whos ur favorite presdent (unemployment, Palestinian, generation, Mossad)

[travelmate38]

Originally Posted by saganista

Fortunately, Reagan had very little effect on world history. Europe never did see him as much more than an overblown cowboy, and Latin America did manage to survive his brutal adventurism there. The symbolism of the Beirut withdrawal has had an impact on some, but even that is overrated. And there are also the downers of his silence on AIDS and his chumminess with Saddam and the Mujahadeen to consider. In essence, there was nothing on the foreign policy side that would tend to offset his various failures on the domestic front. He'll be lucky to run in the C/C+ range in history, and that primarily on the basis of his acting skills.

Hmm, little affect on world history you say? The middle east feared him. Feared him so badly, the day it was realized he would be president, Iran realised the hostages. The great German wall ring a bell? End of communism in the USSR, ring a bell? Lybia, ring a bell? Shall I go on? Domestic? Enjoy the strong economy and growth we have had for about 25 years now in America? Reagan got it all rolling. As for Aids? Don't want Aids, don't get it, it really is that simple Always been my stance on it. Other then the very small percentage of babies born with it and rape vicitms, the other 99% get it from being really, really stupid.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by Fleet

He is well-liked by many Europeans. Those in Poland certainly like him (wonder why?).

I understand that Bush is quite popular in Albania also. The fact remains that Reagan was viewed with considerable skepticism in Europe and left no legacy of remark that is based on his accomplishment there.

Originally Posted by Fleet

According to the Congressional Research Service, federal spending on HIV/AIDS began at $8 million in fiscal year 1982. By the time Reagan left office, the fiscal 1989 budget contained $2.322 billion for HIV/AIDS. Overall, between fiscal years 1982 and 1989, the Reagan Administration spent $5.727 billion on HIV/AIDS. The average annual increase in HIV/AIDS funding over this period was 128.92%. That doesn't sound like much of a "silence" to me!

Blind as ever to reality when it doesn't comport well with dogma...

Reagan's AIDS Legacy (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/08/EDG777163F1.DTL - broken link)
The Truth About Reagan and AIDS (broken link)
Reagan's AIDSGATE
Ronald Reagan and AIDS

As Reagan was to demonstrate wirh respect to AIDS, appropriation does not equal expenditure.

Originally Posted by Fleet

Saddam came into power in 1979. It was Democrat President Jimmy Carter who normalized relations with Saddam.

And how many WMD's did Carter give him?

Originally Posted by Fleet

One of the reasons why Saddam was tolerated was because the entire Middle East region would have been destabilized by the power vacuum that would have been created by Saddam's removal.

Thank goodness W saw right through that sham.

Originally Posted by Fleet

More like a solid B range, if not higher.

As personal memories of his on-screen persona fade, and his reputation is forced to stand on his words and deeds alone, Reagan's standing will slowly sink like a pearl dropped into a bottle of luxurious Prell. Slowly, but inexorably downward...until it reaches the bottom. The failures of Reaganomics, the silence on AIDS, the destruction of the social safety net, the glorification of the Religious Right, the wanton criminality of Iran/Contra...these are what comprise the historical legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan...

[baystater]

George Washington. He easily could have been KING of the United States but turn away that idea. A true patriot for the cause of democracy. Also Washington was a visionary enough to see what foreign entanglements and political parties would do to the American democracy. Unfortunately nobody decided to heed this words.

[sanrene]

I understand that Bush is quite popular in Albania also. The fact remains that Reagan was viewed with considerable skepticism in Europe and left no legacy of remark that is based on his accomplishment there.

What "fact" would that be? Reagan was extremely popular and credited with ending the cold war, along with Thatcher and others. Do you get your info from the same place that said the president writes the budgets? Just curious.

The failures of Reaganomics, the silence on AIDS, the destruction of the social safety net, the glorification of the Religious Right, the wanton criminality of Iran/Contra...these are what comprise the historical legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan...

Reagan got the economic steamroller that is the U.S. economy rolling after the dismal, horrific failures of Carter. The social safety net? Still in place as far as I can see. Republican presidents have done more to fight aids than any other. Iran/Contra - piffft. supporting democracy.

FACT is, Reagan was extremely respected and loved.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by sanrene

What "fact" would that be? Reagan was extremely popular and credited with ending the cold war...

The only group of people in the world who credit Reagan with ending the Cold War are US right-wingers. They are also very nearly the only group among whom Reagan was extremely popular.

Originally Posted by sanrene

Do you get your info from the same place that said the president writes the budgets? Just curious.

Just advertising your own continued ignorance. It is the President and his economic aides and advisers who write the Budget of the US Government. Protest to the contrary all you like...it won't change the fact, one that many grade-schoolers are already quite familiar with.

Originally Posted by sanrene

Reagan got the economic steamroller that is the U.S. economy rolling after the dismal, horrific failures of Carter.

Carter's only economic failure was to be in the White House when the Arab Oil Embargo came along. Reagan meanwhile proceeded to plunge us into 18 months of depression that it took four years and four major tax increases to recover from. Voodoo economics would have worked better than what Reagan tried at first. I will give him credit for eventually changing course, however. He finally did realize that this supply-side stuff wasn't working any better than what critics had said it would prior to his inauguration. He then fired all of those guys, cancelled the final third of the tax cuts, and enacted tax increases in each of 1983-86. Things did go better after that.

Originally Posted by sanrene

The social safety net? Still in place as far as I can see. Republican presidents have done more to fight aids than any other. Iran/Contra - piffft. supporting democracy.

Postcards from Fantasyland and nothing more.

Originally Posted by sanrene

FACT is, Reagan was extremely respected and loved.

So is bin Laden amongst his own misguided loyalists. Reagan was a very bad President who did much more harm than good. That his extremely poor record has been eclipsed by the wanton disasters of W does not in any way serve as an excusification of Reagan's very serious shortcomings...

[Adrian71]

Historically: Thomas Jefferson.
In my lifetime (Nixon onward): Ronald Reagan.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by saganista

I understand that Bush is quite popular in Albania also. The fact remains that Reagan was viewed with considerable skepticism in Europe and left no legacy of remark that is based on his accomplishment there.

Many in Europe would disagree with you.

Blind as ever to reality when it doesn't comport well with dogma...

Reagan's AIDS Legacy (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/08/EDG777163F1.DTL - broken link)
The Truth About Reagan and AIDS (broken link)
Reagan's AIDSGATE
Ronald Reagan and AIDS

As Reagan was to demonstrate wirh respect to AIDS, appropriation does not equal expenditure.

Blindly posting those biased sites isn't exactly helping your case, nor will it change the facts I posted.

And how many WMD's did Carter give him?

None. And neither did Reagan. The U.S. never gave Saddam/Iraq WMD.

Thank goodness W saw right through that sham.

Saddam's ties with al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations was mainly in the '90s and later.

As personal memories of his on-screen persona fade, and his reputation is forced to stand on his words and deeds alone, Reagan's standing will slowly sink like a pearl dropped into a bottle of luxurious Prell. Slowly, but inexorably downward...until it reaches the bottom. The failures of Reaganomics, the silence on AIDS, the destruction of the social safety net, the glorification of the Religious Right, the wanton criminality of Iran/Contra...these are what comprise the historical legacy of Ronald Wilson Reagan

Failure of Reaganomics? LOL! The most prosperous decade the U.S. had enjoyed since the 1940s was a "failure?" LOL!!!
Regarding AIDS (which I already posted facts on), the social safety net, Iran/Contra, etc, only the anti-Reagan people are ignorant to the truth. You are obviously an anti-Reagan person who will never give him credit for anything, even though Carter and Clinton (among others) pale in comparison to Ronald Reagan.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by saganista

The only group of people in the world who credit Reagan with ending the Cold War are US right-wingers. They are also very nearly the only group among whom Reagan was extremely popular.

No, the only group of people who credit Reagan in helping end the Cold War (not soley ending it) are those who know their history.

Carter's only economic failure was to be in the White House when the Arab Oil Embargo came along. Reagan meanwhile proceeded to plunge us into 18 months of depression that it took four years and four major tax increases to recover from.

No one here is going to take you seriously until you (finally) realize that it was a recession, not a depression.

So is bin Laden amongst his own misguided loyalists. Reagan was a very bad President who did much more harm than good. That his extremely poor record has been eclipsed by the wanton disasters of W does not in any way serve as an excusification of Reagan's very serious shortcomings

Reagan was a very good President to the non-ignorant, non-Reagan haters who (again) know their history.

[boiseguy]

the first one was the best... someone had to start the ball rolling... too bad its been downhill since then.. :P

[TKramar]

Reagan made deals with BOTH Iran and Iraq...with Iran to get the hostages back, and with Iraq...because he didn't much like making deals with Iran--even though it helped his reputation. Imagine how different it would have been for Carter had the hostages been returned BEFORE the election?

Reagan outspent either of the Democrats on either side of him...yet he's a conservative? Reagan also suffered from Alzheimer's...and there's indication that he really didn't know what the heck was going on around him most of the time.