Reagan Worship

[Admiral Yi]

So many disagreements with Joan in just one day.

Stockman was the one who opposed Reagan on one of his least defensible policies: large, sustained deficits in time of economic expansion.

[The Minsky Moment]

Stockman was the one who opposed Reagan on one of his least defensible policies: large, sustained deficits in time of economic expansion.

Stockman was the guy who came up with "starve the beast.". When Congress didn't oblige his radical social experiment he quit in a huff an later reinvented himself as born again fiscal conservative.  First rate BS artist all the way.

[citizen k]

First rate BS artist all the way.

BS is the coin of the realm inside the Beltway.

[Martinus]

A lot went right for America during his tenure, in very sharp contrast to everything possible going wrong during Carter's.

Yeah, especially the AIDS outbreak and Iran Contras.

[Eddie Teach]

AIDS had little impact on the average person and Iran/Contra even less.

[Martinus]

AIDS had little impact on the average person and Iran/Contra even less.

It had a hugely disproportionate impact on the gay male community, though - it was probably the darkest era of the last century, at least in America.

The fact that unlike Thatcher he didn't care about epidemics until his fag friend died of it shows him to be a shortsighted and vindictive asshole.

[Admiral Yi]

Stockman was the guy who came up with "starve the beast.". When Congress didn't oblige his radical social experiment he quit in a huff an later reinvented himself as born again fiscal conservative.  First rate BS artist all the way.

If he didn't reinvent himself as a fiscal conservative until later, then what was Dutch doing when he took him to the woodshed?  Yelling at him for looking at too much porn?

[Admiral Yi]

A lot went right for America during his tenure, in very sharp contrast to everything possible going wrong during Carter's.

Yeah, especially the AIDS outbreak and Iran Contras.

Unless you somehow think that "a lot went right" in fact means "everything was perfect," I don't see how your post makes any sense in response to mine.

[The Minsky Moment]

Stockman was the guy who came up with "starve the beast.". When Congress didn't oblige his radical social experiment he quit in a huff an later reinvented himself as born again fiscal conservative.  First rate BS artist all the way.

If he didn't reinvent himself as a fiscal conservative until later, then what was Dutch doing when he took him to the woodshed?  Yelling at him for looking at too much porn?

For his horrific performance in front of one of the Congressional budget committees when presenting the 1985 (or 6?) budget when he bashed farmers and veterans and then "collapsed" and had to be hospitalized.

Stockman has done his best to rewrite the history, but I've never found it that persuasive to hire the arsonist as one's consultant on the fire code.

[The Brain]

A lot went right for America during his tenure, in very sharp contrast to everything possible going wrong during Carter's.

Yeah, especially the AIDS outbreak and Iran Contras.

Unless you somehow think that "a lot went right" in fact means "everything was perfect," I don't see how your post makes any sense in response to mine.

To be fair to Mart he lives under the perfect rule of King Jesus.

[grumbler]

Unless you somehow think that "a lot went right" in fact means "everything was perfect," I don't see how your post makes any sense in response to mine.

Sometimes shorter is better.  Marti doesn't make sense most of the time.

[Admiral Yi]

For his horrific performance in front of one of the Congressional budget committees when presenting the 1985 (or 6?) budget when he bashed farmers and veterans and then "collapsed" and had to be hospitalized.

Stockman has done his best to rewrite the history, but I've never found it that persuasive to hire the arsonist as one's consultant on the fire code.

Wiki seems to lean to my interpretation:

Stockman's influence within the Reagan Administration was negatively affected after the Atlantic Monthly magazine published the infamous 18,246 word article, "The Education of David Stockman",[7] in its December 1981 issue, based on lengthy interviews Stockman gave to reporter William Greider.

Stockman was quoted as referring to Reagan's tax act as: "I mean, Kemp-Roth [Reagan's 1981 tax cut] was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.... It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down.' So the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.' Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory."[7] Of the budget process during his first year on the job, Stockman was quoted as saying: "None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers," which was used as the subtitle of the article.[7]

After "being taken to the woodshed by the president" due to his candor with Atlantic Monthly's William Greider, Stockman became concerned with the projected trend of increasingly large federal deficits and the rapidly expanding national debt. On 1 August 1985, he resigned OMB and later wrote a memoir of his experience in the Reagan Administration titled The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed, in which he specifically criticized the failure of congressional Republicans to endorse a reduction of government spending to offset large tax decreases, in order to avoid the creation of large deficits and an increasing national debt.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Another reason Reagan is worshiped is: who else would they ideolize?
George W. Bush: terrible president, terribly unpopular
George HW Bush: good president but one-termer
Ford: Pardoned Nixon
Nixon: Nixon
Eisenhower: pretty far back - boomers were either being born or too young for most of his presidency so there's no nostalgia, no "things were great under him"

So that leaves Reagan by default.

[Eddie Teach]

Also, Ike is an uncomfortable hero for right wingers who embrace the military industrial complex whole-heartedly.

[celedhring]

Also, Ike is an uncomfortable hero for right wingers who embrace the military industrial complex whole-heartedly.

Bunch of old-timer dems that I met in the US (mostly uni professors), seemed to adore Ike. I guess that doesn't bode well for becoming a right-wing idol.