Ronald Reagan was never President except in name. He was, instead, the greatest actor in the history of the world, who had billions of naive people believing he was the actual Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military and policy leader of the Nation. He was not, but was ONLY an actor reading lines. When Gorbachev brilliantly got him ALONE in a room in Reykjavik, Reagan gave away the store, practically agreeing to unilateral disarmament. As soon as his handlers found out what the moron had said, they completely disowned it and forced him to retract his promises. Reagan was the first "Teflon President", a likeable, bumbling Everyman whom you couldn't really blame for anything, because he had nothing to do with what he supposedly caused. The Plutocratic Revolution of 1986 (formally known as the "Tax Reform Act of 1986") started us on the road to massive redistribution of wealth UP, FROM the poor and middle class TO the rich. It has almost destroyed us. Iran-Contra was a criminal enterprise that strengthened Iran, which we are now supposed to see as a danger to our very existence. As for his "Great Communicator" reputation, he said everything exactly the same, whether it was celebrating National Pickle Week or urging Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" -- which Gorbachev did NOT do, the Germans did, but Reagan still gets credit for 45 years of anti-Communist hardline behavior under Presidents of both parties. I HATE Ronald Reagan, and the Cult of Reagan. Not only was he NOT a great President, he wasn't really President at all. Why hasn't this FACT, an open secret among Washington insiders, never come out? Reagan and Bush the Younger were both PUPPETS of a Republican Collective Presidency (our own rightwing Politburo) of mainly nameless and faceless manipulators of the marionettes they paraded for the press. Terrible things were done in their name, and we let them happen because the bumblers were such nice guys. But genuinely nice guys don't let terrible things be done in their name.

Reagan TRIPLED the national debt -- so much for Republicans' "fiscal conservatism". His Vice President, when he became President, upped the national debt by another third, so after 12 years of Republican misrule, the national debt had QUADRUPLED. We are still paying for the debt that Reagan and Bush the Elder mortgaged our future to. Then Bubba Bush doubled it AGAIN!

- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 3:33 PM