dec 2015 #19

The media played him in the best light Johonny Dec 2015 #50

test snooper2 Dec 2015 #17

I'm actually glad Reagan was disengaged as president. Snobblevitch Dec 2015 #18

Can't help but be reminded of this SNL skit... FailureToCommunicate Dec 2015 #20

Reagan was a puppet. jalan48 Dec 2015 #21

He was basically Scott Walker with better public speaking skills. n/t Still In Wisconsin Dec 2015 #22

I remember a headline, still have the clipping somewhere, it reads, "Reagan Went To Bed Unaware". Mnemosyne Dec 2015 #23

My mother briefly dated RR. My grandmother once told me she disapproved. "Ronnie was a nice boy," tblue37 Dec 2015 #24

BTW, Do you remember the book about him called "The Clothes Have No Emperor"? nt tblue37 Dec 2015 #25

Great History. Octafish Dec 2015 #43

Smart grandmother. Around the same time RR tried to applegrove Dec 2015 #28

There are many good responses to the linked article. 3catwoman3 Dec 2015 #27

And then came GW ...... n/t Lil Missy Dec 2015 #30

This is what a Palin Presidency would have been like TransitJohn Dec 2015 #31

Reagan was playing a role, not being POTUS. Vinca Dec 2015 #37

I've never understood how he's "The Great Communicator" Orrex Dec 2015 #38

And On This Subject. . . ProfessorGAC Dec 2015 #39

But this will never enter the calcified skulls of the many brainwashed... kentuck Dec 2015 #40

The image of him I remember IDemo Dec 2015 #41

Wikipedia has some awesome quotes regarding his idiocy . . . . HughBeaumont Dec 2015 #42

Not to mention, with such advanced dementia. He was hopeless by the time he walked in. L. Coyote Dec 2015 #44

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." - RR, 1981 n/t moondust Dec 2015 #47

The GOPukers worship Reagan because he was one of them...a man devoid of a brain. Rex Dec 2015 #49

And the media still tries to spin him as "one of our greatest presidents!!!!" LongTomH Dec 2015 #52

I'm reading Perlstein's "Invisible Bridge" now gratuitous Dec 2015 #53

Amazing How Uninformed Politicans Can Be About Political Issues erpowers Dec 2015 #54

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire Tierra_y_Libertad Dec 2015 #55

Well SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!!! Looks like Grover Norquist and Rove got to Salon!! HughBeaumont Dec 2015 #58

It's astonishing the mythology that has developed around Reagan. He was dumb--not even a good actor mnhtnbb Dec 2015 #59