St. Ronnie re-introduced the notion that messy old democracy is a sorry joke, and that the proper leaders and greatest benefactors of society were and are the very wealthiest; and yes, here we are at the edge of an abyss.
My Mom would like it to be known that her first vote for President was to re-elect Carter, she waited in the cold in a bad neighborhood to do so, she did so even after she saw him conceding on the TV in the store window, she does not regret it, and she was right all along.
Barbara, what a different (and better, I'd surmise) world we would be living in today if Carter had been reelected. But he continued to strive to make it better internationally, post-presidency, with his efforts to increase access to fair voting, eradication of Guinea worm in Africa, expansion of human rights, etc.; and domestically by his participation in Habitat for Humanity. Jonathan Alter's bio of Carter is excellent.
And back to the Babtists - I believe our wonderful JC (Jimmy Carter) was a lifelong devoted Babtist. Until his church refused to honor women as equals by not allowing them to become priests. He and Roslyn left their "church" behind and instead lived simply, as true Christians.
Gore vs Bush was another another historically crucial race, but I see the candidacy of obviously incompetent GWB as ultimately enabled by the so called "Reagan Revolution". Lay the onset of the Reagan presidency over the dramatic shift of the sum of US assets away from the middle class, and towards the richest one tenth of one percent of our citizens; and follow the flow of money into our political process in multiple aspects.
George, believe me when I say I loathed GWB (and still do), but he did serve, albeit in the National Guard. The fact that he evaded the draft has no effect whatsoever on my judgment of him, as thousands of others did as well, including Clinton under whom he served as VP. I turned 18 in 1973, but only 1 draft number was picked that year, and it wasn't mine. Had I been drafted I probably would have gone to Canada or something. (On the other hand, if I'd come of age in '68, I think I'd have reported).
Rabid political anti-environmentalism began with Reagan, it got to be absurd pretty quickly, with Watt and Gorsuch (mom of THAT Gorsuch) proving to be political embarrassments. I keep wondering where we might be today, in terms of climate, prices, international petrostate intrigues, etc. had we taken the high road vs "oil is King". Vs environment be damned.
J L, as I believe I stated here before, '76 was the 1st election I was eligible to vote in, and I voted for Carter. However, I was rabidly anti-nuclear power, while he was a big supporter, so I shunned him in '80 and voted for John Anderson, who wasn't a spoiler as a 3rd party, as it turned out. My views on nuclear have softened ever so slightly (I still worry about accidents, loooonnng term storage of materials, and other possible catastrophic scenarios) -- Big Oil, as we all know, is a threat to humanity's future on a habitable planet, for the reasons you cite.
No. He was not "profesionally trained" in international anything. He had a BA from Whittier College (then a 'cow college") and a second-rate law school. He was like all the other right wing "hex-spurtz" - a legend in his own mind.
TCтАФthat sounds like Tricky Dick Nixon you are describing. When Nixon died, he lay in repose in Southern California and thousands of people passed by the bier. My brother and I agreed that if we had been close enough, we would have joined in the line, with a mallet and a stake.
I humbly beg your pardon: I remembered incorrectly.
Clinton attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in foreign service degree in 1968.
Except he was the president who started withdrawing money from Social Security. The federal government owes SS $1.7T, hence the reason the fund is in trouble.
She certainly was. I have yet to forgive Carter for that act of moron stupidity. Conceding at 4:45pm when the polls were still open on the west coast depressed turnout, with the result that several Democratic congressional seats became Republiscum, and it took 20 years to repair the damage. Carter was an excellent ex-president, but a failure as the actual thing. I believe it was because he believed everyone was good, which is seldom if ever true of people in politics and power.
I too revere my vote for Carter as an Act for the Greater Good.
When Reagan announced his candidacy in the center of hate country where vote organizers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been murdered less than two decades before and succeeded through this public knowledge to his candidacy I was certain Carter would win.
ReaganтАЩs victory signaled the victory of the South and beginning of a very dark era.
My first vote was for Carter in 1976. He came to our college campus to meet and greet and we all knew he was the man Raygun wanted to be. Carter although not the best speaker was intelligent, knowledgeable and cared about the country.
My first vote, at 18, was for McGovern in '72. And as I think back through the decades, I can't think of a single democratic contender who wouldn't have done a better job than the republican. I have never thought the democrat did a great job, but I am certain that they would have done more good and less harm than the repub winner in every instance. While I expect the upcoming election to be turned into a death match by the current gop, I am still inclined to believe that president Biden and Kamala Harris will earn a second term when the dust settles. I do believe that there is real evidence for my guarded optimism, not just fear-fueled wishcasting. But I am also afraid that trump/maga might muscle their way into power. Terrifying! Why wont Americans learn from their mistakes?
That was my first vote for President, too. I knew I was voting for the better man. We'll never know for sure if he'd have been a better President during those four years, but I believe we'd be in a much better place today had Carter won. Doubtful that Ronnie would have been elected four years later with ageism being what it is in our country.
Will, your mom really was right. I made the mistake in 1980 of voting for a 3rd party candidate, John Anderson. I liked him, but I didn't realize at the time that act was actually throwing away my vote. There was so much anti-Carter politicking I couldn't see what was really going on. Carter was a decent president, not always with the best support in the White House and a pro-Reagan force that constantly lied about who Reagan was and kept portraying this run-of-the-mill actor as something he was not. There are not enough negatives to describe who Reagan really was in addition to moving rather steadily into Alzheimer's almost from the beginning of his reign. His wife and his aides knew it and just like with Trump, no one is sharing the truth with the American people. Reagan got re-elected even though they knew, but We the People didn't. I could never vote for Reagan because living in DC at the time, his weaknesses and cruelties were more obvious than in many other parts of America. Trump may also be re-elected the same way. We seem not to be able to learn.
The first time I didnтАЩt vote for him. The send time I did. Today, Jimmy CarterтАЩs photo is the only ex-president that I framed and have on my walls.
Carter was a far better president than most give him credit for. What is was not, was a polished TV personality, which in the screen age has become a prerequisite for the job and and a large part of how the input of billionaires to our political climate has exploded. Lincoln was eloquent, but TV is set up to score slick one-liners. I doubt he would be elected today. Reagan was just a "B" actor, but a practiced pitch-man who knew the medium. I still encounter liberals who score Reagan as one of our best presidents, or the last "good" Republican president. The media fell in love with him, and that count's a lot for popularity, but little for perspicacity, honesty, or wisdom. Our future is too real to just be a game, and alternative political outcomes are of far more consequence than mere "likes" or just changing channels.
Carter was the first President I voted for. I missed the 1972 election by a month, but I was ready to vote the next time around. I never regretted that vote!
Will - being young, disconnected from politics and therefore still under the influence of my dad, I pulled the lever for Raygun. Never since have I voted R.
I didnтАЩt understand my dadтАЩs politics until I read the RтАЩs party platform from the тАШ70s: respect for the natural world, respect for unions (my dad was a pilotтАЩs union leader), care for others, and true fiscal responsibility. That party is as dead as my dad, who would have absolutely detested The GLOAT (greatest loser/liar of all time).
But I carry forward his legacy of appreciation for Nature, unions and service to others. And IтАЩm sure IтАЩm not the only person with such sentiments. We just need to motivate them!
Piety anyway. I am struck by the contrasts between the humility, asceticism, and compassion Jesus (so far as records show) actually preached and the wealth and brutal power seeking churches, at the ones that got the most historical attention, that claim to act in Jesus's name. I know less about Islam, but hear of similar complaints between the scripture and it's supposed implementation. It seem that power, and a thirst tor coercive power, tends to corrupt.
One of my favorite comments about the election of Ronald Reagan was from Paul Newman. When a reporter asked him, тАЬWhat do you think about an actor becoming President?тАЩ, he replied, тАЬWho said he could act?тАЭ
J L, and within that very rich set, the "players" are white and male almost to a person. It's not that rich, white, ego-driven men don't have anything to offer, it's that they don't have everything to offer and are simply not equipped to deal with most of the challenges any society has. Their bubble does not let them see any world view beyond their own. Even a glimpse they might have, is immediately dismissed as "nowhere as good as what they already have." And that is why we are at the cliff's edge and the only thing the crew in charge can imagine is how they can get richer, how they can shut everyone else up, and how they can keep the power they have accumulated through the wealth they erroneously believe they gained on their own merrits. Yep, we are in trouble!
Some people who amass great fortunes are multi-talented, but according to the guardian the #1 thing the super rich have in common is being born into a rich family. Aside from ties to organized crime, "money pouring in from Russia" and a sucker being born every minute, that's certainly the story of Trump's fortune that Robert Reich claims would be much greater had he parked his inheritance in an index fund and let it cook. Add to that tax laws tailored to benefit the well off, such as capital gains, carried interest, etc.
That's to say nothing of the scratch to hire lobbyists who sometime literally write the laws Congress dutifully passes, or effectively vetoes them. Nor armies of tricky lawyers. Nor billion dollar gifts to right wing causes or multi-million dollar gifts to $COTUS judges, all perfectly legally, since they buy the laws.
I read that the famed Monopoly game was originally invented to demonstrate how people get robbed by monopolists; but most players of the table game retire to cozy beds, not the street, if they lose.
JL, realize that Nixon was very influential in the Reagan administration. St. Ronnie called on Nixon for advice frequently, but kept it quiet for obvious reasons. "Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began to consult him although they did not publicize that fact. Republicans were still wary of the public's reaction to Nixon but they were interested in his opinions about foreign affairs. He remained an acknowledged expert on foreign policy,..." https://millercenter.org/president/nixon/life-after-the-presidency
I could miss a lot of the subtleties of Nixon's history, and he was a "dirty tricks" sort from early in his career, which set the tone for much that has followed, but I noticed that he at least played along, and perhaps maintained some elements of fealty to the common good, while Reagan was ready to hand over the whole of the nation to plutocrats. Nixon promoted environmental protection, and even established the EPA, which was an anathema to Reagan and the energy industry. Nixon pushed the nation to the right, but It seemed that Reagan Inc. managed a virtual coup. Anyway, they were both bad news and pioneers of the bad faith politics we see full blown in the "GOP" today.
You should also read Rick Perlstein's four volume history of the Right in the last half of the 20th Century. "Before the Storm" on Goldwater; Nixonland" on you know who; "The Invisible Bridge" about the political creation of Reagan and Reaganism; and "Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-80".
Nixon did NOT "establish the EPA". Well technically, I guess establish is a good word. He consolidated several existing agencies into one, like a good little bepureaucrst.
The destruction of the Republican Party began long before either Nixon or Reagan were gleams in their parents' eyes. Go read Jacob Heilbrunn's "America Last: The Republican Love Affair With Foreign Dictators."
Never forget Reagan's original cabinet was comprised entirely of hoods retrieved from Nixon's arsenal. It was an overt move to re-establish everything he'd begun.
It certainly does. All the Big Gargolyles in Republican/fascist circles nowadays got their start as Small Gargoyles under Nixon. Like Jill Wine-Banks said back when Ford pardoned the war criminal (his extra four years of the Vietnam war saw the majority of American casualties, not to mention a few million Southeast Asians, and all he got in December 1972 was a peace that offered less than the one he sabotaged in 1968 that LBJ negotiated) "I wanted to see that shovel nose sticking out between bars."
Not so saintly Ronnie was head of the Screen Actor's Guild in blacklisting days; Ronnie was on the General Electric (GE) Chicken & Jello lunch circuit for many years before becoming Governor. As governor his first target was the University of California where he & other Regents raised tuition fees which more than tripled in my undergraduates years at UCLA.
The faces of undergraduates changed significantly in my university days.
I strongly recommend Lou Cannon's biography of Reagan: "President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime"
I just wrote about that last week, Bryan. Ronnie's calm voice gained the trust of the nation to accept massive Cold War expenditures and trickle down econ, as well as dumbing down the finest educational system in the world so people would stop asking educated questions about war profiteering and, you know.... GE being the biggest "defense" contractor in the world. What's happening with the psyciatrists and the Merchan sentencing hearing? BTW.
I always hated his voice -- sounded so faux gee-shucks and yet patronizing. Yech. And the Nancy Regan adoration stare -- which she handed down to Mike Pence.
Reagan also sold out his members when he was president of SAG and accepted the half-offer for residuals, only going forward from 1961, nothing in arrears.
Bryan Spot On! Lou Cannon followed Reagan from CA to the White House. His insights into Reagan are the most persuasive that I have read. Reagan was a curious individual who even Nancy didnтАЩt fully know.
Pulitzer-Prize biographer Ed Morris, chosen to be ReaganтАЩs official biographer, took a $3 million advance and couldnтАЩt deliver. In desperation, he intruded himself into his mishmash biography. The result was akin to day old scrambled eggs.
MaryPat Like Trump, itтАЩs difficult to know when ReaganтАЩs dementia began. Some of his activities early in his administration would suggest dementia, though not clinically diagnosed.
James Garner - who worked with Reagan in SAG - had a two-word description of him: "amiable dunce." When I was involved professionally in California politics, I had occasion to meet him while he was governor. Garner was being generous. Reagan was the shill for all the Republican gargoyles who'd been waiting since 1932 to start tearing down the modern United States, destroying the most affluent middle class of any country in history.
An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 17, 1985 by Lewis Lehrman, detailed their plans. A few sentences тАЬWe are at the beginning of this conservative revolutionтАжwe are not even in the middle of itтАж.Our economic policies, our social policies, and our international policies are going to be altered in every significant aspectтАж.The president hasnтАЩt even begun the program of constitutional reform and the change in social policyтАж,This is a peaceful, conservative revolution that will take 20, 30, 40 years to complete.тАЭ The title of the article was тАЬConservative Revolution will alter all policies, says spokesman.тАЭ
If I read any more about ReaganтАЩs evil I will be permanently brain dead. This is way enough, considering how successful they were.
I have searched, but cannot find this article online. Do you have a link? It sounds prescient. I am currently reading Olivia Butler's The Sower, a dystopian novel which starts in July 2024 and is predicting worse than our current reality, but is hauntingly believable.
I can't post my copy here but I can send you a message if I have email or some way to do it. Wish I could put it on every front page. It blew my socks off. If you are close, I might bring it to you. Ft Worth is in the neck of the woods.
Is it too frivolous in the context of these comments to say that I have loved James Garner ever since Maverick and that learning about his comment about Ronnie made me love him more?
I was just thinking the same thing. Loved all of his movies. One very minor film, but a favorite, тАЬMurphyтАЩs Law.тАЭ I keep thinking of it now with his car, parked in front of his pharmacy, covered in political stickers. No one was to touch them.
"Support Your Local Sheriff" is a minor comedy classic. The Maverick episode I still love (hunted it down a few months ago watched it again) is "Gun Shy" - season two, episode 16, "Gun Shy", a send-up of "Gunsmoke." Maverick is seeking buried Confederate treasure in Elwood, Kansas, ad keeps running afoul of U.S. Marshal Mort Dooley, who keeps running him out of town. But he keeps outwitting the lawman., Marshal Dooley comments that several strange people have been passing through his town lately, specifically referring to "that gunslinger who handed out business cards." The opening scene is that opening of the Gunsmoke show,, the pov between the marshal's legs of the guy he's going to shoot. He fires once - the guy is still there. He fires five more times. The guy is still there. Close on Maverick with the opening line, "Would you like me to step into range, Marshal?" delivered as only Garner could.
A couple of friends, now passed away, left California after R.R. became gov., and moved to our little town in New England. NixonтАЩs unelected insider тАЬadvisersтАЭ like Cheney, G.H.W. Bush, were there with Presidents Reagan, G.H.W., and G.W., whose V.P., of course, was Cheney. It seems that no actions occurred that made did not them richer.
The decisions for action after 9/11 made them all a lot richer. Allegedly, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and some others knew every petroleum facility and pipeline in Iraq. Afghanistan was just an excuse to get started. The citizens of this nation are still paying the price of that seemingly endless war, especially those who lost family members.
тАЬMission AccomplishedтАЭ was just a PR stunt.
And this little bit is just the тАЬtip of the iceberg.тАЭ
Tom I gather that you do not have a high opinion of Reagan. I acknowledge that he was highly scripted and details were not his forte. However, I do give him credit for staying the course with Paul VolckerтАЩs draconian measures against тАШstagflation.тАЩ This cost Reagan significant short-term popularity and hurt the Reps in the 1982 elections.
Also, Reagan, the staunch opponent of the тАШevil empire,тАЩ played a vital role with Gorby in bringing the Cold War to an end with a whimper rather than a bang.
But, as he screamed in a movie, тАЬWhere is the rest of me.тАЭ Was Bonzo his vice president?
Yeah. But the interesting/dangerous thing about Trump is that he has the con-man's ability to make people like him. I know people here who met him during the Apprentice days and they refer to him as "a funny guy."
Reagan had it too. I experienced his Hollywood-trained ability to concentrate completely on the individual he was interacting with, as though there were no other people around; you felt "special."
And I knew three top World War II German aces back in the 80s, who had met with Hitler more than once, and each told me that he could be the most charming person you ever met - until something he didn't like happened.
All monsters have the ability to put the prey at ease before taking the killing bite.
I lived in California when he ran for office. I voted against him. He wanted to take away financial aide to college students born brilliant to poor families. Of course, he was only an actor. But taking away college funding means less educated students, means less high earning graduates which means less taxes going in to fund California. No one could ever get that in his empty head.
Martin, you're right about the straight line. My argument is that the line is longer than you think.
There is also a straight line heading in the opposite directionтАФtoward a just societyтАФdefined by Adam Smith in his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). In it, he argued that society's failure is due to those with more power imposing their will on those with less power, and that its success depends on our willingness to do the opposite, which is to resolve the dilemmas that inevitably emerge. It is on that foundation that he developed the practice we now refer to as capitalism.
Saint Ronnie took the country in the opposite direction thinking he was promoting capitalism, but who gets to define capitalism? Personally, I believe the guy who invented the concept. That makes Saint Ronnie and the entire MAGA Republican Party a bunch of anti-capitalists.
Bernie Sanders says it's okay to be angry about capitalism. To me, he's unintentionally making the good guys out to be the bad guys. The real bad guys are the anti-capitalist Republicans who hypocritically refer to themselves as capitalists. And then they refer to President BidenтАФa person who actually understands and believes in capitalismтАФas a socialist. I'd love to see the Biden-Harris campaign flip the script on them.
So, the straight line to a just society was defined by Adam Smith in the 18th century, and Saint Ronnie was simply following the long straight line of the many who went before him heading in the opposite direction.
If my claim appears to be wrong, my promise is that the appearance is an illusion. That said, trust but verify. To verify, I suggest three references. The first two are in the "Being Human" podcasts at firsthuman.com. The first is around 36 minutes into podcast 112 with Michael J. Gelb (What if da Vinci Built Companies?), and the second is around 25 minutes into podcast 109 with Raj Sisodia (The Healing Organization),. The third reference is the Wikipedia article on Adam Smith's book.
Thank you. When the Republicans embraced Reagan, I woke from my libertarian bubble and registered Democrat. Reagan was a polished actor with a mean streak who punched down on the vulnerable. He broke the Air Traffic ControllersтАЩ Union while the rest of the unions stayed quiet. Those air traffic controllers had a stressful job under constant pressure to make air travel safe. And the there was his calling ketchup a vegetable and his solution to homeless people sleeping on heat grates for warmth in the cold ? Raise the grates to make them inaccessible. So when some of these never trump Republicans take comfort in being a Reagan Republican, they would do well to remember that ReaganтАЩs reign laid the foundation.
There aren't enough dirty words in the English to accurately convey the depth of my hatred for that c***s***er and all his ilk. May they rot in h-e-double-sticks.
I recall vividly the day it was announced that Reagan had won the election. A coworker asked me why was I so angry? I replied,, "This is one of the worst days in our country's history." I never liked Reagan, even as the voice over for 20 Mule Team Borax, sponsor of "Death Valley Days". (Yep, I am THAT old!) Reagan was a phony to his core. His wife, Nancy, dabbled in all types of sorcery which she used to "guide" and advise Ronnie. (Or, so the reports went.) The cultists already were laying the grroundwork to seize the country.
He was just another figurehead who shook his head and agreed when others talked. He was not schooled in what was good for the country and listened to what was good for conservatives and republicans.
I would say from Nixon to Reagan to Trump....straight line. Dishonesty, pandering to the wealthy and grudges Negative- except that Reagan gave a false positive.
Saint Ronnie was a son-of-a-bitch, first as governor of California then as President. There's a straight line from him to the Orange Jesus.
St. Ronnie re-introduced the notion that messy old democracy is a sorry joke, and that the proper leaders and greatest benefactors of society were and are the very wealthiest; and yes, here we are at the edge of an abyss.
My Mom would like it to be known that her first vote for President was to re-elect Carter, she waited in the cold in a bad neighborhood to do so, she did so even after she saw him conceding on the TV in the store window, she does not regret it, and she was right all along.
Me too, WillтАж.well, except for the cold, bad neighborhood and concession speech partтАж.still admire the man and Rosalyn too.
Barbara, what a different (and better, I'd surmise) world we would be living in today if Carter had been reelected. But he continued to strive to make it better internationally, post-presidency, with his efforts to increase access to fair voting, eradication of Guinea worm in Africa, expansion of human rights, etc.; and domestically by his participation in Habitat for Humanity. Jonathan Alter's bio of Carter is excellent.
And back to the Babtists - I believe our wonderful JC (Jimmy Carter) was a lifelong devoted Babtist. Until his church refused to honor women as equals by not allowing them to become priests. He and Roslyn left their "church" behind and instead lived simply, as true Christians.
Thanks for the unknown true goodness of President Carter.
Yes Doug, but a bigger difference would have been Al Gore instead of the draft dodger Bush.
Gore vs Bush was another another historically crucial race, but I see the candidacy of obviously incompetent GWB as ultimately enabled by the so called "Reagan Revolution". Lay the onset of the Reagan presidency over the dramatic shift of the sum of US assets away from the middle class, and towards the richest one tenth of one percent of our citizens; and follow the flow of money into our political process in multiple aspects.
George, believe me when I say I loathed GWB (and still do), but he did serve, albeit in the National Guard. The fact that he evaded the draft has no effect whatsoever on my judgment of him, as thousands of others did as well, including Clinton under whom he served as VP. I turned 18 in 1973, but only 1 draft number was picked that year, and it wasn't mine. Had I been drafted I probably would have gone to Canada or something. (On the other hand, if I'd come of age in '68, I think I'd have reported).
Rabid political anti-environmentalism began with Reagan, it got to be absurd pretty quickly, with Watt and Gorsuch (mom of THAT Gorsuch) proving to be political embarrassments. I keep wondering where we might be today, in terms of climate, prices, international petrostate intrigues, etc. had we taken the high road vs "oil is King". Vs environment be damned.
J L, as I believe I stated here before, '76 was the 1st election I was eligible to vote in, and I voted for Carter. However, I was rabidly anti-nuclear power, while he was a big supporter, so I shunned him in '80 and voted for John Anderson, who wasn't a spoiler as a 3rd party, as it turned out. My views on nuclear have softened ever so slightly (I still worry about accidents, loooonnng term storage of materials, and other possible catastrophic scenarios) -- Big Oil, as we all know, is a threat to humanity's future on a habitable planet, for the reasons you cite.
He was the onlybpresidentbwevevhad who was trained in international deplomacy.
No. He was not "profesionally trained" in international anything. He had a BA from Whittier College (then a 'cow college") and a second-rate law school. He was like all the other right wing "hex-spurtz" - a legend in his own mind.
Carter was hardly a right-wing anything.
TCтАФthat sounds like Tricky Dick Nixon you are describing. When Nixon died, he lay in repose in Southern California and thousands of people passed by the bier. My brother and I agreed that if we had been close enough, we would have joined in the line, with a mallet and a stake.
I humbly beg your pardon: I remembered incorrectly.
Clinton attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in foreign service degree in 1968.
I think you're talking about Reagan, but replying to a post on Carter.
Or, as U.Utah Phillips, the "the golden voice of the great Southwest" put it, "An 'ex' is a has been, and 'spurt' is a drip under pressure".
Except he was the president who started withdrawing money from Social Security. The federal government owes SS $1.7T, hence the reason the fund is in trouble.
She certainly was. I have yet to forgive Carter for that act of moron stupidity. Conceding at 4:45pm when the polls were still open on the west coast depressed turnout, with the result that several Democratic congressional seats became Republiscum, and it took 20 years to repair the damage. Carter was an excellent ex-president, but a failure as the actual thing. I believe it was because he believed everyone was good, which is seldom if ever true of people in politics and power.
Everyone is flawed. Main lesson I have learned in my long life.
Love your new name for the Republiscum!
I too revere my vote for Carter as an Act for the Greater Good.
When Reagan announced his candidacy in the center of hate country where vote organizers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been murdered less than two decades before and succeeded through this public knowledge to his candidacy I was certain Carter would win.
ReaganтАЩs victory signaled the victory of the South and beginning of a very dark era.
My first vote was for Carter in 1976. He came to our college campus to meet and greet and we all knew he was the man Raygun wanted to be. Carter although not the best speaker was intelligent, knowledgeable and cared about the country.
My first vote, at 18, was for McGovern in '72. And as I think back through the decades, I can't think of a single democratic contender who wouldn't have done a better job than the republican. I have never thought the democrat did a great job, but I am certain that they would have done more good and less harm than the repub winner in every instance. While I expect the upcoming election to be turned into a death match by the current gop, I am still inclined to believe that president Biden and Kamala Harris will earn a second term when the dust settles. I do believe that there is real evidence for my guarded optimism, not just fear-fueled wishcasting. But I am also afraid that trump/maga might muscle their way into power. Terrifying! Why wont Americans learn from their mistakes?
That was my first vote for President, too. I knew I was voting for the better man. We'll never know for sure if he'd have been a better President during those four years, but I believe we'd be in a much better place today had Carter won. Doubtful that Ronnie would have been elected four years later with ageism being what it is in our country.
Will, your mom really was right. I made the mistake in 1980 of voting for a 3rd party candidate, John Anderson. I liked him, but I didn't realize at the time that act was actually throwing away my vote. There was so much anti-Carter politicking I couldn't see what was really going on. Carter was a decent president, not always with the best support in the White House and a pro-Reagan force that constantly lied about who Reagan was and kept portraying this run-of-the-mill actor as something he was not. There are not enough negatives to describe who Reagan really was in addition to moving rather steadily into Alzheimer's almost from the beginning of his reign. His wife and his aides knew it and just like with Trump, no one is sharing the truth with the American people. Reagan got re-elected even though they knew, but We the People didn't. I could never vote for Reagan because living in DC at the time, his weaknesses and cruelties were more obvious than in many other parts of America. Trump may also be re-elected the same way. We seem not to be able to learn.
my first vote for president and my favorite president... Jimmy Carter - a shining beacon
The first time I didnтАЩt vote for him. The send time I did. Today, Jimmy CarterтАЩs photo is the only ex-president that I framed and have on my walls.
Failure to reelect Carter is a testimony of the ignorance of voters who are easily influenced by outward entertainment attraction.
Carter was a far better president than most give him credit for. What is was not, was a polished TV personality, which in the screen age has become a prerequisite for the job and and a large part of how the input of billionaires to our political climate has exploded. Lincoln was eloquent, but TV is set up to score slick one-liners. I doubt he would be elected today. Reagan was just a "B" actor, but a practiced pitch-man who knew the medium. I still encounter liberals who score Reagan as one of our best presidents, or the last "good" Republican president. The media fell in love with him, and that count's a lot for popularity, but little for perspicacity, honesty, or wisdom. Our future is too real to just be a game, and alternative political outcomes are of far more consequence than mere "likes" or just changing channels.
Carter was the first President I voted for. I missed the 1972 election by a month, but I was ready to vote the next time around. I never regretted that vote!
Will - being young, disconnected from politics and therefore still under the influence of my dad, I pulled the lever for Raygun. Never since have I voted R.
I didnтАЩt understand my dadтАЩs politics until I read the RтАЩs party platform from the тАШ70s: respect for the natural world, respect for unions (my dad was a pilotтАЩs union leader), care for others, and true fiscal responsibility. That party is as dead as my dad, who would have absolutely detested The GLOAT (greatest loser/liar of all time).
But I carry forward his legacy of appreciation for Nature, unions and service to others. And IтАЩm sure IтАЩm not the only person with such sentiments. We just need to motivate them!
The elevation of white supremacy cloaked in economic promises.
And religious piety.
Piety anyway. I am struck by the contrasts between the humility, asceticism, and compassion Jesus (so far as records show) actually preached and the wealth and brutal power seeking churches, at the ones that got the most historical attention, that claim to act in Jesus's name. I know less about Islam, but hear of similar complaints between the scripture and it's supposed implementation. It seem that power, and a thirst tor coercive power, tends to corrupt.
I'm pretty sure a lot of white supremacy came out of the Baptist Church. Hell Fire!
Yeah but he could deliver a speech. Americans fall for actors/ frauds again.
One of my favorite comments about the election of Ronald Reagan was from Paul Newman. When a reporter asked him, тАЬWhat do you think about an actor becoming President?тАЩ, he replied, тАЬWho said he could act?тАЭ
Thank you for a good laugh to start my day. It eases a little of the angst I usually feel these days.
J L, and within that very rich set, the "players" are white and male almost to a person. It's not that rich, white, ego-driven men don't have anything to offer, it's that they don't have everything to offer and are simply not equipped to deal with most of the challenges any society has. Their bubble does not let them see any world view beyond their own. Even a glimpse they might have, is immediately dismissed as "nowhere as good as what they already have." And that is why we are at the cliff's edge and the only thing the crew in charge can imagine is how they can get richer, how they can shut everyone else up, and how they can keep the power they have accumulated through the wealth they erroneously believe they gained on their own merrits. Yep, we are in trouble!
Some people who amass great fortunes are multi-talented, but according to the guardian the #1 thing the super rich have in common is being born into a rich family. Aside from ties to organized crime, "money pouring in from Russia" and a sucker being born every minute, that's certainly the story of Trump's fortune that Robert Reich claims would be much greater had he parked his inheritance in an index fund and let it cook. Add to that tax laws tailored to benefit the well off, such as capital gains, carried interest, etc.
That's to say nothing of the scratch to hire lobbyists who sometime literally write the laws Congress dutifully passes, or effectively vetoes them. Nor armies of tricky lawyers. Nor billion dollar gifts to right wing causes or multi-million dollar gifts to $COTUS judges, all perfectly legally, since they buy the laws.
I read that the famed Monopoly game was originally invented to demonstrate how people get robbed by monopolists; but most players of the table game retire to cozy beds, not the street, if they lose.
Yes Graham.
I'd argue the straight line runs from Nixon to the Orange Clown through St. Ronnie and WBush.
Yeah, Nixon got things rolling off the rails, but the whole of the party was not yet on board. By Reagan, outrageous big lies were the core GOP MO.
JL, realize that Nixon was very influential in the Reagan administration. St. Ronnie called on Nixon for advice frequently, but kept it quiet for obvious reasons. "Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began to consult him although they did not publicize that fact. Republicans were still wary of the public's reaction to Nixon but they were interested in his opinions about foreign affairs. He remained an acknowledged expert on foreign policy,..." https://millercenter.org/president/nixon/life-after-the-presidency
I could miss a lot of the subtleties of Nixon's history, and he was a "dirty tricks" sort from early in his career, which set the tone for much that has followed, but I noticed that he at least played along, and perhaps maintained some elements of fealty to the common good, while Reagan was ready to hand over the whole of the nation to plutocrats. Nixon promoted environmental protection, and even established the EPA, which was an anathema to Reagan and the energy industry. Nixon pushed the nation to the right, but It seemed that Reagan Inc. managed a virtual coup. Anyway, they were both bad news and pioneers of the bad faith politics we see full blown in the "GOP" today.
You should also read Rick Perlstein's four volume history of the Right in the last half of the 20th Century. "Before the Storm" on Goldwater; Nixonland" on you know who; "The Invisible Bridge" about the political creation of Reagan and Reaganism; and "Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-80".
thank you -- I will look for these books!
Yes, "Invisible Bridge" is a real eye opener. As a Californian, I lived through his terms as governor. What a harbringer for the chaos to come,
Nixon did NOT "establish the EPA". Well technically, I guess establish is a good word. He consolidated several existing agencies into one, like a good little bepureaucrst.
An expert on turning foreign policy into war crimes.
Same could be said of Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State & National Security Advisor during Nixon and on into the Ford presidency.
Oh yes, Kissinger was the Very Big Gargoyle.
The poster gargoyle
Expert on foreign policy, seems like a joke to me.
Banana republicans maketh me to lie down in green pastures and puketh my guts out.
One way to put it.
Yep, not sick except when I have to look at or listen to repubs
Jeri, yes, Kissinger was something in foreign policy; he was a disrupter, murderer, hater, user while pretending to be such a good guy. Disgusting!
Makes me wish I believed in hell; though I would worry the Kissinger would get a heroes welcome when he got there.
And he thought he was God's gift to women. Deluded as well, with an ego to match Nixons
The destruction of the Republican Party began long before either Nixon or Reagan were gleams in their parents' eyes. Go read Jacob Heilbrunn's "America Last: The Republican Love Affair With Foreign Dictators."
Evil abuses of power and money seem to lurk in every generation, but the degree to which they predominate seems to move around and ebb and flow;
Never forget Reagan's original cabinet was comprised entirely of hoods retrieved from Nixon's arsenal. It was an overt move to re-establish everything he'd begun.
It certainly does. All the Big Gargolyles in Republican/fascist circles nowadays got their start as Small Gargoyles under Nixon. Like Jill Wine-Banks said back when Ford pardoned the war criminal (his extra four years of the Vietnam war saw the majority of American casualties, not to mention a few million Southeast Asians, and all he got in December 1972 was a peace that offered less than the one he sabotaged in 1968 that LBJ negotiated) "I wanted to see that shovel nose sticking out between bars."
No, itтАЩs antecedents are Barry Goldwater , Joe McCarthy and way before them, Woodrow Wilson, if ya really want to get funky.
OrтАжтАжRoy Cohn, Lee Atwater, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon.
Paul Weyrich started it all.
I had more respect for Goldwater than Joe McCarthy.
Don't forget Goldwater. He was John the Baptist for these troglodytes.
It didn't miss HW.
100Panthers, don't forget Daddy Bush. He was seriously problematic too, just a little less obvious about it than the others.
Agree wholeheartedly except that line is crooked and now so bent that it resembles a boomerang ЁЯкГ
Not so saintly Ronnie was head of the Screen Actor's Guild in blacklisting days; Ronnie was on the General Electric (GE) Chicken & Jello lunch circuit for many years before becoming Governor. As governor his first target was the University of California where he & other Regents raised tuition fees which more than tripled in my undergraduates years at UCLA.
The faces of undergraduates changed significantly in my university days.
I strongly recommend Lou Cannon's biography of Reagan: "President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime"
I just wrote about that last week, Bryan. Ronnie's calm voice gained the trust of the nation to accept massive Cold War expenditures and trickle down econ, as well as dumbing down the finest educational system in the world so people would stop asking educated questions about war profiteering and, you know.... GE being the biggest "defense" contractor in the world. What's happening with the psyciatrists and the Merchan sentencing hearing? BTW.
I always hated his voice -- sounded so faux gee-shucks and yet patronizing. Yech. And the Nancy Regan adoration stare -- which she handed down to Mike Pence.
He grated on my every nerve fiber, and she made me heave.
Just say no. Nancy cured all of us.
Wish MAGAts would follow her advice. Nobody else did, I think
Just say no to thugs.
He somehow creeped me out as a pre-pubescent kid. To me he just radiated phony. It was shocking to see how many people loved big bother.
B movie star, would have passed him by
And the orange turds weird speaking style. wtf is with that?
Speaking тАЬstyleтАЭ= increasing dementia.
But the press found it charming.
ЁЯШК
Ransom Almost been killed in an assassination attempt pushed his tax cuts through Congress.
Side perk
Did you listen to Bandy Lees zoom call Sunday? Pretty depressing.
GOP don't need no education.
"Yes, you do! You just used a double negative!" -Moss, from The IT Crowd
Will, IтАЩve used advice from that show frequently: тАЬHave you tried turning it off and back on again?тАЭ
It often works.
ЁЯдг
They think they know it all already, itтАЩs us smucks that they want to keep ignorant.
But you do, and so does everyone else, if the Right is to be defeated and broken.
Broken should include punishment for crimes committed. Confederate leadership were not punished for their treason.
True, and here we are. Someone suggested yesterday Biden should pardon dumpty. Not this time
Reagan also sold out his members when he was president of SAG and accepted the half-offer for residuals, only going forward from 1961, nothing in arrears.
Go read Perlstein's two books on Reagan. Lou Cannon suffered from being friends with Reagan too closely in Sacramento.
Bryan Spot On! Lou Cannon followed Reagan from CA to the White House. His insights into Reagan are the most persuasive that I have read. Reagan was a curious individual who even Nancy didnтАЩt fully know.
Pulitzer-Prize biographer Ed Morris, chosen to be ReaganтАЩs official biographer, took a $3 million advance and couldnтАЩt deliver. In desperation, he intruded himself into his mishmash biography. The result was akin to day old scrambled eggs.
But Nancy fully knew how to hide his dementia.
MaryPat Like Trump, itтАЩs difficult to know when ReaganтАЩs dementia began. Some of his activities early in his administration would suggest dementia, though not clinically diagnosed.
James Garner - who worked with Reagan in SAG - had a two-word description of him: "amiable dunce." When I was involved professionally in California politics, I had occasion to meet him while he was governor. Garner was being generous. Reagan was the shill for all the Republican gargoyles who'd been waiting since 1932 to start tearing down the modern United States, destroying the most affluent middle class of any country in history.
An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 17, 1985 by Lewis Lehrman, detailed their plans. A few sentences тАЬWe are at the beginning of this conservative revolutionтАжwe are not even in the middle of itтАж.Our economic policies, our social policies, and our international policies are going to be altered in every significant aspectтАж.The president hasnтАЩt even begun the program of constitutional reform and the change in social policyтАж,This is a peaceful, conservative revolution that will take 20, 30, 40 years to complete.тАЭ The title of the article was тАЬConservative Revolution will alter all policies, says spokesman.тАЭ
If I read any more about ReaganтАЩs evil I will be permanently brain dead. This is way enough, considering how successful they were.
Thanks for sharing. Enough for me, I don't need to read any more Reagan or Nixon crap. Lived it.
Wish others who lived it would stop blaming Dems for Repub disasters
Jeri, that is it in a nutshell. Blaming the Democratic Party for the things that RepubliKan politicians have done/are doing.
One of Goebbels major rules for propaganda and why I got banned from FB and T when I posted it as Repub actions.
I have searched, but cannot find this article online. Do you have a link? It sounds prescient. I am currently reading Olivia Butler's The Sower, a dystopian novel which starts in July 2024 and is predicting worse than our current reality, but is hauntingly believable.
Did you get copy of article that I emailed.
I can't post my copy here but I can send you a message if I have email or some way to do it. Wish I could put it on every front page. It blew my socks off. If you are close, I might bring it to you. Ft Worth is in the neck of the woods.
Is it too frivolous in the context of these comments to say that I have loved James Garner ever since Maverick and that learning about his comment about Ronnie made me love him more?
I was just thinking the same thing. Loved all of his movies. One very minor film, but a favorite, тАЬMurphyтАЩs Law.тАЭ I keep thinking of it now with his car, parked in front of his pharmacy, covered in political stickers. No one was to touch them.
"Support Your Local Sheriff" is a minor comedy classic. The Maverick episode I still love (hunted it down a few months ago watched it again) is "Gun Shy" - season two, episode 16, "Gun Shy", a send-up of "Gunsmoke." Maverick is seeking buried Confederate treasure in Elwood, Kansas, ad keeps running afoul of U.S. Marshal Mort Dooley, who keeps running him out of town. But he keeps outwitting the lawman., Marshal Dooley comments that several strange people have been passing through his town lately, specifically referring to "that gunslinger who handed out business cards." The opening scene is that opening of the Gunsmoke show,, the pov between the marshal's legs of the guy he's going to shoot. He fires once - the guy is still there. He fires five more times. The guy is still there. Close on Maverick with the opening line, "Would you like me to step into range, Marshal?" delivered as only Garner could.
Everybody (on our side) has that reaction.
They've always hated the New Deal ЁЯЩД
A couple of friends, now passed away, left California after R.R. became gov., and moved to our little town in New England. NixonтАЩs unelected insider тАЬadvisersтАЭ like Cheney, G.H.W. Bush, were there with Presidents Reagan, G.H.W., and G.W., whose V.P., of course, was Cheney. It seems that no actions occurred that made did not them richer.
The decisions for action after 9/11 made them all a lot richer. Allegedly, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and some others knew every petroleum facility and pipeline in Iraq. Afghanistan was just an excuse to get started. The citizens of this nation are still paying the price of that seemingly endless war, especially those who lost family members.
тАЬMission AccomplishedтАЭ was just a PR stunt.
And this little bit is just the тАЬtip of the iceberg.тАЭ
Tom I gather that you do not have a high opinion of Reagan. I acknowledge that he was highly scripted and details were not his forte. However, I do give him credit for staying the course with Paul VolckerтАЩs draconian measures against тАШstagflation.тАЩ This cost Reagan significant short-term popularity and hurt the Reps in the 1982 elections.
Also, Reagan, the staunch opponent of the тАШevil empire,тАЩ played a vital role with Gorby in bringing the Cold War to an end with a whimper rather than a bang.
But, as he screamed in a movie, тАЬWhere is the rest of me.тАЭ Was Bonzo his vice president?
And Trump is an example of the тАЬnon-amiable dunceтАЭ.
Yeah. But the interesting/dangerous thing about Trump is that he has the con-man's ability to make people like him. I know people here who met him during the Apprentice days and they refer to him as "a funny guy."
Reagan had it too. I experienced his Hollywood-trained ability to concentrate completely on the individual he was interacting with, as though there were no other people around; you felt "special."
And I knew three top World War II German aces back in the 80s, who had met with Hitler more than once, and each told me that he could be the most charming person you ever met - until something he didn't like happened.
All monsters have the ability to put the prey at ease before taking the killing bite.
I lived in California when he ran for office. I voted against him. He wanted to take away financial aide to college students born brilliant to poor families. Of course, he was only an actor. But taking away college funding means less educated students, means less high earning graduates which means less taxes going in to fund California. No one could ever get that in his empty head.
It was filled with whatever script he was blathering
I always had the impression that he was just playing a character, like he did in movies and on TV.
That's actually true.
Better actor than I thought, but guess he was just following NoonanтАЩs scripts.
with some help from Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist and others along the way!
And he was stupid as f as well.
Martin, you're right about the straight line. My argument is that the line is longer than you think.
There is also a straight line heading in the opposite directionтАФtoward a just societyтАФdefined by Adam Smith in his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). In it, he argued that society's failure is due to those with more power imposing their will on those with less power, and that its success depends on our willingness to do the opposite, which is to resolve the dilemmas that inevitably emerge. It is on that foundation that he developed the practice we now refer to as capitalism.
Saint Ronnie took the country in the opposite direction thinking he was promoting capitalism, but who gets to define capitalism? Personally, I believe the guy who invented the concept. That makes Saint Ronnie and the entire MAGA Republican Party a bunch of anti-capitalists.
Bernie Sanders says it's okay to be angry about capitalism. To me, he's unintentionally making the good guys out to be the bad guys. The real bad guys are the anti-capitalist Republicans who hypocritically refer to themselves as capitalists. And then they refer to President BidenтАФa person who actually understands and believes in capitalismтАФas a socialist. I'd love to see the Biden-Harris campaign flip the script on them.
So, the straight line to a just society was defined by Adam Smith in the 18th century, and Saint Ronnie was simply following the long straight line of the many who went before him heading in the opposite direction.
If my claim appears to be wrong, my promise is that the appearance is an illusion. That said, trust but verify. To verify, I suggest three references. The first two are in the "Being Human" podcasts at firsthuman.com. The first is around 36 minutes into podcast 112 with Michael J. Gelb (What if da Vinci Built Companies?), and the second is around 25 minutes into podcast 109 with Raj Sisodia (The Healing Organization),. The third reference is the Wikipedia article on Adam Smith's book.
Thank you. When the Republicans embraced Reagan, I woke from my libertarian bubble and registered Democrat. Reagan was a polished actor with a mean streak who punched down on the vulnerable. He broke the Air Traffic ControllersтАЩ Union while the rest of the unions stayed quiet. Those air traffic controllers had a stressful job under constant pressure to make air travel safe. And the there was his calling ketchup a vegetable and his solution to homeless people sleeping on heat grates for warmth in the cold ? Raise the grates to make them inaccessible. So when some of these never trump Republicans take comfort in being a Reagan Republican, they would do well to remember that ReaganтАЩs reign laid the foundation.
There aren't enough dirty words in the English to accurately convey the depth of my hatred for that c***s***er and all his ilk. May they rot in h-e-double-sticks.
I recall vividly the day it was announced that Reagan had won the election. A coworker asked me why was I so angry? I replied,, "This is one of the worst days in our country's history." I never liked Reagan, even as the voice over for 20 Mule Team Borax, sponsor of "Death Valley Days". (Yep, I am THAT old!) Reagan was a phony to his core. His wife, Nancy, dabbled in all types of sorcery which she used to "guide" and advise Ronnie. (Or, so the reports went.) The cultists already were laying the grroundwork to seize the country.
Annenberg! Does anyone recall Annenberg who was RonnieтАЩs puppeteer and benefactor! Later he was made an Ambassador by Ronnie.
He was just another figurehead who shook his head and agreed when others talked. He was not schooled in what was good for the country and listened to what was good for conservatives and republicans.
Martin, succinct and to the point. Loathed that guy and still do.
I would say from Nixon to Reagan to Trump....straight line. Dishonesty, pandering to the wealthy and grudges Negative- except that Reagan gave a false positive.