Am I the only one puzzled by the blind worship of Ronald Reagan?

[glarius]

I seriously mean this. Why is he Saint Ronnie, the paragon of everything great, wise and wonderful?
It seems that even the Democrats won't say anything even remotely unflattering about him.
I remember when he first came to Canada to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau, he was met by a small demonstration on Parliament Hill holding up signs saying "Stop Acid Rain" and we all had a good laugh when he said that acid rain was caused by trees!
To me he seemed to be an amiable person, but certainly not a great president or the great saviour now being portrayed.
Have I missed something?:shrug:

P.S....I don't believe that he was responsible for ending the cold war either. As I remember it, communism came to an end in the U.S.S.R. of it's own failure. I remember at that time Gorbechev coming to Canada and touring our country, observing how democracy worked.

[Warpy]

1. Reagan was a slick, polished pitchman who could sell anything

and people just don't want to bring themselves to admit they got taken in by him.

Likely he'll always be revered because he made them feel so gosh darn warm and fuzzy while he was robbing them blind.

[peace frog]

21. He was an underrated actor

who could deliver a caring, upbeat, fatherly line that made the entire nation melt into a pool of warm 'n' fuzzy security.
It was Morning in America again, and America fell for it - hook, line and sinker.

[Warpy]

52. I thought he was an overrated actor

I always expected him to pull out a box of soap and try to sell it.

[peace frog]

55. On the big screen, sure

However, he was able to beguile an entire nation into believing he was the ultimate Father-Protector who would care for us all and restore our broken country to its former glory. Of course it was all an act but he was damned good at it, and it worked.

[joeybee12]

54. I think he was a bad actor, but it's the bad actors who

make good pitchmen.

[peace frog]

56. See my comment above

Totally agree.

[joeybee12]

60. Yeah, he was nothing more than a B character actor...

...but what he could project (and probably only project) was something many people found soothing.

[barb162]

67. Yes, he had a very sunny personality that just appealed to a lot of people.

[kentuck]

2. He brought them back from the depths of Watergate.

Their next "hero" will be the one that brings them back from George W Bush.

[lunatica]

29. And don't forget his heroics with the Iranian hostage situation

:sarcasm:

Not the hostages themselves of course, but the fact that he averted a fate worse than death. The fate of facing the truth about our foreign policies, especially in the Middle East. Luckily he threw the American Flag over that little spark before it grew to be a real conflagration. Good old American Patriotism (Hatriotism) won the day! Phew! That was close!

[TwilightGardener]

3. He had dementia while in office. So...no, you're not the only one.

Don't know how anyone can claim the brain-addled as their best and brightest, but that's Republicans for ya. (See also: Sarah Palin)

[Brickbat]

4. He stuck it to the unions, cut rich people's taxes, demonized the poor and restoked the false

patriotism that comes from worshipping symbols such as God, the flag and "America" as a beacon of whatever in a dark world. Some people get off on that kind of stuff.

[Zomby Woof]

5. Not only puzzled, but sickened and enraged

He was a missed abortion.

[meegbear]

6. Because he's exactly what they wanted ...

a symbol. The person isn't relevant, but the image is.

[Bitwit1234]

26. 100%correct

republicans had never had a president that had done anything. They had never had a president that had charisma. So when Reagan came along they attributed any and everything they could to him so they could have a president that could at least compete with democrats.

I am so sick of "tear down that wall"..well heck it was all but tore down when he made his "trip" around Germany. The only part left standing he was in front of....like Mission Accomplished in a flysuit...they wanted something to poopagander about.

[flakey_foont]

7. I never thought he was a good president

just did what his advisors told him....

like you, I am totally bewildered by the canonization of Reagan.......

[AllentownJake]

8. Ronald Reagan was the perfect Republican President

He was a shitty actor but a great pitchman for General Electric after his acting jobs dried up.

He was able to sell disastrous policies like he sold Washing Machines to the American people.

Why do they worhsip St. Ronnie, because he was able to sell people on policies that would mean their own destruction with a smile and still get decent approval ratings.

[CrispyQ]

42. Perfectly stated.

:thumbsup:

Americans were eager to embraced Reagan's message that Americans don't have to scale back their lifestyles & conserve - we're America after all & we don't do that. After that, 'supply side economics' was an easy sell.

[livetohike]

9. People were sucked in by the actor-in-chief

and his rugged-old west-cowboy-aw shucks act. My Dad always referred to him as that "B movie actor". Reagan told good stories while he was screwing everything up.

[Winterblues]

10. He is their one and only Hero

He won the Nation by a huge margin and that is something Republicans just can not duplicate. Reagan could sell snow to the Eskimos and do it with a smile.. Republicans have no one that can sell their message in such a manner. Rush is probably their best Salesman and his message is Hatred..It is hard for many to follow such a message..It is no wonder Republicans worship Reagan.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. It is called "cult of personality," and Reagan's cult survived his demise.

Reagan was the great triumph of Conservatism, just as Bush II "Reagan's Paul of Tarsus," who became the high priest that put Reagan's ideas into action. Because Reaganism went so badly under Bush, people are even more inclined to look back at that Golden Age when Government was evil, Greed was Good, and Reagan's aphorisms were new.

[YOY]

12. My favorite was that he "defeated he Soviet Union."

Only a true idiot beleives this.

Ask a Russian what defeated the Soviet Union. The answer will be: "The Soviet Union."

It was on it's way out due to it being run by a one-party system that could not adapt/adjust or handle reasonable discussion.

Ironically a "one-party system that could not adapt/adjust or handle reasonable discussion" is just what the Republicans want...or wanted up until recently.


Now it's just remembering the myth they created as if there was some substance behind it.

[gmoney]

57. you forgot "single-handedly" (eom)

[YOY]

68. With one ball tied behind his nutsack.

n.t.

[Autumn]

13. I am puzzled by blind worship of

ANY politician.

[Uben]

14. After Ford and Nixon.......

...I'm sure reagan appeared to be "sent from above" to most republicans.

[lunatica]

15. It's always been puzzling to me too, given the facts

He wasn't slick at all. He stumbled in his speeches very badly. He napped during simple photo ops with world leaders. Nancy would feed him his lines and it was caught on audio. I would cringe at his ketchup is a vegetable statements which were incredibly stupid. He ignored the AIDS problem until it became a pandemic and totally out of control. He invaded itty-bitty little Grenada where there were a mere handful of Cuban soldiers and called it a major win. His reaction to the worst attack on our military in Lebanon was to just leave and do nothing more instead of going after the terrorists.

But last I heard St. Ronnie is still dead, so he's obviously not Jesus.

[eShirl]

16. he was the worst one embarrassment after another president until Bush Jr.

I could not believe it when he got elected, could not believe it when he got reelected.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

45. The definitive book on Reagan - Sleepwalking Through History

excellent and thoughful Christmas gift for all your Republican relatives, especially the younger ones who have been sold this load of bs about Ronnie Raygun.

I never would have thought it conceivable that I could and would live through an even worse administration than Reagans' in my lifetime and yet I did with W.

[Caliman73]

59. He did way more than ignore AIDS

He made both AIDS and substance abuse, moral problems and basically with held funding for treatment which could have really prevented the devastation of AIDS. He expanded the "War on Drugs" and set the course for the abysmal failure it is today. He also de-institutionalized mental health programs, which on its face seems like a good thing, but in reality, unlike California's de-institutionalization program for Developmentally Disabled folks where there were robust services in place or started up, there was nothing for people with Psychiatric disabilities. They were kicked out of hospitals and treatment centers with nowhere to go but the streets.

What he did for his stupid followers is sell them the bullshit that America was great just as it was. He made it okay to stop trying to improve our lives as a society and focus only on enriching ourselves. Obviously the people at the top had a big head start and that is exactly what the Republicans counted on. Greed became acceptable and everyone except the wealthy saw a decline in their quality of life. The only ones who think Reagan was a good president are those who benefited from his policies, and the deluded idiots who think they can still become wealthy and get in on the action.

[whoneedstickets]

17. The Flag on your post says it all, you and anyone outside the US...

Can only wonder how American's were so enthralled by Reagan. Outsiders saw the man without the gauzy filter of nationalism.

[Ikonoklast]

18. It is a typical 'style over substance' Republican virtue they find compelling.

Look at Bush, there was nothing there, nothing at all, and the sheep fell for the 'cahboy' image once again.

Even though he was an East Coast old-money elite, born and bred.


Reagan did as he was told, by whomever was paying his bills at the time.

[treestar]

22. Bingo, this country is still so hooked on style over substance

No wonder it is faltering. Appearances are not everything, and incompetence abounds, with those who "appear" to be the best not actually always knowing much about what they are doing.

[raccoon]

35. I wonder if that's just human behavior, not just Americans, but people,

any country, any century.

"this country is still so hooked on style over substance"

[glarius]

40. I think you're right.....it's just people.

My country has a Conservative Prime Minister at present who fooled enough people into believing that he is a moderate person. With little tricks like playing the piano and singing Beattles songs, he has persuaded them that he is a warm, friendly and harmless guy they can trust. As a result, although he was elected with a minority government, he is coming up in the polls and could get a majority at the next election. If this happens I'm sure he would try to implement all his right-wing policies. I detest him and just pray that he will slip and reveal himself to be the bastard he really is.

[treestar]

48. That sounds worse than Bush and his guitar playing

[treestar]

49. I'm not sure

Maybe so. I have only visited, not lived in other countries. But when they elect a Prime Minister in Canada or England, do you get people saying a candidate does not "look like a prime minister?" Do they spend as much on slick political advertising? A subject for research.

[EFerrari]

53. People remember what they see (or are told they see)

a lot better than they remember what they hear, iirc.

[stanwyck]

27. Agree. Plus, the ultimate style over substance, Sarah Palin

this woman has absolutely nothing to offer the country other than her gung-ho smile and her feisty cheerleader attitude. Nothing. No ideas. No proven track record. No personal integrity. She is a pitchwoman for whatever the right wants to sell on a particular day.

[DrDan]

19. the GOP loves to have "heros" - look what they tried to do to Jessica Lynch and

Pat Tillman.

These guys love heroes - whether they are deserving or not.

Just part of their childish nature.

[AlinPA]

20. I always thought he was an asshole. nt

[barb162]

64. Because he was ! That was overlooked by those who adored him.

[BonnieJW]

23. I always thought he was a boob.

I was a stay at home mommy of three small children. When Ronnie took over, I had to go back to work part time. Then full time. Ronnie's dollars didn't trickle down to us.

[MineralMan]

24. A lot of the wingers who worship St. Ronnie

are too young to even remember him. They're worshiping a false God, someone who wasn't at all the way they "remember" him. Pointing that out to the wingers gets you nowhere.

Religions are like that.

[morgan2]

25. Reagan taught idiots

that it was ok to be selfish. It was ok to think of yourself as better than foreigners. It was ok for us to have a different set of standard for oneself than for others.

[Captain Hilts]

28. Or any other politician, for that matter. They'll all break your heart at some point. nt

[madamesilverspurs]

30. Way I figure it, he was packaged and presented

to be the public face of the White House. The real power rested in the veep, a scenario repeated with W's squat in the Oval Office. In essence, Poppy was in charge for 8 years while RR did his buck-and-wing; RR was an entertainment device, produced for the purpose of seducing attention away from the treasons of Iran-Contra forward. Replete with the faux patriotic fervor that still holds sway within his party, his canonization epitomizes the worst possibilities of advertising; implicit in making him sacrosanct is the 'permission' to do as his administration did without regard to consequences, always deflecting any devastation onto others. The irony of the rank idolatry seems to be completely lost on the party that claims to hold the religious moral force of the country. We can be thankful that their numbers are diminishing, but we dare not assume that they have been eradicated.

[Gold Metal Flake]

31. Some people prefer symbol over substance.

They would kill for a flag but ignore a constitution. The myth of Reagan will endure because of emotionalism over reason. We had steadfast royalists fighting the founders and we have them still.

[raccoon]

36. Great post. nt

[Initech]

32. Reaganomics is what's responsible for the current economic fuck up.

[HughBeaumont]

33. Recently read "Tear Down this Myth" . ..

. . . one sentence, and I'm paraphrasing here, came to light with me. The author was speaking in terms of the end of Reagan's presidency, after the market crash and his handlers were sort of scrambling to find legacy events, which were few and far between. This is when the myth-making machine started firing up. It went something along the lines of "after Nixon, Ford and Carter, the American people just could not bear the thought of yet another failed American presidency."

I think it's the idea that we want our leaders to be these paragons and not puppets. Democrats are unwilling supporters of this ideology, having been through the same thing with Clinton, the most successful presidency in terms of job creation in the past 45 years. Although Clinton did have positives occur on his watch, his support of deregulation and NAFTA seriously hurt the middle/working/poor classes even to this day.

Republicans want more than anything to win and to see their leaders as winners and champions of the lower classes, even though the exact opposite happens when they get elected. They need myths in absence of accomplishments. Witness the unbelievably silly idea, for instance, of George W Bush, a guy who's had everything handed to him throughout his entire life, as a motivational speaker. It's legacy building and mythmaking at it's ugliest and we're seeing the makings of it yet again. Just like with Reagan, they'll steadfastly refuse to believe that Bewsh was anything less than the "fighter that kept us safe from terr'ism."

[raccoon]

37. Great post. nt

[damntexdem]

34. Hey, I've been puzzled by that for nearly three decades.

I guess he had charisma, but he never affected me that way.

[raccoon]

38. No, you're not. See also,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6865352&mesg_id=6865352

[PatSeg]

39. I've often wondered about that myself

I remember the years he was in office and I don't remember any hero worship then. The mystique must have developed gradually over the years. I guess the farther we get from reality, the easier it is to reshape that reality.

I remember him being the brunt of many jokes and those closest to him didn't seem to respect him. The Reagan that conservatives recall wistfully is a creation in their own minds.

[Greyhound]

41. Americans prize their mythic delusions above all.

We always have.

Horatio Alger wrote bad fiction, but it was made into the myth of "The American Dream". We rampaged through the Caribbean, South and Central America, murdering and looting entire countries in the name of "supporting business", and we all agreed that it was not really plundering, merely "spreading freedom". We've toppled democratic governments to install our dictators, manipulated currencies and natural resources, caused the deaths of untold millions around the globe, but believe ourselves to be "good guys".

And through all of this our PR machine has sold the world on how we're really good people if a little simple and a little naive, just like we sold Raygun's reign of terror to ourselves.

[juno jones]

62. We are still trapped by Alger. :( n/t

[LeftishBrit]

43. I'm as puzzled as you are.

I remember him as a dangerous fool. Shared 'sado-monetarist' economic policy with Maggie Thatcher; supporter of some nasty dictators; helped to build up the forerunners of the Taliban; etc., etc. Also known for his verbal slips and general all-round muddle-headedness. His best quality was perhaps laziness; unlike Maggie, he spent quite a lot of time sleeping and resting from his labours in the cause of messing up the world.

As regards the end of the Cold War, this had more to do IIRC with the USSR bankrupting itself with huge arms race spending and general inefficiency, and the fortunate coincidence that when all the chickens came home to roost, they for once had an intelligent and competent leader, rather than one whose instinct would have been to start a war. If people like Gorbachev had been in charge from much earlier, perhaps the USSR would have evolved rather than imploding (and of course,if they hadn't had Stalin in particular, millions of people wouldn't have been killed).

[LeftishBrit]

44. There's an interesting chapter in Oliver Sacks' 'Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat'

about neurological patients' reactions to a Reagan speech on TV. Those with language disorders (aphasia) could only watch his gestures and not understand his speech - they found the gestures ridiculous and roared with laughter as though they were watching a clown. One patient on the other hand had normal language but could not visually process his nonverbal communication; she came to a similar conclusion from the opposite direction, saying that his speech was 'not cogent' and that he must be either lying or brain-damaged. It seemed that his acting skills combined verbal and nonverbal communication in an expert way that deceived many people; those who were impaired in perceiving one or other type of communication were less vulnerable to the (conscious or unconscious) deception!

[Ikonoklast]

58. This *is* pretty funny.

[EC]

46. Sure did a lot about the spreading of AIDS

....:sarcasm:

yeah...


he helped it spread with mis-information...year after year, after year....:sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

47. i live at ground zero of all things reagan....

my dad knew reagan and worked for his dad and brother.

[Berry Cool]

50. Reagan never fooled me. I was always dumbfounded by why he fooled so many others

until I realized they were looking only at his image and not who he really was.

As Keith Olbermann likes to say: "Ronald Reagan is dead--and he was a lousy president!"

[barb162]

65. He never fooled me either. Did you ever ask people who liked him

why they liked him so much? They couldn't ever really give an answer. At least the ones I asked.

[KamaAina]

51. Reagan: The Great Prevaricator

:P

[juno jones]

61. I was puzzled by it 30 years ago.

Used to get in regular arguements about it with classmates from college back in the 80's. Seems it's taken almost thirty years for those I argued with to feel the effects thamselves. He was a bastard, but he was successful bastard; And like all good con men he is out of jurisdiction by the time you discover the con...

[barb162]

63. Sometimes I don't understand it, but then again it was a personality thing

and a lot of people just loved him.

[tanyev]

66. They call him Ronaldus Magnus.

I think a "Doofus" at the end of that would be most appropriate.

[ismnotwasm]

69. Of course not

He was an asshole, and in the extremely remote possibility of an after life, I'm sure he's still an asshole somewhere. His detrimental effects on the US can still be felt today. Why anyone reveres him is some sort of strange denial of what he actually was.

[gkhouston]

70. They're pushing him again now in an attempt to distract us from the disintegration

of the Republican party. He was peddling bullshit then, and the media is peddling bullshit now. They like pretty stories. Who cares if they're true?