Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever?

[Judi Lynn]

Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever?

February 20, 2012

From the Archive: On Presidents’ Day, opinion polls rate the greatest U.S. presidents, with Ronald Reagan now typically scoring at or near the top — and George W. Bush at or near the bottom. Though the Bush rating is hard to dispute, Robert Parry argued in 2009 that Reagan deserved a similar placement.

By Robert Parry (Originally published June 3, 2009)

There’s been talk that George W. Bush was so inept that he should trademark the phrase “Worst President Ever,” though some historians would bestow that title on pre-Civil War President James Buchanan. Still, a case could be made for putting Ronald Reagan in the competition.

Granted, the very idea of rating Reagan as one of the worst presidents ever will infuriate his many right-wing acolytes and offend Washington insiders who have made a cottage industry out of buying some protection from Republicans by lauding the 40th President.

But there’s a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan’s presidency. There’s also a grudging reassessment that the “failed” presidents of the 1970s – Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter – may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country.

More:
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/02/20/ronald-reagan-worst-president-ever/

[MADem]

1. What about Franklin Pierce, Dubya's ancestor?

Reagan is certainly a strong candidate for worst 20th Century President, along with Warren G. Harding...

[izquierdista]

2. Harding had a couple good ideas

In the area of civil rights and the budget, Harding was not a complete zero; Reagan was a negative in all categories.

[MADem]

5. Harding was a helluva card player and could hold his booze, too!

He also had a certain rakish wit, and was quite popular with the ladies.

Not sure all that puts him too far up the ladder of success, though!

Reagan deserves points for being the most brazen bullshitter I've ever seen operate on a world stage. He was able to sell that "Charlie Charm" attitude better than anyone I've seen. I happened to know a rather superb bullshitter who used many of the same tactics, so I could see Reagan coming a country mile away, but many were swayed by that faux folksiness, that little head tilt, that eye twinkle, the studied pause, as though he just now thought of a funny story (that he'd told a thousand times before)....I guess all those years grinding out those "B" movies wasn't totally wasted--the guy sure could deliver a line! Beyond that, though, he didn't have much to recommend himself--the horse shit was strong with that one!

[rfranklin]

3. Tim Weiner, author of Enemies: A History of the FBI, said they had enough to impeach Reagan...

over IranContra. I heard that this morning on a repeat program on WNYC, the public radio station in New York. Of course, most of us knew that he had committed crimes back then but it is always nice to hear it broadcast.

•Dec. 11, 1992: White House informs Walsh that now-President George H.W. Bush kept diaries relevant to Iran-Contra, but they had been withheld from investigators.
•Dec. 24, 1992: President Bush pardons Weinberger, Clarridge, McFarlane, Fiers, Abrams and George
http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/timeline-legal.php

The coverup was complete on Christmas Eve! What a gift to the nation!

Because of this we had the idiot son for eight years!

[MADem]

6. Cap Weinberger--he wasn't gonna take the fall, and he made sure everyone knew it!

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-pardon.html

The prosecutor charged that Mr. Weinberger's efforts to hide his notes may have "forestalled impeachment proceedings against President Reagan" and formed part of a pattern of "deception and obstruction." On Dec. 11, Mr. Walsh said he discovered "misconduct" in Mr. Bush's failure to turn over what the prosecutor said were the President's own "highly relevant contemporaneous notes, despite repeated requests for such documents."

[Angry Dragon]

4. 1981-1989 was just a long running movie for Reagan

For an actor he was

[GeorgeGist]

7. In terms of persistent damage done ...

I'd say yes. But he did have Alzheimer's ... so most of the blame goes to his supporters.

[randr]

8. Hard to beat dubya

With the economic situation and the countless dead in useless wars, no one else comes close. So far.

[indepat]

13. How about dubya followed by the gipper and ghwb for a trifecta in terms of total

damage inflicted upon this Republic, its institutions, and its people, to say nothing of damage inflicted on international order?

[saras]

9. Bush was worse, Reagan did more damage

[Uncle Joe]

10. Ronald Reagan is the first President in modern history to have the corporate media

enable his Presidency.

They puffed him up promoting his superficiality over true substance, it's no cosmic coincidence Reagen's minions; believed; that Orwellian policies of "perception managment" could succeed in the U.S. they knew the corporate media was compromised.

The corporate media stilll hasn't climbed out of that sewage pit and I have serious doubts they ever will.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"In the early 1980s, Reagan also credentialed a young generation of neocon intellectuals, who pioneered a concept called “perception management,” the shaping of how Americans saw, understood and were frightened by threats from abroad.

Many honest reporters saw their careers damaged when they resisted the lies and distortions of the Reagan administration. Likewise, U.S. intelligence analysts were purged when they refused to bend to the propaganda demands from above."

(snip)

Under Reagan, a right-wing infrastructure also took shape, linking media outlets (magazines, newspapers, books, etc.) with well-financed think tanks that churned out endless op-eds and research papers. Plus, there were attack groups that went after mainstream journalists who dared disclose information that poked holes in Reagan’s propaganda themes.

In effect, Reagan’s team created a faux reality for the American public. Civil wars in Central America between impoverished peasants and wealthy oligarchs became East-West showdowns. U.S.-backed insurgents in Nicaragua, Angola and Afghanistan were transformed from corrupt, brutal (often drug-tainted) thugs into noble “freedom-fighters.”

http://consortiumnews.com/2012/02/20/ronald-reagan-worst-president-ever/

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ronald Reagen was cancer to the First Amendment and in turn the Constitution as a whole for which he swore an oath to uphold and defend, I see nothing honorable or laudable about the man or his rule.

Reagan's shortsighted, selfish and corrupted policies set the U.S. on a downward spiralling path and I agree with the author he should be ranked near the bottom.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.

[yurbud]

12. yep--can you imagine today's media getting worked up about Watergate?

Especially if it was a Republican president.

Likewise, their obsession with Bill Clinton's penis would have sank just about every previous president except maybe Nixon and Carter.

[Uncle Joe]

14. No, today's corporate media; might mention something about wiretapping in passing but they would

spend most of their time and energy debating whether Watergate Salad should be made with Cool Whip or Ready Whip.

[yurbud]

11. it's off-topic, but I strongly suspect some who previously were at the bottom were victims

of political winds after their time.

Case in point: Ulysses S. Grant. Was there corruption in his cabinet? Sure. By today's standards though, it wouldn't even merit a mention.

Probably he rated so lowly for so long because he aggressively fought the Ku Klux Klan and by the 1880's, most white Americans were tired of racial struggles and wanted to put the issue on the back burner for about 80 years.

Sometimes the real heroes of history don't get the credit they deserve or are forgotten altogether like Smedley Butler, Fannie Lou Hamer, and whoever that Russian missile launch officer was who didn't push the button when he saw a swarm of American missiles coming over the pole (that turned out to be a solar flare or something).

[smokey nj]

15. Embarrassed Republicans Admit They've Been Thinking Of Eisenhower Whole Time They've Been Praising..

Reagan

http://www.theonion.com/articles/embarrassed-republicans-admit-theyve-been-thinking,19248/

[BigDemVoter]

16. Reagan was a HORRID, IDIOTIC Prez

But I still say the award for the worst prez goes, hands down, to George W. Bush. That son-of-a bitch (the bitch was Barbara, excuse me all women on here) with his smirk and his band of idiotic, right-wing hate mongers he surrounded himself with. . . . We do not even know to this day the full extent of the damage that mother fucker (again, excuse my language, but I'm angry!) did to this country. The damage can't even be calculated.

As for Reagan, he set the country up for this shit. He set the stage for GWB. Once an incompetent asshole like Reagan was elected, why not have another one?