Reagan's Legacy - How will he be remembered?

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar


Wrong

I think our military budget as a number is the largest in the world, as a percentage of GDP, several countries do spend more.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Did I mention that I'm part Cherokee?

I'm part Illini, but I refuse to use that as an excuse to pass up an off-color joke about Old Hickory...

BS! The Illini were wiped out by the Potowatamis in the 17th Century.

[Drake Tungsten]

Wait a minute. I'm confused about what exactly you're calling BS on...

[chequita guevara]

You being part Illini.

They may not even have existed. All we know about them comes from other nations who lived in the area and the Potowatomi who claimed to have wiped them out at a place now called Starved Rock.

[Drake Tungsten]

In reality, I don't know exactly what tribe I'm descended from; all I know is one of female ancestors a ways back was an Indian from Illinois. I didn't really feel the need to go into a description of my family history for an obvious joke, however, so I just put "Illini" for simplicity's sake. Sue me...

BTW, your claim that the Illini were wiped out in the 17th century seems to be bull****. The Illini were alive and kicking until the 19th century, according to this site.

[johncmcleod]

I suppose a few thousand in Central America dead outweighs the 3 billion saved every day of his presidency, as well as being responsible for the ending of that threat. If you can't make those trades, then your not leader material. You are definitely forum anonymous detractor for the sake of argument material, but not leader

How did Reagan save 3 billion? And for the thousands of lives he ruined in Latin American, that didn't save 3 billion people. It saved no lives, had nothing to do with any good. It is not justified.

Oh I forgot to include something. Reagan started the War on Drugs. This War on Drugs has done little to stop drug use in the US. He could've gone for the root of the problem and used policies that were aimed at getting Americans to stop using drugs, but he didn't. Instead he started an American policy of military aid to the Colombian government that continues to this day. The Colombians are given money, weapons, and their soldiers are trained by Americans. The Colombians use this to oppress the people. They are one of the most brutal nations in Latin America.

Ann Coulter is an idiot. If she knew anything about the democracy the right is supposedly protecting and the left supposedly destroying, she'd know that we have this little document called the constitution. In this little document the American people are granted the freedom of speech, and that means if we criticize the US we are not to be charged of treason and locked up in jail without being allowed access to a lawyer or a fair court.

Imran Siddiqui, we are not the protectors of freedom as our presidents suggest. I really don't need to repeat myself. My previous posts include plenty of examples where we destroyed freedom. The only time we go into a country, build it up and help the people, and install a legitimate, well-functioning democracy, is when the whole world is watching us, and the countries know how to run one and they demand one, and therefore we have to do it, for example Europe after world war 2.

If we are such great protectors of democracy that spread it throughout the world, feel free to actually list some factual examples.

Power corrupts. If few will go against a president if he does a certain action that is despicable, and this action will help Americans (businessmen), you cannot just trust that he will do the right thing.

[SlowwHand]

In other words, get a grip

Leaders Agree Reagan Changed the World
1 hour, 41 minutes ago


By JEFF WILSON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s friends and enemies agreed he changed the world. The popular, infectiously optimistic president reshaped the Republican Party in his conservative image and devoted most of his energy to the destruction of communism abroad. (Note: Too bad he didn't realize there were scum suckers within our own borders that should have their asses shipped out.)



Reagan, 93, died Saturday following a 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease (news - web sites).

Nancy Reagan and children Ron and Patti Davis were at the couple's Los Angeles home when Reagan died at 1 p.m. of pneumonia, as a complication of Alzheimer's, said Joanne Drake, who represents the family. Son Michael arrived a short time later, she said.

President Bush (news - web sites) on Sunday paid tribute to Reagan during a D-Day commemoration at Colleville-sur-Mer, France, that drew leaders from more than a dozen countries.

"Twenty summers ago, another American president came here to Normandy to pay tribute to the men of D-Day. He was a courageous man, himself, and a gallant leader in the cause of freedom. And today we honor the memory of Ronald Reagan," Bush said, prompting applause.

Reagan's body was expected to be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley and then flown to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. His funeral was expected to be at the National Cathedral. The body was to be returned to California for a sunset burial at his library.

Five years after leaving office, the nation's 40th president told the world in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. He said he had begun "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."

Although fiercely protective of Reagan's privacy, the former first lady let people know his mental condition had deteriorated terribly. Last month, she said: "Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him."

He lived longer than any U.S. president, spending his last decade in the shrouded seclusion wrought by his disease, tended by his wife, Nancy, whom he called Mommy, and the few closest to him. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (news - web sites) are the surviving ex-presidents.

George H.W. Bush, Reagan's vice president, told NBC, "I was honored to be at President Reagan's side for those eight years. I learned so much from him."

Bush said Reagan will be remembered for "his principled stand against totalitarianism, against communism."

The U.S. flag over the White House was lowered to half-staff within an hour of Reagan's passing, and there were moments of silence at ballparks and at the Belmont Stakes.

Reagan began his life in a four-room apartment over the general store in Tampico, Ill. Before he was elected president, Reagan racked up an impressive resume working first as a radio sports announcer, then as an actor and a two-term governor of California.

At 69, Reagan was the oldest man ever elected president when he was chosen on Nov. 4, 1980, by an unexpectedly large margin over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Near-tragedy struck on his 70th day as president. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after addressing labor leaders when a young drifter, John Hinckley, fired six shots at him. A bullet lodged an inch from Reagan's heart, but he recovered.

Over two terms, from 1981 to 1989, Reagan retooled the Republican Party in his conservative image, fixed his eye on the demise of the Soviet Union and Eastern European communism and tripled the national debt to $3 trillion in his single-minded competition with the other superpower.

His famed "Star Wars" program drew the Soviets into a costly arms race it couldn't afford. His 1987 declaration to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Berlin Wall — "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" — was the ultimate challenge of the Cold War.

Gorbachev on Sunday hailed Reagan as a great president and said he was distraught by news of his death, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Reagan was a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better, stop the nuclear race, start scrapping nuclear weapons, and arrange normal relations between our countries," Gorbachev said.

"I do not know how other statesmen would have acted at that moment, because the situation was too difficult. Reagan, whom many considered extremely rightist, dared to make these steps, and this is his most important deed," the former Soviet leader was quoted as saying.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Reagan "had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired."

In his second term, Reagan was dogged by revelations that he authorized secret arms sales to Iran while seeking Iranian aid to gain release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Some of the money was used to aid rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.

Despite the ensuing investigations, he left office in 1989 with the highest popularity rating of any retiring president in the history of modern-day public opinion polls. His populist brand of conservative politics still inspires the Republican Party.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; three children, Michael, from his first marriage and Patti Davis and Ron from his second. His oldest daughter, Maureen, from his first marriage, died in August 2001 at age 60 from cancer.

[johncmcleod]

(Note: Too bad he didn't realize there were scum suckers within our own borders that should have their asses shipped out.)

Are you a McCarthyist? I'm sorry, but I could've sworn that you said you supported democracy. In a democracy we usually don't take everyone that has a certain political ideology and ship them out of the country.

And for Taiwan, I forgot to address that. I am sure the thousands, perhaps millions of Taiwanese working in sweatshops for 30 cents an hour making clothes that cost 15 cents to make, that are sold in the US for 50 bucks, just LOVE America.

[chequita guevara]

Re: In other words, get a grip

Originally posted by SlowwHand
(Note: Too bad he didn't realize there were scum suckers within our own borders that should have their asses shipped out.)

It's interesting to note how tolerant right-wingers are.

[SlowwHand]

Think as you like. You have that right, under democracy.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Think as you like. You have that right, under democracy.

Not if some right-wingers had their way, though. You people are the reason I'm a commie.

[SlowwHand]

What I've done here is essentially set a bag of your own crap on fire, put it on your porch, and sat back watching while you stomped it.

Commies aren't known for their brightness.

[Drake Tungsten]

Ahh yes, communism, that bastion of free and open thought...

[Ming]

Now now folks.. let's get back on topic and leave the back biting somewhere else.

[East Street Trader]

When I saw the man I could just never shake the sense of him as a B movie actor.

Just as I cannot now see Governor Arnie without seeing a body builder.

Which is a bit of a comment on me, I guess.

Al least Reagan had [some prior experience. Nixon, as far as I could tell, spent an entire lifetime trying to win one election or another. Making films or pumping iron must give a better foundation than that.

But I do wish you guys could just find some people to elect who have experience in some more humdrum fields. Bringing up kids, say, or teaching them, or nursing or serving in a supermarket or anything at all that allows a little ordinary human development.