Dumbass supposed Reagan quote mushrooming all over winglandia

[K8-EEE]

“We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

My fb friend posted that and I'm like, well what was the context? What was he talking about? She said she didn't know but thought it was appropriate for current events (by which I think she means we need to continue to allow flaming lunatics to buy assault weapons without any difficulty.)

I noted that Reagan was not too into accountability for his own actions or he would have demanded to be impeached and jailed for violating the law and the constitution during Iran Contra!

Badda bing, response = *crickets*

Anyway does anybody know a source or context with this quote or if he even said it at all? Last time she quoted Jefferson, it ended up it was really said by Gerald Ford! LOL!

[gatorboy]

1. The irony here is conservatives NEVER take responsibilty for their actions.

Cheney blamed the guy he SHOT for Christ's sake...

[K8-EEE]

3. THANK YOU!!!

Ha I'm using that one....

[shraby]

2. Your friend would do well to heed these words...

whether it was Raegan or not. "It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” The right wing is refusing to take responsiblity for their vitriolic rhetoric.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. You mean the Reagan who drastically cut funding for mental health services?

I would think right now might not be a good time to bring him up.

[crim son]

5. Whatever the context, it simply doesn't work that way.

Societal values impact and are in many cases directly responsible for its citizen's behaviors for better or for worse. Think slavery, the perception of women as inferior and resultant abuse of women, anti-semitism & the Holocaust... there are thousands of examples that make this quote irrelevant with respect to the shooting.

[Kurovski]

9. "Nothing happens in a vacuum."

I haven't heard that phrase in like, forever.

[AnnetteJacobs]

11. Well, a lot of motor noise, and dust and debris happens

:evilgrin: I keeeeed!

[Kurovski]

18. Get over here...

:spank: not that kind of vacuum. :D

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Well there's 173,000 hits on the quote in Google. It's posted on Faux News and

every tea party site and everybody's asking when Ronnie said this.

http://nation.foxnews.com/arizona-shooting-rampage/2011/01/10/ronald-reagan-personal-responsibility
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110110173805AAWXB5x

Loved your response.

[seabeyond]

7. the irony. take NO personal responsibility for your behavior.... nt

[AnnetteJacobs]

12. Right, and so we'll continue to see more target-laden maps in the future

Why not? They're harmless, after all.

[sufrommich]

8. He seemed pretty hell bent on punishing all the people of

El Salvador.

[justiceischeap]

10. I tracked down the full quote

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=173702&mesg_id=173794

[K8-EEE]

16. Thank you so much! THAT'S VERY INTERESTING....

He said in 1968 that we were being "terrorized?" Whoa, the beginning of the terra terra terra campaign??

[justiceischeap]

17. Yep

I'm sure it had more to do with the political strife of the late sixties. You know, when the left last used violence to make its point? But he was twisting civil disobedience, poverty and other things into that little speech and philosophy. It's no wonder RW folks are quoting it right now. They're grasping for anything to make their case that the left is just as culpable for what's going on RIGHT NOW as the right.

[K8-EEE]

21. The "terrorists" in those days were Vietnam protesters & civil rights activists?

Wow! Well I guess if you were a warmonger & racist, that would be "terrorism."

[LiberalEsto]

13. In that case, DeLay is GUILTY as HELL

He has refused to admit wrongdoing in the money laundering case, because everybody was doing it.

[K8-EEE]

26. Accountability is a foreign concept to the GOP

Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Tom Delay etc., what do they take accounability for? Or Bush, Palin, any of them....hypocricy as usual, of the highest order, to be planting this disembodied quote all over the place!

[FreakinDJ]

14. Does that apply to Banks that sold Toxic Assets

[NightWatcher]

15. You forgot the last line. "unless they're Brown in color or Muslim, then we destroy their country ..

And the countries next to theirs. And the counties of anyone else we don't like"

[reformist2]

Reagan's statement is correct. But so is the opposite.

"We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, that only the lawbreaker is guilty and not society as well."

[K8-EEE]

22. +1

[Enrique]

19. sounds like boilerplate conservative stuff from the 1960's

we have to stop coddling the rioters, blah, blah, blah...

[justiceischeap]

20. That's exactly when it's from: either a '67 or '68 speech n/t

[K8-EEE]

23. Notice they are using language similar to this quote to raise money for Teabagger Express!!

That's why it's being planted all over the WWW -- CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING....I hope people when they run into this will enlighten people on the context.

[fishwax]

24. A bit ironic, since the full quote is all about how society is broken

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=173702&mesg_id=173794

[K8-EEE]

25. If somebody breaks a law by eating a sandwich at a White Only lunch counter

is that society's fault? Um, hell yeah it is!! I really think that was the underlying context of this speech although the effin' TP Express is using it to raise funds for themselves, how fucked up is that?

[K8-EEE]

27. Did anybody else LOL that this ended up in Quitter's Manifesto?

God, a little ocntrived, aren't we?? I knew they were planting this obscure (out of context) quote around for a reason but OHHH BROTHER. I really did LOL when I heard her come out with that!

[spanone]

28. tell that to iraq & afghanistan

[CBGLuthier]

29. Which is why, when 19 idiots flew 4 planes into 2 buildings and the ground

we bombed two entire countries into the fucking stone age, killing easily half a million innocents.

Individual actions. Right. Got it.