Is Reagan the best that the repugs can do?

[Motley13]

They don't even mention Lincoln, too ashamed I guess

Compare this to Benghazi

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2004-06-10/news/0406100207_1_ronald-reagan-biggest-deficits-reagan-years

[milestogo]

1. Reagan was the least harmful Republican president

in recent memory. Maybe Ford wasn't so bad, but he was unremarkable and unmemorable.

[Skittles]

2. I absolutely disagree

Reagan made greed and idiocy fashionable; American still feels the fallout of Reagan

[Sherman A1]

5. I really have to disagree with you there

I think Ronald Reagan was one of the most harmful Presidents we have ever had.

[demosincebirth]

8. I am with you! I think he was just a figurehead and really didn't know what was going

on around him...like Iran-Contra, which was a payback for the release of the U.S. hostages after he took office

[relayerbob]

6. No, he started the mess.

We're paying the price now.

The real issue is that they have to go back to Ike to find a rational, non-criminal leader

[Aristus]

10. I must add my respectful disagreement to the roster above.

Of all the many, many harmful things Reagan did (cutting taxes while increasing spending started the slide into multi-trillion-dollar debt that we live with today - just one example), slashing funding for state-run mental hospitals had enormous consequences for people who had nowhere else to go.

Around 1982, Reagan's budget request eliminated almost all Federal subsidies for state-run mental institutions. Even some of the wealthier states, like California and Massachusetts, were hit hard. But for the less wealthy states, it was catastrophic. However well or poorly-run these mental hospitals were, they were at least able to provide some important basics for their patients: a roof over their heads, food, and enough medication to keep them tethered to the planet.

When the Federal funding dried up, many of these facilities had to close. Patients with families at least had a place to go, but patients without family, friends, or other loved ones had no place to go but the street. In the ensuing months, the national homeless population soared. Asked to comment about the sudden, seemingly inexplicable increase in the homeless, Reagan replied: "The homeless are that way because, well, I guess because they choose to be."

There are many reasons why Reagan should be burning in Hell, but for me, this one tops the list.

[Calculating]

13. God no

Reagan was a nightmare for our country. The separation of productivity vs income started with his trickle down economic policy. He also revved up the war on drugs big time.

[edhopper]

15. are you out of your fucking mind!

from the attack on unions and wages to uncontrolled military spending to dangerous deregulation to the undead idea of trickle down economics all can be laid at Reagan's feet. A very large part of our countries present woes started with Reagan

His Presidency was a disaster for our country.

[X_Digger]

16. Tell that to public unions who have Reagan to blame.. n/t

[milestogo]

17. I didn't say he wasn't harmful - I said he was the least harmful.

George W Bush and Poppy were a lot worse.

[jmowreader]

18. Which means the other four were serious dirtballs

Reagan was an absolute disaster. Unfortunately, the two Bushes and Nixon were even worse.

[Lefthacker]

3. When was

The last time the R's had a intellectually capable president? I really can't think of any. Meanwhile, we on the other hand have had JFK, Bill, Obama. Quite telling.

[Wounded Bear]

9. That would be Eisenhower...

He was intellectually together enough to lead the Allied coalition against Germany in WWII.

He could have run as a Democrat. I kind of wish he would have.

[Different Drummer]

14. Meanwhile, we on the other hand have had JFK, Bill, Obama.

Don't forget Jimmy Carter. A very intelligent man, he is!

[bulloney]

4. Republicans were associated with the Great Depression and Watergate.

During the 80s, the media and other Republican-supporting parties decided to fabricate Reagan's presidency into this star-spangled iconic example of conservative policies. The realities of Reagan's presidency is a polar opposite of what the RW propagandists want you to believe:

Under Reagan:

The national debt tripled

Record tax hikes

Record budget and trade deficits

The U.S. went from world's largest creditor nation to largest debtor nation

We had 11 tax hikes, compared to 4 tax cuts

Government grew by 9%

Annual job creation was higher under Jimmy Carter

We did not transform back into a military power under Reagan - Remember the 1983 terrorist attack at Beirut that resulted in more than 240 American deaths? And the Repubs keep banging the Benghazi drums and the four deaths that resulted from that attack.

The propagandists had to hang their hat on SOMEBODY to curtail their image of an economic disaster and scandal-driven party. So, they took a page out of Weekend at Bernie's and propped up this B-actor who wouldn't know when to take a crap without reading a cue card.

Unfortunately, it's worked for 30 years.

[catbyte]

7. I absolutely disagree!!!

Reagan was the most destructive president in my lifetime, even worse than Shrub. If there hadn't been a Reagan, there wouldn't have been a Shrub. Reagan started the destruction of the middle-class, the demonization of unions, allowed AIDS to gain a lethal foothold by refusing to fund critical research and not even uttering the word "AIDS" until 1986, and, worst of all, kowtowed to the Religious Right--the likes of Jerry Falwell & The Moral Majority--when before Reagan they had no political clout whatsoever. I call him "The Happy Horror.

[Motley13]

11. I always called him the acting president

a role worse than "Weekend for Bonzo"

plus, it took a long time to realize he had Alzheimers, it was so obvious

[Stargleamer]

12. 261 Marines lost their lives in Beirut, 4 Americans were killed in Benghazi

yet no Republican outrage over Beirut, 'cuz Reagan had an (R) by his name.