Under Reagan, the R's did not achieve control of both Houses of Congress.

[TacticalPeek]

Or am I just a dreamer?

According to Mr. Potatohead (Tim Russert) on Larry King tonight:


But overall, Larry, I think that there will be a sense that he was a very strong president. A very strong leader. And that there were many people who will come forward, I think, and attest to that from both political perspectives.

But I think the record must be complete. I think the record must be complete. There will be discussion of Iran-Contra, discussing of supply side, and I think there will also be talk about the disenfranchisement of Americans who felt that they did not participate in the economic growth.

One other political point, the Republicans achieved control of the United States Congress for the first time in 70 years, of both houses, under Ronald Reagan.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0406/10/lkl.00.html



I know that has to be Timmie's dream, not mine:


O'NEILL, Thomas Phillip, Jr. (Tip) Speaker of the House of Representatives (Ninety-fifth through Ninety-ninth Congresses)

FOLEY, Thomas Stephen - Speaker of the House of Representatives (One Hundred First through One Hundred Third Congresses)

http://www.virtualology.com/virtualmuseumofhistory/hallofrhetoric/deliberativecommunication/usspeakerofthehouse

Am I right? I guess Russert has some wiggle room if you consider "Reagan" in the macro sense, under which I have still been oppressed for most of the last week.

[Art_from_Ark]

1. Technically speaking, the Democrats were the majority

in the House all through the raygun years. However, from a practical standpoint, there were lots of "boll weevil"democrats (of the Zell Miller variety) in the House who sided with raygun to give the repugs a coalition of sorts on a lot of issues.

"Reagan's people shoved his program through the Congress during the early Reagan years. James A. Baker, David Stockman and other Reaganites ran roughshod over Tip O'Neill and the divided Democrats in the House and Senate, and won every critical vote. This is because of the GOP majority in the Senate and the GOP-"Boll Weevil" (or "Dixiecrat") coalition in the House. Phil Gramm was a House Democrat at the time, and he even sponsored the most important Reagan budgets."

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020319Hersh.html

[T Town Jake]

2. Yep...

The GOP did control the Senate from 1981 thru '86, but the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for the duration of Reagan's term. And we got the Senate back in 1987. Just one more example of Russert's constant pud-slumming for the GOP.

[freetobegay]

3. Larry King didn't call him on it?

[TacticalPeek]

4. Larry has largely phoned it in for years now, unfortunately.

And the "70 years" takes the air out of the boll weevil/blue dog interpretation. Russert's just a bullshit artist. I doubt if many pro 'journalists' even caught it. If anybody's even watching. I've been avoiding the Reagan week on tv as much as possible, but every now and then I click by something like this and just stare, like at roadkill.

[TacticalPeek]

5. Kick.

[EdGy]

6. Repubs didn't get both houses until the DLC was fully in control of

Democratic party strategies, in 1994.