In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Politics and Death: Reagan
Reagan Legacy Looming Large Over Campaign
Advisers to Mr. Bush said they had not determined how prominently Mr. Bush should identify his presidency with Mr. Reagan, whether Mr. Reagan's image should be incorporated in Mr. Bush's advertisements and whether Nancy Reagan might appear on Mr. Bush's behalf in the fall.
Some Republicans said the images of a forceful Mr. Reagan giving dramatic speeches on television provided a less-than-welcome contrast with Mr. Bush's own appearances these days, and that it was not in Mr. Bush's interest to encourage such comparisons. That concern was illustrated on Sunday, one Republican said, by televised images of Mr. Reagan's riveting speech in Normandy commemorating D-Day in 1984, followed by Mr. Bush's address at a similar ceremony on Sunday.
"Reagan showed what high stature that a president can have — and my fear is that Bush will look diminished by comparison," said one Republican sympathetic to Mr. Bush, who did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the president.
I never liked Reagan as a President and unfairly I'm sure I sometimes disliked the man due to his politics. But the disease he suffered from, and more importantly his family suffered due to, should not happen to anyone. That is why I respect Nancy Reagan for ignoring the pleads of the present GOP by crusading for stem cell research. By stopping stem cell research in the United States, Bush is effectively saying that a few cells is the same thing as a human life, I feel a human is worth a bit more than just a few cells. Bush is condeming families to watch their loved ones slowly dissappear year after year. A cure for alzheimer's is just one of the achievements that stem cell research could possibly lead to. A Superman that could again walk is another one.
The lasting damaging legacy of Reagan's presidency is the dumbing down of the office and the elevation of the Bush family. Before Reagan it was believed the office of Presidency required a sharp mind (which it does), but Reagan was more or less successful and wasn't especially bright so that obvious requirement was put aside (hopefully temporarily). As for the Bush family, Reagan didn't want the elder Bush to be his VP, it was forced upon him. And due to this the optimism that Reagan is famous for has been destroyed by Bush the lesser.
Reagan in my mind did acheive two extremely important things:Best wishes to Reagan’s family, and I hope they now can feel some relief.
- The fall of the Soviet Union. Bush the elder claims this achievement for himself because it happened on his watch, but it was due to mistaken policies set forth under Reagan. In another case of exaggerated bad intelligence Reagan was told that the Soviet Union was an extremely powerful and an extremely well armed nation, so Reagan began a huge defense build up in his words "to close the gap." The Soviet Union however was barely surviving but after observing the US build-up it placed what limited funds it had into a relatively weak military. It bankrupt the Soviet Union. Reagan’s wrong reasons delivered a result better than anyone hoped; the Soviet Union fell.
- He made America snap out of it. Its hard to say how he did it, and he shares this achievement with many other events (like the gold metal ice hockey team), but he got America out of a serious funk (I realize that isn’t much of a scientific term, but anyone who lived through the seventies knows exactly what I mean).
- rob 12:11 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
